20 replies to this topic

[ReD3y3]

It has brought alot of depth to our 8 man drops.

Our group went from 4 on a night to 20+ the last two nights.

8 man plays a big part in this yes, but so has ECM. Our team is really excited about the tactical aspect of it and what it brings.

Those who cry foul are relying too much on LRMs and streaks.

Those weapons can still be used mind you. But are niche.

ECM has no effect on direct fire weapons. Lasers/ballistics

Thanks for the good implementation of ECM.

Hopefully this topic header will be up there with the negative ones of ECM so the devs can see ECM is supported.

[PurpleNinja]

See, some are happy.

[Mond3]

I like ECM as well. The introduction of ECM has changed the game from a death match frag fest to tactical shooter.

[RumRunner151]

The last couple days of regular and 8-man drops have been the best I have played.

[Apoc1138]

I like ECM as well, it's added an extra layer of depth to gameplay

[AgroAlba]

I pug exclusively, and I'm loving ECM. Brings way more depth and challenge to the game.

[Fugu]

The randoms complaining about ECM just need a bit of time to figure ECM out, that's all. It's not as powerful as some make it out to be.
I actually see people panicing when they get into my ECM range even though they carry no weapons that are affected by it.
It's pretty much like like lights that run away when they take MG-fire. Once they realise that it's pretty harmless, there will be a lot less complaining.

The Streakcat players on the other hand can eat a ****. Streakcat doesn't work anymore? Good riddance!

[Havyek]

The problem I've been having with ECM is that it renders sniper 'Mechs almost ineffective in that a group can run 1-2 ECM equipped 'Mechs, and walk invisible up the middle and anyone who runs into them gets 8v1/2/3.
In these cases, the scout is effectively eliminated due to the fact that certain "scout" chassis that carry ECM have been reduced to ECM bots.

[Icebound]

I only ever used streaks to deal with lagging light mechs. Since netcode probably won't even be fixed this year, how are we supposed to kill them?

I saw a lagging raven with ECM yesterday kill half my team without receiving so much as a scratch, and all he was doing was running in circles shooting a couple of medium lasers.

[Seanamal]

BDU Havoc, on 06 December 2012 - 09:17 AM, said:

The problem I've been having with ECM is that it renders sniper 'Mechs almost ineffective in that a group can run 1-2 ECM equipped 'Mechs, and walk invisible up the middle and anyone who runs into them gets 8v1/2/3.
In these cases, the scout is effectively eliminated due to the fact that certain "scout" chassis that carry ECM have been reduced to ECM bots.

Sniper mechs can still function they just need to learn to target without the box. Try thermal vision.

Icebound, on 06 December 2012 - 09:17 AM, said:

I only ever used streaks to deal with lagging light mechs. Since netcode probably won't even be fixed this year, how are we supposed to kill them?

I saw a lagging raven with ECM yesterday kill half my team without receiving so much as a scratch, and all he was doing was running in circles shooting a couple of medium lasers.

Equip a tag in place of a medium laser. Assign it to group 1. Hold down 1 key as you target. when you get streak lock fire streak group. PROBLEM SOLVED.

[Agent 0 Fortune]

ReD3y3, on 06 December 2012 - 08:07 AM, said:

It has brought alot of depth to our 8 man drops.

Our group went from 4 on a night to 20+ the last two nights.

8 man plays a big part in this yes, but so has ECM. Our team is really excited about the tactical aspect of it and what it brings.

Those who cry foul are relying too much on LRMs and streaks.

Those weapons can still be used mind you. But are niche.

ECM has no effect on direct fire weapons. Lasers/ballistics

I have not noticed any "tactical depth", I do see teams with ECM steam rolling non-ECM teams.

Maybe by tactical depth you mean that your scouts don't get killed anymore, ever.
Or you no longer worry about LRMs, and can just walk up the middle of the map and snipe everything.

The only time ECM provides any tactical depth is when both teams are running heavy ECM or when neither team is running ECM, because the only counter to ECM, is more ECM. Which is why it is a broken and overpowered mechanic.

[Helbourne]

ReD3y3 you sir are silly calling LRMs and Streaks niche weapons. By doing that you clumped them in with machine guns. Missles play a huge roll in warfare. Agent O Fortune is correct. It is just messed up the only real way to counter ECM is by having ECM+1 on the countering side.

[Murrrks]

ECM is fine - just add an additional counter or limit on how many it can cloak.

[BigJim]

Agent 0 Fortune, on 06 December 2012 - 09:40 AM, said:

Maybe by tactical depth you mean that your scouts don't get killed anymore, ever.
Or you no longer worry about LRMs, and can just walk up the middle of the map and snipe everything.

Politely, bollocks.

I was running a 3-man striker team within our larger 8-man last night.
Frozen City, the enemy were keeping their heads down, no heat-sigs, no sensor blips.

I took our lance (2x Cicada 3M, 1x Raven 3L) through the cave, held at the top of the ramp, looking down on enemy base.
2x Discos, 1x Ilya, and 1x 4SP, so that must mean only 6x enemies on the board..

