Cadet I/Forward deployment

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Phases of the game II →

Forward deployment as a Scout

Almost every game is 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 bombruns is the first step to victory. Now you can just rely on probes but a scout is even better. Because he has a much better scan range, can change his position, can tell his team on chat what's going on etc. An unseen scout in the enemy sector is great if you have a bomb run or an HTT going to that sector. Let's go a bit into detail.

Loadout

First you have to set up your loadout. You do not want to be seen. The enemy knows that being constantly eyed is the biggest killer of any offensive, therefore they will hunt you down. Therefore go without shields and missiles. Maybe put them in cargo but I prefer this loadout: A Gat, a Nan, 2 proxmines and 3 probes. If you have access to beacons, rescue probes or sanctuaries get at least one. If you are IC and your commander is generous bring 3 rescue probes.

Get behind the lines

Now you want to get to the enemy. If possible, completely unseen, but it is not always possible. Look at F3 while in base and search a weak covered aleph. Mined and Droned alephs are never good, you just waste the money of your nice rescue probes. If you can't find an aleph where you can get behind the lines unseen try the one where you'll only be spotted by probes or were only a few enemy ships are. If you are SURE there are no mines go fullspeed. This way a camping fighter will have trouble to react and turn around fast enough. If you need, drop prox mines once you passed the ship and get off-grid immediately. Meaning go up or down and to the side or even to the sector boundary. It depends how aggressive the enemy will be.

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

Once you loose eye make sure you change your direction so the enemy doesn't know where you went. If you still have trouble bring your shield and unmount it as soon as you bypassed the defenders. If there still no way to get in, wait for an offensive action by your team or the enemy and get in while they're busy.

Tip: If you are BIOS your scout has a heavy cloak. Enable it 2-3 seconds before you enter and you have a good chance to get through completely unseen. Remember your cloak only lasts a few seconds, so do not waste time to get away.

Remaining unseen

Phew, finally we made it! 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 far you can close in to enemy bases, probes, pulse probes and scouts. You want to be as near as possible but always keep a safe distance.

Please remember you need to go off-grid! This is crucial, you will not remain unseen if you travel on routes which enemy miners and ships will go from base to alephs or He3 rocks. Turn on your Grid Ctrl-G and fly in F3 view. Get your ship above or below the grid (give yourself waypoints and use the shift key). You can also go behind rocks. You won't be seen there but so do you and that is not your purpose. Sometimes they can serve to cover you from a nearby Refinery or Base while observing an aleph.

Review the previous lesson on Signature if needed.

En route

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. The most important sector to observe is the one where new constructors and miners will launch. The Garrison sector (note if the Garrison dies, cons will launch at the first base they built in the game). If it is not endgame stage it is never a bad idea to be there and keep an eye on them. Hostile sectors adjacent to an important techbase is great too to spot their offensive actions. If you keep their bomber eyed you make this nice forward outpost of the enemy nearly useless to attack your teams techbase.

Another great sector to observe is where their miners are. Especially if they're not advanced this is one of the most important targets. 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. Mostly a sector where the enemy have a base, there is He3 and it is adjacent to the last sector they were. Don't forget to call out enemy miners to your team. If they just unloaded, wait and look where they're going next and inform your team about it.

Probes

You want to spot Cons and Miners but you can't be everywhere. Probes are good at their Garrison, at Teleport Receivers (cons often will rip to a forward teleport) and alephs. Always try to keep probes at a safe distance (750-950 meters away) This is the range were your probe doesn't get spotted but will see your target. Placing probes is the same as how you travel as a forward observer. Don't place them on travel routes, place them above or below. To review, look at the previous Probing lesson if needed.

Pod pickups

So you're in the enemy sector and you're alive, that is great, especially if your team has an assault going due to your great scouting. But damn, the enemy has scouts too and saw the attack. Now your team is podded. This is one of the most critical stages. Maybe an enemy bomber is lurking around somewhere just waiting to attack as soon as your team is almost all in pods. Be sure to remain unseen during the attack and order the pods (using the F3 screen) to a safe place (waypoint) to pick them up. (Review the Radar Grid lesson if needed on how to give a waypoint) Rocks are always great, because they provide cover.

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.

If you see a pod followed by enemy ships approaching your location yell at him to go away. If he doesn't escape to another location and redirect your friendly pods. Give them a waypoint where you're going to.

Is there a bomber already on its way to your Expansion? Maybe you have no time and have to take the risk. Go fullspeed to the pods (if they're spread out pick the group where the most pods are together) and hit fullstop 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.

If you brought a rescue probe, a bacon or a sanctuary then place them before your team's attack. Sanctuarys and Beacons are best placed behind rocks or at least 3k away from any enemy base or scout. Rescue probes are much better, you can place them very close. Place them about 1800 - 2000 meters away from bases (remember: off Grid, never forget!). Rescue probes have a scan range of 1000 meters and a signature of 10% They will spot nearly everything important and are not found very easy.

Of course they still will pickup pods too ;) A great tool, to be honest the best you have. This is why you should prefer rescue probes over normal probes. On your route to scout the enemy you can place them in several sectors to provide your team fast pickups after a run. Luckily the best spots for rescue probes are near bases and behind alephs on the adjacent sector and near alephs in general. This way you can combine a pickup and a probing network in one go which will be devastating for your opponent.

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Phases of the game II →