Player Features and Ideas Discussion

https://www.reddit.com/r/Eve/comments/4orjjs/ccp_and_reve_lets_discuss_trackingmissile/

Posted the reddit thread as well.

I want to discuss tracking and missile disruptors in their current rendition.

Right off the get go I want to throw out there my proposal to merge the modules into a singular "weapon disruption" module that can change depending on scripts.

My reasoning behind this is that the individual weapon modules are too specific to be fit onto most general purpose doctrine fittings. If you get into a fight against a target you are not prepared for, the module is completely and utterly useless. A waste of a mid slot. The utility of the sensor damps working on a wide variety of targets is why you are seeing the module being fit to unbonused doctrine ships and in larger fleets.

I feel that with the prevalence of dread drops on subcap fleets, the HAWs, and other random variables I felt that the module would see more use, and be better balanced if the two modules were merged and allowed to shift with scripts.

I am posting here to open the discussion to my proposal and see what the general thought is. I would love to fit general weapon disruptors alongside sensor damps in my doctrine fittings, able to refit on the fly from turret to missile disruption.

While I agree with you on this, there are many situations where that is simply not possible.

There is a reason why almost zero doctrines and fleets use tracking disruptors and one of the main reasons is that half of the ships in eve cannot be effected by the module, and damps have much more utility. Damps can work on DPS, Logi, ewar, etc.

A simple change by having weapon disruptors use scripts to effect both missiles or turrets does not change the specific effect, but instead increases the utility of the module itself.

it's all play and counter play it is a good thing not bad. You just don't want to need to think about your fits and doctrine


what is needed is a remote missile guidance enhancer :/

except they did that because almost no one used the eccm because there was a very slim chance of coming up against ecm. However most dedicated TD ships have more than enough mids to fit a MGD or two. If anything just go all out MGD or TD and be smarter about the targets you pick.

Ah, the slippery slope logical fallacy. It'll never happen. Any player who plays like that will not get very far in EVE. That was true before I started, it was true when I started, it has remained true since I started until today, it is still true today, and it will remain true into the foreseeable future.


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I am on the fence about merging weapon disruption. I do think they are clearly weak as they are now, but they would become very strong if merged. I do believe that every EWAR should have at least a small negative effect on any subcap ship target. ECM always has a chance of successful jam no matter how high their sensor strength, and aside from some rare niche fits, everybody strongly wants to be targeting things if not needs to be. Sensor dampening works along a similar principle; it is always an effective type of disruption because it affects opponents' ability to lock targets. Too many targets either don't use turrets or don't use launchers. Drone ships may not rely on either, but they still make use of one of the two. So if weapon disruptors were merged, virtually every target would be negatively affected, though there is still a very obvious counter: drones.

The issue on the other side--and none of you have brought this up yet--is that weapon disruptors can be very strong. They have such a high jam value that when used against same-size targets, you can often spread jams out and essentially nullify three enemy ships for each dedicated jamming ship on your side. It is easy to see how this can be weaker than completely removing their ability to lock targets, but when a skilled jammer can spread jams out so far and still be effective, it makes it so that weapon disruptors are sometimes the stronger choice.


I thought of two compromises:
1.) merge weapon jammers but nerf the jam value slightly
2.) keep them separate but add a module that can perform either type of weapon disruption but has a significantly weaker jam value


Food for thought.

#1 was my intention with the post. I do agree with this. I in no way wanted the module to effect both, i wanted a script that could change the type.

#2 i would agree would be a great choice as well. I would be happy with that.

Not entirely sure who you were talking to, however my suggestion gives more overall flexibilty by being able to be used on more targets with a little less instantaneous flexibility.

I feel that my fix allows greater strategic flexibility and an overall buff due to the fact that the only thing you're losing is switching from tracking disruptor to range disruptor would take longer. This actually forces some commitment while allowing tracking disruptors to engage a wider variety of ships.

I'm not sure why that is "nerfing the hell out of them" or me being "afraid of commitment", I was simply throwing out an idea which I believe could combine the two modules without overbuffing them or damaging the overall play of the game.

well you are afraid to commit to one or the other and instant swapping from range to application is a big deal in small fleets maybe not so much in a blob

you're right and all weapons should have selectable damage types as well.

you can either min max and go with all one type of WD or you can be less effective and bring a mix. This kind of choice is not bad

We all know how well received the swiss army knifes are in EVE (hint: Ishtar, Svipul, Supers, to name a few).

That aside, a multi-weapon disruption module still cannot compete with the effectiveness of the dampeners because they still cannot break the lock of a target or draw the target closer or significantly delay their target lock.