What is the counter to a cloaked scout with a shotgun other than "you should be able to see them"?

The safest units from cloaked scouts are cloaked scouts or tankers. Tanks are powerful and some people feel they are OP, but they are costly and at least you can clearly see them and stay away. A cloaked scout just has to stand still, wait for you to pass, sprint at you and shoot you in the back before you know what happened. Even if you're paranoid and constantly check your flanks the scout just has to stop moving when you turn in their direction! The shimmer is useless unless you happen to see them moving. Even when you do see them, all it takes is for them to quickly duck behind something and vanish, only to later sneak up and shoot me you in the back.

What is the downside for a scout using a cloak? Scouts get a huge CPU/PG reduction for cloaks. Cloaks are useless for any other class for that reason.

There needs to be some downsides like:

1 - Cloak fails immediately when shield/armor is damaged, with a cool-down of at least 10 seconds.
2 - The shimmer takes longer to fade after you stop moving, like 2 or 3 seconds.
3 - Speed is reduced while cloaked (equal to medium?). Or you can't sprint while cloaked.
4 - While moving the scout shows periodically on the radar due to the shimmer.

I'm not saying all of these downsides should be implemented, but something has to be done. What's worse is more people are starting to tank because of cloaked scouts. If you're anything but a cloaked scout or taker, you're screwed, especially with that combination.

See a tank, run away. Get shot by a cloaked scout from behind while running from the tank. The scout runs faster than you. Sucks to be you. Cloak or be cloaked.

What is the counter to a cloaked scout with a shotgun other than "you should be able to see them"?

The safest units from cloaked scouts are cloaked scouts or tankers. Tanks are powerful and some people feel they are OP, but they are costly and at least you can clearly see them and stay away. A cloaked scout just has to stand still, wait for you to pass, sprint at you and shoot you in the back before you know what happened. Even if you're paranoid and constantly check your flanks the scout just has to stop moving when you turn in their direction! The shimmer is useless unless you happen to see them moving. Even when you do see them, all it takes is for them to quickly duck behind something and vanish, only to later sneak up and shoot me you in the back.

What is the downside for a scout using a cloak? Scouts get a huge CPU/PG reduction for cloaks. Cloaks are useless for any other class for that reason.

There needs to be some downsides like:

1 - Cloak fails immediately when shield/armor is damaged, with a cool-down of at least 10 seconds.
2 - The shimmer takes longer to fade after you stop moving, like 2 or 3 seconds.
3 - Speed is reduced while cloaked (equal to medium?). Or you can't sprint while cloaked.
4 - While moving the scout shows periodically on the radar due to the shimmer.

I'm not saying all of these downsides should be implemented, but something has to be done. What's worse is more people are starting to tank because of cloaked scouts. If you're anything but a cloaked scout or taker, you're screwed, especially with that combination.

See a tank, run away. Get shot by a cloaked scout from behind while running from the tank. The scout runs faster than you. Sucks to be you. Cloak or be cloaked.

Precision mods. If you want to see them, fit for it. Stop being a scrub and expect to be allowed to do everything with one fitting

Ok, while I understand the frustration as this has happened to me and there is nothing more maddening then blap... Shorty... Dead from a cloaked you didn't see. I get it, I hate it but there are counters.

1. If you are lone wolfing it, countering a cloaker will me more difficult so work with a squad when possible and have a squad member follow #2.

2. A high scan precision - a logi can achieve this fairly easily or another scout (cloaked or not). You will have less shield hp but will be far less likely to be snuck-up-on. If you have a high scan precision a red shevron will appear over an enemy cloaked scout making them very easy to spot when they think they are invisible. They also show up on your radar when cloaked with a high enough precision.

3. The dampened scout - these buggers you may not pick up even with the precision enhancements however they trade armour hp to do so if you do get jumped they should go down easier.

4. Be observant- cloaking has changed the deck so you can no longer be lax here. Running scouts are easy to see once you get the eye for it and are not entirely invisible when completely stopped either. If you see a cloaked scout move then suddenly there is nothing move from side to side and look for the melting light effect.

Hope this helps you crush the little buggers

Scouts are a problem ... because they fool you?
Tanks are fine ... because they're expensive?

Nah. 1/10.

What is the counter to a cloaked scout with a shotgun" .

lol more qq about something that works fine, too bad you cant kill cloaked scouts but i have no trouble with it dont try to ruin it for everyone else cause u suk

Tanks are "fine" because I can see them and get away. Cloaked scouts are a problem because they are completely invisible and run faster than any other class. All a cloaked scout has to do is stand still, wait for you to pass, run up behind you while your back is turned and get 1 or 2 quick shots off in the head.

A scout without a cloak can do the same thing, but it's much harder, especially out in the open.

If they're running after me and I turn around I should still be able to see them momentarily if they stop in their tracks.

Sure, "all" a cloaked scout has to do is stand still and wait for you to pass.

Let's break that down since you seem so cavalier about it.

Cloaking is on a timer, can't just cloak all day. The standard level cloaks do not last long, and take a while to recharge. The time to recharge is about equal to the time you can stay cloaked, so it's not as though the use is "always on".

Now, how do we know when to use it, especially if we are "camping" in one spot. This is done by seeing you before you see us. This is typically done on the radar through the use of precision, but can also be done visually. The better our precision, the better chance we see you first, the better chance we will use cloak before you see us. So, a scout must be virtually skilled in precision, or manually skilled at scouting for the enemy and not being seen when not cloaked. Basically, use of a cloak must be done correctly, or you will simply run out of cloak while we are waiting for you to shamble on by.

Also, let's hope you don't have any teammates near by, as soon as we engage you walking by, the others will drop us and simply inject you back to life. We will not be afforded the same luxury.

Last, hope that you don't accidentally scroll across us while we are cloaked and your reticule turns red. If this happens we are dead. To avoid this, we typically jump up on boxes or even rails, as typically your reticule will be too low to scan us, or too high if we are crouched.

Lets also add in that anyone equipped to pick up a scout can pick up any standard scout pretty easily. We cannot dampen and brick. So this whole "all a cloaked scout has to do" really isn't very fair to the scout who will die if spotted waiting for you to walk by, and hoping none of the at least four situation variables occur to derail this plan. This is just off the top of my head. You may want to look around before hacking objectives, or have someone watch your back while you do.

I think you should try a scout, and try the tactic that you refer to as "all you have to do" and see that something you so easily dismiss actually takes a bit of work to pull off and can be one of the most stressful moments for a scout.

I die a lot less to cloaked shotgun scouts than to HAVs, HMG Heavies, Rail rifles, Combat rifles.....

Getting killed by an enemy you didn't see is frustrating, I know, but not more frustrating than being one-shotted by a railgun tank, or spawning into an OB, or any of a number of other situations that make you feel completely powerless.

"A high scan precision - a logi can achieve this fairly easily"

I find that pretty laughable. Even 3 complex precision mods on a logi suit can't detect my undamped gallente scout, even with no cloak on it. The profile bonus on the gallente scout is the same as a complex mod, so even for other types of scouts there's no way a logi is passive scanning a cloaked scout. A proto min logi can use 4 precision mods could detect that undamped, uncloaked scout but I have doubts that it could detect him while cloaked. This is all assuming the scout isn't using a single damper.

Even if it *were* to work, the counter to a dragonfly BPO scout with a shotgun can not be a 184,000 isk suit.