Scouting: Difference between revisions

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~~This page gives~~ some ~~information~~ for scouts and ~~budding~~ scouts. It is a ~~distillation~~ of ~~lessons learnt by~~ a fleet ~~scout while~~ in the ~~Uni~~, and ~~comes~~ from ~~many wise~~ scouts who ~~took~~ the time to ~~help~~ a ~~newbie~~ out.

==Introduction==

The scout is the eyes and ears of a fleet. Without them, fleets would get surprised and destroyed by enemy forces much more often, and they would have a hard time hunting down a good fight.

Anyone can scout. Your first day in EVE, you can undock a frigate and scout for a fleet. There are ships which are better, or even essential, for some particular kinds of scouting, such as interceptors or covops ships, but for basic fleet scouting, all you need is the ability to fly a ship, the basic know-how in this article, and the ability to use a few tools linked in this article.

==Scout Missions and Roles==

There are two basic types of scout mission: route security and hunting. Route security simply means making sure the fleet's planned route of travel is free of enemy forces that should be avoided and preventing anyone from surprising the fleet. Hunting means finding good fights for the fleet. All scouts provide route security, all the time, on every operation. If the fleet is looking for a fight, scouts are also responsible for hunting down a good fight for the fleet.

With those two missions in mind, the following are the most common scout roles.

===Basic Roles===

The most basic scout roles are the picket, the +1, and the hero tackle.

====Picket====

Pickets are the simplest (and most boring) of scout jobs, and some pilots do not consider it scouting at all. The picket's job is usually to sit at a gate and report specific types of ships coming into the system a fleet is operating in, or a nearby system. For example, incursion fleets use pickets to warn them of war targets. If all you are watching for is war targets, you can actually do this docked up safe in a station, since you can see them enter local. However, sitting 200 km + off a gate cloaked up is good, and allows you to report the details of ships coming into system.

====+1====

+1s move one jump ahead of a the fleet to provide intel to the FC. If the fleet is simply traveling to a destination, then the scout's job is route security. You fly one jump ahead and warn the FC of war targets, gate camps, and any other possible dangers. In low-sec or null-sec space, individual ships may ask for a +1 to guide them into or out of dangerous areas.

When jumping into a new system, hold your cloak and immediately check three things. Check the grid on your overview for ships that might pose a threat to the fleet. Check local for war targets, flashy targets, criminals, etc. Finally, check D-Scan for ships sitting off grid. Report anything that might be a threat to the FC.

If the mission is finding good fights and there are other pilots in local, then the +1 will check out mission sites and asteroid belts with D-Scan to see if there are appropriate targets available.

Why move one jump ahead? If a fleet jumps into a system, it spikes local and everyone in the system will know a fleet has come in. That puts everyone on alert. The scout moves in alone so as to not alarm anyone in the system. The fleet doesn't move into the system until the scout finds a good fight or the scout and FC determine that there is nothing interesting and the fleet will move through.

Why not just roam? Why exactly 1 and only 1 system ahead? Even when looking for good fights, scouts are always performing a security role. A scout 1 system ahead prevents the fleet from being surprised. If you are two or more systems ahead and there is no +1, then another fleet can move in behind the scout and surprise the fleet when it jumps in.

Good ships for the +1 role are tackle frigates. When you can fly them, interceptors and covops ships are usually better.

====The Hero Tackle====

Hero tackle is an add-on role. Hero tackles are scouts already performing one of the other scout roles who find a target the FC wants to fight. With FC approval, and when the fleet is ready to jump into the scout's system, the hero tackle drops in on the target and tackles it in an attempt to hold it in place until the fleet can arrive to kill it. It is essential to communicate with the FC what is happening and to time the tackle to just before the fleet jumps into system. Have your fleet warp to you. Be mindful of the affects of mission sites; the fleet may have to warp to an acceleration gate first. Hero tackles often get blown up (hence the "hero" part), so interceptors and covops ships are not generally used for this purpose. Before you try to do this, [[Tackling_Guide | read up on tackling]] and practice a bit with a fellow corpmate.

==Other Scouting Roles==

There are three somewhat less common roles for scouts: the roaming scout, the -1, and finding war targets.

Roaming scouts move several jumps ahead of a fleet to look for good fights. The fleet will have a +1 as well for route security. Large fleets may have two or more roaming scouts, in which case the +1 and roaming scouts may want their own channel so they can communicate without interrupting the FCs communications with the rest of the fleet. Roaming scouts generally should not try to take on the hero tackle role, although when the fleet is only one jump away that may be okay. Tackle frigates, interceptors, and covops ships are the standard for this role.

