What does an Electronic Warfare Mech need?

[Minemech]

Unfortunately ECM in BattleTech defeats probes ("something's jamming me" tends to be a very bad sign), so the Owens is helpless against foes who happen to have ECM. Since it, you know, lacks ECM of its own.

Probes are good, but can't rely on them alone.

A pity the Ostscout 9S is largely a Steiner 'Mech, seems to be a very good scout platform. Kurita could learn from it.

In my understanding, Electronic Reconnaissance is not used in Battletech to counter ECM, though it would be nice if probes had ECCM capabilities. It is simply meant to mitigate situational edges, such as units hidden for city ambushes. Hypersprectral Imagers could be considered the king of electronic reconnaissance devices in Battletech.
 A keen canon EW platform is the Bloodhound. It manages to hit just the right run/walk pace for defensive movement, with a variant carrying ECM. It was specifically designed to fight irregular warfare units.
 Another set of platforms of note are the HER-3S series of Hermes.

[Minemech]

 Before I forget, the Spector with its stupendous movement curve, use of mobility as armor, yet with good armor for its mass, and reasonable weapon load is viewed as one of the best ECM platforms. It almost feels like a custom design.

[Colt Ward]

The Dragon Fire is like the Marauder 9S . . . it has some EW capabilities but it is not a E-War mech, its a shooter- notice the BFGs.

For E-War, IMO, shooting is a tertiary, maybe secondary if you are including iNARC & ARADs, concern.  Sort of like the discussion of a command mech/vehicle not really having many weapons- the job is to command, or in this case wage electronic war.

Part of the problem in defining is the rule differences- TW has ECM unable to be toggled over to ECCM let alone Ghost Targets which is like IRL giving false targets.  EWar gets more important with the more wargame/simulation rules you use from TacOps- double blind, hidden units, hidden record sheets, LOS diagramming, and more advanced LOS/sensor rules can magnify the impact.

[Minemech]

 The general needs for the electronic warfare platform depend upon what you are after. If it is for the lance, than it just needs to be able to otherwise compliment the lance. The consensus is that you are after generic ECM support.
 
 If it is for the greater unit, more variables come into effect. For a Generic ECM unit, you want a Spector, something that is hard to hit, and can provide ECM, and ECCM where it is needed on the battlefield. Also a unit that can take hits when they land. Keep in mind that there are mechs that can hunt these things, more than one such unit has been taken down by an HER-4S. The better it can combine those defensive attributes, the more dangerous areas you can deploy it on a battlefield. It is good to combine roles when possible, but what roles you will combine will depend upon the playstyle.  Pulse, or even snubbies can save your own mech's hide.

[Minemech]

The Dragon Fire is like the Marauder 9S . . . it has some EW capabilities but it is not a E-War mech, its a shooter- notice the BFGs.

For E-War, IMO, shooting is a tertiary, maybe secondary if you are including iNARC & ARADs, concern.  Sort of like the discussion of a command mech/vehicle not really having many weapons- the job is to command, or in this case wage electronic war.

Part of the problem in defining is the rule differences- TW has ECM unable to be toggled over to ECCM let alone Ghost Targets which is like IRL giving false targets.  EWar gets more important with the more wargame/simulation rules you use from TacOps- double blind, hidden units, hidden record sheets, LOS diagramming, and more advanced LOS/sensor rules can magnify the impact.

I am going to meet you half way. It is not an optimized EW unit, but rather provides bandage EW support to keep your specialists from being tied down. They are real enough to matter defensively for the purpose of the lance, but not real enough to push it to the further. Lances often spread out beyond Guardian range, so even that is limited, and fending off an opposing ECM is often less valuable than taking a normal turn.

[Hellraiser]

TAG is an ECCM device...   ^-^

I totally agree  >:D

When the Homing Arrow blows up my target,  I have disabled the targets ECM ability.

Ergo,  I am ECCMing 

[Hellraiser]

Specter is solid.

Hitman is better.

Spider-7Kr is very solid.

[Crimson Dawn]

Its not all you need . . .

