Asher's Guide to Scout RT
Welcome to the scouting guide, this role-type has been somewhat twisted over the ages, but the general premise is still intact. Gather intel, inform your teammates of the enemies locations, and retain the ability to drop a base or kill a hound. Most often you will see the word scout related with the word "base-dropper". This is like stating that all of the top squads on the overall leader-boards are cheaters. A gross misjudgment of values. The true scout is an intelligence gatherer and as a last resort, base dropper. Unfortunately, this is reversed for most players out there. The true scout is what I will be focusing on.
HOUND Parts
Mobility Bases [Chassis]
Hover: Prior to these most recent patches, these were the deployment of choice due to a much higher speed than the wheeled bases at the time. Currently, these are pretty much useless unless you are fighting on a map wherein the water-filled areas are more practical to take or are useful in strategies. Examples of such maps are Tarakia's St.Yves, and Morskoj's northeastern most maps. On dry land, these hovers lose a lot of points due to their minimized top speed. The only other advantage to these over the wheels is that the hovers do not leave tracks. This is a minimal advantage, but an advantage nonetheless.
Wheeled: Able to carry larger loads as well as run faster than the hovers, these should be your mobility base of choice on most maps. Higher speed with a scout is always desirable so that leaves the default go to the WL-Hisan. Every now and then you will sometimes with a higher load get more speed out of a WL-Faras, although this is rare.
Canopies [Cockpits]
9 Slot: Ideal for scouts, you typically want to present the smallest target area possible. Sal Kari canopies of all variety are desirable here. They present an extremely small frontal area. Tarakian and Morskovian canopies are fairly easy to target. I personally would not advise armoring a canopy on a true scout. Reason being is that armor presents a large flat frontal area and costs you speed. Choice ultimately is yours though. Eight and seven slot canopies should not be instituted on scouts in my opinion due to the extra weight, and larger profiles.
Generators
Keep yourself at the bottom of the list here. The smaller the better. You won't be needing a whole lot power-wise in order to have a functional scout. Your span should run from RFZ-GE-C1 to the MSK-G10 generator. All of these present an extremely small target and provide just enough power for a scout to function normally.
Heavy Arms
Some might advise the Sal Kari heat seeker missiles here, but for a true scout....the heavy arms are rendered pretty much useless. They typically present too large of a target for the purpose of the true scout.
Light Arms
Machine Guns: Any of these are preferred scout weapons. Useful for taking out ACV's and potentially able to drop bases from a distance, I would advise the hexagonal style weapons rather than the clip on weapons due to sheer survivability. Morskoj do the most damage, but the M18MG Stylet and Mcg-Hamama are also highly useful weapons due to low reload times on the Mcg-Hamama and easy barrel rotation on the M18MG Stylet. Also keep your ammunition count at the default level. I have as of yet to see anyone actually run out of ammunition on a machine gun.
Grenades: Grl-Mumtir and their triple shot grenades are the only viable option here. Clustered in groups of four, these strip weapons at an extremely good distance with the most recent patches although splash damage has been minimized somewhat.
Heat Rockets: Sal Kari heat rockets are especially well adjusted to the most recent patches. Damage is on par with most cannons. Lacking the kickback of the cannons, but retaining the damage, these are always very useful on a scout should it need to defend itself or provide support fire.
Shotguns: Prior to this most recent patch, the shotgun's increased recoil renders the mariokart moot. This weapon is now confined to the upper echelons of chassis.
Assault Rifles: More typically utilized as a soldier weapon, any assault rifle that is not found in Morskoj is extremely useful on this particular style of build. Remember that it is a "poke and annoy" toy designed to distract and get the enemy to come after you while your squad-mates polish off the opposition.
Sniper Rifles: This is the only role-type in which these are actually potentially useful. Used as a periscope/telescope, these also pack a heck of a wallop when clustered in groups of at least three. Combined firepower is almost as much as a full MSK-SC200 sniper cannon on KE damage. More designed as another poke and annoy style weapon if equipped in a weapon classification.
Mortars: Useful pre-patch on some of the more devastating hounds, these have been dumbed down to more or less a scout-worthy weapon only. Best option are Sal Kari triple-shooters. Mortar ammunition types:
Flare: I typically use these as an early alert system for when I'm out of COMBAS range from my squad. It's a quick way to pop a warning off to your squad. These have about a thousand meters visibility on an open map, so depending on conditions, it might be the only opportunity to get the warning off to your team.
