Electronic countermeasure

They have, like, a special homing device and anyway, everyone figured out how to, like, beat them.

They added more ECM.

Like, okay, why is this even here? Yeah.

It feels like it's a reference to, like, something that was under development by some R&D department mentioned in a source book somewhere.

Mm-hmm

... lists Crescent Hawk's Revenge, like you said, in its references.

It also lists War of 3039, so perhaps there is some period in that war whi- which would align with some of the details, says, like, what, an ECM is developed in 3042.

Perhaps there is, like, a, an optional rule you can use on missiles, uh, if you're playing in War 3039.

The other two Hermes variants in the 3 series are the 3S1 and 3S2.

The 3S1 is a simple swap of the Beagle probe for a Guardian ECM suite.

turning the Hermes from a recon platform to an electronic warfare interdiction platform.

And the 3S2 removes one of the medium lasers for target acquisition gear, allowing the Hermes to spot for Arrow 4 artillery and semi-guided long-range missiles.

The 4K is an offensive powerhouse for its size with six extended range medium lasers and an extended range small laser.

While capable of putting out significant damage, it can easily push the envelope for its heat distribution dissipation capabilities though.

It does carry an ECM suite as well, but where it really shines as a recon platform is with its C3 slave unit, which allows it to share targeting data with other units in the network.

This makes the 4K especially well suited to a recon role, especially since it's capable of using its ECM suite in an in an electronic counter-countermeasures role to protect its connection to its C3 network.

Or you don't get those bonuses, but it just counts as being spotted for indirect fire if it's not.

The only way to stop that bonus from occurring is to either have the target in an ECM bubble or just kill the narc ammo.

Because you do have to swap ammo to narc

ammo, even for the spotting

That's a good mechanic.

I will use that.

So I'm going to leave one comment and to put a pin on this because we're going to have to talk about it when we talk about ECM, but we should probably finish talking about the changes to semi-guided before we move on.

Oh yeah, semi-guided got nerfed, but it needed to.

The F-105 Thunderchiefs were flying strike missions into North Vietnam on predictable routes.

Same corridors, same timing, same electronic countermeasures or ECM, jamming packages every time.

The North Vietnamese air defense system, which was considerably more sophisticated than many people expected, had learned the American patterns cold.

The MiG-21s at Phuc Yen would time their scrambles to intercept the thuds during the most vulnerable phase of the bombing run.

He called it Operation Bolo.

The concept, in plain language, was this.

If the North Vietnamese were keying their intercept timing off the behavioral signature of an F-105 strike package, what would happen if F-4 Phantoms flew that exact profile? Same call signs, same approach routes, same ECM jamming on the same frequencies, same altitude, same timing.

From the ground radar, it would look identical to every other thud strike that had ever come down that corridor.