Scout

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The Scout class is well-suited for forward reconnaissance and stealth. As the scout you can opt for short range sub-machine guns or a light scoped rifle. You also spawn with a set of binoculars, which can be used to call for an artillery strike. To call out a target simply zoom in and press the fire button. A red attack diamond will appear at your target. Scouts also spawn with smoke or concussion grenades.

The scout class' skills at evasion and detection more than make up for its less powerful weaponry. At the forefront of the list is the scout's Hide ability, which makes him invisible to enemies when crouching for a long period of time. To use this, simply crouch and wait. You are semi-transparent when crouching against a single wall, and all but invisible when hiding in a corner.

Knowing the tricks of his trade, the scout can use his Enhanced Senses to detect nearby enemies, even those who are hidden. As you approach an enemy an arrow signifying his location will appear on your minimap, faintly at first, but with growing brightness as you near him. Surprise attacks just got a whole lot harder.

But what spec ops kit would be complete without a Weapon Silencer? In Empires this ability's effects are twofold - not only does it cut the noise made by every shot in half, but it also hides your kill and death messages from other players. How sure are you that the scout is dead?

The final two skills of the scout affect vehicles that he drives. The first, Radar Stealth, makes electronic detection of the vehicle almost impossible. The second, Vehicle Speed, increases the vehicle's speed.

Tips and Tactics

• (Beta 1.01) Concussion Grenades will jam a turrets sensors for a few seconds, giving you precious time to sneak past.
• (Beta 1.01) Aside from scouting out the enemy position and calling for artillery support, the Scout must be very aggressive to be of any use to his team. However, it's pointless to sneak into the enemy base only to alert your team to units who will soon alter their course or call for artillery support when artillery tanks are nowhere near your position. Likewise, it's inefficient to snipe the lone rifleman who is nowhere near an important area. The best Scout will impede the enemy's expansion and cause confusion in their ranks. This means attacking high traffic locations--these areas often place the Scout at high risk and divert a lot of attention to him.
• (Beta 1.01) A good application of the Scout's tools are Smoke Grenades, the most powerful and close range SMG, and the hide skill. Sneak into an enemy base, score a kill, use a smoke grenade as cover to engage the hide skill, then relocate and repeat the process.
• (Beta 1.02) The Scout has a very long range, but the slightly reduced accuracy of the rifle at long distances and the slow speed of the bullet mean that it's difficult to hit targets as soon as the game engine has rendered them. Resist the urge to fire at a target until it's at least 3/4ths the size of your crosshairs while crouched; any further than this distance, and you're just wasting ammo. You'll have pinpoint accuracy when they're about 1.5 times as large as your crosshairs while crouched. The scout rifle will kill with one shot at close ranges, but from a distance, expect to need to put at least two, if not three, rounds into the target.