Thank you for your input, gentlemen. I'm interested that I've got two of the exact same suggestion-- and that it's to use a sidearm as my primary.

On the nova knife skilling suggestion: that's pretty much exactly my skill pattern (that, and I'm working on perfecting my Minnie scout suit skill for the damage boost). Thank you for reminding me that I need to do a "character build" section.

I'm aware the shotgun and knives combination is unorthodox, but I find that I use them in entirely different ways.

I may give the SMG a try. Historically, I've found its difficulties penetrating shields frustrating. My loadout used to pair an AR with the knives, but I found myself losing too many close-range fights, which tended to be the most common sort I got into. Due to the difficulty of aiming and ease of avoidance, I only count the nova knives as a "close range weapon" under either surprise or desperate circumstances; otherwise, they're a highly-efficient stealth-kill weapon.

Basically, I favor the shotgun for fighting, the knives for murder.

My Current Favorite:
Highs: 2x Basic Shield Extenders

Lows: 2x Enhanced Kinetic Catalizers

Weapons: M209 Assault SMG & ZN-28 Nova Knives

Grenades: Flux Grenades

Equipment: Remote Explosives

I can't speak for all of us, but I pack Flux Grenades for this reason. My current favorite fit costs 26.6k ISK each as seen below on an ADV Minmatar Scout suit. If you wanted you could drop the SMG down to a STD and up the Novas to Proto and it would only cost $3k more each suit. I do plan on eventually going and snagging the shotgun tree though. I forget names but I have seen some very very very skilled Minny Scouts just absolutely dominating everything with a Shotgun with speeds in excess of 11 to 12m/s it looked like(I go almost 10 and they were sprinting way faster than I was going).

Light weapon: shotgun. Quality matters minimally unless you're up against a heavy.

...

* the shotgun is a backup and emergency weapon rather than primary ordinance. Its firepower is high enough to seem to invite direct confrontation, but the suit's weak defenses make that a risky tactic. Also, and never, ever, forget this: it's powerful enough to be feared and its sound is both highly distinctive and LOUD. You have very few shots before everybody in close proximity starts looking for the shotgunner.

Fox Hunt

Ingredients:

Advancing hostile offensive force
Scout suit (easiest with Minmatar)
Biotics for speed and endurance
Decent navigational sense
Abundant chutzpah
(optional, but desirable) Remote Explosives

You remember how I said not to throw your body on a problem? Well, there are exceptions to everything.

Say there's an intense battle for the objective you're at, and your side looks likely to lose. If the red dots keep advancing in force, their victory is inevitable, so ...

Red dots, generally (dots in general, I suppose) have a bad habit of developing tunnel vision when they think they've got an easy kill. This can work to your advantage (or your team's, anyway). Find the middle of the battle and just dash right through the middle of the hostile line. If you get a good opportunity to drop an RE in the middle of their position as you run, take it, but for God's sake keep moving. Attract all the attention you can and just keep running and evading for as long as possible.

Every second every individual enemy spends shooting at the evasive will-o'-wisp bobbing around in front off them and presumably off to do something nefarious is a second that same enemy isn't shooting at your side, which means a second your team has to respawn, reinforce, regroup, retaliate-- whatever it needs to do. Don't even bother shooting at people. Keep the reds busy for as long as possible; make them pay for every shot they take at you with additional seconds that null cannon will be firing on their MCC.

This can also work offensively, drawing hostiles out of cover by giving them a target to shoot at that's relatively irrelevant to the push.

Obviously, this move is usually suicidal. If only a couple pursue, drop an RE in a bottleneck and blow them into their next clones. If you get a full squad (or two-- it happens!), just keep going as long as you can and try to take as many of them with you as possible if and when they corner you. Remember, RE's can be triggered while on your way to the ground, mortally wounded, and HMG's will fail to kill you outright about two thirds of the time.

Boom.

I think Fox Hunt can still be done, you just need to adjust for changes in 1.4.

Instead of running through the fight, fire at them from the edge of the fight. Pick a spot where cover is available so you can duck behind it as soon as you get their attention. Make sure they know you are there, but donGÇÖt give them a clear shot to kill you. If they give chase, run from cover to cover. These corners are also good places to drop remote explosives.

First two are on the to do list, but with no date yet. Last one would be part of the vehicle rebalance.

It's so satisfying to be an infiltrator bastard, sneak behind the enemy, hack and uplink, and then watch the tide of battle completely shift.

Notes on Specific Equipment



Drop Uplinks

The "other" standard scout equipment.

These things are nasty in a terrain control war, and I can very easily see the motivation for carrying a heavy squad in your pocket. That said, I still can't find a squad of heavies willing to try out my "suicide teleport" scheme, where you effectively have a whole squad of heavies keel over in a well-secured side of the map and pop right up again behind enemy lines. Such fun!

... Pity they're always such sticks-in-the-mud about voluntarily dying.

If someone manages to get five heavies together willing to put this sort of plan into action, be sure to let me know how it works.

For my own part, I consider uplinks to be a better piece of equipment for the assault troops than they are for me. I'm so accustomed to remote explosives that when I run uplinks I start slinging the damn things down in front of charging heavies and trying to blow the hostiles up with them.

i think i know enough hit me up in game via msg ill get **** together cus im down

Locus Grenades:
With a Swarm Launcher you donGÇÖt need the AV grenades.

Active Scanners

Extremely useful if you're spotting for a squad; pure evil if you're trying to stay hidden. Their users are almost never alone, so if you're attempting solo infiltration of hostile territory and get pinged by one of these, you may either find somewhere else to be or consider yourself functionally deceased. Profile Dampening 3 and Scout Dropsuit (of your choice) 4 is enough to drop your profile below the ability of advanced scanners to detect (scan resolution 36); this should be a training priority.

Suggested tweak:
dampening is a x3 skill. suit is x8.
If stealth is the goal, anyone sensible would aim for dampening 4, scout 3, rather than the other way around.
'course, there are other bonuses to the suit skill. But still...
I think you should at least mention that either way is viable.

An excellent post. +1 for you.

Also, they aren't kidding about running Knives/SMG

Use the knives to kill enemies who are unsuspecting. Then run around the SMG.

At high levels, Assault SMG's will shred though people in very short time. I have mine to Proto, with 3 in Sharpshooter, Proficiency, and rapid reload. Aim for the head if they are standing still at range, Hipfire everything else. Another good thing to notice is that the bullets don't stand out like the AR. It's actually a decent stealth weapon.

Also, instead of AV, try using M1's. IMHO scouts should NEVER engage tanks. Use the M1's as spike damage weapons to surprise enemies who try to chase you. Run around a corner, pull the pin, jump back out and throw it at their feet. Can kill one person and wound another. Mop up the survivor with an SMG. This should either discourage enemy pursuit (which is healthy for the both of you) or enrage them to the point of distraction. Then repeat the same tactic with RE's instead. Gotta keep em on their toes right?

I agree that M1s are an excellent scout tool, but it's just tons of fun to set 3 REs on a road, then use AV grenades to push the tank in that direction. Soften it up with the AV nades, then spring the 4.5k explosive damage trap and watch the fireworks. Some tankers are even oblivious enough to let me run up right next to them, drop 3 REs, soften up with the AV nades, and kill it in one go. It doesn't work very often, but it sure is fun when it does.