IMO . . .
ECM- first, its where it starts, Guardian is the minimum, Angel is better, Nova CEWS would be best IMO
iNARC- have ammo options for ECM, Haywire & Nemesis, which means you are devoting 8 tons to the system if you want 1 ton of each
MASC or Supercharger- gives you more options to place that ECM bubble where you need it
MML racks- load with Smoke LRM to help gain position & concealment, or load with ARAD munitions to take advantage of putting ECM pods out or enemy electronics networks
Active Probes- helps you defeat enemy ECM measures, especially if you are playing with more TacOps rules.
AMS-  You want to keep that EW machine alive longer, its going to be a bullet magnet
Blue Shield?  Same reasoning as AMS

Remote Sensors to me do not qualify b/c that is for scouts.  I want my EWar mech to be a force multiplier breaking up enemy networks . . . throwing their cohesion into disarray while my shooters are at work.

I think the Men Shen omni might be a optimal platform (leaving off the Blue Shield) for the IS, the Tufana (iNARC) hovercraft is another very good option since it can use terrain for cover easier.  Clan side I would say the Viper might be for mobility but its EW payload would be limited- Watchdog & iNARC w/2t ammo is it.  Black Lanner is better since it already comes with MASC, but that engine takes up a lot of space.  A Shadow Cat might be better for a more common chassis.

The main thing is . . . your EW is not a shooter and it has to be fast enough to get to the right position, so it should be able to avoid what might kill it.  So I do not care about it mounting much more than some missile racks (if) and a med laser or two- it SHOULD be considered very lightly armed.  It should also NEVER be alone, it exists to make your killers more effective.

Is Nova CEWS actually the best for this application at least by itself?  It only has a range of 3 while the other ECM options (in particular Angel) I believe has a range of 6.  That double sized bubble I would think make a big difference in being effective as a EW machine.  I could see having a range of 6 being very helpful when fighting a group using c3 while the 3 hex radius may not be enough by itself.

[Colt Ward]

Depends . . . you get a lot of benefits in a 1.5t package like being un-jammable except by another Nova- but the Watchdog was what I meant, and its actually present in the IS while Nova CEWS is homeworld only.

[mbear]

What about Chaff Pods? They could be deployed at random times to mess up an enemy network. Rush in, fire the pod, rush out next turn, leaving a static ECM bubble behind.

[Daryk]

A temporary solution, but not a bad one.

[mbear]

I'm tempted to suggest a C3 Remote Sensor launcher to support friendly C3 networks that were otherwise disrupted, but it looks like that's not a NARC/iNARC ammo type but a NARC-sized system. Probably not worth the weight on a 'Mech, but maybe a VTOL at the company level?

[mbear]

Remarkably close to what is being discussed.

Because ECM, Active Probe, NARC, and TAG, all came out in one big hit people tend to stuff them into a single unit lile the Raven or Hellbringer.  However some of these like TAG suit scouts better.

I don't play with the ECCM rules very often so it is interesting to see things like iNARC be used defensively.

Also we're assuming tactical level EW like the EA-6B or EF-111. If you're talking about stuff like the Rivet Joint aircraft then I don't know. (Tempted to suggest hyperspectral imager but I think those are non-'Mech only.)

EDIT: Created a Firestarter-Omni config that may qualify.

[Colt Ward]

I think Rivet Joint would be more like the observational small craft the Capellans are using after the Republic.

[Minemech]

If you play with air support, there is a handy Cheetah.

[Col Toda]

With ECM and ECCM . In Battletech a single unit in most cases does not cut it . Fully Half  of my units sport ECM heavy units moving  in formation so the forward 3 units run ECCM and the rear 3 units run ECM  so to break the C3 network  you have to have  2 fast light units running ECM in true short range at which point they are Volunteered to be destroyed.  I routinely field Dragonfire and Cicada mechs with ECM . All having a single unit with iNarc makes it Target #1 .

[garhkal]

One of the items it really needs..

A GREAT sound system!!  Gotta pump tunes while blasting the enemy!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Col Toda]

Something just accured to me .  Has anybody tried cheap tracked combat vehicles moving on the battlefield shooting  chaff grenades with a vehicle genade launcher  and sparing the ton and a half on your mech ?