1) If your scrambler is deployable, then it's automatically not an "active" piece of equipment. A nanohive or drop uplinks are not "active" pieces of equipment just because they take up a slot; in my definition, a piece of equipment is "active" when it must be equipped in order to be used - repair tools, nanite injectors, active scanners.

2) Active scanners and your proposed scramblers are not equitable. Scanning intel only aids you and your squad, has a limited range, is directional, and must constantly be refreshed. Further, because the scanner is active, it means that in order to use it you must switch to it and hence don't have your gun out. Your scrambler seems to be a deployable piece of equipment that affects everyone in its radius, not only your squadmates. If your scrambler had to be equipped like the scanner, was directional or very limited in radius, and only worked for a short period, say 10-30 seconds before it needed to be refreshed, then you might have an argument and it might not be OP. It seems to me that this isn't what you're going for.

From my interpretation of your proposal, you could simply put multiple scramblers on rooftops or hard to get areas and hide your entire team from scanning detection so long as they stayed within the scrambler's overlapping range. Hence its OP.

Not all suits need to be invisible from scans. If we're talking proto scanners, heavy suits can't dodge them no matter how many dampeners they stack. But last time I checked, heavy suits don't register on scanners with a minimap signature more pronounced than any other suit, so if you see a scanned target around the corner it could very well be a fatty with dampened friends to ambush you.

In the end, it all comes down to what you think is worthwhile to sacrifice on your suit in order to gain an ability. I know how powerful scanners are so I invested in profile dampeners despite having to give up armor plates or shield regulators to use them.

Think of it another way. As I said, triage nanohives can more or less replace your armor repairers, right? Imagine then if the triage hive had a 50-100m radius, didn't need LOS to heal you, and would constantly heal you without popping until it was destroyed. Sounds OP, doesn't it? It's pretty much what you're asking your scrambler to do.

I also don't agree with your notion that equipment must battle equipment. We don't have devices that nullify nanite injectors or repair tools, or drop uplinks and nanohives. If we did, people would just skill into that stuff and equipment use would drop, or one side wouldn't have it and would hence be destroyed, etc. It really just leads to stale gameplay.

Hmm, seems like my interpretation of how this would work differs from yours. So please explain the best way to design this device and we will go from there.

Info like duration, radius (magnitude and whether spherical like nanohives or linear like scanners), how the dampening works (i.e. deducting a specific dB number or percentage from the scan profiles of anyone in its radius) etc. Does it work on equipment? Or only infantry? What about vehicles? If they overlap is the effect increased by that much? Will the device itself show up on scans?

The reason I like the scanner and dampeners as they are now is because everyone uses scanners nowadays, and therefore dampening can lend a huge tactical advantage seeing as so many rely on scanning results to be accurate. But you are forced to sacrifice modules on their suit to use dampeners, as it should be.

There is one technical aspect I would like to point out. I don't think heavies could be dampened at all using your system. The reason is this - to evade the advanced A-45 Quantum Scanner, you need to have a scan profile of under 36dB. Heavies start at 65dB. You seem to want the scramblers to be able to hide them without any additional dampening from their end, so that means either a magnitude reduction of 29dB or a percentage reduction of 45%. This means that any medium frame also benefiting from such a scrambler would be able to evade all proto scanners except the Duvolle Focused (15dB), which is an advantage that you don't seem to agree with.

Again, you're essentially replacing low slots with an area of effect deployable, so the comparison to triage nanohives is justifiable.

So the only way to counter a proto jammer is to equip the Duvolle Focused Scanner - a piece of equipment with the third highest PG requirement of anything in the game, and limited usefulness as a scanner itself?

Are we really better served by equipment that makes radar useless? This should be the question you ask yourself. You are designing the next flavor of the month, and if implemented everyone will start using these. Do we get better, more exciting games if we know where most people are (give or take 1-2 people who can defeat scans), or if we don't know where anyone is (give or take 1-2 people who are idiots out in the open)?

We have a direct counter to the active scanner. They are called profile dampeners. I use them, as do others - not only scouts. Maybe you should try using them yourself. If you are a heavy, sorry, you DON'T GET TO EVADE SCANS. Heavies are not supposed to be "ambush" fighters who rely on stealth - else they wouldn't have such a high scanning profile in the first place.

Anyway, not gonna waste any more time making arguments over why your hypothetical piece of equipment is a bad idea. Clearly you're not going to be convinced this is OP unless it is implemented and abused. And I said, if CCP decides to add something like this, I will be the first to abuse the hell out of it.

Until then enjoy getting scanned, or skill into dampeners.

We have a direct counter to the active scanner. They are called profile dampeners. I use them, as do others - not only scouts. Maybe you should try using them yourself. If you are a heavy, sorry, you DON'T GET TO EVADE SCANS. Heavies are not supposed to be "ambush" fighters who rely on stealth - else they wouldn't have such a high scanning profile in the first place.

Anyway, not gonna waste any more time making arguments over why your hypothetical piece of equipment is a bad idea. Clearly you're not going to be convinced this is OP unless it is implemented and abused. And I said, if CCP decides to add something like this, I will be the first to abuse the hell out of it.

Until then enjoy getting scanned, or skill into dampeners.

The passive modules are fine as-is, but any class besides Scout can't really afford to waste low slots on Profile Dampeners. Also, they have such larger profiles that it is that much easier to scan them. Adding an equipment item that can defend an area from scan attempts will prevent these defenders from being completely outclassed via placement, as well as prevent abuse due to the stationary nature of deploy-able equipment.

Scouts can't afford spend that many low slots either. Which is why I really like your idea - there doesn't need to be a more powerful scanner to counter it. It already exists.

Edit: Hadn't read the whole thread yet - on the face of it - a proto jammer should at least need the Med frames inside to have dampening 5 to evade 28db scans.

Anyone else want?

Your Ideas Are Crappy Give This A Rest
TL;DR - read the first word of every paragraph.

I am giving you a +1. Not because I support your logic, but because that was the most clever way of bashing someone AND getting you point across that I have ever seen.

Made my day.

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Surprised more people aren't supporting this idea, given the prevalence of active scanners.

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