Greetings and Salutations, I agree 100% with your ideas on E-WAR, it sounds like a good idea and your ideas seem pretty tactical for people with the itch to use this kind of equipment,

OMG, I was born for this thing!

BTW, some of the stuff that mentioned here could also be included in the logistics type armors. Scout, obviously would have a Spec Ops type drop suit for jamming, while the logistics would have a drop suit for counter-measures and detection.

Also, where does E-bombs fit in all of this? I mean, a scout or a logistics would certainly have access to a special bomb made just for the mere purpose of destroying all forms of communication along with the use of most of any tech object (weapons, vehicles, turrets, etc) that is not protected against this or simply is immune to it (pistols, rifle, sub machine guns or weapons that behave similar to our generation of firearms). Of course, their effects would be temporary (a matter of seconds which would make everything just "restart")

Also:


Droplink Jammers: A targetted jammer that prevents a drop link from working. So targeted at a CRU or vehicle with a CRU would be incapable of bringing in spawns. The only indication on the deployment screen should be a frozen countdown timer.

I would be willing to discuss an AOE drop uplink jammer, but it would need to be carefully balanced.

Make the timer work in a matter of seconds, maybe even a few minutes to make the effect heavily stated (put importance in the idea of E-War). Also, there should always be a way to counter it faster (hacking/breaking the jammer, fixing the CRU/D.link with a logistics / scout to reactivate the spawn)... and let's not forget that we could probably just make someone drop another uplink nearby to simply side-step the problem.

There's all the balance that you will ever need.

EDIT: now that I think about it, we could probably use this as another form of obtaining a win in Skirmishes. Like, we could take all of the drop uplinks of the enemy and completely jam their ability to re-spawn in the map for an instant victory. It seems hard to do right now, so it should be a viable option of winning by simply overrunning the enemy camps, taking all of their CRU/up-links and jamming their forward spawn. Maybe that could be a way to set up the MCC "forced drop" (making players drop in any are that they want) or even serving as a setup for an orbital bombardment to at least reclaim the main drop zone area.

Being able to tap in to enemy voice comms would be neat kinda like that splinter cell multiplayer that was out for a while, eaves droping on the enemy team for a short period.

+1 I'm all for this. Well written and thought out post.

this is concerning is the FPS point of view like the mini map? and the names over the players heads?
because in the overview you can see tanks, and soldiers running around...

MMC commander can relay that information and direct the troops from it's RTS point of view...

Very well thought out post Traynor.

Another idea that could use exploring is EWAR vs Orbital Bombardment / Planetary Defense Installations.

While we are not sure how the interaction will fully play out until launch (or a future build), here are some ideas:

Orbital Bombardment Jamming: Possibly a sensor installation (given the amount of power it requires) that jams Orbital Bombardment within a specific range around that installation (Higher Tech versions have larger AoE coverage). Needs to be hacked / destroyed in order to allow bombardment in that area.

Orbital Bombardment Spoofing: Similar to Voice Comm spoofing, needs to target individual Duster that is calling in the Orbital Bombardment, if successful another set of random coordinates are sent to the Strike Ship.

Planetary Defense Installation Jamming: A vehicle module (Drop Ship or HAV) that needs to be activated near the Defense Installation and would jam the weapon from firing. The module requires a large amount of CPU and PG to fit and would most likely be the only module on board the vehicle.

Planetary Defense Spoofing: Open to ideas.

Again this is all hypothetical, until we have the opportunity to interact with Orbital Bombardment and Planetary Defense Installations.

Thermal sensore detect heat.

All energy weapons in the game direct heat against targets.

Lighting fires produces heat.

Explain the logic behind the "no spoofing thermal" part of this system?

I understand in a game set in space, because fires would burn out too fast to be viable, and space is COLD, but on the ground, it makes no sense.

Thermal doesn't precisely locate a target, it just sees heat.

Spoofing is a DELIBERATE insertion of false targets.

What you are saying is like saying that a airport radars are being spoofed by a lighting storm. Its not.

I put it in for no Spoofing because in order to spoof, you would have to actually create a lot of false heat signatures. But a directed IR beam will blank out a thermal sensor, jamming it.

So there is no physical way to truly spoof a thermal sensor. Besides, it also gives some variation to the whole system which increases the depth.

No way except to create a lot of heat sources.

Say, for example, any incendiary device ever?

Flares?

They could have a cluster grenade that releases several small flare-like slow-burning bomblets to divert the sensors. That would be possible with modern technology. Pretty sure New Eden hasn't reverted on their ability to make fire.

Next time just say what you mean.

I'm sorry. I do have a problem with that sometimes (actually... rather often). I'll try and be more coherent with my feedback in here. You people are more friendly and sensible than the usual forums I frequent.

So, what ideas/opinions do you guys have?

