Editing Solo Scouting

FIXME - experienced solo scouters are encouraged to add to this

== The Ultimate Guide to an Early Grave ==
Solo scouting is extremely dangerous, and you should not even consider doing it if '''any''' of the following is true:

* Your Gang's Morale is less than 100, or
* The scout you are going to use has a Scouting skill of less than 30, or
* You are going to have only one person in your car, or
* The gunners you are going to use have less than 30 skill with the weapons in your car, or
* Your car has no room for reloads, or
* '''Any''' of the characters you are going to have in the car have a Courage of less than 40,or
* You can't afford to lose your car, or
* You've never scouted before

If you are fairly new to scouting you are ''highly advised'' to scout with a larger group. If you want to scout alone, the safest bet is with at least two vehicles. But if you feel inclined... read on.

=== Vehicle Selection ===
When solo scouting, having the right vehicle is not optional.  Without any support to fall back on in a pinch, your scout vehicle must be able to:

* Do a reasonable amount of damage
* Take a reasonable amount of damage
* Escape if necessary

If your car can't do '''all''' of these things it is not the car to solo scout with.

Generally, the mid-sized chassis will be better suited to solo scouting than the SUV chassis.  You will want the largest '''unexposed''' engine possible; in normal supply this will probably be the 3.2L

Mount whatever weapons you are comfortable with, and be sure to leave space for gunners and reloads.  With no other vehicles shooting you will be solely responsible for killing the enemy, so you will use more ammo than you would in a group scout.

=== Tactics ===
It is almost guaranteed that you will be outnumbered and outgunned.  With '''very''' few exceptions, your best course of action will be to split the enemy up.

See also [[Top Ten Scouting Tips]]

==== Divide and Conquer ====
How you divide the enemy should be apparent based on the map you are placed on.  For instance, if you were on the ''Once Upon A Town'' map, driving around the buildings to get the enemy separated is often a good choice.

In most cases, the best way to split the enemy is to run.  When you run away, the enemy follows you, obviously, but not usually at the same speed and acceleration.  This is how the enemy starts to get spread out.

If you run long enough, some of the enemy may fall back far enough (500m) to auto-escape.  This reduces the number of vehicles you have to fight, which is not a bad thing.

'''NOTE:''' ''The developer considers this a minor exploit so the ability to split enemies this way could get much more difficult or all-together impossible.''

'''NOTE:''' Be careful not to go beyond the 500m distance yourself, or ''you'' will also auto-escape.

When you have the enemy either reduced (down to a single vehicle is probably prudent) or spread out to your liking, pick a good spot to turn and engage.  Hilltops and ridges are always good choices.

==== Know When to Fold 'em ====

If you have armor reduced on any side to less than 5 points, seriously consider fleeing.  A good [[HMG]] hit, or a pair of lighter weapon hits, will cause penetration damage, ''even though some armor may remain'', potentially causing driver/passenger injury, or worse, setting your engine on fire.  Fire causes stress to skyrocket, can damage your engine each turn, or even cause it to explode.  All three things can cause a solo scout to end quickly.  Even though it's tempting to try and turn the fight around, or finish off that last bandit, get out and save your characters and car, and come back another day.

==== Top Ten Scouting Tips ====

1. Watch your own back – always bring your own backup (a second or third vehicle).  Too many times on group scouts other players focus only upon themselves and the enemies they are fighting and will do nothing to help if you get in trouble.  Scouting alone with only one vehicle is especially stupid, since you have no tactical options – all the enemies drive straight towards you.  If you violate this rule and insist on scouting with only one vehicle scout only with players you know will bail you out if you get in trouble.

2. Do not stop your vehicle(s) in the open.  Open terrain is lethal. Always make a stand on obstructed ground to break enemy formations or on top of a small hill or cliff.  Anything to avoid having the enemy swarm you.  No matter how good your gang members are or what you are driving, no vehicle can fight when it is being pegged by 
3 or more heavy weapons – the stress is too great for accurate fire AND your vehicle might even flip.  Once you get pinned down by weapons fire you are dead.  In a worst-case scenario where there is little to no cover try to run until some of the enemy auto-escapes at 500m.

