i always thought it was intentional.

but whatever, i didn't really pay that much attention to it because profile does very little to effect gameplay. you are spotted on the map no matter how low your profile is.

That's cute you go on and keep thinking that.

Seeing as how very few people even read the forums ... especially anything outside general discussion ...
I'll give you some inside information ...

Both firing your weapon and running cause you to immediately pop up on enemy radar ... if you don't want to give away your position ... walk.

i used a scout suit put level 5 profile dampeners in it and in the low slots along with having max suit command and max profile dampening skills i see absolutely no difference between that and running a assault suit with nothing. meanwhile LAVs/tanks stealth across the map unless someone looks at it the entire time and will spot you at X distance no matter what you're wearing.

keep thinking profile skills actually effect gameplay.

Profile damping keeps you off the sensors. It doesn't make you invisible. That, and if you are running or shooting, as Needless mentioned, then you suddenly, and temporarily, become a bright blip on sensors.

One thing about which I wonder, though, is when I have someone in the scope, then a chevron _will_ usually appear. Does that then paint the enemy on my teammates' HUDs?

Seeing as how very few people even read the forums ... especially anything outside general discussion ...
I'll give you some inside information ...

Both firing your weapon and running cause you to immediately pop up on enemy radar ... if you don't want to give away your position ... walk.

Yes, as far as I can tell.

Also, in my experience, it seems like a lower scan profile means you take more time to appear on someone's HUD (even while sprinting) and less time to disappear after you break line of sight.

i really think that shouldn't apply to a gun game.

ship to ship lock is the only reason for that to be acceptable because of the size differences of ships and ship classes. from what i seen the number is so arbitrary and pointless the difference being only fractions of a second. especially in CQC where you are gunned down just as soon as you are spotted because of the god aweful visuals. snipers simply have to put their sights on someone and they will pop up (yes that does happen). tested a group of people i was looking at they all popped up on the map and then i turned away and they all disappeared at the same time. it doesn't seem to matter what they are wearing or their profile skill. the closer you get the less it seems to matter you pop up and get shot thusly.

and vehicles are broken not having any profile skill, but as soon as you pull out a swarm launcher the range of the scanner magically sees where they are. not that you would be able to hit them with such a broken peice of crap.

Perhaps, but DUST is not just a gun game. A dropsuit is a tech- and electronics-heavy asset. From the standpoint of some armchair physics, there are a lot of things you can do to keep electromagnetic transmissions from coming in to a space (Faraday cages, etc.), but your options for keeping electromagnetic transmissions for going out of a defined space are much more limited, if they exist, at all. And even then, we're talking about suits that project shields, weapons that fire hybrid energy beams and such...these things are going to have electromagnetic, and even radioactive signatures.

Even in todays military, millennia behind the technology of New Eden, it's not just about lining up iron sights or a scope, any longer.

So I'm not exactly certain what you mean by "I really think that shouldn't apply to a gun game." I'm not saying you are wrong to harbor that opinion. I just don't quite know what you mean...

the fact profile is a stat shouldn't apply the way it applies in EVE. the numbers are too small and provide very little difference in my opinion. a sniper can simply point his scope at another sniper that has all his points in profile dampening and suit command and he will show up on the map with very little effort. completely nagating the million points he pumped into. it's like the stat is there but it doesn't work like it should. it's just a gimmick to get people to waste points on something that is useless. like scout suit piloting.

maybe if it actually provided a negative signature mechanic where if you are below a threshold on an enemies suit you won't appear at all unless you break that threshold when running or when you fire which can be augmented further by adding dampeners.

the facts suits only have a 90 degree area of scanning shows that the technology is obviously flawed. i can sneak up on folks with a heavy suit and shot gun with the right angle. making the profile skill even more worthless.

A valid point, but I see that as a completely different issue: the various maps provide cover, but fail to provide concealment. And for any hope at having a "covert ops" mode of play, there needs to be some manner of concealment in the maps, a well.

got to love terrain that you can dance behind while the enemy is trying to get you. you both can see each other through the obsticle. the null cannons do it the most.

and fo rthe "covert ops" mode i can't really say how that would play out. might prove to be interesting.

OK, I _really_ like this possibility, then. This gives another possible use for the sniper scout: pure reconnaissance. This would be a reason to park up on a peak (though not high enough to skyline) with a sniper rifle just to keep the enemy painted on the HUDs, and to call the charge when the defenders on an objective are down or weakened.

Heh...a sniper scout with every intention to NOT take the shot...though they certainly could, if wanted.

I'll have to experiment, later, with whether you can also mark objectives while looking through the scope of a rifle, as well. For instance, mark a heavy defender with a "kill" order of some variety so the rest of a squad can decide how best to flank or maneuver...(I don't know if you can even designate enemy infantry as targets for orders, yet...but if not, you _should_ be able to do so!) You could even have a "squad" of detached snipers in the hills, one sniper from each in-game squad, and each keeping a different defender "marked"

(Dammit, I need to find and join a corp and see if anyone is interested in experimenting with some tactical ideas...)