ECM Jammer

ECM Jammer
Gameplay
Inventory Slot	Equipment
Equipment Type	Time-based Portable Electronic Jammer
Statistics
Amount	1 jammer
Duration	20 seconds
Other
Internal name	ecm_jammer
v·d·e

Description
An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electronic device designed to trick radar, sonar and other detection systems.

The ECM (Electronic Counter-Measure) Jammer is a deployable device available in PAYDAY 2. It takes 2 seconds to deploy and the jamming effects last for 20 seconds, unless lengthened by skills listed below. Two jammers working simultaneously will not result in any additional effects.

Overview

While it is active a small light on the front will flash green. When 8 seconds of effect remain the light will start flashing as well as its outline.

During the duration of its effect, the ECM Jammer globally disables cameras (rendering suspicious people and activities temporarily undetectable) and cellphones (preventing alerted enemies and civilians from making calls that would trip the alarm). Guard pagers are not affected unless the heister has aced the ECM Specialist skill. However, certain objectives cannot be completed while the ECM devices are active.

ECM Jammers do not have any effect on laser sensors, metal detectors, panic buttons or silent alarms, and placing a jammer will not work on cameras that have been fully alerted.

An ECM Jammer can also be used to silently open an ATM (allowing access to the money inside) and, with the aced ECM Overdrive skill, be able to open doors that require a keycard. An ATM takes 8 seconds to open; a door takes 4. This uses one of the jammers the player is carrying and when used for this purpose, the jammer has no other effects (i.e., it doesn't disable cameras, etc.). Keycard-activated vaults still require a keycard to open and cannot be replaced with an ECM Jammer.

The ECM Jammer can also be used to "convert" the SWAT Van Turret for the entirety of its duration. A converted turret shoots law enforcers.

ECM Feedback

ECM Feedback is activated by interacting with an already placed ECM. This interaction is instantaneous, and will disrupt the jamming sequence if it was still in use. When activated, nearly all enemies within the range of the ECM are incapacitated. They will often display an animation of clutching their ears and rocking back and forth, allowing the player to score easy headshots, even against specials like the Shield or Bulldozer (with the exception of Captain Winters and the Cloaker, who are immune to ECM Feedback). Affected enemies (with the exception of Bulldozers) will remove their helmets, but this change is purely aesthetic and does not make them easier to kill.

Strategy

Using ECM Feedback is somewhat contrary to the general ideals of the Shinobi tree, as it has no practical impact on the mission while it is still quiet. In fact, if guards (even civies) are affected by ECM Feedback while the mission is still being stealthed, they will be instantly alerted and call the police. Therefore, this function is purely used for loud engagements or as a Plan B phase on heists such as Framing Frame or Election Day, where a ghost will pack their ECMs.

When used properly on loud heists, ECM Feedback is comparable to the sentry gun in that it provides swift and effective area denial. The main difference is that ECM Feedback deals next to no damage to targets (1 damage); it incapacitates them, allowing players to kill them with little fear of retaliation. In heists where enemies can build up and swarm rapidly, this can be extremely useful as a choke-point trap.

Note that feedback can be activated even after the ECM device has already expended its jamming ability and is not necessary to sync feedback with jamming. So, if a heist is loud, or one is planning to go loud, ECM devices should be pre-emptively placed at areas where they're easily accessible and have an good area of effect once feedback is activated. ECM Feedback regenerates every 4 minutes, allowing additional uses in hold-out areas.

ECM Feedback does not affect SWAT Van Turrets (they will not turn like jamming does).

Take note that converted enemies will also be affected by feedback, countering some of its effectiveness.

Upgrades

ECM Overdrive	Ghost: Shinobi	Tier 3
	Basic (3 pt): Your ECM jammer and feedback duration is increased by 25%.
	Ace (6 pt): Your ECM jammer can now also be used to open certain electronic doors.

ECM Specialist	Ghost: Shinobi	Tier 4
	Basic (4 pt): You can now place 2 ECM jammers instead of just one.
	Ace (8 pt): The ECM jammer duration is increased by an additional 25% and the ECM feedback duration lasts 25% longer. Pagers are delayed by the ECM jammer.

Trivia

• The ECM jammer is the second-most expensive deployable to upgrade by skillpoints (after the Sentry Gun), taking 21 skillpoints in total to fully upgrade. However this is compensated by the lack of alternatives for stealth, while those for loud are numerous.
• While the ECM Jammer is not required for any achievement, there are a multitude of achievements and trophies restricting ECM Jammer use.
• The ECM Jammer is planted with a sticky substance. The substance may be Blu-Tack.
• If an ECM Jammer is placed upon a destroyable surface (e.g. the glass of a jewelry case) and that surface is subsequently destroyed the ECM will disappear and any remaining jammer duration will be lost. It may also no longer be interacted with to cause a feedback loop.
  • Such is also the case when the Jammer is placed onto a running drill, the device will vanish as soon as the drilling finishes.
  • Similarly to interactives, placing a Jammer on a door and opening that door will delete the Jammer forever.
• In radio engineering, a feedback loop will in most cases generate a very loud screeching noise that's very unpleasant, if not debilitating to listen to and may cause hearing and/or psychological damage in an individual if exposed to for prolonged periods of time. This debilitation effect is somewhat exaggerated in the game, though is still theoretically plausible in reality if the frequency of the looped signal is high enough. The means by which the Jammer hijacks the enemy comm system to generate the loop is unknown.
  • The feedback loop will also affect every single enemy within the Jammer's effective range, meaning in smaller heists this can potentially cover the entire map with the stunning signal. In reality, the feedback strength is inversely proportional to the distance between the signal's output and input, meaning that enemies standing further away from the Jammer should be affected less, and units outside of the loop's range are not affected at all. The in-game depiction of the skill was most likely meant for gameplay effects, as by simply moving away from the loop's epicenter the law enforcement units could avoid being stunned by it entirely.
  • As stated above, the ECM Feedback affects all enemies within range, even ones who don't seem to be using wireless comms (e.g. gangsters).
• ECM Feedback as skill was rebalanced in Update #39 to gain the ability to use ECM Feedback once every 4 minutes per ECM. ECM Feedback became standard for ECM Jammers with Update #100.
• An early version of this skill also affects civilians, and forces every afflicted NPC to start vomiting instead of holding their heads in pain like the final rendition. The vomiting animation was recycled for the "Poisoned Cake" pre-planning item in Big Bank instead, and also for the effects from poisoned weapons from the Gage Ninja Pack such as the Kunai Knife.
  • The civilian effect was re-added in Patch #107.

Gallery

A preview of the ECM Jammer deployed

Another preview of the ECM Jammer deployed

A preview of how to open ATMs with the ECM Jammer

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