Editing Scouting (activity) (section)

== Factors in Scouting ==
There are several things that affect what we encounter on scouts.

=== Place of Origin for a Scout ===
Starting out, the town you are now in is Somerset, you will probably be scouting from here as you try to make your name in Darkwind.  Each town and camp has a different difficulty level associated with it for scouting.  Scouting closer to town will often mean meeting an enemy with more firepower.  Scouting from towns south of Somerset will greatly increase the difficulty.

=== Scouting Distance ===
The distance you travel on your scout affects how strong an enemy force you may encounter, the further out you go the more selective you are. As a result, longer scout distances will often result in a more advantageous (read: equitable) encounter. The minimum return time from a scout is 1 hour, it increases if you go out farther than 20 miles.

The furthest you can go during a scout is 50 miles. Remember you need enough fuel to go '''and''' come back (i.e. enough to travel 100 miles if you scout 50 miles out)!

=== Scouting Direction ===
The direction you choose from your town or camp can affect the firepower you encounter.  Heading toward a 'safer' town will mean slightly less firepower, while heading towards more dangerous places will raise the firepower you come across.  For new people, I suggest joining one of the camps north of Somerset and scouting towards it.

=== Scouting Skill ===
This affects how much firepower you will come across.  A character with a high Scouting skill is typically referred to as a "Scout". Try not to get confused with the terminology knowing that you want to take a Scout with you while on a scout.  A higher Scouting skill means fairer fights, or occasionally an advantage for the player.  This only counts the best Scout in the group; having more than one Scout won't help.

=== Other Factors ===
Some other factors are the vehicle the Scout is riding in, and the size of the squad.  Putting your Scout into a smaller, more mobile vehicle may get you a fairer fight.  A larger squad may get you slightly worse odds. The most important factor when considering a squad's size is the sum of the Combat Rating (CR) of all the vehicles in the squad.

=== Examples ===

Slidewrx:
''With my two Windy II cars at about 300 CR, I would head out of Somerset toward the Slack Shack.  Going 25 miles out, with a 90 scout means I would get roughly equal or slightly good odds.  I would be fighting 250-300 CR opponents.  250 CR is the minimum enconter, so it might have been better odds if I brought more vehicles to raise my CR.''

''With the same crew I would head out from Somerset toward Gateway (again 25 miles, 90 scout), and I would encounter 275-325 CR opponents.''

''I drove them to Gateway and started scouting there.  Scouting From Gateway, toward Somerset, I went out 50 miles with my now 99 scout, and I regularly encounter ~450 CR opponents!  This is with the same 300 CR pair of Windy II's.  There are also more return encounters.  I need to raise my scouting skill before I go any further I think.''