Meytal
School of Applied Knowledge
Caldari State
129
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Posted - 2012.11.19 20:16:00 -
[1] - Quote
After the change, ECM will still be crazy good. Even if it beats the odds and hits, it can change the course of battle because it is an all-or-nothing kind of effect. Instead of being incrementally effective, ECM use is either devastating or laughable.
ECM really targets two aspects of targeting: max number of targets, and the ability to reacquire a target lock. Presently, if successful, max targets is reduced to 0, and by definition no new targets may be locked.
It was briefly mentioned before, but what if partial success were possible? I may not achieve complete success on a jam cycle, but suppose I am able to break 4 out of my target's 6 locks? And since I wasn't completely successful at jamming, maybe the target can reacquire locks after 10-15 seconds, instead of the full cycle. I should be able to fit scripts that either boost the number of target locks that I break or boost the length of time I prevent my target from reacquiring locks.
This concept could be extended to drones as well, though the effects should be significantly diminished; if partial successes are possible, drones can be scaled in this manner, as opposed to the present time. A new drone module could be scripted to affect ECM drone characteristics as well.
ECM should also affect the target's drones since, in theory, the ship is still controlling the drone's activities; drone targets should be valid "targets" for ECM modules and drones. FoF drones could be a cute counter, making me think of the bullets in Who Framed Roger Rabbit :)
* Note, affecting drone targeting should only happen in the context of POS ECM balancing (read: nerfing), since that is the only counter to POS ECM available to w-space C4-C1 residents.
The difficulty for a full jam could even be increased to make it more difficult in light of partial successes, particularly since a completely successful jam should ultimately reduce max targets to 0, force your drones to lose their targets as well, and prevent you from reacquiring any target lock for a full cycle.
The proposed racial ECM-defense skills need not be implemented (for all the reasons already mentioned). ECCM would be more generally useful as ECM is no longer all-or-nothing. Unbonused application might be useful in a GTFO mechanic, as you might get lucky and break the lock of the person scramming you.
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