But I was curious if you guys had any ideas which would actually give a scout a non competitive exclusive trait since I do not see any relative buff as significant enough to compete.

I enjoyed the B-series when it existed, no sidearm, two equipment slots also a strangely high melee damage. Worked like a charm for me, but I don't think that I would want it back today.

I put my hopes on that they'll fix and balance scouts properly when the racials comes into play.

Yea, the B series was alright back in the day but it wasn't all that great. It sacrificed a bit of speed I think as well so I rarely used it.

Sentinels are easily in a bad position as well, yet they are seen frequently in PC matches, in fact they dominate them.

Read your argument, and still disagree. Scouts purpose is to sneak around, get behind enemy lines, spot enemies, etc. Their eHP is extremely low meaning they are far from an ideal choice for combat, so why do they need two weapons (a light and a sidearm)? Ditch the sidearm in exchange for a second equipment and the scout will be able to not only sneak behind enemy lines, but do something while he's back there.

What equipment would function favorably for this?
-Active Scanner to scan point out enemies to teammates while you're in their territory
-Uplinks to spawn your teammates in behind enemy lines
-Nanohives so after teammates spawns in behind enemy lines they have something to keep them going
-Remote explosives to set traps behind enemy lines
-Cloak (confirmed equipment in the future) self explanatory
-Deployable shield (confirmed equipment in the future) to provide cover while hacking an objective behind lines

There's a lot of choices of equipment that would compliment the scout's ability to sneak around, a lot more so then having a second weapon. Also CCP has stated they are looking into redoing all the suit bonuses, so there's no telling what each bonus will be now.

I enjoyed the B-series when it existed, no sidearm, two equipment slots also a strangely high melee damage. Worked like a charm for me, but I don't think that I would want it back today.

I put my hopes on that they'll fix and balance scouts properly when the racials comes into play.

Would cloaking count as non-competitive?

I'd say make personal full cloaking scout-exclusive, and everyone else needs some kind of cloak-hive, or shield-bubble-cloak-hive, or a directional cloaking device (like this 0:40).

And to satisfy those who want 'invisible heavies', make the personal cloaks available for all, but give scouts an 80% fitting bonus (+40% at level 1, then +10% for the next four levels) on a piece of equipment that consumes something like 80CPU (hence for scouts its reduced to 16CPU at level 5 of their dropsuit skill)

Active Scanners give away your position so this goes against the sneakier scout, plus the eventual good passive scans with an active scanners is redundant

Uplinks literally take out about 2/5 to 1/2 of the scouts entire cpu/pg pool, uplink scouts are literally one trick ponies because that one suit can't do much else, which works with just one equipment slot, whereas the logi does not have to make this sacrifice

Nanohives are used unsuccessful by sniper scouts (sniper scouts benifit by moving more), since scouts operating near squads equates to dead scouts, this isn't used at all really

Remote explosives are good, no doubt about that lvl 1 works just fine and is cheap enough to fit

They have retracted cloaks saying they fear the imbalance, so it can come back as equipment or as a module, it is also unpopular outside the scout community

Deployable shields would be a big "I"m Here", which is a general no no, which is also why nanohives aren't a good idea for a scout.

Edit:

I forgot my finisher on this, all of this can still be replicated, which is the entire point of my thread, scouts need a unique role, if you disagree with combat, giving them equipment when there is clearly an equipment king in the field is a bad idea.

Active scanners don't give away your position. Being told your scanned doesn't mean the enemy knows where you are.
A scout can easily fit uplinks, not sure what the problem is. A scout doesn't need proto uplinks either, just standard ones to get people into position is all.

What is a sniper scout? If you are sniping, you aren't scouting. When I said use nanohives, I mean preemptively place nanohives around your uplinks for your teammates.

If cloaks come as a fitting option for infantry, it's going to be an equipment slot. Makes no sense for it to be a module as that gives you no way to turn it on and off.

Obviously you haven't played as a scout much. When I get behind enemy lines and go to hack a key objective, I can't tell you how often I would of loved something to protect my back from snipers watching over or an infantry running back to stop me. Sure it gives away my position, but so does the giant flashing letter or warning across the screen that says I'm hacking a CRU. When you go in to hack something, you pretty much accept that the enemy are going to know you're there. You hack then GTFO. The shield can provide you the cover to do so.

And no, it cannot be replicated if you cannot get past the enemy scanners.

