This document is meant to be an evolving guide to how to scout SF style.

The purpose of scouting is to provide accurate intelligence to the Fleet Commander [FC hereafter] to enable his situational awareness to stretch beyond just the immediate system. The most common method to do this is a cloaked or otherwise hidden ship in a different system. The scout should have a grasp of the basic importance of fleet structure and be able to accurately and concisely report what he or she sees. The Scout will generally not engage in direct confrontation with the enemy and as such this role is not to everyone's tastes. Without his scouts the FC will not have enough information to correctly decide whether to engage or not and when it is the correct time to disengage. Being a scout for a fleet is a responsibility that should not be assumed lightly as your word can mean the difference between victory or defeat.

By far the most common ship used for scouting is the Covert Operation Frigate. It is very well suited for the job being able to warped cloaked and, if properly set-up, can escape from also any situation it finds itself in. All the four racial Covert Ops Frigates are equally useful and none really hold the title of being the best at the job. Please note this ship do not include the Stealth Bomber which is covered next.

The Stealth Bomber is another ship specifically designed for Covert Operations but unlike it's smaller brother it does not have the ability to fit the Covert Ops cloak and is therefore unable to warp whilst cloaked. This makes it of less use to a pure scouting role as it is really only able to maintain it's own safety in one specific location. The Stealth bomber however is a excellent ship for harassment operations which will be covered further down.

Another ship that is widely used is the Recon Cruiser. The Recon Cruiser is also able to warp cloaked but is not always able to escape from a situation easily due to it's lower basic velocity. This does not detract from it's usefulness however as it's large cargo bay allows for the carrying of more interdiction devices and its native abilities at various EWar can allow it to prove a tough challenger for solo opponents. In a purely scouting role however the Covert Ops Frig is better in almost all ways.

The Interceptor can be used as a scouting vessel as its lighting fast speed allows it to scout the enemy without giving them a chance to catch it. The disadvantages of this method of scouting are many however. First the enemy know for a fact that they have been scouted. Secondly the enemy may have a faster interceptor than you that can tackle you long enough for the rest of the enemy gang to kill you. It is also possible that you will be unlucky enough to be too close to a cloaked rapier pilot who will dispatch you with ease.

Overall the Cov-Ops Frigate is the best tool for scouting but there are many options open to a pilot who wishes to turn his hand to this discipline.

By far the most important tool a scout has is patience. Sometimes being a scout requires you to remain cloaked in a particular point in space for hours on end. If you don't believe you can do this then scouting may not be for you.

The inbuilt scanner of your ship is you second most important. It can tell you the composition and location of an enemy fleet without you even being in the same grid as them. With experience you can ascertain quickly and easily where any enemy fleet is in space simply by modifying the parameters the scanner is set to.

The Scan Probe Launcher can be useful to you in certain situations. Especially where you are acting as a forward scout to a roving fleet. Pinpointing an enemy who has gone to ground for your advance tacklers to tackle is an especially rewarding part of the job.

When you are flying as a scout you want to avoid getting into a fight wherever possible. To facilitate this you are often off grid or at a BM far away from your target. Your target will hopefully not even realise that he is being watched and carry on about his business in such a way as to show you his intentions. Out of the entire fleet you are one of the few that must try at all cost to avoid being destroyed. Without you the Fleet is blind so it is important to remain hidden as much as possible in your fragile ship as you are almost certainly going to be outnumbered, certainly outgunned and far away from support.

It is also important to remember not to engage your targets or in fact anyone else in conversation in Local as part of your job is to make them forget about your presence as much as possible. More so than that you also do not wish to inadvertently give away any intel yourself.

Whilst most of the time your job will simply be to keep eyes on the enemy sometimes you may be asked to perform a number of different tasks. Common secondary assignments for scouts are to help disrupt the enemy fleet by placement of various interdiction methods on their suspected route, making assassination attempts on key figures of an enemy fleet in order to sow panic, returning to the fleet for various support roles such as EWar or anti-tackle. These and more will be covered later.

Whilst all the above deal with the theoretical application of scouts to a situation this section will deal with more “real life” at least as far as real life goes in Eve Wink.

As scouts it is generally best to be in position or ready to go before the bulk of friendly forces are even undocked. In order to do this in an organised manner your Scouting team leaders should have given you an assignment. What these are will depend largely on the type of engagement or mission expected.

For one system fights the scouts will act as the fleets eyes out of the system providing intel as to the enemies reinforcements and the general status of surrounding areas around the engagement area. It is also possible you will be assigned to keep an eye on a particular structure in the same system as the fight is taking place such as a station or a POS with a jump bridge or large concentration of enemy ships in it. In all cases for this type of scouting you will likely be mostly stationary in a system for the majority of the engagement.

For a roaming gang the scouts role will be to keep ahead or behind the gang to assist in target spotting and keeping the main fleet safe from following enemies. In this case you will need manoeuvrable and fast ships to escape from any danger that you might face when jumping into an unscouted and potentially hostile system. Please bear this in mind when selecting your ships for this type of mission. If there are enough scouts one or more scouts may go deep to assess the viability of continuing on a path or to keep an eye on bottleneck systems that enemies will have to pass through to get to the friendly fleet.

There are, if course, as many variations of this as there are systems in New Eden but in general most scouting will fall into either one of these categories and each one has ships best suited for it. Whilst Stealth Bombers are almost useless for roaming gang scouts they can be used effectively for stationary scouting. Anchorable Bubbles are a useful tool for stationary scouting but not much use, and in fact are probably a hindrance, for roaming gangs.

Due to the volume of intel that may be coming in during an operation it is best to use a dedicated channel or convo to report all intel and then the squad leader can assign certain people to report live to fleet or command channels. In a roaming gang the +1 scout will typically report to fleet or command where the rest will report to the scout channel or convo. In a fixed position operation all intel will be put into the scout channel and then the squad leader can pass relevant intel onto the fleet channel with other scouts only putting intel directly into fleet in an emergency.

For this reason FC's should help scouts by insuring that fleet comms is kept clear from chatter and joining the scout channel/convo in order to be able to see all intel and get a more rounded overview during quiet periods.

As a general rule scouts should not engage targets and keep themselves as safe as possible. The chance of ganking one target is substantially less important than keeping good intel flowing. If you believe it is a good idea to engage a target please check with your squad leader or FC before doing so. It is advisable to have multiple bookmarks available to yourself for each position you wish to watch as then if you are decloaked or otherwise spotted by the enemy you will still be able to maintain your watch without exposing yourself to risk. Remember safespots aren't safe if you aren't cloaked. System scanners and probing ships will find you. If you do not have Bookmarks for the system you are given to work in during a static op please see your squad leader for a set. If there are no Bookmarks available make sure you can quickly set so up at least 151km from your given gate.

Simply put there is no downtime for scouts. There is always something useful you can be doing. Part of your job is to assist during operation to provide intel but you are better at that job if you know what to look for in the area. What constitutes unusual activity can be subtle tells and reading these tells requires time in space in the enemies back-yard to see how they behave. Keeping eyes on the enemy also lets your FC's and Directors know when a possibility for an ad-hoc operation is good. There is also something to be said for constantly surveying enemy structures for any sign of module change as this by itself may be valuable intel into what they are planning. If you can't think of anything to do and want to help out please talk to either an FC or your scout squad leader and he or she should be able to find something for you to do at all times.