Looking for an EW guide

Lanmoragon · May 2005

I am going to specialize in EW, but I have not seen a guide anywhere made by players. I am just looking for one that describes which skills are needed, what ships are decent for it, and how to outfit and use the ship for EW.

BsfAurora · May 2005

I saw one a while ago on the official Eve forums, Ships and Setup I think.

dakilla666 · May 2005

Well, not exactly sure where to get a guide for Electronic warfare. If you check through the older posts on this site, I'm sure you'll find a topic with that it mind however, I'll try and give you some of the basics.

First off, you are gonna need good engineering and electronics skills. Engineering for increased capactior/recharge rate and the electronics to fit the EW modules. Skills for this would be Energy System Operation, Energy Management, Electronics.

Once you have the basic skills than you will need EW skills, they are found in the market under the electronics tab. Traget jamming and other skills are what you will be needing in this field, there are also need advanced EW skills I believe, not sure what they are called but they can also be found under this tab.

Now, once you have everything ready to go, you need a ship that can use them properly and I highly suggest Caldari Ships. In frigates they have the Bantam which I believe has bonuses to EW skills. For cruisers they have the Blackbird and Ferox battlecruiser. The king of EW is by far the Scorpion , tier 1 Caldari BS, these will run you anywhere from 60 to 75M depending on who you know/how baddly you get ripped off.

Well, good luck with making a good EW platform.

Lanmoragon · May 2005

Thanks for the tips all. I have been asking people in game about EW and they have also suggested the Blackbird and the Scorpion. I have a list of skills that I should be training up, but I still have 1 question.

Basically training up skills such as Navigation, which increases your max speed by 5% are good for anybody to have, but are they something I as a EW should particularly focus on? I am assuming that being EW also means that you wont have the armor/tanking status that tanks have, so therefore it will be best to have a very fast ship so its hard to lock onto.

xEntriq · May 2005

Electronic Warfare

When you do a show info on a ship, you will notice these fields under the Targeting section :

Maximum Targeting Range : The maximum distance to the object you are trying to target. If the object is further away it fails, but if you successfully get a target lock and whatever you are targeting move further away when it's still targeted, you will lose the lock as you try to use any module on the target.
Max locked targets : How many target locks you can have active at the same time.
Scan Resolution : Used with the signature radius of what you are trying to target to calculate how fast you acquire a target lock. Higher is faster.
Ladar : Minmatar sensor strenght
Magnetometric : Gallente sensor strength
Radar : Amarr sensor strength
Gravmetric : Caldari sensor strength
Signature Radius : Used with the scan resolution of whatever is trying to target you to calculate how fast they can lock you. Lower means slower.

There are basically 2 types of jamming. You can reduce the sensor strength to 0 or lower, or you can reduce the targeting range and the scan resolution to make it take a decade (or at least a couple of minutes) to acquire a target lock, at which time you will also have to be very close to the target.

To reduce the sensor strength, there are 2 different types of modules available : the multispectral jammer and the racial jammer. The multispectral jammer reduces the sensor strenght by 4 in all sensor types, and the racial jammer reduces it by 6 in one of the types and 2 in the other types. By using several of these modules on the same ship, you can reduce the targeting strength by enough to make it unable to lock.

Example : A scorpion has a gravmetric strenght of 16. This is the highest in the game - all other ships have strenght 14 or less (except the imperial apoc and similar but they are so rare that you don't really have to worry about that). If I want to jam a scorpion, I would need either 4 multispecs or 3 caldari racial jammers. With 4 multispecs, the sensor strength is reduced by 16 in all categories, leaving the scorpion pilot with -16 -16 -16 0 in strength. With the racial jammers, it'd be -6 -6 -6 -2.

There are, of course, ways to defeat jamming. There are backup arrays which will increase your resistance to jamming, and there are remote eccm modules to increase the sensor strenght of a friendly ship. A standard backup array will increase your sensor strenght by 2, a mid slot by 3 (must be activated and uses cap) and a tech II low slot module increases it by 4. Make sure you boost the correct type of sensor - don't boost magnetometric strength on a caldari ship and so on.

There are 3 big differences between the multispecs and the racial jammers :
* By combining multispecs you will get a stronger jamming over all compared if you only use racials jammers, but with racial jammers you can use fewer modules or get a higher jamming strength. For this to work, you will have to know what ship your opponent is flying before you attack him.
* Multispecs use a lot of cap while you will barely notice the cap drain of a racial jammer.
* Multispecs have a short cycle, the racial jammers have a long cycle. Therefore, it's easier to quickly switch targets with multispecs, since the modules will have to complete their cycle whether or not the target is still there.