Smoke: Useful for providing a smoke screen for a rapid getaway. I typically run both a smoke mortar and a signal flare simultaneously to warn my squad-mates and provide the cover for myself to get away.
High Explosive: Not so explosive these days with mortars, same ammunition setup as what is ran on howitzers, so I'm going to copy and paste my information since it's still universally applicable with shell types to my knowledge.
* HE160-40: As stated with the big cannons, you get what you pay for.
* HE160-60: Increased splash damage, but less damage from direct hit -- best for use against hounds, especially in close groups, where misses or nearby hits can disorient/stop hounds or destroy multiple parts.
* HE160-90: Increased damage from direct hit, but lower splash damage -- best used against large targets where direct hits are likely (bases, secret weapons, etc).
Incendiary: fire splash and high temp. Mostly used to attempt to replace the lost "splash" damage from the most recent patches.
* Incendiary-160: Larger fire spread, less intense but longer lasting, very effective against hounds that do not have a radiator.
* Incendiary-160N: Smaller fire spread, more intense but shorter duration, recommended against hounds that are equipped with radiators.
Bombs: Seen during the single player, best left there.
Landmines: As stated during the defender tutorial....yeah....moving on...
Anti-HOUND Piles: Extremely useful for hounds and bases. Stick with the heavy Morskoj one here and poke'em where the sun doesn't shine. It doesn't do as much damage as the Sal Kari ones, but the length of reload time on the Sal Kari piles are almost inexcusable.
NA Jammers: With scouts, these are extremely useful. Your job as a scout involves staying out of sight and covering ground rapidly. Tarakian M02JM Basinet are your prime rib here.
Rotorcraft: Scouts need to be able to clear out of trouble quickly, sometimes that means making an impossible move. Look to the RC-Saqr for your choice here. It's got the best overall performance for the classification. Consider it your ejection seat from a cliffside.
Scout Builds
All builds are provided by www.chromehounds.co.uk for demonstration purposes only.
Scouts are best kept compact and light. You really shouldn't have more than a total of 6 individual weapons on the build. Anything more than that and you are starting to cross more over towards the soldier on wheels spectrum.
Standard anti hound scout: Cobra-N's Scout
This scout has the ability to attack the opposition along with scouting positions out on the map. It has the potential to drop a base, but this is not this scout's primary purpose.
Double heat seeker scout: Double H
Not one of my personal choices, but it's fast, and has the ability to hold it's own. It was a popular choice back pre-patch and during the mariokart days. Still viable, just not seen very often.
Mariokart: Bomb Da Base!
Just had to throw this classic in here to get some moans and groans. Note the NA jammers. Replacing the shotties with grenades and machine guns would definitely still be viable.
Default scout: Follow Me
Pretty much this is what you're going to see out there as a scout. Machine guns give it the ability to kill a base or kill a hound.
Generator-less scout: The Bullet
More a novelty item than anything, scouts are the only type that have the ability to run without a generator if you are careful.
Scout Tips
Speed is your friend: Armor is good if you get hit, but not getting hit requires no armor and lost of speed. Try and keep your speed above 280.
Light makes might: The lighter your hound, the faster it goes. Targeting a scout with a chicken isn't easy, sniping a scout is possible, but difficult. Evasion, escape and elusiveness are the main priorities for a scout.
Avoid combat: Not stating that you shouldn't be fighting, but you are better off just popping shots off here and there to add a few extra damage points to your squad-mate that is already engaged. Your priority is on grabbing COMBAS, finding the enemy, and if need be, dropping the base should the opportunity present itself.
Smoke and flares are your ally: Signaling to your teammates where the opposition is is vital, hiding yourself is key to survival, and thermal vision applied with weapons is fun.
Ranging: Range your heavy gunners, another purpose of the scout is to guide the heavy gunner's artillery/rockets/missiles in from sight unseen. Use your small size to ensure that your heavy gunners are hitting their targets. Heavy gunners especially in this day and age of the game are especially in need of a remote set of cross-hairs due to their lack of durability and this is another primary job of the scout.
The scout though small is a constant threat: It can come out of anywhere at anytime and deliver a fatal blow when least expected. I hope this guide has aided you in your quest for knowledge. Best wishes and good luck to all.
Originally Posted by SlamminSerb
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