3. Always assume there will be a return/second encounter.  Do not loot vehicles that you don't want to fight in.  Looted vehicle add their CR to the number of enemy vehicles encountered on a return. Vehicles with engines less than 75%, that have their main guns destroyed, or have more than one armor facing breached are death traps.  Do not make exceptions for rare vehicles, leave that 8% 3.2Lv8, it's not worth it.  Greed kills.  If you violate this rule (and you will), then you must prepare to ditch your loot vehicle at the start of the return.  Place your loot vehicle TO THE LEFT of the vehicle you want your driver to escape to (because the steering wheel in DW is ON THE RIGHT).  Slow both vehicles down to 0 mph.  Then exit the loot vehicle.  If you do it right you can immediately board your own vehicle without exposing your gang member to weapons fire – this is the 'loot car shuffle'.  Practice this.

4. If solo scouting (not the same as scouting with one vehicle, just scouting by yourself), remember you can always select 'surrender all' if you are about to lose a valuable gang member. Of course this depends on who the gang member is – if it's a new recruit then who cares – but if it's your leader surrender that apache – you can always get another but it takes months and even years to build up a good leader.  This is why solo scouting is safer, because you don't have this option on group scouts unless everyone agrees.  There is no excuse for losing your three best gang members on a bad scout.  DO NOT GET ATTACHED TO VEHICLES, DO NOT CONTINUE A BAD SCOUT TO GET 'REVENGE'.

5. Cross-train.  Focus on gaining as many specializations as fast as possible.  Most skills give you a specialization in blocks of 50.  So if your large-gunner is at 67 skill and is only training one point a week during the training hit, then he is probably close to his maximum skill level. Switch his training to gunnery or hand gunner until you hit 50, then switch to something else.  Always try to have a first-aid specialization character in a squad – you can quickly cross-train first aid in EL.  Always have a Motivator in a town with more than three gang members – this improves their training over time.

6. Destroy rocket vehicles first.  Be scared of heavy rockets – a heavy rocket can kill you in one shot.  Ignore CGLs till the end – they are no threat to a well-built vehicle.

7. Always fire until an enemy vehicle is reduced to 0 CR.  You can read an enemy vehicle's CR by hovering over it with your pointer.  Too many needless deaths occur when a player dismisses a 'killed' enemy vehicle, only to have a heavy-rocket come out of 'nowhere' and kill him.  Rare loot is the exception – save them for last and kill/red as many other enemies as you can – this demoralizes the remaining enemy force.  Being struck by weapons fire is also demoralizing – so if you want to loot that rare chassis pay attention to its remaining armor and be careful not to breach it – pepper it on all sides until it demoralizes.  You may need to hold fire for a turn.

8. Always equip hand weapons on all characters, and upgrade to SMGs or Rifles.  Make sure each character has 2 hand weapon reloads.  Do not travel without hand weapons.

9. Don't forget to attempt to truce an encounter you wish to avoid.  You get a chance to truce after you see the initial enemy placement.  If ambushed by a superior force try to truce.  If you are attacked on a return and your vehicles are too beat up to fight attempt to truce.  A good scout can save your entire squad.

10. Always pack reloads – at least 2 per weapon, 3 to be safe (muscle cars and rocket racks are the exception).  Anything less requires a dedicated ammo carrier.  If you do this don't forget to distribute ammo from your ammo carrier at the end of combat.  Let enemies escape and end combat if you are out of reloads, since this means the next encounter will probably kill you (obviously you don't care about preserving ammo if it's a return or gates encounter).  Get in the habit of always reloading weapons on the loot screen for all vehicles.  If you need ideas for vehicle builds spy on the garage of a vet, and see which vehicles have 'renowned' status and higher.  These are the designs to imitate, because they are battle tested and proven.



[[Category: Scouting]]
[[Category: New Player]]