Lightning35 Delta514 wrote:I think it's balanced. Scouts with 1 damp can avoid all but focused scans. Scouts are the only ones that should even worry about scans. And damps can beat scans anyways. Fit more damps and the focused can't do anything.
It takes two damps on a Minmatar or Amarr scout to avoid all but focussed scans.
Only the Gallente scout can avoid Gal logi focussed scan without an active cloak. With the addition of decloak delay, cloak blindness and the nerf to activation times, scouts need to spend a lot of time decloaked, particularly when going on the offensive. So the cloak is no longer a terribly viable means of dampening.
I disagree that only scouts need to worry about scans. Often it is useful for other suits, particularly assaults, to avoid scans.
I also disagree that you need to be able to scan a scout (or any other suit) in order for it to be balanced. Though I accept that this is the purpose of the focussed scanner, and I'm not against a option to combat stealth suits with highly precise scans. So long as there is sufficient trade-off for the increased precision.
Scouts being OP in 1.8 had little to do with them more easily hiding from scans than now, and much more to do with all the myriad of other nerfs since then.
The systems are in place for counter-play between scanning and stealth. The question is, is it balanced? Are the trade-offs set at a level that encourages varied play styles.
In my opinion it comes down to two questions.
Question 1: Is the required level of dampening to avoid non-focussed scans a balanced trade-off? Currently it takes 3 (out of 8) slots for an assault, and 2 (or 1 if bonused) slots (out of 6) for a scout. Would 2 slots (assaults) and 1 or 0 (scouts) be a more worthwhile trade for the benefit you gain, and therefore promote more varied fittings and combat styles? Or would it be OP? This could be achieved by swapping the Gal logi bonus from precision to cooldown reduction, for example.
Question 2: Assuming a focussed scanner (Gal-Logi, or otherwise) has the precision to detect pretty much anybody, are the downsides to using this over a different scanner sufficient? Would they still be sufficient if other scanners were nerfed like in question 1? Would/is it sufficiently worthwhile playing the stealth/damped game, whilst still being scannable by focussed scanners in their current state? Do the drawbacks need to be increased? I suggest nerfing the range to 50m, but buffing the precision down to 15db if the Gal logi precision bonus replaced. Would that improve balance, or render focussed scanners obsolete?