The following is based own experience (which may be wrongly perceived) and Agony documentation (which may be outdated a bit). I'll leave it to the more encyclopedic ppl to correct me where needed. I'd be happy to make this document more complete and correct.
BASIC - SHIP ATTRIBUTES IN WARFARE
Signature Resolution
Guns in EVE are calculated to have an area of effect. This is measured in 'Signature Resolution'. This signature resolution is compared to the 'Signature Radius' of your ship. How the damage is calculated can be seen as rain (damage) falling in a specific area (signature resolution) and your ship is a bucket in that area with a specific surface area (signature radius). If the signature resolution of the gun is 100 m2 (the area where the rain falls) and the signature radius of your ship is 25 m2 (bucket), only 25% of the damage of the gun will be done to your ship (there are other factors too though!). Mind, the signature radius is not equal to the surface area, but a three-dimensional ball. So use the proper formula when you want to calculate the damageratio. ((4/3)*pi*radius^3).
The same applies to the explosion radius of missiles.
Scan Resolution
Locking times are dependent on the scan resolution of the targeting ship -vs- the signature radius of the targeted ship. A high scan resolution promotes a faster locktime and a high signature radius of the targeted ship also promotes a faster locktime.
Small ships have small signature radii (and thus are hard to lock) and have high scan resolutions (they lock other ships fast). Generally Minmatar ships have higher scanning resolutions and lower signature radii, so they lock faster and are harder to lock.
Several modules affect scanning resolutions (I will come back to them later) or signature radius (MWDs being the most influential, having a +500% signature radius bonus when active -> others lock MWD-using very fast)
Sensor Strength
Sensor strength determines how resistant a ship is to jamming and how easy probes can find it.
In general Caldari ships have highest sensor strengths and Minmatar lowest. Minmatar ships are thus most susceptible to jamming.
To calculate if a ship is jammed the signal strength of an ECM module (discussed more thoroughly later) is compared to the sensor strength of the targeted ship.
Jamming succes is calculated like this: If a jamming module has a strength of 3 and the sensor strength of the targeted ship is 10, there is a 30% chance the ship is jammed.
Calculating how easy a ship can be found through probes is a bit more difficult, because signature radius is also involved. A ship with a signature radius of 400m and a sensor strength of 10 will have a 'Signal Strength' of 400/10=40. This is a relatively high figure and thus this ship will be quite easily found by probes.
A ship’s sensor strength determines how difficult the ship is to jam, and how easy it is to find using probes. The chance of an ECM effectively jamming a ship depends on the strength of the ECM versus the target ship’s sensor strength. Other factors also determine how easy the probe will find the ship: probe-target distance, being in deadspace and pilot probing skill.
ECCM modules increase sensor strength, but the right module needs to be used:
Amarr – Radar
Caldari – Gravimetric
Gallente – Magnetometric
Minmatar - LADAR
Warp dynamics
Warping can be a lifesaver in combat. When you see your shield and armor ticking away in big chunks, all you can think off is: GET OUT!!!
Especially in PvP, there are nasties with warp jam modules about, that are meant to prevent their juicy target from warping away.
How do these modules work? Every ship has a certain amount of Warp Strength, which is usually 0 (except some Transport ships, that have an innate +2 bonus to warp strength). Warp strength can be increased by Warp Core Stabilizers, which give a bonus of 1 to Warp Strength (except the T2 version, which gives a +2 bonus).
Warp jammers are used to bring your warp strength below zero, making it impossible for the target to jump. There are 2 different warp jam modules: Warp Scramblers and Warp Disruptors. Warp scrambles give a -2 bonus (penalty) to warp strength, have short range, and also disrupt MWD. Warp disruptors only give a -1 bonus and do not affect MWDs, but they have a longer range. Warp disruptors take some more CPU to fit.
required skill: propulsion jamming
recommended skill: propulsion jamming (less cap use)
E-WAR MODULES
Stasis Webifiers
Stasis webifiers slow down the ships velocity, and are especially handy in gate camps. A ship that has to fly 15 km back to the gate when he gets warp-jammed, will be much more likely to die when you have 150 seconds to shoot at him (100 m/s) than when you have only 30 seconds (500 m/s). But also in midspace stasis webifiers will help you to tie down ships that are faster than you are.
The basic Stasis Webifier I modules applies a 75% penalty to a ships speed. This may seem pretty much, but a ship going 3000 m/s when MWDing, will still go 750 m/s when webbed.
Using more than one webifier on a target slows down the target even more, without the stacking penalties that apply to some other modules. All in all, webbing a target twice or trice is no overkill.
required skill: Propulsion Jamming
recommended skill: Propulsion Jamming (less cap use)
Tracking Disruptors
Tracking disruptors hinder the tracking speed and/or optimal range of the target's turrets (and turrets only).
