Alright. I sometimes lone wolf on alts just for fun and to see if anyone else is good :P.

Survivability is important (obviously), but what people fail to mention is that you need to keep your own HP up by yourself. My personal choice is just the tier 1 scout suit, or the tier 2 assault. Shields regen faster than armor, so put shield extenders in high slots and armor rep/shield recharge in the low. Complex shield extenders are a necessity.

You'll need a gun that works well in all situations too, and if you can aim the AR is the best way to go. Shotgun scrubs are only effective @ close quarters, and not well vs players who know what they are doing, lasers are only good at long range, and MD is better as a support weapon running with others than it is solo.

Type-II assault is nice because you get plenty of shields, and you'll have enough pg/cpu for a nanohive and everything else. Scouts are great because you can run in, drop at least one person, and duck out until your shields recharge and you reload. Go profile dampening if you have no gun game because you might get a lucky kill or something. Other skills are more important because you'll want to increase your survivability in battle, and if someone is shooting at you that dampening does nothing. Dampening will also prevent you from being ready for more battles faster because your sp and slots are better used for recharge/regen mods and skills.

Some people like armor plates. It gives additional HP, but reduces speed. I think this is a personal preference. For the way I play shields and agility matter more than the extra armor. I use speed as HP. If I can get to cover I can let my shields recharge. The armor plates increase the time I can get to cover, which makes me take more bullets. Also, armor is slow to regen, so shields are much more important to my style of play.

You can run and gun solo and easily beat your 2.5 kdr goal. I'd avoid ambush because there's a much higher chance that you'll run into a group of people, and I seem to almost always spawn in front of two heavies, or they spawn behind me. Type-II assault suits and an AR can out-maneuver most heavies, and you'll have the hp to take a few bullets. Tier-1 scout suits get torn to shreds by a HMG almost instantaneously, so you might have some trouble with heavies if you go scout. All heavies seem to use that AUR broadside too, and it hurts.

You have to understand that almost no one seems to be able to aim down their sights with an assault rifle, and they rely on junk like profile dampening. If you can ADS and shoot someone in the face, you'll win 90% of the time, and can easily out dps type-ii and advanced assault suits in your type-i scout or type-ii assault with a GEK.

p.s. if you're looking @ the kdr of peeps giving you advice, mine is inflated and shouldn't be taken into account on this guy. I spend most of my time driving around in an expensive tank, so I have a bit more motivation to keep myself alive. I run on foot a fair amount too, but tanking is lol. I wouldn't suggest that you inflate your KDR with a tank or redline sniping unless you're going something like 100/1.