There are basically 2 methods of jamming : Either jam one target and hold the jamming, or lock a couple of ships and jam one, stop jamming, change target, jam, change target, jam (and so on - this is called cycle jamming). The racial jammers are better for holding the jam, while the multispecs are better when changing targets.

Don't bother with trying to jam frigs or cruisers unless there isn't anything else to jam - only jam battleships (and blackbirds), especially when cycle jamming, because they have a long lock time and they cause more damage. Combined with remote sensor dampeners, this can make a large part of the hostile fleet just sit there and do just about nothing.

Remote sensor dampeners work in a slightly different way. They reduce your locking range by 50%, and they also increase your lock time. Remote sensor dampeners will always beat the same amount of sensor boosters, because sensor boosters add 50% and the remote sensor dampeners remove 50% of the new increased targeting range, leaving you at 75% of the starting targeting range. By combining several remote sensor dampeners, you will decrease the targeting range so much that it'll be completely impossible to lock anything except maybe the tacklers. If the ship you're trying to dampen has already started to target lock, the time will not increase - neither will a sensor boost

Scorpion

Use just about the same guidelines for the high slots as the blackbird, with some modifications/addons : Don't use cruise missile launchers, use siege launchers (even if you're planning to use cruise missiles). A nosferatu or two can come in handy for close range fighting or to disable the mwd on frigs, or you could use some other weapons.

Since the scorpion has a couple more mid slots, it's also a bit more complicated regarding the fitting, although it's basically the "fit it as you would fit a blackbird but better" method I use. You should almost always have at least 1 sensor booster and be able to jam all battleships.

#1 : 5+ multispecs
Good cycle jammer. Can be combined with an extra caldari racial for extra strong jamming of scorpions.

#2 : 4 racial jammers + 1-2 caldari/multi
Not really recommended unless your cap skills are very low or you're using a mwd, since you should be able to use the multispecs anyway

#3 : Remote sensor dampeners
Use them as with the remote sensor dampeners on a bb

Combine with shield booster, sensor booster, warp disruptor, mwd, more jamming (multispec or caldari specific), webifier (for frigs), shield boost amp and/or similar.

In the low slots, make sure you have at least 1 eccm module - preferably tech II eccm. Increasing your senser strength beyond 20 (more than 1xtech II eccm) is recommended, since many pilots seem to use 5 multispecs or more. Warp core stabs might help you get away, but ecm ships are fragile and you're likely to go down too fast to be able to warp out unless you're already aliged for warp. Signal amplifiers are good, since they will both increase the range and reduce the lock time. If you have cap problems, fit something to deal with it.

When fitting for fighting and you're out of a specific module, don't panic. I'm used to building fittings from what I have in the station at the moment, which has taught me to think "now where did I put that sensor booster... never mind, I'll use another multispec instead" and similar. I change fittings almost as frequently as I undock.

Recommended Skills

So, now you've read some stuff and think you're the über-jammer? Nope, sorry. There are some skills that will help you on the way :

Signature Analysis : Makes you lock faster. Very good for a jammer, especially when it comes to the "who can lock the other first" situations. On a sidenote, it's also very good for frig pilots who want to be good tacklers and to get pods.
Leadership : Same as signature analysis, but only works in gang. Make sure that you're always in a gang whenever possible - even if you didn't bother to train it, someone else might have.
Long Range Targeting : Increases your targeting range. Makes it easier to target ppl far away.
Targeting : When cycle jamming, it's good to be able to have many targets to switch between. By increasing the targeting skill, you can do that.
Multitasking : If you trained targeting to lvl 5, this is the addon skill
Energy Management : Increases cap storage. Good when using multispecs.
Energy Systems Operation : Increases cap recharge rate. Also good for multispecs.
Evasive Maneuvering : EW ships go down fast. This skills helps you warp out in time. Prepare by aligning for warp before you actually need to warp out if possible.
Spaceship Command : Same as Evasive Maneuvering.
Electronic Warfare : What good is a jammer who can't actually use the jamming modules? This skill enables them - but be careful! It's generally not recommended to train this past lvl 1 at the moment, since it will make it take longer time to cycle jam. On the other hand, it will save your cap a bit.
Weapon Disruption : Makes your jamming modules use a longer cycle, which will make them use less cap but also make cyclejamming slower.
Sensor Linking : To be able to use remote sensor boosters/dampeners. Same thing here about the increased duration.
Propulsion Jamming : To be able to use warp disruptors and webifiers. You'll have to train this to 4 to be able to use medium mobile warp disruptors. Same thing here about cap vs duration.
Caldari Cruiser : With the reduced EW cap usage bonus on the blackbird, it's very good to train this skill high.

