24 replies to this topic

[Foxfire]

Mcgral18, on 02 November 2014 - 12:11 PM, said:

To be a usable weapon?

That would be nice. They are rather terribad right now.

LRM's are situational for being able to kill.. but a lot of people underestimate the power of being able to suppress a target and force them to stay behind cover. Which also means that they also don't understand how to properly capitalize on it... sadly.

[Foxfire]

Krivvan, on 02 November 2014 - 11:28 AM, said:

The problem is how the ECM mainly exists to counter LRMs (not being able to target a mech isn't really a hindrance to any direct fire mechs, and they still get spotted easily) which are currently either very useless or require a ton of effort and weight to make halfway useful. Much of the equipment in the game unfortunately revolves around LRMs, yet LRMs are nullified during trading situations (enemy pokes for a second, fires, then gets back into cover before your LRMs are halfway there).

The problem is that LRMs need a rework to make them more interesting. To make them harder to use at first, yet simaltaneously increasing their skill cap and have them actually be useful at higher levels. Then we can talk about ECM and BAP and etc.

Actually, now that I've put more thought into it... Tieing this system so closely with countering LRM's is precisely where they went wrong.

The ability to actually spot and paint targets(aka highlight them and report who you have targeted back to your lance mates) really should take more time to happen as a whole. By having near instantaneous target recognition as a default, you really diminish the power of scouting in this game. You also limit what you can do to make systems such as the BAP and ECM useful.

It should take a set amount of time actually observing a target before they are marked out by the onboard computer and equipment such as the BAP should reduce this time while equipment like the ECM should increase this time.

[Foxfire]

So with the BAP range increase coming into effect today, I think that a serious discussion needs to happen on information warfare and the roles of each system. Too much of the system is focused on ECM and counter ECM and not on actual control of information. I understand why this is, with ECM currently being so strong and with the current speed of information gathering in general.

Information speed, starting from target painting all the way to gathering detail and countering these aspects need to be addressed. Ultimately I would like to see things like being able to generate decoy blips, generate false mech details, active and passive radar modes but there are first steps that need to be taken.. and I feel that the first step is to address the elephant that is the current ECM functionality.

[senaiboy]

I agree, they really need to expand on the Information Warfare bit.

Prolonging the information gathering is a good idea, ideally leading to delay in sharing of information with friendly LRM boats, ultimately reducing the potential of indirect LRM fire. In that case there won't be a need for ECM bubble and Guardian ECM can actually do what it is supposed to do.

BAP and information gathering module will also actually be useful without any buffs.

The ECM bubble is the most ridiculous aspect of this whole debacle and PGI seems really stubborn on their own thinking.

[ExAstris]

As has been the case since day one, the biggest problem with ECM is the total radar deprivation beyond 200m.

BAP changes are a move in the right direction, but only because it effectively cuts that range down.

Why not just cut that range down by default? Why not cut it to zero?

I'm seeing significantly fewer ECM on the field now thanks to BAP, and significantly fewer landslide wins due to a whole team being under stealth and rolling the other team without them knowing where they are until most of their allies are dead and they're under direct fire.

Matches are better without the stealth field, just straight up remove it already. Rebalance LRMs if you have to afterwards, but I really doubt that'll be necessary. Very little ECM coverage exists in the current environment and the game has been dramatically improved because of it.