Tracking disruptors give a double penalty by default: tracking speed and optimal range. Scripts can be used to double one of the penalties, but canceling out the other. These scripts are called 'Tracking Speed Disruption' and 'Optimal Range Disruption'
Using more than one tracking disruptor can be useful, but is effected by the stacking penalty. You'll find these penalties at the bottom of this post.
required skill: Weapon Disruption
recommended skills: Weapon Disruption (less cap use)
Turret Destabilisation* (enhanced disrupting strength)
Frequency Modulation (increased falloff)
Long Distance Jamming (increased optimal range)
*: advanced E-War skill
Remote Sensor Dampeners
These modules hinder your target's locking ability. By default they give a penalty to target range and scan resolution (slower locking). These modules also come with scripts: 'Target Range Dampening' and 'Scan Resolution Dampening'. Whether and which script you use depends on the ships in your fleet and the tactics used. It is hard to bring back the target range to 6 km if you want to orbit there, so when flying short range frigates, you might want to have the target have a very long locking time. A bit of both (no script) may also be usefull in some situations).
Here the aforementioned penalties also apply.
required skill: Sensor Linking
recommended skills: Sensor Linking (less cap use)
Signal Suppression* (enhanced dampening strength)
Frequency Modulation (increased falloff)
Long Distance Jamming (increased optimal range)
*: advanced E-War skill
Target Painters
These modules increase the signature radius of the target. Remember this affects the damage done by your fleet's weapons, but also improves the locking time of everyone in the fleet.
General consensus is that target painters are not that useful.
Penaties apply to these modules.
required skill: Target Painting
recommended skills: Target Painting (less cap use)
Signature Focussing* (enhanced target painting strength)
Frequency Modulation (increased falloff)
Long Distance Jamming (increased optimal range)
*: advanced E-War skill
Electronic Countermeasure Modules (ECM)
ECM modules temporarily shut down your target's targeting computer, breaking existing locks and making it impossible for the target to make new locks for the duration of the jam.
ECM's usefulness is questionable without 1) a ship with ECM strength bonusses (e.g. Griffin, Blackbird), 2) high relevant skills and 3) a Signal Distortion Amplifier module or Particle Dispersion Augmenter rigs.
ECM modules come in different flavours and a omniflavour: i.e. racial jammers and an all in one jammer. The racial jammers are:
Amarr - Radar - White Noise ECM
Caldari - Gravimetric - Spatial Destabilizer ECM
Gallente - Magnetometric - Ion Field ECM
Minmatar - Ladar - Phase Inverter ECM
The difference between the racial jammers and the omni jammers is that the racial jammers have a strength of ~3 for the relavant race and a strength of ~1 for all other races. Omni jammers have a strength of ~2 for all races.
The jam-calculation is already discussed: racial jam strength devided by racial sensor strength = jam-chance. The drawback of using jammers is thus that you are never sure you will jam your target. But when you succeed, you can go drink coffee for the duration of the jam, because the target cant do much. What the jammer won't affect though are FoF missiles (target everything that aggresses the ship (also friendly reppers as we've seen in the tourny)) or drones that already were given a target.
A final note on the difference between racial and omni jammers: Racial jammers use less cap, have longer range and are easier to fit (less cpu and power use).
required skill: Electronic Warfare
recommended skills: Electronic Warfare (less cap use)
Signal Dispersion* (enhanced jamming strength)
Frequency Modulation (increased falloff)
Long Distance Jamming (increased optimal range)
*: advanced E-War skill
ECCM
As discussed in an earlier section: these modules give bonuses to (racial) sensor strength, to be less susceptible to jamming and be harder to find by probes.
Stacking penalties apply.
required skill: Electronic Warfare
recommended skills: Electronic Warfare (less cap use)
HOW TO INFORM THE FC WHAT IS GOING ON?
Usually E-war is 'called' over voice, so the FC can get an idea which targets have which penalties.
The most important are, scram (warp scrambler), point (warp disruptor, referring to the 1 point of warp strength penalty) jam (ECM) and web (stasis webifier).
A clear syntax is, for example: 'Jam on Rokh (ship type)' or 'Point on Vengeance Knight (pilot name)'
APPENDIX
Module Stacking Penalties (webifiers, overdrives, etc.):
--------------------------------
1st Module = 100.0000000000% effectiveness
2nd Module = 86.9119980805% effectiveness
3rd Module = 57.0583143503% effectiveness
4th Module = 28.2955154019% effectiveness
5th Module = 10.5992649743% effectiveness
6th Module = 2.9991166538% effectiveness
7th Module = 0.6410183110% effectiveness
8th Module = 0.1034920490% effectiveness
_________________________________________________
Races' easy-to-get-in T1 ships and their E-War bonuses:
--------------------------------
Amarr
Crucifier Frigate: bonus to tracking disruption effectivity.
Arbitrator Cruiser: bonus to tracking disruption effectivity.
Caldari
Griffin Frigate: bonus to ECM strength and reduced ECM cap-use.
Blackbird Frigate: bonus to ECM strength and range.
Scorpion Battleship: bonus to ECM strength and range.
Gallente
Maulus Frigate: bonus to sensor dampener effectivity.
Celestis Cruiser: bonus to sensor dampener effectivity.
Minmatar
Vigil Frigate: bonus to target painter effectivity.
Bellicose Cruiser: bonus to target painter effectivity.
