I don't see the point of having a binocular to pin point target. You already have a scope on your rifle, why do you need a binocular? D; Scout imo pretty much should use the scope on their rifle more often than their gun. When you are given a name like "Scout", you are scouting, only taking out enemies when you are able to and try to conceal yourself as much as possible. The point of a scout is not just about taking out infantry, they are suppose to be the "eyes" of your team, because they can see what others cant, and they can report back to their team mates. What their purpose here is to seek out key targets and bring em down with the help of their team mates. Also, the scout should be able to pin point more than one targets, I think the point should last one or two minutes on a target and up to say...6 targets (number can be decided if this was to be implemented). Also, another thing. When a grenadier is working along with a scout, the grenadier should be able to know if they hit their targets (the targets that is being tracked by the scout). I suggest that when a grenadier is hitting these targets that the scout is tracking, the diamond should be red for a bit to show that the shell have done damage to that target. This would surely improve the scout's role in the game and make them a bit more useful to the other classes. They'll become like a super improved radar/camera with the ability to track people down from longer distance and report back on damaged targets. ALSO: I forgot to add this, but should the tracked target be a bit weaker in defense? This mean they are able to be taken down easier than normally, since the scout is able to observe weak point of the structure. I recommend putting this down as a new skill for scouts, it'll work kinda like armor detection.
Wait, what was the first suggestion? Whatever you are talking about in the first bit with the rifle scope doesn't matter because it won't be around much longer. The rest of it is similar to what will hopefully happen with the scout in the future.
I don't know whether it would be enough, though. I would prefer for the scout to have an essential role. The basic concept of, for attackers, "riflemen = anti-infantry", "grenadier = anti-vehicle", and "engineer = anti-building + support" is very simple to understand, and creates a clear, important role for each. (Yes, I know it isn't always quite so clean, but you get the idea.) Scouts, though... where do they fit into this? Having them act as an "attachment" to mortars/arty really isn't enough, when compared to the solid core roles of the other three classes. I'm not sure intel is even a viable role right now. We already have intel buildings (both engie sensor equipment and the big radar), comm-sweep targeting for finding most 'hidden' things, and honestly most maps are wide open spaces where it's not that hard to figure out what's going on... plus, with a quick armored vehicle, you can easily rush near the enemy location, scout things out, then retreat. Nothing you need a scout for. I suspect that making the scout important is going to involve nerfing, removing or limiting at least one of the above things, or transferring them to the scout (sensor equipment, especially -- I love the idea of turning it into throwable scout sticky-spheres they can throw onto walls or enemy/friendly tanks or whatever. Make it so they can be shot off or killed by enemy fire, of course, so it's easy for the enemy to sweep for scout sensors if they notice. Remove the need to construct it, since it's not an engineer thing. If people feel the need to give the engineers something to replace it, maybe give them a buildable 'long-term' ammo point that can be destroyed by damage but otherwise provides a single ammo box lasts forever... that fits into their existing abilities nicely, though it might make armories even more obsolete.) But anyway, yeah, what I'm saying is that to provide a role for the scout, we're likely going to have to cut away at some other ability in the game, to make people depend on the scout for it. Engineer sensor equipment is the logical place -- engineers have lots of stuff already, they won't miss it.
i like the idea of the scout as a target marker for the aircraft/arty. i have made a thread for that suggestion already. http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=5628&highlight=scout+need+a+purpose and i fully support the idea of giving the scout the radar as sticky device(device: it should stay untill destroyed.)
