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A. ECM is a jamming tool. It makes sense that it would be used to disguise friendly mechs from detection, but how does it remove them completely from radar? That sounds more like the realm of Stealm Armor and Null Signature, and those are only single mech concealment
B. ECM must put out a hell of a lot of electromagnetic radiation to conceal all of it's targets and interfere with the opponents. Same as today's jamming technology, which to counter this, armies today employ anti-radiation weaponry (a prime example is the AGM-88 HARM), proving that it can be turned in against itself. It seems a bit counter-intuitive, because anyone simply scanning for the EM radiation the ECM puts out can detect it before they see it.
This gave me an idea that I derived from these points. Instead of concealing any mechs within the AoE, maybe instead it could behave more like the jammer that it is and confuse sensors instead of simply rendering them ineffective. To do that, here's my thoughts on what I'd do for ECM to turn it into more of a balanced unit.
Consider this scenario: two 8-mech teams are advancing on the ridge in Frozen city. Team A has an ECM equipped mech in their lances. As each team advances, Team B spots an enemy who is in the AoE of A's ECM mech, within the primary "layer" of ECM coverage. In this layer, mechs cannot be detected until the agressor enters that layer, at which point he can detect everything, but cannot relay anything back to his teammates, making coordination paramount. Because Team A's mech was not detected, he goes unnoticed.
A few seconds pass and another Team A mech is spotted, but this one is in the secondary layer of coverage. In this layer, the jamming is more evident to Team B. They are able to detect this mech, however with one twist. When detected, the signature for A-Mech, while in the secondary layer, is multiplied, turning one radar signature into 2 or three. This complicates things for Team B, as they can't tell if it's really one mech they're facing or three, which, if the team is coordinated, must provoke a response, possibly breaking up a formation if it prompts a strong enough response. On the other hand, Team A could also use this to essentially bum-bait an opponent into thinking one enemy is 3, luring them off and making a decoy mech much more appealing as bait. In a firefight, this could also help since multiple signatures will be popping up, and missile support and other mechs would have to work closely with friendlies to coordinate fire and sort through the chaos
TLDR, or to sum it up, my thoughts on ECM changes
- ECM function should be modified to reflect it's nature as a jamming system, not a stealth system.
- Two "layers" of ECM coverage should be used
- Primary layer: Close range to ECM carrier, similar to existing functionality. All mechs in range would be concealed, but if opponent gets into range, they can detect everything but relay nothing out
- Secondary layer: Longer range around ECM carrier. Takes friendly radar signatures when detected by the enemy and multiplies them from one signature into two or three. Makes decoys more appealing, encourages teamwork, sows manageable chaos in coordinated teams
- ECM modes of Disrupt and Counter still exist, still function the same
