Second that, however it's not as reliable as flares, but the chaff will redirect missiles most of the time, esp. in choppers. There is generally no point of carrying ECM in a jet, however, as you will outrun guided missiles and flares have a higher reliability than chaff for redirects.
For choppers though, always carry ECM, and gunner carries flares.
The ECM Jammer must be activated BEFORE you get a locked tone or get locked... basically if you think you are flying near a hot zone with an enemy AA or bunch of solders with stingers or an Enemy got on your SIX you turn on the ECM Jammer - then high tale or afterburner yourself back into the safe zone before your ECM Jammer runs out... Once you get locked, turning on the ECM Jammer is useless in most cases... I got shot down too many times when I turned on my ECM Jammer too late... I used to think it was broken or glitched till I found out you had to turn it on before getting locked on...
Zargon,
We got destroyed on that Rush map last night. What do you say we right our wrongs tonight? (hukkage)
ECM is the superior countermeasure. Not only does it break locks but it will also disorient any missile flying at you as long as it passes through the chaff cloud. I've done this with both javs and heatseakers in both jets and helicopters.
This is contrary to what I read on the net. Everyone else says to deploy it when the long lock tone (beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep) sounds. Regardless though, it isn't the theory of operation I (and others) are having a problem with. It is it's operation in general. As I said, it just doesn't deploy on occasions. It says ready in the cockpit and I hit the button and nada.... Just doesn't fire...
Same lock sounds for any missile types.
From my understanding and experience, ECM is meant to break up an attempted lock in the process, or a lock that's already been made, if missiles haven't been launched yet.
Flares are for incoming heat seekers that have already been launched, but they also break up a lock before the full lock on. I'm not sure they're effective against laser guided munitions, I've guided shelled a bunch of choppers that popped their flares after my shell was out of the gun.
My rule of thumb (in a chopper, because that's all I fly) is to always carry ECM as pilot and have a gunner with flares. As soon as someone starts to lock (slow beeping tone), I count to 3, pop ECM. That's before the actual lock (solid tone) happens. That gives me roughly 5-7 seconds before they can start locking again, and I normally do that counting to 3 before ECM so that I could finish a rocket strafe if I'm in the middle of one.
On the other side of the lock, once that lock happens and missile launches (fast beeping tone), gunner pops flares. We're usually safe if I evade after flares, although it seems hit or miss sometimes when we're locked by soflam, which makes sense because flares aren't meant to decoy laser guided munitions. Annoying though that lately, I've been getting frequent silent jav kills with no indications of any locks.
ECM saves me from getting killed AFTER missile launch only with laser guided munitions, and not every time because javelins still manage to one shot me. Heatseekers still hit me even with ECM if they've already been launched. It seems like some of the mechanics of missile decoy/evasion are a little rough.
ECM is the superior countermeasure. Not only does it break locks but it will also disorient any missile flying at you as long as it passes through the chaff cloud. I've done this with both javs and heatseakers in both jets and helicopters.
First game: http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/battlereport/show/20497069/1/233315602/
Second game: http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/battlereport/show/20498296/1/233315602/
Sorry about that, you guys joined the wrong team I was on TS with a few of the guys on my team. I was stopping everyone from planting the first game, while Skudder was dominating from the air. He's a very good player, even better pilot.
The second game didn't last long, I think I planted the first 3 mcoms.
First game: http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/battlereport/show/20497069/1/233315602/
Second game: http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/battlereport/show/20498296/1/233315602/
Sorry about that, you guys joined the wrong team I was on TS with a few of the guys on my team. I was stopping everyone from planting the first game, while Skudder was dominating from the air. He's a very good player, even better pilot.
The second game didn't last long, I think I planted the first 3 mcoms.
if you see me on and join, remind me, and I will alt tab out and do a battlelog party
Pro tip for jet pilots. If you think a javelin is locked onto you fly as low as possible and the javelin will miss 90% of the time. They have different trajectories programmed based on the type of vehicle, so if you fly low it will think your jet is a ground vehicle and it will dive to hit you, but it won't compensate for your increased speed vs. a tank and will miss. So if you get that constant tone that lets you know you've been soflamed just hit he deck and the majority of the time the javelins will all miss.
I know it feels bizarre, but I actually prefer this new method over the old style of launching the game individually.1- There's no game menus?? I have to launch through my goddamn web browser? WTF is this crap? Seriously, this is just bizarre.
Rig?2- I have two 5850s in CrossFire, and I had to bump the visuals down to Medium to keep 60-fps? Is this game really that beastly or is something not clicking right?
I know it feels bizarre, but I actually prefer this new method over the old style of launching the game individually.
Rig?
Maybe it will grow on me, but right now it just pisses me off that I have to have Chrome, Origin, and then BF3 open at the same time just to get in a game. Makes me long for the simplicity of XBL.
Rig is an i7-930 @ 2.93Ghz, 6GB PC1333 @ 1333MHz (9-9-9-24), 2x Radeon 5850 in CrossFire (stock speeds), Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5. Newest AMD CCC drivers (12.1, downloaded yesterday).
Okay, so after fiddling I seem to be able to run High just fine. The Auto mode defaults me to Ultra textures, High everything else, and then no deferred AA (which is fine for me). So I set everything to High and away I went, happy as a clam. Then randomly the whole thing will just chug (down to like, single-digit FPS) for 10-15 seconds, then suddenly leap forward back up to 60-fps plus, silky smooth.
<snip>
While an SSD would also help (you didn't mention one), that's a much bigger cost, and probably isn't as big a cause of FPS drops - matters more for loading times.
Pro tip for jet pilots. If you think a javelin is locked onto you fly as low as possible and the javelin will miss 90% of the time. They have different trajectories programmed based on the type of vehicle, so if you fly low it will think your jet is a ground vehicle and it will dive to hit you, but it won't compensate for your increased speed vs. a tank and will miss. So if you get that constant tone that lets you know you've been soflamed just hit he deck and the majority of the time the javelins will all miss.