Kernel Dagger
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Posted - 2006.05.06 17:36:00 -
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Edited by: Kernel Dagger on 06/05/2006 17:40:59
I think you guys are approaching this from the wrong angle. You're out to change the overall balance by drastically changing the way the system works. By rebuilding the system from scratch, it will inherently require more balancing than just fixing the existing system through proper iteration.
Change the duration of the jam to be proportionate to the disparity in jam strength vs sensor strength. Don't change the way any of the jamming chance works. Don't nerf damage while using ECM.
Jam duration = (Jam Str / Target Sensor Strength) * (X * Jam Cycle Time(20sec)) (I suggest starting at 1.0 for X)
Under this change, you reach a much more balanced outcome:
ECCM - lowers jam chance AND jam duration
Racial jammers - Better chance to jam with higher duration, but only works on racial ships.
Multispec jammers - End up with lower chance to jam AND lower jam duration than racial
ECM Ships - Ships with bonuses to ecm strength will now be more useful than any random ship + ECM
Doing a quick evaluation will show some pretty interesting results:
A non-ecm ship with a multispec against a battleship will have a roughly 20% chance to jam for only 4 seconds.
A scorpion on the other hand, with the appropriate racial jammer will have a closer to 50% chance to jam for 10 seconds.
Against larger targets, it becomes much less of a "i win" button, since per jammer, you're only looking at being jammed for a fraction of the frequency with which they can attempt to jam you per module. If you have enough ECM levelled at your head that you are still jammed continuously, then you are dominated anyway you cut it.
Possible further tweaks to this system then become changing the way the jamming works. Instead of breaking the lock forcing you to relock at the end of the timer, and in effect increasing the jam duration by their lock time, instantly resume the previous locks. This, unfortunately breaks a very interesting side effect of ECM, which is the fact that it can be combined with Sensor Dampening to effectively increase the potency of your jamming. I'm not sure how I feel about this possible change, since I think one of the best parts of this game is the emergent design behind simple systems. How combining different strategies ends up with something greater than the sum of the parts.
Another further tweak is not allowing subsequent ECM cycles to restart the jam time. This requires more diligence on the part of the jammer to manage the ECM effectively. It also makes getting jammed by a group more bearable, since there's basically no way they're going to be able to effectively manage it appropriately... and if they do, then you're dominated either way :)
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