Electronic Warfare

= Electronic Warfare = This guide explains how various aspects of Electronic Warfare work in RogueTech including Sensors, ECM, Probes and C3 "Networks". For more details on the maths that go behind EWAR, see Low Visibility.


 * ECM can Jam enemies, protect allies against hostile jammers, and provide ECM shields to the carrier.
 * Electronic Warfare Suites reduce enemy ECM shields and provide an ECM Shield Aura for allies.
 * Jamming reduces an attacker's accuracy by 0.8 per point, to a maximum of -5 No Sensors.
 * ECM Shield reduces an attacker's accuracy by 0.6 per point, to a maximum of -5 No Sensors.
 * C3 Systems use a combined Aura:
 * Debuffs Enemies in range:
 * Easier to spot with both visuals and sensors
 * Passively applies one or more Sensor Pings while in range. Each point of Sensor Ping reduces all Shield/Stealth Effects by 1.
 * Buffs self & Allies in range:
 * Alliesgain sensor & visual range as stated.
 * Effects do stack together. i.e 2x friendly sensors provides double the sensor check bonus.

Electronic Warfare Equipment Comparison Table
For any distances, 30 units = 1 Hex

= TREADNAUGHT ECM Rework will render everything below here dated. The general concepts are still correct, but the numbers have changed.=

Objectives
As a commander on the battlefield you want to use your electronic equipment to achieve following objectives:


 * Locate enemy units
 * Gain information about them
 * Protect your lance mates from enemy sensors

Electronic Warfare Checks
The core of the Electronic Warfare mechanics are the Electronic Warfare Checks (EWC):


 * A roll between -14 and +14
 * Normal distribution with 30% of the rolls above 0
 * Each check is modified by pilot skills and electronics equipment

There two EWC done during each round:


 * 1) Sensor Check: a single EWC at the start of each combat round to identify level of details for all targets within range.
 * 2) Sensor Range Check: EWC at the start of each combat round to identify sensor range.

Example: We will use a Bushwacker equipped with AR14 Sheathed Beacon as an example through this guide.

Important notice: all sensor operations (checks etc) are individual to every unit, this means that some units in the same lance will have more information from sensors than the others.

Locating Enemy Units
In order to locate the target should be within Effective Sensor Range of our Bushwacker.

Effective Sensor Range is defined by three parameters:


 * Unit sensor range
 * EWC #2 which modifies unit sensor range every turn
 * Target sensor signature

If the enemy unit is within Effective Sensor Range - you are able to get sensor info from it.

Unit Sensor Range
The table below contains base sensor range to locate each unit type. Sensors range cannot drop below a number of hexes equal to SensorRangeMinimum. This value defaults to 6 hexes (240 meters).

Example: AR14 Sheathed Beacon provides +20% bonus to sensor range, which will allow our Bushwacker to locate enemy mechs at 360m * 1.2 = 432m or closer.

Modified Sensor Range
EWC #2 is rolled yielding a result between -14 and 14. The range check result is divided by ten, then used as a multiplier against the unit's sensor range. A range check result of +3 yields a sensor range multiplier of (1 + 3/10) = 1.3x. A negative range check of -2 would result in a multiplier of (1.0 - 2/10) = 0.8x.

Example: our Bushwacker has rolled +1 on the second EWC, this will result in a modified sensor range of 432m * 1.1 = 475m to detect enemy mechs.

Target Sensor Signature
Some of the enemy units have various equipment which reduces their sensor signature, making it harder to locate them. This equipment includes ECM, EWS and various stealth armours. The distance at which a target can be detected is defined as source sensor range multiplied by target signature.

Example: the target has Angel ECM which provides -15% to sensor signature. Our Bushwacker has modified sensor range of 475m, and it will be able to locate the target at 475m * 0.85 = 403m or closer. This is the Effective Sensor Range to locate the target.

Gaining Information: Sensor Check
Imagine that a target is within Effective Sensor Range (403m in our example), now we need to understand what information we can gain from the target. This is done through another Electronic Warfare Check (EWC #3). Ideally you want the roll to be as high as possible to obtain the most info from sensor contact. Important notice: if the sensor check returns less than 1 - the sensors have failed a sensor check which is the same as if the target was outside of sensor range. This also results in  "+5 No sensor info"  penalty when firing at a target.

Sensor Check Modifiers
We have covered all the key concepts and principles of Electronic Warfare and now we will take a look at what impacts sensor checks, how you can improve them for you and your lance mates and reduce them for the enemy units.

Example: our Bushwacker has AR14 Sheathed Beacon which provides +4 to sensor rolls, it's pilot has 5 in Tactics skill, which provides further +2 to sensor roll. Target Angel ECM provides -2 to sensor rolls against units with its aura.This totals to a +4 (+4 +2 - 2 = +4) to sensor check against the target. The result is that 70% of rolls will allow our Bushwacker lock onto the target identifying its location (will be equal or above 0) and 40% of the rolls will allow to see number of evasion pips (will be equal or above 3).

Overview of Electronic Warfare Equipment
There is a lot of equipment in RogueTech which is involved in the Electronic Warfare. Below is the short overview of different equipment types and its bonuses.

Special Note: In a gameplay nutshell, C3 primarily counters enemy ECM/Stealth negatives to your sensor checks. C3 Master have the added bonus of improving allied sensor checks. These sensor checks can also affect your ability to hit.  There are NO C3 networks implemented in the mod .

Active Probe Examples
Example 1 - with ECM:




 * Unit F carries a Beagle Active probe which has 2 Probe Strength and 2 Checks Strength.
 * An enemy Unit B is covered by Guardian ECM which provides 3 ECM Shield effect.
 * Probe Strength effect of will reduce strength of Enemy ECM Shield effect by resulting in net 1 point of ECM Shield protection (-1 to sensor checks against this unit).
 * Since Unit F has Check Strength 2, it will result in net +1 to Sensor Checks against the target (-1 from ECM Shield and +2 from Check Strength).
 * Unit E does not benefit from Beagle Active probe effects.

Example 2 - no ECM:


 * Our unit carries a Beagle Active probe which has 2 Probe Strength and 2 Checks Strength.
 * An enemy unit is not covered by ECM or any other EW equipment.
 * Probe Strength of our unit does not matter since this parameter specifically mitigates ECM.
 * Since our unit has Check Strength 2, it will result in net +2 to Sensor Checks against the target.

ECM Examples
On diagram 2 we have 5 units:


 * Units A, B and C in Blue team, with Unit A carrying a Guardian ECM in ECM mode
 * Units D, E in Orange team

C3 Examples



 * Unit A carries a Guardian ECM, which provides ECM Shield effect for Unit B of strength 3.
 * Unit F carries a C3 Slave, which mitigates ECM and Stealth effects within Aura by 1.
 * The ECM Shield effect on Unit B is reduced by 1 (from 3 to 2) both for Unit F AND Unit E, since Unit B is within the C3 Aura of Unit F.

Stealth Example

 * Unit A carries Stealth Armour and has all it's stealth (3) charges:
 * It has 66% signature reduction (-15% flat signature reduction and 60% signature reduction from its charges).
 * It is harder to hit by 2/2/3 at Medium/Long/Extreme distances
 * It has 15% visibility reduction
 * Unit B is equipped with a Beagle Active Probe which has a Probe power of 2 (mitigates ECM and Stealth effects by 2):
 * For Unit B, Unit A has 32% signature reduction (2 of the stealth charges are mitigated)
 * Also for Unit B, Unit A will have its ECM Shield reduced by 2 (It needs to carry some type of ECM to equip Stealth armour)
 * Other units will gain no benefit from the Unit B Beagle Active Probe