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scout profitability?
simonmaxhill
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My question is for people in the GWELMSS area:

How much profit are you making from each scout (on average)?
How are you doing it (number of cars, players, kinds of chassis)?
Where are you doing it?
What level scout are you using?

Back when I was a newb I scouted with 1-2 Mercs mounting HMG/MG or HMG/GG and C grade armor+rollcage, with an HMG phoenix as wingman and eventually brought in Windsors with dual GGs. I scouted without other players, because each additional player increased the damage I took and decreased the money I earned.

My impression is that people are making a lot less money (because resale prices are tweaked downwards) so I don't think the profits I was making are relevant. But the C grade armor cut my armor replacement costs in half which was very important to me at the time (these days I'm using A+ grade armor on Super Heavy Laser Space Buzzers, because I'm so rich.)

I think my scout was like a 40 or something. None of my gunners had specs.
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vet wv

Posted Dec 20, 2009, 2:04 am
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Are you asking newer players what they are working with, or vets who find themselves back in the Northern Triangle?

When I first started scouting alone
:
Profit Per Scout: $5 - 50k, assuming I won.
Cars Used: Two to four car combo of twin MG phoenixes and HMG/MG windsor Is.
Tactics: Skirmisher - never stop moving, hit the enemy from multiple sides.  Use speed and maneuverability to separate foes, then converge on one, kill it, move on to the next.
Level Scout: There's a scout skill?
Thoughts: Muscle cars can be expensive to maintain for a newer player, Windy IIs are much more common and are better cars than the Windy Is.  Skirmishing is risky but is so much fun.

Current Solo "Fundraiser" Scout:
Profit Per Scout: $100-200k.
Cars Used: two CC buzzers, four HMG buzzers, two mortar lorries, two support landrunners.
Tactics: Tank Line - buzzers form a wall, blasting anything within range, mortars provide artillery support, landies protect against flankers and assist with cleanup.
Level Scout: 150+
Thoughts: Excellent financial return, but are rather dry and time consuming.

Current Group Scout:
Profit Per Scout: $0, as I don't loot in group scouts (occasionally a reload).
Cars Used: "Enforcer" model Apache: 3.2Lv8, front HMG, MG, rear MG, PG. Three crew.
Tactics: As fits the encounter - try to use the PG early for crowd control, then whatever is needed.
Level Scout: 20+, though someone else usually brings a higher one.
Thoughts: Best scouts in the game are with a flexible car and a bunch of fellow players!
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vet marshal wv

Posted Dec 20, 2009, 5:57 am
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Group scouts: This is in present tense, of course.
I use: 1-2 A Armored buzzers, or a Big Pickup, or maybe a buzzer + BPU. Im not using normal cars much anymore, haha.
Tactic: With the buzzers, I usually take the front line and pound anything in my way. Same thing with the BPU, except that once theres lots of demos, I switch to dogfighting.
Money made: With my A Armor buzzers being in the front line, I usually take considerable damage, and it costs a bit to repair them. However, I can usually take at least 2 cars home. Even so, I make about 30k per scout.
With the BPU, I take quite a bit of damage still, but it's B armor. I only get to take one car home though, so I make 5-12k.

Solo scouting: Either one Buzzer, or one BPU, since I dont have enough good crew to fill up two buzzers and fight for myself well.
Tactic: Running and shooting. I get behind a corner and shoot the closest car with the CCs, blast him to bits and use the recoil to run to the next setup.
Money made:I take 1-2 cars back, since the car cannons destroy lots of the loot, and my good mech died a while ago. So 15-30k.
With the BPU, I just set up and fire at the incoming cars. Once the armors breached I use an HCR to red the gangers. With the help of reds, I bring home one mint car for 12-23k.

I expect the profits to go up a lot once I start scouting with two buzzers. B)
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wv vet zom marshal pvp2 paintladder

Posted Dec 20, 2009, 6:38 am Last edited Dec 20, 2009, 6:40 am by Burden
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If my purpose isn't to get reds, then I can make about 30k-70k on my scouts.
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vet wv zom

Posted Dec 20, 2009, 7:49 am
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I normally scout in groups, because I'm not willing to risk solo (although I probably should), and because it's more fun.

I usually take one vehicle (so as not to hold everyone else up, and so leadership training gets spread around a bit) which will be a front gunned Landy or Apache.

Tactics - usually line up and shoot, although I'm not above dogfighting with Landys if it comes to it (or if someone gets themselves in trouble).

Profits since the tweaks to SS are about $30K to -$20K, although I don't lose money that often.
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vet wv marshal pvp2 cont

Posted Dec 20, 2009, 9:49 am Last edited Dec 20, 2009, 9:50 am by Wolfsbane
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Currently using solo rental antagonist (non-sub).

On average bring back 1 1/2 loot cars. Average value, probably 25K per after repair (though I am stockpiling as I have no means to sell them). I shall probably break them for parts as this seems more profitable than selling them as vehicles.

Since I get the deposit back on the ant, the rental is only 12K. So over time I guess I am making 22K per scout maybe 4 scouts a week. Not much, but then my time investment is low.

