Thoughts?

Yanno, honest to god, if we could hack equipment I could see the Amarr Scout as a force to be reconed with for flipping less obvious drop uplink placements. Might even be a really competitive role in PC to have an Amarr Scout running the perimeter of an outpost and just destroying/flipping drop uplinks, what with it's increased precision and range.

Honestly, I could see the Amarr Scout as more of a Squad Support role as far as Scouts go. Just dunno how to do it without it bleeding over into the Cal Scout's role. The Cal Scout could just as easily take on the equipment hacker, given it's scan range, whereas the Amarr Scout could be more combative. A sort of fast skirmisher, if anything. S'what I use it for right now, albeit it is pretty difficult to actually -FEEL- like I matter to the squad and the lack of WP accrual from anything I'm doing reflects that.

Dunno. Will think about it more while I'm on break.

*Skip to the last paragraph to see where I agree with Aeon.

I think people are looking at this the wrong way.

In the past the Cal scout had dual range and precision bonuses, back when passive scanning was more powerful. They would sit there with a squad and provide an almost impenetrable defence for squadmates against scouts.

This was poor game design, for two major reasons.

1. It rendered all stealth gameplay redundant, unless you had a massively dampened Gal scout. Scout's main purpose is stealth. So in competitive environments only Cal and Gal scouts existed.

2. The Cal scout gameplay was very uninteresting. They were essentially reduced to a walking radar. Sticking close to the squad with poor stats other than shared scanning. There was little opportunity to actually act in the battle, or make use of the scout's main attributes of speed and stealth.

Instead of a walking radar, the Amarr scout is better used like any other scout. By which I mean running behind enemy lines, taking out lone targets, dropping links, hacking, distracting, flanking etc.

The stamina bonus is useful for this. The Amarr scout has always had the stamina bonus, it wasn't tacked on following scanning nerfs or anything like that. Stamina has always been the defining feature.

The precision bonus is not useless. There are two ways to use it.

1. No precision mods. Here the Amarr scout has a distinct advantage over other scouts. An Amarr scout with no mods will scan assaults at 30m, unlike any other scout. In built up CQC environments, where passives scanning has a purpose, 30 m is a good distance. Other scouts need to be within 15m, half the range.

2. With two precision you get 18db at 15m. With most scouts focused on hiding from 21db Gal logi scans, this is a decent number. Whilst 15m isn't far, it can still hold a purpose. Standing with a squad trying to counter scouts will be difficult with this range. But if you actually go out and perform the normal scout role, you may well find you have an advantage over other scouts. In scout v scout CQC environments, being able to detect a scout around a corner before they detect you is a great advantage. The ttk on a scout is so low, this short prior warning is often all you need to come out on top.

I don't think the video is a very good example.
It was right out in the open, where passive scans aren't terribly useful.
He won the engagement.
He did spot the guy on radar.
The scout wasn't initially attacking him, they just bumped into each other. You can tell this from the fact he was cloaked.
The scout may have avoided the 18db middle ring, but unless he was massively damped, this may be due to the cloak. If he was attacking Aeon, or in a more built up area he wouldn't have been cloaked and Aeon probably would have picked him up further out.
In the open where the enemy scout is running full speed from A to B he will cross your scan range too quickly for it to be useful. In other situations he won't be running directly towards the Amarr scout, giving more time to react.

The key thing is, it's a scout hunter, not a scout defender. You should be out sneaking around, being ready to pounce on unsuspecting scouts. Not waiting for them to approach you.

Passive scans were nerfed as they were considered OP. People also didn't like that you counter scouts with more scouts. Also, using scanning to counter scouts anyway, is wrong if it's too easy. At the moment scouts tend not to get scanned, and they aren't overpowered. A reliable scout scanning counter is a bad idea.

I do agree with Aeon that the Amarr scout's bonuses aren't as useful as the other scouts'. With all the issues in the past about passive scans, I don't think this is the area to buff. Perhaps we should look at the original idea of Amarr scouts. When they were introduced they just had bonuses to stamina and stamina regen. This was obviously worse than the other scout bonuses, but was the identity. I have heard people suggesting making the Amarr bonus a bonus to biotics in general. So myos, cardiacs and kincats. Biotics are modules that scouts often use (mainly kincats). I think this would be very popular, particularly with the recent popularity of biotics on other suits. It is also in line with the original Amarr scout design principle.

I've had proto Amarr scout for months now. Running a tank build an the Amarr scout is a bad idea unless you want an assault type fit. I use exclusively ewar. Since Amarr is already slower it's not worth it to try and speed it up to keep up with other scouts. What the Amarr scout excels at is defense. With triple damps and double precision enhancers I can camp a corner and unless it's a triple dampened scout no matter what comes I have scans of it, and it won't scan me. As for the cloak I only use it to escape a firefight, or cover open ground.

I've also modified the fit a bit to have dual flaylocks for highpoint camping. I went 10/5 the other day when it was 2 vs 11.