-1s follow one jump behind a fleet to protect it from forces stalking the fleet and enemy scouts. -1s are not commonly used, but there are cases when the FC suspects the fleet is being followed or there is a high danger of war targets attacking. -1s need to pay attention to local and notice any pilots who seem to be following the fleet. -1s generally do not report unless they find or suspect they have found someone following the fleet.

Finding War Targets: In any situation where a fleet can expect to encounter war targets or is actively looking for war targets, OOC scouts are very useful. They can move around freely without alerting enemy pilots that a war target is in system.

==Basic Tools of the Trade==

T1 Ships: Each race has a T1 frigate bonused for speed and tackling. These are usually the best T1 ships for scouting. Amarr: [[Executioner]]. Caldari: [[Condor]]. Gallente: [[Atron]]. Minmatar: [[Slasher]].

T2 Ships -- Interceptors: Interceptors are T2 versions of the T1 tackle frigates. They keep the tackling bonus and are much faster. They are immune to bubbles, which is important in null-sec scouting. Each race has two versions of the interceptor, and one of them has additional tackling bonuses, which usually makes them the better scout interceptor. That said, interceptors are expensive, so you should think twice before using yours as a hero tackle. Amarr: [[Malediction]]. Caldari: [[Crow]]. Gallente: [[Ares]]. Minmatar: [[Stiletto]].

T2 Ships -- Covops: Covert Operations ships are frigates that can fit a Covert Operations Cloaking Device, a T2 module that allows the ship full maneuverability while cloaked, including warping. Cloaked ships do not show up on D-Scan, which allows them to sneak up on other ships. In addition, each race has one version of a Covops ship which is the T2 version of their exploration frigate. These ships can use combat scanning probes to find ships and provide a warp-in to them. All of these abilities make the Covops ship an excellent choice for fleet scouts. However, Covops ships are somewhat fragile, so you should avoid using them for hero tackling.

[[Directional_Scanner_Guide |D-Scan]]: This is an absolutely essential tool for scouts. You will use this constantly to find ships that are not on grid, to hunt down ships, and to report fleet compositions to your FC. If you are just starting out in EVE or a new scout, take the time to read the linked article and practice on your own.

[http://evemaps.dotlan.net/ Dotlan]: This set of maps is essential for route-finding. If you use EVE in windowed mode, you can have this open in a browser and bring it up whenever you need it.

[https://adashboard.info/intel aDashboard]: In either local or D-Scan, you can select all, copy, and then paste the data into aDashboard. It will analyze the data, give you a report, and give you a link you can post in fleet chat for your FC. This is a quick way to report fleet composition, war targets in local, etc.

==So You Want to Be a Dedicated Scout==

If you really enjoy scouting and want to get good at it, the best way is to do it often. In addition, you will want to start doing the following.

Route Preparation: Find out what routes FCs like to take and spend some time setting up [[Bookmarks]] in those systems. You will want bookmarks on gates, instadocks and undocks on the top and bottom stations, a location about 1 AU off the sun, and some safes. At first, a mid-safe between two gates will be enough, but having a deep safe out of D-Scan range of pretty much everything in the system will be very useful when the fleet needs to extract itself from a fight gone wrong. Set up some bookmarks that let you observe gates, mission sites, and asteroid belts from a reasonably safe distance. If you really want to be prepared, you might fit out some scout ships and leave them in stations along the route in case you get to play the hero tackle and need to reship. The more of this sort of thing you do, the more your FCs will love you.

Ship Recognition: The more you know about the various ships in EVE, the better intel you will give to your FC.

==A Primer on Covops Scouting==

Editor's Note: The following is an excellent primer on scouting in a Covert Operations ship written by another author. It also has some very good general advice on scouting. I will be going through and editing this to fit into the more comprehensive style of the current article as I have time.

