As in many other MMOs, Eve Online offers something for those who prefer crowd control and applying debuffs to their enemies rather than playing pure DPS. Maybe you need to approach a long-range enemy without being shredded in the process or disrupt the enemy's cap chain to destabilize its logistics wing. That's where electronic warfare, or ewar for short, comes into play. There's a whole range of modules available and today we'll briefly talk about them. Keep in mind that while propulsion-disrupting modules are classified in-game as electronic warfare, they will be the subject of a separate article.
Sensor Dampeners
Sensor dampeners reduce lock range and/or speed depending on the loaded scripts. Damps work especially well with kiting setups where you force your opponents to come even closer to interact with you and your fleet. Alternatively, by reducing the scan resolution of your targets, you make it much harder to acquire target lock - especially effective on logi, where you reduce their time to react before the ship requiring repairs goes down. If you want to push the dampeners even further, a few Gallente hulls offer a bonus to their effectiveness.
Tracking and Guidance Disruptors
Both disruptors work against the main weapon systems of your target - tracking vs turrets, while guidance works against missiles. Both can be loaded with scripts reducing effective range or application. Range disruption comes into play versus long-range, kitey comps which rely on being far away for their safety - by cutting their effective range, you can severely limit their options. On the other hand, reducing their ability to apply damage is especially effective against bigger targets - a marauder becomes an easier target when it can't track your damage dealers!
Weapon disruptors are the domain of Amarr - Arbitrators and Crucifiers can be used to nullify multiple threats on a budget. Of particular note is that weapon disruption is especially effective in 1v1 scenarios, assuming you can match the disruptor type to your target. Duels are often won on small margins and reducing someone's range by 30% can make quite a difference in how the fight will play out.
Electronic Counter Measures (ECM)
Favored by the Caldari, ECM offers a unique effect - instead of decreasing the given stats of your target, you can prevent them from being able to target lock anyone but the entity that placed the jam on them. To determine the chance of a successful jam, check the ECM module strength and then divide it by the target sensor's strength. If the result is over 1, the jam will always be successful. If it fails, the target will operate unimpeded with a status icon showing that a jam was attempted on it. If it succeeds, it immediately drops all targets other than the jammer and cannot lock anything else for the duration of the ECM cycle.
Target Painters
This one is straightforward - you point a laser at your enemy and as a result, their signature radius gets significantly increased. This has two side-effects: they get targeted faster and it's easier to deal full damage to them. This can be used to decimate the enemy's support wing - tacklers and command destroyers that would normally use their tiny signature to mitigate damage can suddenly take full damage from cruiser-sized guns. They also find a fair share of use on missile PvE battleships (Golem even has a bonus for them), as it makes it easier to hit targets for both your weapon systems and the drones that most ships of this size carry. Aside from the Golem, the target painter bonus is present on some Minmatar hulls like Vigil or Bellicose.
Energy Neutralizers / Nosferatus
While technically not classified as ewar in the game, it's a group of modules used to disrupt the enemy's operations so let's briefly talk about them. Neutralizers and NOSes are used to attack the capacitor of your target - the former takes a big chunk of the capacitor from both ships while the former transfers part of the capacitor from one ship to the other on condition that the "donor" has a higher current capacitor amount. It means neutralizers are mostly used aggressively to stop the target from using its active modules like local repairers. Nosferatus on the other hand is a defensive tool that can ensure that essential modules keep running even in prolonged fights. While there are some Amarr-based hulls with a bonus for capacitor warfare, almost any ship bigger than a destroyer will have some mix of neutralizers or NOSes fitted.
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