ECM system check
26th August 2010 – 5.35 pmI spy some bookmarks in our shared can. Being able to jump straight in to my Manticore stealth bomber to roam the day's w-space constellation is convenient. But warping to where our static wormhole should be only finds empty space. It looks like I'll need to scan after all. Seeing me swap to my Buzzard covert operations boat a colleague mentions that the wormhole must have only just died, as he came through it in his new Loki strategic cruiser minutes ago. That was good timing. Understanding that a new static wormhole is now present he joins me to help scan.
Jumping through to the neighbouring class 4 w-space system finds a tower with an unpiloted Moa cruiser sitting inside it, but only just. The Moa may be close to the edge of the tower's force field but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, and it is as safe near the border as in the centre. Scanning the system reveals only a few signatures and the local static wormhole is soon resolved, leading in to another C4. There are no occupants in the second C4 and two pilots scanning makes quick work of finding a couple of wormholes, one an incoming EOL connection from a C2 and the other the static wormhole, again leading to a C4. We leave the EOL K162 alone and jump through the static connection.
There are two towers visible on the directional scanner. But as there are no ships to be seen I launch probes and begin scanning before locating the towers. The system has been thoroughly plundered, only three signatures returned on a full scan. My colleague's skills lets him disregard the ladar site and find the static wormhole in the time it takes me to locate the system's two towers, the second of which has no defences at all. Breaking the string of class 4 systems the static connection leads in to a C3, which we jump to.
Lots of customs offices can be seen around various planets in the C3 but there is no tower to suggest occupancy. My colleague finds another K162 wormhole, this one coming from a class 2 system, and as K162s imply active capsuleers I jump through to investigate as he continues scanning the C3. I find three towers in the C2 with a piloted Drake battlecruiser in one of them. It doesn't look like the capsuleer is doing anything, though. Despite having passed through the system's static wormhole to enter, having jumped from the K162 side, I launch probes and scan anyway. Class 2 w-space systems generally have a second wormhole available. And I find one, an exit to high-sec empire space, but it is reaching the end of its natural lifetime.
Meanwhile, my colleague has found the static wormhole in the class 3 system, another exit to empire space, this time to a low-sec system. He jumps through and sees on d-scan a Drake and wrecks of NPC ships, and the local channel conveniently informs him that they are the only two pilots in the system. Nothing is happening in w-space and this Drake looks tempting, so I make the jumps to return to our tower and swap in to my Falcon, overcompensatingly eager to try out my new toy, whilst the scout ahead tries to locate the Drake. I also bring back a second colleague in a Harbinger, in case the scout is able to locate the Drake, but the battlecruiser pilot leaves the low-sec system.
We aren't going to get any combat today, it seems. But I have some valid targets. My Falcon recon ship is fitted for ECM and I am keen to practice jamming. I already have a crib to remind me how the colour of each jammer relates to the racial sensor types. In fact, I have taken the crib one step further and arranged my modules in alphabetical order of racial types, so my monkey brain can work out more quickly which button to use to jam Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, or Minmatar ships. And I have an Amarr Harbinger battlecruiser and Gallente Proteus strategic cruiser in front of me, comprising our small fleet.
I lock on to the friendly ships and apply ECM of the appropriate type to both. The reactions tell me that I am successfully jamming any attempt to target me back, just as much as the jamming timer displayed under the ship does. The ECM is successful for a few cycles before the first failure, at which point drones would no doubt start chewing through my plastic armour, but this is a good first test of flying the Falcon, and perhaps better than against hostile targets. And we have no hostile targets still, even checking the systems on our route home. I stow the Falcon in the hangar again and go off-line to get some food.
5 Responses to “ECM system check”
My smoked brain couldnot process that alphabetic order. And then we do have a broad knowledge of shipnames in relation to race.
How ever in combat, you might make a mistake. At least I get confused from time to time.
I target look at the colour of the background, and click the same coloured ecm module
ps.
I hope you are not colour blind ;o)
I never realised the colours relate to the racial backgrounds, that's brilliant.
Go have a squizz at my ECM guides, all the parts contain different tidbits on the wonders of being an ECM pilot.
If you are keen for some practice get one of your corp mates to shoot at you with a single gun as you try to keep range and jam them.
http://rantuket.blogspot.com/p/ecm-in-depth.html
Finally caught up reading your blog, took a while and longest EVE blog of any I've read in total and quite a undertaking due to your consistency of postings for the last 2 years. All done reading on my tiny IPhone, that was a undertaking reading 10 and 30 mins here and there at a time :)
Might not remember everything but sure learned "allot" more about EVE in accelerated learning than what it would take to learn living it playing and far more about life in WH space yet having never lived there.
This finally ends my mass reading project.
Thanks for the link, rantuket.
And thanks for the compliments, AD. I'm amazed you read all my posts, even more so that you managed it on the small screen of an iPhone.