AFS/Forward deployment

Condense This article is too long This lesson has been marked for being reduced in wordiness. It talks a bunch of guff in places. You can help by improving it!

Forward deployment as a Scout

Every game, no matter how bad a situation your team may be in, can be won if you know what the enemy is doing. This is one reason why the scout is so important in this game. If you are not a great dogfighter and you want to be of use just grab a scout and be the "eye" for your team. Spotting constructors, miners and bomb runs is the first step to victory.

You could just rely on probes but a scout is far better because it has a much better scan range, can change its position, can tell its team on chat what's going on, can warn friendly pilots it is safe to enter a sector, and drop probes while doing so.

Loadout

You do not want to be seen hanging around in an enemy sector. The enemy knows that the best way to stop any offensive action is to spot it early, and they will hunt you down. You should go without shields and missiles. Perhaps put them into cargo but generally a Gat, a Nan, 2 proxmines and 3 probes is far more serviceable. If you have access to beacons, rescue probes or sanctuaries get at least one. If you are IC and your commander is generous exchange all your probes for rescue probes. Stay away from enemy bases and scouts to avoid being detected.

Get behind the lines

Now you want to get to the enemy sector. If possible you want to remain completely unseen. Look at the command view before leaving base and search for a "weak" aleph. Mined and droned alephs are never good, alephs that they are constantly camping against your team's offensives aren't much better, and alephs that exit right next to the enemy base aren't good as the base will spot you.

If you can't find an aleph where you can get behind the lines unseen then try one where you'll only be spotted by probes or where only a few enemy ships are. You can avoid these ships by entering at full speed - as long as there are no mines. A camping fighter will have trouble to react and turn around fast enough. You can drop prox between you to slow him down even further. If you still have trouble bring your shield and unmount it as soon as you bypassed the defenders. The extra hitpoints may see you through safely.

All alephs point towards the centre of the sector by default and this is generally also where the enemy base is located. You want to change your flight path as soon as possible. Get above or below the grid to lose eye. Remember, when you're being chased, that the tighter you try and turn the more of a sitting duck you are. Once you lose eye make sure you change your direction once again so the enemy doesn't know where you went.

Tip: Flying with the "grid" turned on will assist tremendously with this. Ctrl-G toggles the grid on/off.

If there still seems to be no way to get in wait for an offensive action by your team (or the enemy) and sneak in while they're busy.

Tip: If you are BIOS your scout has a heavy cloak. Enable it just before you enter an aleph and you have a good chance to get through completely undetected. Remember your cloak only lasts a few seconds so do not waste time getting away.

Remaining unseen

Phew, finally made it! Now what? First look at your signature, it should be somewhere around 100% or less. The less the better. This number will help you to judge how close you can get to enemy bases, probes, pulse probes and scouts. You want to be as near as possible without being seen.

Keeping above or below the grid will allow you to cover a lot more "ground" than if you sat at the edge of a sector whilst still remaining unseen. Don't try and hide on the grid - you will not remain unseen if sit where the enemy will travel, between bases and alephs and He³ rocks. Turn on your grid Ctrl-G and fly in F3 view. Get your ship above or below the grid. You could go behind rocks to hide from enemy sensors, but generally that means you can't sense the enemy either! Rocks can sometimes serve to cover you from a nearby refinery or station while observing an aleph.

Review the previous lesson on Signature to figure how close you can get to enemy stations without being detected.

On patrol

Now we are in the enemy sectors and they do not know where we are or even that we are there. Great! Now begins the fun part, seeing while remaining unseen. The question you may have is which sector to observe though?

The most important sector to observe is the one where new constructors and miners will launch. Generally this will be the garrison sector, but if the Garrison dies constructors will launch at the first base built in the game. It is never a bad idea to be there and keep an eye on them.

Secondly, hostile sectors adjacent to your techbase is great to spot offensive actions against it. If you keep an eye on the enemy, their forward outpost will be of little use.

Another great sector to observe is their mining sector, as miners are an important target. Constantly eyed miners are sooner or later dead miners. If you know the last position of enemy miners try to judge where they will go to mine next. Start with a sector close to their base and far from your own where they still have a lot of helium. Don't forget to tell your team what the miners are doing - whether they are mining, docking, or moving onto the next sector.

Pod pickups

So you're in the enemy sector minding your own business when suddenly your team launches a massive offensive to kill what you've just eyed. What do you do, do you stay unseen or try and help out? You are in a missile-less, shield-less scout with a near-empty cargo hold, what do you think?

No, chances are your team will all become podded and this could be one of the most critical stages of the game. Perhaps an enemy bomber is lurking around next to your techbase just waiting for your team to get themselves podded. It's now up to you to rescue your teammates so they can defend. If you brought a rescue probe, beacon or sanctuary then deploy it somewhere useful during your team's attack.

Be sure to remain unseen during the attack and use the F3 screen to order the pods to come either straight to you or to a safe place (waypoint) to pick them up. Behind rocks are always great because they provide cover. Keep an eye on them though because the enemy may follow the pods to kill you and prevent exactly what you are trying to achieve. If you see a pod followed by enemy ships approaching your location yell at him to go away.

Note If you're ever in a pod and you're followed by the enemy ... NEVER expose your scout pilot by traveling there. Go somewhere else and mislead the enemy while the rest of your team is hopefully picked up.

This can take a lot of time and meanwhile an enemy bomber is already en route. Your comm is screaming for defence, the pods are being followed and you're not going to avoid being spotted and podded yourself. It would be better for you to rip out and help defend, right? Wrong. Go fullspeed to the pods (if they're spread out pick the group where the most pods are together) and hit the brakes as soon as you're in range. Let the pods fly to you once you are close to the group! If there a few left in pods and you still have a chance, get out there to rescue the stragglers.

Note In this situation NEVER fly to a pod on autopilot! All that will occur is all the other pods will miss you. Fly in a completely straight line and rely on their autopilot to intercept you.