To make life a little easier, here is a list of some of the related modules and what they do :

Ion Field Projector : Gallente racial jammer (magnetometric)
Multispectral Jammer : -4 on all sensor types
Phase Inverter : Minmatar racial jammer (ladar)
Spatial Destabilizer : Caldari racial jammer (gravmetric)
White Noise Generator : Amarr racial jammer (radar)

There are many new EW stuff out there now, but for now this is all I can provide for you.

NFWolfDude · May 2005

Excellent information, thanks xEntriq! ::::02::

xEntriq · May 2005

No problem! I haven't gotten around to adding the new EW stuff available. Such as the Target Painting, and the other new jamming skills and stuff.

Lanmoragon · May 2005

haha thanks for those tips...but god thats intimidating...guess I have alot to learn about EW. Then again thats the good thing about EVE, so much to learn.

dakilla666 · May 2005

Yeah, really nice except for one thing. That is, that the jamming process was overhauled last month. It no longer works like it use to. If a person has 20 sensor strength and you use 5x multi's (-20) on them, it does not mean they have 0 sensor strength and are automaticaly jammed. The way the system works now is that every module has an independant jam check.

So, 5x multispec jammers = 5x (4/20) or 5x (20%) chance of jamming a target. (Just using sensor strength of 20 and jam strength of 4 for ease of demonstration). These do not stack, so there is still a chance that with 5x multispecs, the target won't be jammed.

There is also the aspect of having optimal range on EW modules now. When jamming a target, you have optimal and falloff ranges. If you are within your optimal range, you will be jamming at full strength. The further away from your optimal you go, the weaker your jamming power becomes until you hit your fall off. Anything past maximum fall off (optimal range + fall off range) will have no chance of jamming a target.

So, 50km optimal + 25km fall off = maximum chance of jamming from 50km or closer and maximum jamming range of 75km. Once your target is past 75km, you have no chance of jamming him.

Alot of people complained about this overhaul (yes it was an overhaul, not a nerf) but, there is a huge upside to this new system. Cycle jamming has gotten a huge boost. If you are using 5 jamming modules, there is a chance that every single one jams a target. Before, if you did not at least match your targets sensor strength, you could not jam him. Now, even a frigate using a single jamming device stands a chance of doing some major damage in a fight.

So, jamming a single target might be harder to do but, when it comes time for fights involving multiple ennemies, there is a chance of jamming 3 or 4 of them simultaneously.

P.S. Not 100% sure about the ratios for jamming/sensor strength, I doubt that it is 1:1. In my demonstration I simply put 4/20 or 20% as an example of how the system now works, it is no longer the old -4 per jammer until target is screwed (lol, yeah ... you really used to be if someone continously jammed you).

Lanmoragon · May 2005

Thanks for those last notes Dakilla. EW really does sound more interesting with the skills have a chance to be effective, instead of 100% if you have more jamming strength than they have sensor strenght. Makes things a little more unknown and interesting.

I have a question about skill training. Currently I plan on training the tier 1 learning skills to rank 4, then getting some skills that I can have fun with(allow me to get a better ship/gear) and then continuing on with the learning skills possibly into the tier 2. Does this plan sound pretty good?

Also if I where to train up the tier 1 learning skills to rank 5, excluding charisma, would this take around a month or even a little more? On my first main character (i restarted with an alt that im working on now) I had the training time from rank 3 to 4 down to a little less than 2 days. I talked to a corp mate who said that if I have the learning skills trained up correctly, getting them from 4 to 5 should take around 6 days each. By correctly I mean by having the primary/secondary attribute needed for each skill trained up.

dakilla666 · May 2005

Well, the learning skills are pretty straight foward, they raise the attributed in question by 1 point, allowing you to train skills which require that attribute faster. The only exception to this is the "learning" skill, which raises ALL attributes by 2% (0.02) per level.

The training formula is : Primary * Learning Skill + Secondary/2 * Learning skill.

So, look at the skills you want to get (what thir primary and secondary attribute requirements are) and plan it out from there. Of course, it is better to get all of your learning skills into the advanced ones, but lets face it, that is long and boring when you first start off.

As for training level 5 skills in 6d, really depends on your starting stats and skills. If you start with 7-8 in intelligence, memory, perception AND willpower, then yeah, most Rank 1 skills will only take that long once you have your basic learning skills up a bit. I have a fighter character, who has very high willpower, perception and implants, so I can train perception/will power rank 1's in just over 4d (all advanced learning skills at lvl 4).

