Scouts are almost fine The scout can do what it needs to do already. That is infiltrate and seek. I don't see the latter so often, though. For some reason, people with enhanced senses seems a rarity, especially in the main base. Either that, or they don't care or don't notify their team. If a base is under threat, then a scout with enhanced senses can be a godsend to make sure that structures aren't sabotaged. If the commander or squad leader were tied into enhanced senses, then the scout could fulfill a stronger role at anti-infiltration and flank protection. Being able to know if an enemy is present without a target scan or surveillance is a very powerful ability, especially if the commander doesn't do target scans and there are no cameras around. But, with all that said, I wouldn't mind if the scout had a much stronger close combat role. They shouldn't be able to kill a riflemen going toe to toe with them, but their strength should be used to outwit riflemen and attack them when their backs are turned. HMGs really like to move while prone, and a couple of headshots from an SMG silences them when they do that. If they need to sweep out a building, knowing where the opponents are gives them half the battle.
I'm fairly new to Empires, so you're welcome to take my suggestions with a grain of salt. Or a couple hundred. what if the scout was made a bit more similar to the tf2 spy? i.e. a hide ability, sabotage, and a DISGUISE KIT. I like the idea of disguising as the other team, and maybe a combat knife instead of a butterfly knife? :D
Scouts need to have a roll that is more of a first strike just before the attack hits to help weaken the base, not run around being a pain in the ass with hide and sab. For infantry, scouts have a similar roll: make a large enough dent in the enemy lines to give your team an edge so you can move up, but not such a large hole that they can lone wolf he entire round. Anti base roll: Hide - same as current, get into a base, figure out what is going on and not get noticed. Sab - drops a building to half hp, but the building slowly heals over a short time, say 40 seconds. Until the building is past 90% hp, anything spawns at half health, giving the attackers a bit of an advantage. Some sort of knife or short range weapon for killing defenders. How this helps the team: reasonable advantage, but a small window to use the advantage Anti infantry roll Hide - change to more of a squad hide for 1 type skill to let the scout get behind the lines or run about without being too easy to see. Melee upgrade - Best example Mashav + melee upgrade in district How this helps the team: Take out the people with revieve, team moves up.
IMHO the scout has gone a long way of discussion and tinkering, turning it into what it is now, a undefined thing of whatever. 1. In order to "fix the scout" one has to look at the class system as a whole. Maybe in order to "fix the scout" one has to change the other classes more ( or at least think about them more) than the scout itself. 2. There are a lot of different opinions (depending on how everbody plays the game in a different way (class, strategies, tactics, skill level and other players) about the scout and other classes. Despite my opinion toward good communication with the community, involving the community into development and creating a game for the players, I don't think that a discussion like this will have any useful output. Everybody has a different opinion, but not everybody sees the whole picture. If people agreed on a tiyn change it could affect the gameplay in chaotic (as in unpredictable) ways. Therefore I think, that the best solution would be if the devteam (I don't know them or their experience/skill level) created a whole concept and people commented on it, chose between different solutions etc. I think that there has been enough/too much tinkering and that a top-down redesign approach is he best solution. Not only gamedesign but also sourcecode to some extend. Cheers, Tf P.S.: I agree with Minosake's post. Maybe we could return to the original role of the scout instead of creating a new role. There are a lot of problems right now. The scout should have gameplay mechanisms that are useful. And he has. Imagine a scout sabbing and an engineer deconstructing. So one of the important questions is "How to encourage teamplay (or the correct actions in general) and avoid bad tactics like "useless lonewolf camping scout is useless" without having the commander to scream at everybody who goes scout and neglecting the role as a whole.
Scout Role: Where he should be on the battlefield: Ahead of the team and behind enemy lines What he should be doing there: A: Scout ahead and mark important targets Intelligence ghatering (require Com targ and Engie cams removal or nerf) as long as something can scout better than the Scout he simply cant fulfill his role. B: Harass enemy from advancing, by preventing enemy infantry from being revived, sabotage enemy ammo boxes, turrets, radars and vehiclorz and demoralize the enemy team. -If a scout touches an enemy corpse the Scout permanetly prevents that corpse from being revived. -Sabbing ammo boxes, all ammo retrived from said ammo box is sabotaged and has a random damage value always lower than the standard damage. -Fairly obvious, extend sabbing to vehicles. -To demoralize and harass the enemy the Scout works very closely with Grenadiers or Riflemen on his team using Mortars, HMGs, Grenades or Vehicles, so if a scout is present near the enemy everytime they are hit their stamina is drained equal amount of their hitpoints lost, suppressing their advance. Why someone else couldn't be doing this: Because he is the goddamned Scoutman! It would give the Scout a unique role that would enhance his abilities to scout ahead and harass the enemy from advancing without using firepower to combat the enemy. What abilities might help him accomplish this: Default Silenced SMG, Silenced pistol, Silenced axe Supress ability drains stamina from enemies being injured +Regular Scout skills Could he be completing other roles at the same time?: Harassing and Scouting should be Scouts primary function. How important would it be to add this to Empires: It would make the Scouts role unique and emphasise the Scouts role as intelligence gahtering and harassment behind enemy lines, the Scout could act as a loner but still boost its own teams abilities. In essence it would justify the Scouts existence by its unique role.
how about this? Same damage and accuracy as the current in game pistols, but with 3-burst and sights added on.
To make scout better, just let him have Arty, squad revive, Hide, and charge squad powers, and give him a shotty, and possibly a rename. We have no good indefinite squad leader class. Its very annoying. His loadout, SMG1 SMG2 SHOTGUN PISTOL1 COUNCOUSION NADES, SMOKES, VEH STUN STICK and for perks I don't know? Mabye remove Radar stealth and add something like, Health regeneration for squad you're currently in. But don't let that perk stack, so you couldn't just all have that and heal 5 hp per second...And mabye a few other perks like this, like Ammo cap increase for squad. Accuracy point increase for squad. and others like that could be given to the scout. the only real scout powers I ever see used are Vehicle speed and Hide... oh yeah and give him Cameras and radar...
serious? develop some situational awareness and you won't have much of a problem choosing a class as a squad lead.
won a sudden death game on arid once with squad charge. was able to get from mid to be main and lob a sticky onto their comm in under 30 seconds.. was evangelion sahaquiel-esque and yes self heal is deliciously OP. please keep
