I'd prefer if ECM affected everybody, friend or foe. Using ECM away from friendlies or foes would be beneficial for scouting as it lets you advance into forward areas under some cover...but it wouldn't aid your friendlies because your ECM blocks even your data link. Not until you switch to detect would you be able to transmit contacts back to friends.
Running ECM amoung foes would disrupt their sensors and data links, but require you be among them alone...because if you have friends nearby, they get screwed too. Running in detect near friends would improve all friends locks through the datalink.
My long winded idea more or less fleshed out last night:
http://mwomercs.com/...y-views-on-ecm/
CocoaJin, on 12 September 2014 - 09:49 PM, said:
ECM is apparently supposed to have two modes, one that provides improved detection like BAP, or the other which is essentially jamming.
Improved detection mode should extend detection ranges for the user mech(providing full target detail), but also make him easier to detect by the enemy by approximatly 2x the detection range of the ECM detect user(but with no target detail). Ex: Detect user gets full target data at let's say 750m, the enemy gets only a target square at 1500m, but no target info). Perhaps using it generates small amounts of heat...not making you hotter, just not letting you cool.
Jamming mode is basically sensory noise. In theory, it could have possibly been set for a selective unit or sensor suite, but doing so would have left it detectable by every other unit and every other sensory suite...so instead, it uses broad/multi-spectrum disruption. Once again, maybe it generates some heat so you can't or it is harder to cool.
Jamming would not be pure stealth. It wouldn't be gauranteed protection from locks and it wouldn't distinguish between friend or foe.
Jamming would produce intermittent contacts, locks and displaced locks with no IDing info when at its outer range(intermittent and erroneous blips, requiring line of sight to confirm) of let's say 1000m.
At intermediate ECM range(750m), you'd get displaced locks that improve as you close, but it would take longer to achieve locks, intermittent IDing would appear. Standard/conventional missiles such as LRM and Streaks would still work per canon, but would be affected by longer lock times and would suffer decreased accuracy(increased missile spread and misses).
ECM would affect all, friend or foe. Two opposing ECMs on Jamming mode wouldn't counter each other, it would make it worse for all within their overlapping range.
An ECM on detect mode would not hard counter an ECM on jam, it would only reduce the effectiveness and lock delay of the jamming for the detect mode user only...this detect soft counter to jam would not stack...meaning two ECM on detect would not eliminate the jamming or stack the soft counter effect. Target link data from the detect ECM users would only transfer a portion of its soft counter to allies. Receiving target data link from a friendly ECM on detect would result in you having lock values worse than that of the friendly ECM on detect that's relaying the target data to you.
Being in close proximity(200m) to an ECM on jam would produce static, slight view screen wash-out and intermittent HUD disruption for all, friend or foe.
Edited by CocoaJin, 13 September 2014 - 11:47 AM.
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