| Author |
LONG.... ECM/ECCM/Scanners /Sensors in General |
Lupino
Cadet
Joined: March 23, 2002
Posts: 359
|  Posted: 2004-03-24 16:27
Since it's been revealed that cloak is changing in .482 and ecm/eccm is not, I figured it's time we do change them 
Sensors in General/Scanners
Currently, once an object is in range of any object, be it a planet or ship, you can tell what the ship is, it’s hull and shield/armor strength, its name, and what it had for breakfast (well, maybe not that last part, but you get my meaning). Same thing for planets, you know number of buildings, infantry, shield strength, ect. Basically, everything a scout should be doing for you is done automatically (…..it’s called foreshadowing people ^_^ )
Under the new system, which I believe someone on the dev team may have already talked about, you lose this ability. Now, of course you know a planet is there because, well, it’s a big ball of gas/dirt/ect. and that’s pretty hard to miss in a solar system. But in order to tell it’s shield strength, ect. you’re going to have to get close in order to find that out. How close depends on the range of your sensors, which are augmented by scanners (the usual, no big changes). It would still be possible to jump close enough in your bad-arse dread to find out what you need to know about the planet, but it’s with enemy ships that the changes really come into play.
If an enemy ship comes within your sensor range and has a high enough signature, no longer will you know just who or what it is. Instead all that will pop up is the Little Yellow Box of the Unknown!!!! (a little yellow box identifying that something is there  ) Finding out just what it is will depend on a)how close you are b)scanners. Being the arbitrary man I am, let’s say you in your destroyer detects something ~3000gu from your position. Let’s say you move to within 2000gu, and suddenly your target window ID’s it as something “Big” (for now let’s say big includes dreads and stations). So you move to around 1500gu of the target, and now the target window is calling it a “Dreadnaught”, and being a curious little fellow, you move to within 1000gu. Now you know it’s an ICC Dreadnaught, oh joy! You being the l33t UGTO dessy you are, you jump to within 500gu, ready to blow it to bits. Now you can see it’s an Assault Dread, his name is Lupino, he’s at full health and armor, and a second later (since he can see you too) he jumps right on top of you and blows you to bits. Pwned!!!!!
The same would work on a fleet-wide level. Do you jump your armada of cruisers on top of the multitude of unknown signals, taking a 50/50 chance it could be some weak n00bs in frigates or a bunch of Dreads that’ll kick you butt? No! So, how do you prevent yourself from getting pwned? The answer is simple, really. Scanners and Scouts/Frigates. Scanners will increase the range of your normal sensors by x amount letting you detect a ship’s signature from longer range (just like right now) and Scouts and Frigates will be the ones sent to investigate unknown signals, being able to recharge their jump drives quickly and best of all, they’re Free!!! No wasting credits on a destroyer just to send him to his death, just send a frigate and if it dies, oh well, no loss to you (well, maybe the person who was driving it, but it won’t be that big a deal either ^_^ )
ECM/ECCM
Now, we know that in .482 ECM/ECCM will have no effect on cloaking, and (I think) would remain the same boring raise/lower your sig by x. blah!
IRL, electronic counter measures involve jamming an enemy’s tracking abilities, usually by creating a lot of white noise and preventing a missile from locking on to a signal, instead seeing a big blob of something (correct me if I’m wrong, military people); It does not make you invisible! So, why not model DS’s ECM on this concept?
Proposal 1: Similar to our own, except different. For every ECM device activated, there is an X % chance an enemy’s missile, torpedo, weapon shot, laser beam, ect. will not hit you and instead go wide. This percent would increase at a linear rate for each device. For every ECCM device activated, it’s the exact opposite, instead canceling out one ECM. So if someone was running 2 ECM and you had 1 ECCM, the two cancel each other out leaving his one ECM. This would stack with fleets (so if their whole fleet is running 5 ECM and your whole fleet is running 4 ECCM, they all benefit from one ECM)
Proposal 2: Same as #1, except ECCM decreases a percent of one ECM. For example, you’re running an ECCM and he’s running an ECM. Normally his ECM would make (arbitrary number) 25% of your shots miss, but with your ECCM running only 15% of your shots will miss (depending on his skills at dodging, of course). This also stacks with multiple ships.
Proposal 3: 1 ECM is all you need, as it will create so much white noise the enemy’s shots can’t help but miss. However, for every ECCM device the enemy has activated, they negate your ECM field by X %. So say you were running 1 ECM and the enemy was running 4 ECCM which negated (arbitrary number) 20% of your ECM. This would mean that 80% of their shots will miss you, and the other 20% shots depend on your flying skills. However, running just one ECM will light you up like a Christmas tree, imaging a whole fleet running ECM (the ECM range would be big enough for 2-3 ships, so to cover a whole fleet you’d need several ships running ECM)
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[Edit: Added spaces to the subject, as it was screwing up the Latest Topics box without them - Shig]
[ This Message was edited by: Shigernafy on 2004-03-24 18:07 ]
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Binks
1st Rear Admiral
Joined: November 28, 2003
Posts: 469
| Posted: 2004-03-24 18:28
Great plan, Really like proposal 1. Would love to see scouts have a real purpose (since I love using them and am unsubbed  )
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Lupino
Cadet
Joined: March 23, 2002
Posts: 359
| Posted: 2004-03-27 19:36
*bump*
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Lupino
Cadet
Joined: March 23, 2002
Posts: 359
| Posted: 2004-04-15 18:50
... oh c'mon, I can't be that hated can I?
Any thoughts?
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Jim Starluck
Marshal
Templar Knights
Joined: October 22, 2001
Posts: 2232
From: Cincinnati, OH
| Posted: 2004-04-15 20:04
What would ECCM do if nobody was running ECM?
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Pope
Fleet Admiral
Joined: June 11, 2002
Posts: 2449
From: World of tomorrow
| Posted: 2004-04-15 20:22
Quote:
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On 2004-04-15 20:04, Jim Starluck wrote:
What would ECCM do if nobody was running ECM?
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Nuttin.. thats what it should do.
Its a measure of detecting ECM, thereby turning the tide.
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