Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Did you not read my post... I already provided the chance of jamming. Did you not believe my numbers?

FYI: Jammers routinely overheat (although Info links aren't all that common), and they can keep heat going for several minutes with decent skills. In addtion, you'll rarely find ECCM on ships other than T1 & T2 Logistics, some BC's that know they are facing ECM, and some BS's that know they are facing ECM. I have a thread up asking for more utility from ECCM modules (note: My thread suggests NOTHING to change the current ECM-ECCM balance).

Here's a couple things to keep in mind about EC Drones:

When out soloing, I despise getting jammed off that stabber by his 5 EC drones... They reliably hit, as the 30% chance of jam for 5 EC-300's is only counting ONE CYCLE. Give them 2 cycles (20ish seconds) and it's a 50% success rate. Give them 3 cycles (40ish seconds), and it's a 65% success rate. If I'm in a taranis, underneath the guns of a Vagabond, that single jam cycle is enough for him to pull range and blapp me. It's simply a race of can I kill his drones before he gets the jam (which is a coin toss).

In small gang combat (3-6 pilots), groups of EC drones are very potent. A single jam may easily swing the fight to your favor.

And here's another recent example: If you watch Agony's last fight in this years AT, the commentators were floored by us putting a smartbomb on our Vindicator. This was place on the Vindi specifically to clear EC drones from the field. During last years testing, when minmatar rush was very popular, swarms of 10-30 EC-300 & EC-600 drones were extremely common. They could reliably jam out a BS 30-60% of the time, and when you have a bunch of utility wrapped up in a single ship, that's quite devastating to your game play.

Now, this is just food for thought. I'm not firmly in the "let's nerf ec drones because they are crazy overpowered" camp. I just recognize them as frustrating and potent, and thing a review of their utility is reasonable. I also recognize most other EWAR drones are underutilized because they are underwhelming, and also need to be reviewed!

This is how ECM should function. 20 second lockout durations, falcons perma jamming 3 targets simultaneously, is all ludicrous.

Break the lock from the target, and force them to re-lock everything. Even buff the chances of successful breaks.

ECM is not in line with other forms of Ewar. Even if you like the way it functions currently, you must concede that it is far more effective than the other 3 forms. This is inherently unbalanced.

I'd be open to hearing an argument against ECM being on par with TDs, SDs, or TPs, but I doubt it will stand.