Ways to improve the Scout's firepower?
 

I've always wanted the scout to have more purpose, instead of just being a disposable flag runner, and with a little more firepower in the right places, the scout could pose an actual threat in a fight. Although not very much.

I think the scout should have one long range and one short range weapon, the nailgun is long range enough even though it's pants, but the shotgun is also fairly long range, across huge distances you can shoot it and still see it hit enemies, even if it takes off 1 damage. So I'm focussing on ideas to change the shotgun.

Even though I don't want FF to be like TF2, a sawn-off double barrel shotgun could be good for the scout, to actually give it a little firepower at short range. The scout in FF is fairly useless when it comes to killing things, the nail gun is just used to kill structures, and unless an enemy is standing still, you just flail nails about hoping a few of them will hit an enemy while you think about how you're going to conc past them.

The shotgun hardly does any damage, and the only occurrences I can think of me using it is to kill an enemy scout carrying our flag, or just to toy with the defense while I work out how to make my escape with the flag.

The scout is just used as a flag runner in FF, and doesn't have the firepower to accomplish anything, fighting with defense just ends in your death, most of the time a scout goes for the flag against a decent defense, they accept it's probably a suicide run, but they might get the flag a few feet by throwing it.

(I actually kill more people using the crowbar than the nailgun and shotgun)

A sawn-off double barrel would allow two shots before a fairly short reload, and while it has a lot of spread and is useless at longer ranges, at very short ranges like most flag rooms, it could do quite a lot of damage and have a little push back. And it's light, so scouts could quite easily carry it.

And would look something like this,

http://www.everydaynodaysoff.com/wp-...-Sawed-Off.jpg

Or the sideway barrel.

http://www.deactivated-guns.co.uk/im...SAWNOFF2_6.jpg

I know I mentioned TF2, but even without TF2, the sawn-off shotgun is a logical choice for a light, fast class. Due to it being small, convenient, and lighter than a normal shotgun. And although it has the drawback of being literally useless past a certain range, if you get right up to an enemy, you could actually cause damage that makes them go "ouch, that hurt", instead of the current weapons, which are like being stabbed by a needle.

Any other wild ideas are welcome.

Focussing on the Scout only.

Flaming caltrop rocket launcher.

the scout is a perfect amazing class that shouldnt be messed with, as is the demo, and the medic used to be, I would not want to sacrifice anything the scout has now for any weapon available, bad idea

Best idea so far, do it Dev team.

.... Idiot

I really like this idea Freak, it makes perfect sense to me. The scout really is just a suicide flag runner as he stands now. Giving him this shotgun would allow him a tad bit more chance to kill an enemy. It's not like he has grenades that do damage so he's still not going to be a threat.

No, I'm sorry but I have to disagree. The Scout is a flagrunner. The term "Stopping power" should have nothing to do with this class what-so-ever.

I wouldn't see the point and fighting any other class in the game with a scout unless it were another scout. This idea is stupid.

Scout's such a perfected class in this mod. If there were to be a change in the scout's arsenal it would have to be based around what the scout already does.

Yes, for pickups. I don't see how improving his shotgun by a little bit would hurt a pickup game though.

Really? Is this necessary? U never heard the saying, "Don't got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?"

It's not a huge improvement, the scout would still be quite weak in comparison to other enemies, and if you pit a scout with a sawn-off against any other class at full health, the scout will still get owned 8 times out of 10. Depending on how good the scout is with movement and such.

But it would give the scout a unique weapon given to the scout only, currently the scout's weapons are shared by multiple classes, and the nature of the scout is increadibly different from all of the other classes, so that could warrant a more tailored weapon.

The reason I thought about the sawn-off double barrel shotgun is because it is a quite effective weapon, but has more negatives to it than positives, with how often you need to reload, and how short of a range its use comes into play. But it does suit the scout, and even with the reload, a scout is on the move so much, 2 shots are enough per enemy for what you want to do, and the reload wouldn't take very long.

The only positive over the current shotgun would be an increase in damage, but not a staggering increase, very close up the damage would be noticable, but mid range, such as across a flag room would be slightly less effective, and at long range, it would be almost pointless, but a scout doesn't really need to do long range fighting.

not a good idea imo...

the scout is not meant to be able to deathmatch at all. thats the point. its not like they are easy to hit unless you have an SG and they conc sloppily. The fact that it takes a skilled soldier/demo to take out a skilled scout makes them perfectly balanced. no point in giving them firepower.

So should they have all of their weapons removed?, if there is no need for them to have firepower.

when i first started playing ff i might have said this could be a good idea. however after awhile of playing this could work but i don't see it working now maybe in the future when the balance of classes is changed. though that shotgun is the perfect shotgun maybe remodel the current shotty to look like that. :mrgreen:

I actually really like it.

This would tie into the thread asking to differentiate all the different shotguns as well.

Plus with the scouts speed it would allow him to get close to enemies (while he currently has the "long range" shotgun.) but his health would be a tradeoff.

no, the whole point is that maybe if you are on your way out with the flag and there is a demo or soldier with very low health and you happen to pop them once mid bhop and kill them its lucky and rewarding. It makes it more fun to get kills as a scout when this is how it works.

plus keep the nailgun for SGs.

I guess increasing the shotgun damage a bit wouldn't do too much harm, I just don't think its necessary. like moya said, its a pretty perfectly balanced class.

just because the scout isn't meant to DM opponents it doesn't mean you have to take away their weapons. IT also doesn't mean you have to give the stronger ones so they stand a chance in that type of situation.

I think giving him more power kind of weakens the distinction between the other classes. I think giving him something an ability like wall jumping or being able to immediately reverse his momentum would make more sense.

That, right there, is one of the reasons I pitched this idea, when you have the flag on your way out of the base you're always passing enemies, often at quite close distances, which is why I thought it would make sense to give the scout a shotgun to replace the current shotgun, that is only useful at close to mid ranges.

I don't want the scout to be able to DM, the scout should be killed by every other class in a fight, but with a more suited weapon the scout will be able to take off just that few more damage at close range then the current shotgun, but as a sacrifice, needs to reload every 2 shots and the shotgun will be pathetic at longer ranges due so the large spread.

I probably should of chosen my words better earlier in this thread, the Scout is a flag runner, and will continue to be a flag runner, this idea is something to support that really by giving the scout a scout-only weapon suited to that style.

i love the concept of the idea however is it necessary now no (that means it goes on a list that its 500 miles long.) then is it just to awesome to ignore nope. so basically i don't see it happening mostly because whiles it not a bad idea it requires work and it doesn't really benefit more has a tweaking effect to the class as of now that i can spend tweaking something else that really needs tweaking. :D

A valid point, this would be a lot further down the list. Just throwing ideas out there for people to discuss, if an idea receives very positive feedback it's something for the dev team to look at, this one has received mixed feedback.

instead of giving the scout a weapon with more power, why not give him something more accustomed to his role? maybe something that could be of use, maybe even a new skill. Simply just adding weapons in this game will only create more balance issues and confusion than do any good.
If he were to have a new weapon, it would need to be something that could either counter an obstacle he might encounter, like a pipe trap or an sg or a soldier, or it should do something to aid his movement abilities.

Moya, kube is right, you should just keep your mouth shut instead of calling someone an idiot for an idea they have as to helping the game.