Hagintora wrote:If you think you've identified a problem (lack of role for Scouts), what would your solution be? Besides never getting into combat? This is an FPS game, and as someone else pointed out, never getting to do anything besides look at bad guys gets boring. So what would you propose as a possible solution/role for Scouts to play, that lives up to the name "Scout", and is still fun to play?
These were my major jobs as a Cav scout:
Ride around in a Bradley IFV. I was too tall to drive, fit in the turret, or load the TOW tubes, so I did dismount. I carried a USAS or M249 SAW, wore heavy body armor, and would surpress an area so that the infantry unit on board could dismount the vehicle.
Switched from that to roof gunner on a Hummer. Used a Mk19. Basically a belt fed, full automatic mass driver accurate up to a mile if somebody was on the other end laseing the target.
Lase targets for gunships, tanks, LAVs, and missle batteries. This was dangerous. You had to sneak way into enemy lines, not get seen, and designate targets. Always a chance of getting blown up by the strike you called in.
Decoy Duty. Get behind enemy ines, cause enough of a distraction to get the enemy's attention, hold the aggro until the infantry can get there and save you.
Certain scout units would go in with major ground forces, then break away and recover intel. This is kind of like hacking CRUs and such I suppose.
I jumped out of every aircraft the US military uses for that purpose, and a couple that they don't. Scouts should be on a dropship every chance they get. Hitch a ride to the other end of the map, air drop in, get to work.
Scouts should be proficient with all the longer range weapons. The best way to avoid a noisy fight is to shoot the guy from like 800m with a silenced weapon. Game mechanics don't support this however.
Scouts should be masters of explosives, both to eliminate enemy assets and to cause the big distractions for decoy duty. However, mechanics are not included that would give any WP for doing this role. Just like how good PlC users get screwed for no WP for clearing an obj after firing 1 shot and all the bad guys run away.
Aside from occasionally STROPE rigging or using the FARS being a scout was a crappy job, and pretty much a stepping stone toward Rangers for anyone planning to stay in long.