P.S. I suggest not to train charisma AT ALL. The skills that require charisma generally require alot more knowledge about how the game is runned and I highly advize not to touch it until you realize that you need it or not. Most skills that need it are leadership, corporation management and trading, all of which require alot of knowledge and following of the game. My main has over 9M sp's and I have charisma skill at level 2 I believe.

Lanmoragon · June 2005

Yea I wasnt to keen on training Charisma. What is its exact use anyways? Training up and using to a higher degree the social skills?

Also about ships. Are the caldari blackbird and later on scorpion the best for EW? I kinda like the way the minmitar ships look, but if the caldari are best for EW then I will go with them.

magik_fx · June 2005

Originally posted by Lanmoragon
Yea I wasnt to keen on training Charisma. What is its exact use anyways? Training up and using to a higher degree the social skills?

Yeah pretty much just the social skills like connections, diplomacy and negotiation. All of which are EXTREMELY useful if you plan to run agent missions with any consistency. They help your standing, the effective agents quality and your mission payout. Other then those skills though, there's nothing that really uses charisma that you'd have to worry about.

dakilla666 · June 2005

Charisma is also used to train Trade skills. If you like to play the market, that's what you need (those skills also cost like 3-10M a piece lol). Another major thing it is for is corporation management. Coroporations have a limited amount of people that can join based on the skills on the CEO. It is a secondary attribute for training adanced willpower skill and for leadership skills as well (only 3 so, not the biggest use in the world).

As for EW ships, yeah, the blackbird and scorpion ARE the two best ships hands down in the game for EW. The other races have some ships to give some support but nothing that stands up to those two ships in any way, shape or form. If your real serious into EW, your gonna want a scorpion for sure.

Lanmoragon · June 2005

Ok well now that I have some pretty good info on EW skills and ships, I still dont know what to fit it with. In fitting I mean as in shields, weapons, and anything else such as capacitor boosters, etc. It was already described what EW is and what to do with it, so I can just look up "jamming" on the market and get the skills necissary for the equipment that I need. I have heard somebody talking about using Siege missles with an EW ship, but I dont know if he is right or why to use siege missles. Any ideas?

dakilla666 · June 2005

Well, the basic jamming modules are called ECCM's, just look at their description to find out who they jam, multispectral's are used to jam everyone. Multi's are good for battleship setups but, they require so much capacitor that it is boarder line retarded to equip them on a blackbird or anything smaller than a battleship.

Again, as for skills, just go to a regional market search under the electronics tab, you there is only about 20 skills, so take the time to read them and get them if they seem to be in the field you want.

Ship layouts are really to your own accord. Since jamming equipment takes mid-slots, your only available options will be for high and low slots. This kind of eliminates all forms of tanking since even if you fit a ship with an armor tank, your capactior would not hold for long.

Blackbird suggested layout : 3x racial jammers (require less cap than multi), 2x different racial jammer, 1x sensor booster (SB is good for jamming people from your maximum range and faster locking times. In highs, I'm pretty sure you can fit 3x heavy launchers on this ship and low's I suggest 2x cpr (capacitor power relay). If you can fit it (which I doubt), try and throw a nos on your ship as well, works great by killing a frigates cap.

You can play with this setup alot, like, I've already put 3x heavy lasers, 2x web , 2x 20km scambler and 2x sensor booster on my BB (3x launcher slots and 3x hardpoints gives some nice variety). It kills your power grid but, no one ever expects you to have fricken' lasers on a jamming ship. This setup of course, could not last against anything bigger than a frigate but, most people run from BB's on a 1 vs 1 situation because they don't wanna get jammed/scrambled and have you call in your buddies (4x jammer, 1x SB, 1x scrambler setups are common).

Scorpion suggest layout : Well, this one has ALOT more choices available to you but generally, you will want at least 6x jammers and 2x sensor boosters in your mid-slots. This will give you awesome jamming power as well as a decent lock time. In the low slots, you can either put gravimetric backup arrays (which will help against people trying to jam you) or PDS' (power diagnostics systems) or CPR's to get some good cap recharge. In the high's, I suggest using either cruise missile launchers or siege missile launchers fitted with cruise missiles (depending on how much power grid you have to work with) in order to elimante any tacklers that would be trying to scramble you. I believe scorpion is a 6 high-slot ship with 4 launchers and 3 turret hardpoints so, the setups you make can vary qutie a bit. When using a scorpion however, I heavily suggest to stay very far away. Since they have bonuses to jamming range and so on, you can be 100% effect while still remaining 80+ km away from your ennemies, this is good incase your jammers fail or ennemy is loaded with f.o.f missiles or in case he has buddies with high speed ships that come in and help.

Howdy, Stranger!

Looking for an EW guide

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Looking for an EW guide

Comments