I'm fine with scouts not getting another equipment slot. To be honest I don't think scouts need any huge changes to have a defined role... the problem in my mind is that we are too slow to escape after being noticed by your typical AR/ScR user, and that our stealth mechanic is not as efficient as it NEEDS to be.

I think that a fully skilled scout should be able to avoid proto scanners without using modules (given we have so few slots; esp Min w/ their 2 low slots). Additionally, I think that we should be able to avoid being detected around installations, if they had a 44 db precision this would be pretty easy to do but even lower values are fine so other suits would have some incentive to skill up and run a dampener.

A bit more speed, a bit more stealth and I think scouts would come into their own as infiltrators, assassins and scouts.

Right now we are just targets for mediocre assault players. Against good players.... slaughter fest.

[

Its then just the appropriate mechanic that is acceptable which we can use to disengage

I like the ideas in your other thread. Being slower than needed wouldn't be such an issue if there was some other way to disengage..... Seriously, sometimes all I need is another 2-3 seconds.....

Read your argument, and still disagree. Scouts purpose is to sneak around, get behind enemy lines, spot enemies, etc. Their eHP is extremely low meaning they are far from an ideal choice for combat, so why do they need two weapons (a light and a sidearm)? Ditch the sidearm in exchange for a second equipment and the scout will be able to not only sneak behind enemy lines, but do something while he's back there.

What equipment would function favorably for this?
-Active Scanner to scan point out enemies to teammates while you're in their territory
-Uplinks to spawn your teammates in behind enemy lines
-Nanohives so after teammates spawns in behind enemy lines they have something to keep them going
-Remote explosives to set traps behind enemy lines
-Cloak (confirmed equipment in the future) self explanatory
-Deployable shield (confirmed equipment in the future) to provide cover while hacking an objective behind lines

There's a lot of choices of equipment that would compliment the scout's ability to sneak around, a lot more so then having a second weapon. Also CCP has stated they are looking into redoing all the suit bonuses, so there's no telling what each bonus will be now.

I have having to be blind behind enemy lines. Passive scanning just doesn't get it done.

...stuff... Essentially Scouts would not have gained a unique function, so a two equipment slot scout would be the light weapon Sentinel

Sentinels are easily in a bad position as well, yet they are seen frequently soloed by logis in PC matches,

in fact, I'm more useful running around in my advanced logi suit spamming uplinks than in my Sentinel.

On a related note, I'd like to just see scouts getting:
1. CPU/PG buff
2. Bonus to scanner range
3. A second equipment slot, on T4, T6 suits (Yes I know they don't exist, but make it happen) These suits should get some penalty over the 1 slot counterparts
4. MOAR space blow to move faster

I could honestly go on and on.

If you want to be fast, use KinCats on a medium frame. (More base HP then a tanked scout.)
If you want to be sneaky, use dampeners on a medium frame. (More skill intensive, but more base HP)
Hell, you can even be fast and sneaky on a callogi

Honestly Scouts need that side-arm WITH 2 EQ slots, or they risk being outclassed by Min Logis.

My entire argument is that they 2 equipment slot scouts will still be outclassed by logis, which is not what I want, I want scouts to shine with their own utility, I just doubt the ability for that to be done through equipment alone, it may be a gimmick for the amarr scout but it won't be solving scouts woes in the slightest

My entire argument is that they 2 equipment slot scouts will still be outclassed by logis, which is not what I want, I want scouts to shine with their own utility, I just doubt the ability for that to be done through equipment alone, it may be a gimmick for the amarr scout but it won't be solving scouts woes in the slightest

I fail to see how giving scouts back field utility detracts from their intended role as stealth based suits, and then I cannot fathom why you would compare a light frame scout to a logi.....?

It's not going to be done through equipment alone, you are correct. But do you honestly believe trading the sidearm for a second equipment would be detrimental to scouts?

Detrimental? No, I loved the B series, but it shouldn't be a scout staple, make it the amarr scout with two slots if need be, similar to how the amarr logi gets a sidearm.

edit:

A scout is going to find his refuge in the few items he excels in, passive detection, choosing targets, and the last missing piece is escaping targets.

Second Edit:

Unless equipment changes radically, which is easily possible, I don't see it as the shiny beacon. If CCP is going to do one thing for scouts, priority needs to be based on the first edit. Equipment is just a lovely second priority. Again, I would love to receive all these buffs, but I am also cautious of getting in the way of the nerf hammer again.