Electronic Countermeasures: Difference between revisions

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Drones can also be an effective option. ECM ships often have trouble defending themselves against drones: drones keep fighting even if their parent ship is jammed and, although a single drone is easily jammed, the coordination and time required to lock onto and jam a full flight -- assuming the ECM pilot even has five jammers -- are considerable. Griffins and Kitsunes mount small weapons which can hurt drones, but usually can't tank the drones for long enough; a Blackbird fitted with Assault Missile Launchers (not Heavy Assault, Assault) and a large plate or shield extender might be able to destroy drones, but the pilot would still be distracted.

== Flying ECM: Basics ==

Although flying an ECM ship can involve tough targeting decisions and complex jammer micromanagement (see below!), when you start out you can make things fairly simple for yourself. Assuming you're not flying a large, tanked ship (the Scorpion) or a ship with a covops cloak (the Falcon) -- in which case you should know what you're doing anyway -- you need to:

* be near the edge of your optimal range

* fight aligned

* run away if you're being shot

On most ECM ships ECM's long optimal range is one of the things that keeps you out of trouble, so you should try to warp to targets at your optimal range, ''not'' at zero. (Sometimes you will have to fight at short range -- if the enemy jump into an [[Gatecamps|offensive gatecamp]], for example.)

Your best way of staying alive is to warp out, and to be able to warp out quick enough if something starts attacking you you should be pre-aligned. When you arrive on-grid where a fight's happening, or when a fight starts where you are, you should quickly select a convenient celestial object (planets are good) and align to it.

Then, if you find yourself being targeted or if the FC orders the fleet to scatter, you can get out quickly by warping to the celestial you're aligned to. If the fight's still going on, you can then warp back in (warp at your optimal range to one of your fleetmates who was in the middle of things) and carry on jamming.

With more experience you may notice situations where it might be worth staying around until you die to get a crucial jam in, but that's something you have to make a call on yourself. In uni fleets warping out to save your ship is absolutely fine.

== Flying ECM: Targets ==

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You can see with this example that it is in your best interest to use as little number of jammers on your targets until you get an actual jam. Remember that the activation time of ECM modules is 20 seconds, which is the same length of time that the jam will last.

If you want to you can turn the auto-repeat on your jammers off. This is one of the options in the menu you get when you right-click the jammer's button on your HUD when you're in space. With auto-repeat off your jammers will deactivate after every cycle, saving you the trouble of deactivating them yourself if their target is already jammed by another jammer.

=== Jamming and aggression ===

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Like many other modules, ECM jammers can be [[Overloading|overheated]]. Overheating an ECM jammer increases its jamming strength. This can be very useful but, as with ECM in general, since it only increases your chance to jam, it's still a gamble: overheated jammers can fail to jam their targets, and when that happens you still have the heat damage from overheating. And, just like any other module that can be overheated, if you overheat too much you'll burn your jammers out. You may find it useful to persuade a fellow unista to be your practice dummy, letting you practice overheating and get a feel for how long you can heat your jammers before you do it in battle.

If in doubt, don't overheat. Better to miss a few jams than to miss ''all'' the jams after the first minute because you burned your midslots out.

If in doubt, don't overheat. Better to miss a few jams than to miss ''all'' the jams after the first minute because you burned your midslots out. Once you're confident with overheating, though, it can be a useful tool.

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 Drones can also be an effective option. ECM ships often have trouble defending themselves against drones: drones keep fighting even if their parent ship is jammed and, although a single drone is easily jammed, the coordination and time required to lock onto and jam a full flight -- assuming the ECM pilot even has five jammers -- are considerable. Griffins and Kitsunes mount small weapons which can hurt drones, but usually can't tank the drones for long enough; a Blackbird fitted with Assault Missile Launchers (not Heavy Assault, Assault) and a large plate or shield extender might be able to destroy drones, but the pilot would still be distracted.
+== Flying ECM: Basics ==
+Although flying an ECM ship can involve tough targeting decisions and complex jammer micromanagement (see below!), when you start out you can make things fairly simple for yourself. Assuming you're not flying a large, tanked ship (the Scorpion) or a ship with a covops cloak (the Falcon) -- in which case you should know what you're doing anyway -- you need to:
+* be near the edge of your optimal range
+* fight aligned
+* run away if you're being shot
+On most ECM ships ECM's long optimal range is one of the things that keeps you out of trouble, so you should try to warp to targets at your optimal range, ''not'' at zero. (Sometimes you will have to fight at short range -- if the enemy jump into an [[Gatecamps|offensive gatecamp]], for example.)
+Your best way of staying alive is to warp out, and to be able to warp out quick enough if something starts attacking you you should be pre-aligned. When you arrive on-grid where a fight's happening, or when a fight starts where you are, you should quickly select a convenient celestial object (planets are good) and align to it.
+Then, if you find yourself being targeted or if the FC orders the fleet to scatter, you can get out quickly by warping to the celestial you're aligned to. If the fight's still going on, you can then warp back in (warp at your optimal range to one of your fleetmates who was in the middle of things) and carry on jamming.
+With more experience you may notice situations where it might be worth staying around until you die to get a crucial jam in, but that's something you have to make a call on yourself. In uni fleets warping out to save your ship is absolutely fine.
 == Flying ECM: Targets ==
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 You can see with this example that it is in your best interest to use as little number of jammers on your targets until you get an actual jam. Remember that the activation time of ECM modules is 20 seconds, which is the same length of time that the jam will last.
+If you want to you can turn the auto-repeat on your jammers off. This is one of the options in the menu you get when you right-click the jammer's button on your HUD when you're in space. With auto-repeat off your jammers will deactivate after every cycle, saving you the trouble of deactivating them yourself if their target is already jammed by another jammer.
 === Jamming and aggression ===
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 Like many other modules, ECM jammers can be [[Overloading|overheated]]. Overheating an ECM jammer increases its jamming strength. This can be very useful but, as with ECM in general, since it only increases your chance to jam, it's still a gamble: overheated jammers can fail to jam their targets, and when that happens you still have the heat damage from overheating. And, just like any other module that can be overheated, if you overheat too much you'll burn your jammers out. You may find it useful to persuade a fellow unista to be your practice dummy, letting you practice overheating and get a feel for how long you can heat your jammers before you do it in battle.
-If in doubt, don't overheat. Better to miss a few jams than to miss ''all'' the jams after the first minute because you burned your midslots out.
+If in doubt, don't overheat. Better to miss a few jams than to miss ''all'' the jams after the first minute because you burned your midslots out. Once you're confident with overheating, though, it can be a useful tool.