What am I doing wrong? (Machinegun Scout)

[Shoitaan]

Hey all


I've been trying out machine gun scouts in freebattles but unfortunately I haven't had a tonne of success. I'm fairly sure that its not completely my fault, the maps either help me or kill me. More specifically Mountains 2 or Desert makes me the :):):):):) of snipers (sometimes) and heavy gunners (usually). Once I get up to them its a different deal but on these maps I get smashed to smitherens sometimes in one volley :(

My most depressing fight ended with me circling a heavy gunner that was loaded up with heat seekers. because of my close proximity to him and I was usually *just* out of his scope the missiles never really hit me or atleast hit me hard but the splash damage enentually killed me. I disabled his legs, his generator, most of his weapons besides this 1 rocket pack which I swear was armoured.. most of him was on fire and still I couldnt kill him.

My loadout is on a wheeled chasis, 4x machine guns and 2 shotguns (that was for the above mentioned battle - I was just trying out having shotties).
If I carried just the 4 machine guns, would the speed boost I recieve make that much of a difference?
Would it be better if I carried 4x rocketpacks?


I keep hearing about 3-4xMortar scouts but their pretty much the only guys I can beat with ease so I'm wondering...

Any tips for the budding combat scout? :/

[DaHool]

The point with MG's is that it takes a long time to get a kill, and since HG weapons have area effect, he doesn't have to aim at you directly. It is weird that snipers hit you though, since scouts are very fast.

So either you had a very good opponent or you need to zigzag more to the enemy and try and get closer to him. Maybe add a smoke-mortar and a thermal sensor? It's a good combination as a scout.

And btw your chassis is fine, it's quick and well-armored. But I doubt taking off the two shotguns will make much of a difference. You might want to concidder switching then for piles.

[Dorzim]

Don't shotties cause you to stop when you fire them? (Like cannons) It's been a long time since I've used shotties, so I just can't remember well. If this is the case, I'd say ditch them. If you want to replace them with something consider a rocket pod or maybe even a grenade launcher or two. The damage caused by a grenade is considerable if you can get it to hit.

I like scouts. Zippy little guys, but once they star taking damage to the chasis it's pretty much over for them, as speed is their number 1 attribute. My current scout is a hover, light c-pit, light generator, a rotocraft, and 3 machine guns. Prob'ly not the greatest for free battle kind of stuff, but it works well for doing what it needs to do in the war, and the 3 machine guns are enough to take out ACVs and help damage enemy hounds. 1v1 I worry about things with a decent rotation, or AoE weapons.

[Shoitaan]

Thanks for the tips guys,

I originally did have grenades in place of shotties but they only time I got them to hit was when I was right in the enemies face and even then it wasn't a sure thing (ie they were moving). Practice makes perfect I guess!!

I use an accelleration booster on my hound over a top speed booster, which would be better for zigzaging? I assumed acl but but then I also get mortared so what do I know? XD
And yeah, I think my zigzaging needs work too. I haven't been playing on live that long.. maybe my problem is also inexperience... not sure :/
I'll try the changes you guys recommended but yeah, the acl vs top speed chip question would be nice answered :)





It propably doesn't help that my hound is some ungodly fluro colour thats easily seen in the maps I mentioned XD
Time to change the camo I think...

[havok]

go for top speed over the acc. once you get started, acc. doesn't really matter much. that only matters when you start and stop a lot i.e. sniping or using a weapon that stops you. also, good camo helps A LOT.

[Dorzim]

go for top speed over the acc. once you get started, acc. doesn't really matter much. that only matters when you start and stop a lot i.e. sniping or using a weapon that stops you. also, good camo helps A LOT.

Or running into a tree. It always sucks to come to a complete stop while you're circling someone because you've hit a single tree out in the middle of nowhere.

Also, grenades are really difficult to land unless you're super close. They can be decent weapons, but they're situational (isn't everything?).

[Shoitaan]

The speed chip is nice on flatish maps but like Dorzim said, in the moutains with the damn trees everywhere I get stopped a lot. I'm considering whether to revert back to accl... I'll have to fiddle :/


And grenades dont seem to do much for me. Even if I manage to land a hit with them they dont seem to do much damage. I think its because I'm using some somewhat poopy grenade launchers (Im Sal'Kar). Theres an experimental one which launches multiple grenades, I might try to get that (or just wait for it to hit retail)... dunno.. grenades dont work for me. I put 2 piles in its place... funny enough to use but I need something decent there :(

[Cobra N]

A scouts not really an offensive hound, my scout does about 316, I know there are faster, but I've put some decent durability parts on, as for weapons I mount a flare gun for team support, 2 gatlings for taking out npc tanks and a couple of piles in case I run into a proper hound - most offensive weapon you can fit to a scout using it's speed and lightweight nature.

[badmojo]

the C20 co ckpit is the one i use all the time now. And like was said above 3 machine guns should be enough. And i throw 2 piles 1 on top of the other on one side of the hound, it's deadly if you can get a clear shot of their co ckpit.

You might want to consider using the hover chasis, the wheels are faster and more load, but the hover handles a lot better. And i always go with the acceleration chip, top speed of a scout isnt very important when you get into battles.

Also, try to get them to fight on yours terms. Stay back, draw them apart, distract people who are attacking your teammates, etc. This is especially true about real players. It's a shame that you dont get paid depending on how many times you hit an enemy. In the war i hardly ever kill hounds, but im always at the front line, bugging the enemies so they dont have a chance to see the 5 others coming up behind me.

[Shoitaan]

@Both above posters:

Very valid points but I think they apply more to the war than Player matches.. My squads still getting its act together so no war yet :(


So thats why I do player matches in the mean time to sharpen my skills and have fun etc.. and also why I need a combat scout (I like scouts :) )

[badmojo]

Ahh yer right sorry forgot you said Free battle. I'd say replace the machine guns with anti-hound rockets. And throw on a couple spikes maybe. Try to work out some kind of Armor in front of your cokpit, since that seems to be what everyone does in free battle.