Just some brainstorming ideas from a RL EWAR expert (Its my job)

Sensors:
Make it a fitting option (new sensor slot) with different types that work differently and can be jammed differently;
RADAR: Line of sight, obscured by objects, has a maximum range, and can be jammed and spoofed (more on ECM in a moment), slightly greater detection of and by other Radar sensors. This is the default sensor. It also displays the actual minimap and not just player positions (since radar can map terrain). All Dropsuits should start with this as the basic sensor.
THERMAL: Line of sight, obscured by objects, NO MAXIMUM RANGE, can be jammed, partially spoofed. Does not display the minimap. Large explosions near by disrupts the sensor, and large explosions near a target disrupts pickup of that signature (you could hide next to a flaming wreck and a thermal sensor wouldn't pick you up well.
LIDAR: Line of sight, obscured by objects, cannot be jammed, can be spoofed, unlimited range, greatly increases your visibility to other liar sensors. Displays a detailed minimap that includes contours.
MOTION: 360 regardless of obstructions, small range, cannot be jammed, can be spoofed. Does not increase detection by other sensors at all. Displays no minimap.

Additional Sensor Possibilities:
Magnetic, best against larger chunks of metal, limited range (better than motion, less than radar) passive sensor that doesn't increase your detection by other sensors
Gravimetric, not sure how it would work well, in space its based on the sensing of gravity waves given off by starship engines, but for this game would have to be different, Im open to options.
Sound, could be just your ears, could "see" around obstacles, better detection for people shooting, sprinting, etc. Couldn't be jammed, but could be spoofed...maybe...


Electronic Warfare:
There should be two main types: Electronic Attack (EA) and Electronic Protect (EP)
Electronic Attack (EA) that consists of Jamming and Spoofing;
Jamming, an AOE or directed attack against either sensors (RADAR, LIDAR, or THERMAL) or communications (TACNET). The AOE jammer affects any sensor in range and in line of sight and prevents them from detecting.

RADAR Jamming: prevents detection of ANY thing, regardless of who is the source of the jamming. Same effect for AOE or directed.

LIDAR jamming:Cannot be jammed, only spoofed.

THERMAL jamming: prevents detection of the suit/vehicle that is jamming only.


Spoofing can be AOE only, and results in many false targets being placed on the enemies sensors.
RADAR Spoofing: adds lots of false targets in an area around the jamming source that appear to pop in and out and move randomly, actual tracks are masked as well by fading in and out.

LIDAR Spoofing: Creates false targets in a cone in the direction of the jammer source and extending out to infinity. Width of the cone should depend on the relative strength of jammer and sensor, not on position or range of the jammer.

THERMAL spoofing: Equipment module that deploys a myriad of small flares that spoof the thermal sensors in an area. Also, normal pandemonium of battle with lots of heat signatures can spoof thermal sensors.

MOTION Spoofing: Creates false targets in an area centered around the SENSOR instead of the jammer, otherwise identical to RADAR jamming, but at much shorter range.

Communications Jamming would be an AOE or directed jamming that removes anyone in its effect from RECEIVING TACNET transmissions. So data coming OUT of a jammed area would still function, but those being jammed would not receive any TACNET info. TACNET info should include the regular updates on what is being hacked or not, all of the little arrows showing enemy movements, objective orders sent VIA squad or commander commands, etc.

Electronic Protect are systems that directly counter EA systems. EP systems that are targeted at the jammer prevent that jammer from having any effect on anyone. EP AOE systems decrease the effectiveness of jammers on friendly units within its AOE.

Single Target EP systems could be modules that reduce a suit/vehicle's signature against a certain type of sensor, like radar, or lidar. Thermal masking armor, low armor points, very very low or ZERO heat signature. etc.

Vehicle mounted systems should be larger and more effective than their drop suit counterparts.

Certain drop suits should be given special roles for sensors or jammers.
For example, a scout suit should have two sensor fitting slots, a heavy should have none. A command drop suit should have bonus to fitting EP systems.
LAV's and Dropships should be able to fit more/better sensors than HAVs.
New Dropsuit designed specifically for jamming, perhaps a tech two version of scouts or assaults.

All sensors and jammers should require CPU and PG so that going full EWAR or SENSOR should cost you some combat killing power.

There would require a fairly significant amount of balancing the different AOE and targeted modules from different platforms (a targeted jammer from a dropship could be pretty effective, or perhaps dropship AOE mechanics should be in a hemisphere below the dropship.)

Jammer effect on targeted weapons like Swarm Launchers should be handled very carefully. One way to approach it would be to make any targeted weapon have some kind of tracking system that can be defeated by jamming, so one SL uses radar, then a radar jammer would make it a dumb weapon, but all other jammers would have no effect.

EMP/Electro-Magnetic Burst Weapons: Some EWAR suits and vehicles should be able to deploy AOE burst type jammers. Suits should be able to throw EMP Grenades that jam EVERY sensor type for a short period in a small area. Vehicles should be able to use a module that fires a larger EMP explosive. Dropships could have EPM "bombs" that drop straight down.