Does everything need to be the master of certain skills?

Yes, the Gal Scout can be made superior to the Min, but not in all area's at once.
As a complete package the Min is very good. It allows a good mix of passive skills which can be built on.

Personally I say the Min scout is more adaptive to different situations.
Find random lone guy - knife him
Need to take pressure off an objective - hack tons of stuff fast
Team needs better intel - use mix of passive + active scanners to assist.
- All without needing to switch out fits

At the end of the day who really cares. All the scouts are getting better.
As to fitting requirements. Do you really need the best of everything?

the biggest problem with minmitar is that it can't fit enough modules to be faster, have more EHP, and fit a cloak, due to pg constraints and a ludicrous pg cost on extenders. Withmax skills, the minmitar scout will only have 80 pg, with 3x complex extenders in the highs thats brought down to 47, with 2x kin cats thats brought down to 17, probably gonna fit a dampener because proto scanners will become much more prevalent, a basic cloak is 9pg at max skills, so now your only left with 8 pg to fit 1 eq, 1 sidearm, and 1 light weapon. 1 ishukone nova knives takes 8 pg.

Gallente, on the other hand has 96 pg with maxed out skills, can fit 3 kin cats to be faster than the aforementioned ninja fit, and has innate profile dampening, so it still has one more slot where it can fit an ADV plate and still be faster than a minmitar scout with 2x kin cats. (unless minmitar scouts are getting an inherent speed buff). Now, the gallente scout can fit a complex damage mod and a complex shield extender, putting the remaining pg at 96-((15*3)+5+11+9)=26 pg remaining. Now, they can fit a cloak and have 17 pg remaining for 1 eq, 1 SA, and 1 light, which is plenty. And, you have 3 hp/s for armor, are faster than a double kincatted minmitar, have more EHP, and more passive scan. Weapon+equipment combos could be- proxy scanner, k5 shotgun, and a SMG

the added scanning range on the Gallente suit is actually sex.

[quote=Smooth Assassin]So... i've been thinking to skill into minmatar since they're gonna get that 0.01 more speed than gallante in 1.8 and now that cloak is coming, that dampening will clearly be useless. Even if i put 2 shields and 4 kinetics i'd be less efficient... but the one thing i can't stand from minmatar is that physical appearance....

Why do people run gallente with armor reps? I facepalm so hard when peoppe dontnuse a rep...

Scan dampening will never be useless, you will be able to hide during your cloaks cool down where other scouts cannot. You do realise every time you break cloak you have to wait 30 sec or more to cloak again don you?

Unless you're planning on running knives regularly the gallante is the more versatile scout. Even with the cloak the dampening bonus is extremely useful, and the increased scan range along with the base range buff will be godly. Stack a kin cat, cardio, precision enhancer and plate in low, with a shield and range enhancer in high and you'll be set. The mini wins out on base speed and hacking, and losses out substantially in visibility, survivability and longevity.

That said, I'll still be running the Mini scout, but that's due to race loyalty a much as anything else.

Once again, your posts never make sense.

Gallente Scout with 2 equipment slots is all i need, REs & Scanner FTW. Ive just got to the point were i am pretty much invisible. Proto next week... cant wait!

Dont use it in ambush now...

Scan dampening will never be useless, you will be able to hide during your cloaks cool down where other scouts cannot. You do realise every time you break cloak you have to wait 30 sec or more to cloak again don you?

Meh, I'm fully skilled into minmatar scout, I speed tank and decimate unsuspecting shotgun fodder. Come 1.8 I'm still going minmatar, still going to speed tank... and wreck your **** up. Oh, and hacking your stuff, it belongs to me.

gallente will be a better speed tankerGǪ.and a better hit and run scoutGǪ..and have more EHPGǪ..and more damageGǪGǪall at the same damn time

Doesn't matter, it won't save them when I whisper sweet nothings in their ear and all they hear is "Slice!!" or "POP!" I'm cool with being the underdog, I thriiive on being underestimated!

yeah, i feel you, but stillGǪ..itd be nice to at least have more speed

Yup, that would be really nice.

yeahGǪ.unfortunately, gal scouts are even faster than minmitar as well with 3x kin cats, the only way to beat them is to use 3 yourself, sacrificing dampening and the ability to have over 250 HP and still run a weapon that isn't a plasma cannon or flay lock

You all may have missed something very very subtle about minnie running, go and look at it. A gallente scout runs in a very smooth manner, simple to hit. However the minimitar one runs quite jagedly, almost laggigly. Makes it harder to hit if spotted. Anyway, you gallentes can keep your passive hiders. I'll be OHKing heavies with that sweet knife bonus.
Cal just does appeal to my inner terrorist though, those passive scans remove the need for a scanner, more remotes, or cloak and remote.
I've lived without cloaks so far, so good luck, and watch out, the assassins about

Gallente for close-range stealth combat (Did you SEE their stats?)
Minmatar for support in tight areas
Amarr for support over open areas (or just bridging a gap before switching to minmatar)
Caldari for long-range stealth combat (High slots up the ass)

I've never noticed thatGǪill have to check it outGǪthanks though
EDIT: are you sure its not just good players that have adapted to using a gimped suit that are purposefully adding tiny erratic movements to their running?

If your not using nova knifes dont use the minmatar scout
That being said I plan on running a shotgun gallente scout in 1.8