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[Rawrshuga]

The Guardian ECM suite as of the 18th December 2012 patch is IMO currently overpowered, and a simple, basic change could be done to: -

i) Make the Guardian ECM more balanced
ii) Bring in more in line with the Guardian ECM from the Battletech canon.

To provide some context I will state that I am a light mech pilot and currently I do pilot the ECM equipped RVN-3L. So this does not come from a light mech hating, ECM flaming, assault mecher.


The Guardian ECM suite. An overview:

Currently (as of 18th December 2012) the Guardian ECM does the following: -


- cloaks all friendly mechs within 180m of the ECM from enemy sensors, preventing targeting and locking outside of 200m.
- nullifies bonuses from Narc missile beacon
- nullifies bonuses from Artemis
- nullifies bonuses from Tag
- nullifies range bonuses from Beagle Active Probe
- disrupts enemy targeting systems when within 180m (low signal)
- (in COUNTER mode) nullifies enemy ECM within 180m of the ECM mech.

Most of these effects are true to Battletech canon with 2 exceptions. Guardian ECM never provided 'cloaking' nor did it counter the effects of hostile ECM. And IMO it is this 'cloaking' that highly unbalances the game.


The effect of ECM 'cloak' in game:

The cloak provided by the ECM for friendly mechs prevents enemy mechs from identifying and targeting mechs regardless of range. It, in effect, disrupts enemy targeting systems throughout the entire map, not just the 180m range of the ECM. In essence it replicates the effect of having the ECM within 180m of the enemy, however this range is now from 200m to infinity.


Proposed Solution:

The cloak effect for friendly mechs, I think, is the crux of the inbalance. Simply removing this effect from the game should make the Guardian ECM a more balanced, yet still highly useful tool.

The eyeball symbol would remain as it denotes that these mechs are 'protected' from NARC, Tag, etc., however, 'jamming' enemy targeting would no longer occur across the entire map.

Instead the ECM mech would have to (sneakily) close into its 180m disrupt range to 'jam' enemy targeting. Enemy would be clued into this with the 'low signal' indicator but would be hard pressed to find the ECM mech since all shared targeting and target identification is now nullified.

While the enemy team attempts to locate the ECM mech, friendlies could now approach under cloak (since enemy targeting is now disrupted).

Essentially the ECM would still fulfill all the roles intended for it, but just makes the ability to disrupt standard targeting only effective within the 180m zone, rather than across the entire map. This gives ECM 2 possible roles: -

i) stay close to friendlies to counteract the effects of advanced targeting like, NARC, Tag, and Artemis.
ii) attempt to close in to enemy formations to disrupt all their electrical systems, including basic targeting.

Thus requiring a bit more skill and bravado on the part of the ECM pilot to achieve the massive benefit of preventing the enemy mechs from targeting your friendlies.

This change would then also necessitate the removal the ability of ECM to COUNTER enemy ECM since the Guardian was never an ECCM system to begin with, and the rebalance would remove the need for an ECCM since target disruption only occurs when the enemy mech is in short range anyway.

[In current gameplay an ECCM mech would have to close in to within 180m of the ECM to counter its disruption and allow the ECCM mech's friendlies to now target the enemy normally. This puts the initiative in the hands of the ECM mech's team, and forces the counter to wade into enemy territory uncloaked in order to level the playing field, rather than making the disruption of enemy targeting a benefit gained by having an ECM equipped mech take a risk to provide its team with the advantage. Removing the 'cloak' would then require that COUNTER be removed so that an ECM mech that takes the risk of closing in is duly rewarded for doing so and not simply outplayed with a press of the 'J' button.]


I sincerely hope the developers take note of this suggestion and see some value in it, as it is something I'd very much like to see happen in the next patch. Meanwhile, I'll keep running my ECM equipped Raven to give my team the best advantage I can, or at very least level the playing field into a 200m ranged slugfest.


Cheers,
Rawrshuga
Raven pilot, shooter of mechs in the rear, and annoying pest in general.

[Lyoto Machida]

No one bothered commenting on this? I think PGI should at least try it.