=== What does/doesn't this cover ===

~~{{related class|Scouting 101}}{{tocright}}~~

This page concentrates on covops scouting - that is with covops ships which are able to warp while cloaked (Tech 2 covops frigates and force recons with proper tech 2 covops cloaks. Those wanting to get a feel for scouting may start in frigates with tech 1 cloaks - these allow for sitting still cloaked and are OK for picketing gates (ie. sitting still watching a gate) but little beyond that, and this page does not really cover their use. Anything larger (recon ships, black ops, etc) is out of scope of this document.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-This page gives some information for scouts and budding scouts. It is a distillation of lessons learnt by a fleet scout while in the Uni, and comes from many wise scouts who took the time to help a newbie out.
+==Introduction==
+{{related class|Scouting 101}}{{tocright}}
+The scout is the eyes and ears of a fleet. Without them, fleets would get surprised and destroyed by enemy forces much more often, and they would have a hard time hunting down a good fight.
+Anyone can scout. Your first day in EVE, you can undock a frigate and scout for a fleet. There are ships which are better, or even essential, for some particular kinds of scouting, such as interceptors or covops ships, but for basic fleet scouting, all you need is the ability to fly a ship, the basic know-how in this article, and the ability to use a few tools linked in this article.
+==Scout Missions and Roles==
+There are two basic types of scout mission: route security and hunting. Route security simply means making sure the fleet's planned route of travel is free of enemy forces that should be avoided and preventing anyone from surprising the fleet. Hunting means finding good fights for the fleet. All scouts provide route security, all the time, on every operation. If the fleet is looking for a fight, scouts are also responsible for hunting down a good fight for the fleet.
+With those two missions in mind, the following are the most common scout roles.
+===Basic Roles===
+The most basic scout roles are the picket, the +1, and the hero tackle.
+====Picket====
+Pickets are the simplest (and most boring) of scout jobs, and some pilots do not consider it scouting at all. The picket's job is usually to sit at a gate and report specific types of ships coming into the system a fleet is operating in, or a nearby system. For example, incursion fleets use pickets to warn them of war targets. If all you are watching for is war targets, you can actually do this docked up safe in a station, since you can see them enter local. However, sitting 200 km + off a gate cloaked up is good, and allows you to report the details of ships coming into system.
+====+1====
++1s move one jump ahead of a the fleet to provide intel to the FC. If the fleet is simply traveling to a destination, then the scout's job is route security. You fly one jump ahead and warn the FC of war targets, gate camps, and any other possible dangers. In low-sec or null-sec space, individual ships may ask for a +1 to guide them into or out of dangerous areas.
+When jumping into a new system, hold your cloak and immediately check three things. Check the grid on your overview for ships that might pose a threat to the fleet. Check local for war targets, flashy targets, criminals, etc. Finally, check D-Scan for ships sitting off grid. Report anything that might be a threat to the FC.
+If the mission is finding good fights and there are other pilots in local, then the +1 will check out mission sites and asteroid belts with D-Scan to see if there are appropriate targets available.
+Why move one jump ahead? If a fleet jumps into a system, it spikes local and everyone in the system will know a fleet has come in. That puts everyone on alert. The scout moves in alone so as to not alarm anyone in the system. The fleet doesn't move into the system until the scout finds a good fight or the scout and FC determine that there is nothing interesting and the fleet will move through.
+Why not just roam? Why exactly 1 and only 1 system ahead? Even when looking for good fights, scouts are always performing a security role. A scout 1 system ahead prevents the fleet from being surprised. If you are two or more systems ahead and there is no +1, then another fleet can move in behind the scout and surprise the fleet when it jumps in.
+Good ships for the +1 role are tackle frigates. When you can fly them, interceptors and covops ships are usually better.
+====The Hero Tackle====
+Hero tackle is an add-on role. Hero tackles are scouts already performing one of the other scout roles who find a target the FC wants to fight. With FC approval, and when the fleet is ready to jump into the scout's system, the hero tackle drops in on the target and tackles it in an attempt to hold it in place until the fleet can arrive to kill it. It is essential to communicate with the FC what is happening and to time the tackle to just before the fleet jumps into system. Have your fleet warp to you. Be mindful of the affects of mission sites; the fleet may have to warp to an acceleration gate first. Hero tackles often get blown up (hence the "hero" part), so interceptors and covops ships are not generally used for this purpose. Before you try to do this, [[Tackling_Guide | read up on tackling]] and practice a bit with a fellow corpmate.
+==Other Scouting Roles==
+There are three somewhat less common roles for scouts: the roaming scout, the -1, and finding war targets.