Still no sign of the enemy.
Let's draw them out, since there's no base defenders, right?

We make a bee-line for the base, run over the cap to trigger the nice lady's voice and jump down into the canyon behind the base, with the intention of scooting round to our side of the dropship - The intention to make the enemy pop out from their ECM-shielded hidey-holes and give us some locations to relay to the main force (a mixed bag of 1x atlas, 2x cat & a couple hunchies).

Within like, 3 secs of hitting the cap, the enemy scout lance of 2x Triple-Streakmmandos & 1x Raven was on us; They must have been running screen in their own midfield, rather that pushing out like we did.

Torn on whether to engage one and a half Streak-cat's worth of firepower, or to flee thus giving them our backs, we tried a fighting retreat, each scout hitting the enemy and then falling back, letting the next guy in turn fire, and fall-back, etc..

Needless to say this failed miserably, and I got my little scout team killed in short order.



Was it a bad call? Yes, absolutely, and in hindsight knowing the enemy were down 2-men should have told me at once they would be in a more defensive posture, with guys in position to respond to the base quicker than normal.

Were we overconfident in our ECM's ability to let us get in, out and shake it all about without taking much, if any return fire?
Damn right we were.

Did we die horribly? Um, yes.


Moral of the story (other than don't make bad calls) is that scouts with ECM can and do die just like any other mech.
Had the enemy scout lance been 3x Laser-Jenners (no ECM) with good pilots, we'd have likely been just as dead.

ECM does not make your scouts invincible, nor does it give you an easy-win button (in the end the enemy lost 8-3, if you account for the 2x discos, make that 8-5, a more than respectable showing by them).
What it does do is open up a bunch more tactical options within the match.

* Could it be modified slightly?
Probably, and who knows what, if any impact that would have on gameplay.

* Could the chassis that allow ECM be changed?
Yes, less reliance on streaks would be excellent, thus meaning you don't always have to run more ECM than the enemy in order to be an effective scout.

Right now you *have* to overpower the enemy ECM or you'll be streaked to death every single time; What with the Raven packing 2x and the Commie packing 3x streaks - And let's be clear - It's always but always Streaks.


But in the main, I don't see ECM as the problem that many think it is.
You just need to think a bit differently that we're used to from so many months of playing and thinking we know everything already.

[Seanamal]

Damn straight Big Jim. ECM lets you come up with new tactics and forces you to abandon some older unbalanced ones. It does not however break the game. It changes the game. The two are very different things.

Edited by Seanamal, 06 December 2012 - 01:55 PM.

[Valaska]

ReD3y3, on 06 December 2012 - 08:07 AM, said:

It has brought alot of depth to our 8 man drops.

Our group went from 4 on a night to 20+ the last two nights.

8 man plays a big part in this yes, but so has ECM. Our team is really excited about the tactical aspect of it and what it brings.

Those who cry foul are relying too much on LRMs and streaks.

Those weapons can still be used mind you. But are niche.

ECM has no effect on direct fire weapons. Lasers/ballistics

Thanks for the good implementation of ECM.

Hopefully this topic header will be up there with the negative ones of ECM so the devs can see ECM is supported.

ReD3y3, on 06 December 2012 - 08:07 AM, said:

It has brought alot of depth to our 8 man drops.

Our group went from 4 on a night to 20+ the last two nights.

8 man plays a big part in this yes, but so has ECM. Our team is really excited about the tactical aspect of it and what it brings.

Those who cry foul are relying too much on LRMs and streaks.

Those weapons can still be used mind you. But are niche.

ECM has no effect on direct fire weapons. Lasers/ballistics

Thanks for the good implementation of ECM.

Hopefully this topic header will be up there with the negative ones of ECM so the devs can see ECM is supported.

Actually I think its really hampering play-styles period, because now the game in situated on 6-8 atlas all with ECM, if you try a mixed force against it you can do some real damage, even take the team down once in awhile but to stand toe to toe with 8 Atlas' all with ECM is pretty nuts lol.

[Vlad Ward]

Valaska, on 06 December 2012 - 02:20 PM, said:

Actually I think its really hampering play-styles period, because now the game in situated on 6-8 atlas all with ECM, if you try a mixed force against it you can do some real damage, even take the team down once in awhile but to stand toe to toe with 8 Atlas' all with ECM is pretty nuts lol.

The sooner people realize that the Atlas chassis is mediocre at best compared to real heavy hitters like the CTF-3D, CTF-4X, and the CPLT-K2, the sooner we can all get over this "8 D-DC team" boogeyman nonsense.

[FallenFactol]

I love ECM too. It makes the game Mechwarrior again.

[MouseNo4]

ECM is not all powerful. Don't rely on LRMs or streaks for your entire weapons array and load up on some direct fire weapons. Or better yet stay close to your team mates who are so whilst he is laying down the smack down with lasers, autocannons and SRMs you can support him with your LRM/streak boat.

[Psikez]

ECMs don't kill people. AC20s kill people. You'd think ECM was a long tom artillery from the forums