+Roaming scouts move several jumps ahead of a fleet to look for good fights. The fleet will have a +1 as well for route security. Large fleets may have two or more roaming scouts, in which case the +1 and roaming scouts may want their own channel so they can communicate without interrupting the FCs communications with the rest of the fleet. Roaming scouts generally should not try to take on the hero tackle role, although when the fleet is only one jump away that may be okay. Tackle frigates, interceptors, and covops ships are the standard for this role.
+-1s follow one jump behind a fleet to protect it from forces stalking the fleet and enemy scouts. -1s are not commonly used, but there are cases when the FC suspects the fleet is being followed or there is a high danger of war targets attacking. -1s need to pay attention to local and notice any pilots who seem to be following the fleet. -1s generally do not report unless they find or suspect they have found someone following the fleet.
+Finding War Targets: In any situation where a fleet can expect to encounter war targets or is actively looking for war targets, OOC scouts are very useful. They can move around freely without alerting enemy pilots that a war target is in system.
+==Basic Tools of the Trade==
+T1 Ships: Each race has a T1 frigate bonused for speed and tackling. These are usually the best T1 ships for scouting. Amarr: [[Executioner]]. Caldari: [[Condor]]. Gallente: [[Atron]]. Minmatar: [[Slasher]].
+T2 Ships -- Interceptors: Interceptors are T2 versions of the T1 tackle frigates. They keep the tackling bonus and are much faster. They are immune to bubbles, which is important in null-sec scouting. Each race has two versions of the interceptor, and one of them has additional tackling bonuses, which usually makes them the better scout interceptor. That said, interceptors are expensive, so you should think twice before using yours as a hero tackle. Amarr: [[Malediction]]. Caldari: [[Crow]]. Gallente: [[Ares]]. Minmatar: [[Stiletto]].
+T2 Ships -- Covops: Covert Operations ships are frigates that can fit a Covert Operations Cloaking Device, a T2 module that allows the ship full maneuverability while cloaked, including warping. Cloaked ships do not show up on D-Scan, which allows them to sneak up on other ships. In addition, each race has one version of a Covops ship which is the T2 version of their exploration frigate. These ships can use combat scanning probes to find ships and provide a warp-in to them. All of these abilities make the Covops ship an excellent choice for fleet scouts. However, Covops ships are somewhat fragile, so you should avoid using them for hero tackling.
+[[Directional_Scanner_Guide |D-Scan]]: This is an absolutely essential tool for scouts. You will use this constantly to find ships that are not on grid, to hunt down ships, and to report fleet compositions to your FC. If you are just starting out in EVE or a new scout, take the time to read the linked article and practice on your own.
+[http://evemaps.dotlan.net/ Dotlan]: This set of maps is essential for route-finding. If you use EVE in windowed mode, you can have this open in a browser and bring it up whenever you need it.
+[https://adashboard.info/intel aDashboard]: In either local or D-Scan, you can select all, copy, and then paste the data into aDashboard. It will analyze the data, give you a report, and give you a link you can post in fleet chat for your FC. This is a quick way to report fleet composition, war targets in local, etc.
+==So You Want to Be a Dedicated Scout==
+If you really enjoy scouting and want to get good at it, the best way is to do it often. In addition, you will want to start doing the following.
+Route Preparation: Find out what routes FCs like to take and spend some time setting up [[Bookmarks]] in those systems. You will want bookmarks on gates, instadocks and undocks on the top and bottom stations, a location about 1 AU off the sun, and some safes. At first, a mid-safe between two gates will be enough, but having a deep safe out of D-Scan range of pretty much everything in the system will be very useful when the fleet needs to extract itself from a fight gone wrong. Set up some bookmarks that let you observe gates, mission sites, and asteroid belts from a reasonably safe distance. If you really want to be prepared, you might fit out some scout ships and leave them in stations along the route in case you get to play the hero tackle and need to reship. The more of this sort of thing you do, the more your FCs will love you.
+Ship Recognition: The more you know about the various ships in EVE, the better intel you will give to your FC.
+==A Primer on Covops Scouting==
+Editor's Note: The following is an excellent primer on scouting in a Covert Operations ship written by another author. It also has some very good general advice on scouting. I will be going through and editing this to fit into the more comprehensive style of the current article as I have time.
 === What does/doesn't this cover  ===
-{{related class|Scouting 101}}{{tocright}}
 This page concentrates on covops scouting - that is with covops ships which are able to warp while cloaked (Tech 2 covops frigates and force recons with proper tech 2 covops cloaks. Those wanting to get a feel for scouting may start in frigates with tech 1 cloaks - these allow for sitting still cloaked and are OK for picketing gates (ie. sitting still watching a gate) but little beyond that, and this page does not really cover their use. Anything larger (recon ships, black ops, etc) is out of scope of this document.