For comparison, I try to make 100K per week in town events. So it probably evens out to 200K per week all in.
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vet wv raceL1 deathrceL1

Posted Dec 20, 2009, 11:13 pm
simonmaxhill
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Holy moly - it's possible to make 100k a week during in-town events?
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vet wv

Posted Dec 20, 2009, 11:43 pm
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Alright, here is what I do.

For Somerset, I only do trader runs, I use 2 "Firefly" model sunrises, and 3 landrunners, I do these runs together with Slacker and TheEvilChaos, both of them brings at least an equivalent number of Landys/Apaches, slackers also brings a Buzzer.

We total up to about 2000 - 3000k cr, with that, we form a heavy battleline, nothing survives it, everything gets blasted to hell, we go for reds to demo the others, useally getting a good bunch of mint cars, battle and traders, we can usually make 100 - 200k each per run, excluding any lorries and trader cargo...

SS, the money farm :D
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vet wv zom gateautumn deathrceL1 elmsautumn pvp1 pvp2 sssc raceL1 e2g combatL1 santa1 pvp3 gwextrav ww circuit32,18,0

Posted Dec 20, 2009, 11:47 pm Last edited Dec 20, 2009, 11:49 pm by FireFly
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It's not hard to make 100K per week, top prize for a combat is 5K, its only 20 combats, plus you pick up the odd 3-4K here and there for death races and races.

BL death races at the canyon are often pretty poory attended, come last and you still get 2K.

GW interstate is a gift whether race or DR.

I don't tend to do SS races and DR's as the tracks are too long to play quickly (though on occasion I do one).

If you forget about winning the leagues you can make more money entering every race and coming 3rd or 4th than you can coming first in the league. The danger of playing for the league prize is that once yopu get your max points for first, you can't risk making that score worse, so you miss out of 5-6 races paying 3-5k per.

Combats are the most time effective, go for laps and jumps as a priority and just shoot people as you go past. After the first couple of laps, the multiplier means you get 1200 points each time you go past the checkpoints. Its hard not to beat the ai's as they only go for gore score. After you have amassed all the points, use up all your ammo for the training. If you get aced at that point, your points still count and you can still get 1st.

With the new on demand mechanism, even with limited time slots I can get in one or two combats per day. I also feed "junk" gangers into combats even if I am not around to play them. They will sometimes place and even if only 10% make $500, put enough gangers in and it can still reap rewards (as well as keeping the hospital in business). Plus the training can sometimes turn junk into gold. My second best gunner worked her way up through the unsupervised "Meat Grinder".

This week I only made 67K, but I was changing a lot of nappies ;)
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vet wv raceL1 deathrceL1

Posted Dec 21, 2009, 12:47 am Last edited Dec 21, 2009, 12:49 am by Iron Wraith
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I take 2 cars solo out of SS.

Scout is 30+ (generally 60+, but I don't scout with under 30).

1 Apache 2xHMG F, GG side, LR rear, 3.2v8 B armor
1 Windy2 2xGG F, MR side, 3LR B armor.

I pull on average 10-30K Per scout but they take less than 10 minutes. I generally have the windy go for the weakest threat and try to get on it's flank and drive it towards the apache. The apache either puts both guns on the stronger car or splits the guns between cars the windy isn't concentrating on and moves forward to close the gap.

In SS, I rarely need to use any more advanced tactics as I generally am fighting only 2-4 weaker vehicles and I'd rather mop them up quick. In Elms and GW I plan out my approach quite a bit more.

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vet wv pvp3

Posted Dec 21, 2009, 9:18 pm
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Quote:
I also feed "junk" gangers into combats even if I am not around to play them.


I don't really approve of that tactic, which was first used back in summer 2006! Your cars disappear after 30 moves if you don't log in, but I'm going to have to make a change so that they're also reset to zero arena points.. sorry..
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Posted Dec 21, 2009, 9:23 pm
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*sam* said:
Quote:
I also feed "junk" gangers into combats even if I am not around to play them.


I don't really approve of that tactic, which was first used back in summer 2006! Your cars disappear after 30 moves if you don't log in, but I'm going to have to make a change so that they're also reset to zero arena points.. sorry..


Knew that was coming lol
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vet marshal wv community

Posted Dec 21, 2009, 9:30 pm
Iron Wraith
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Sam:

Fair enough. I have asked around previously to see if this was undesireable behaviour but no-one seemed to object.

My original intent of feeding them in was for the courage increases when they were hospitalised and the occasional skill increase. If the purpose of your change is to discourage un-attended entries into town events generally, then I recomend that you also negate any stat increases also (though wounds should probably remain).

If you are ok with the skill aspect, but simply don't think the activity should be finacially rewarded then I'll continue, otherwise I'll desist (I have too many one eyed, one armed gangers as it is).
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vet wv raceL1 deathrceL1

Posted Dec 21, 2009, 9:50 pm Last edited Dec 21, 2009, 9:51 pm by Iron Wraith
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Iron Wraith said:

If you are ok with the skill aspect, but simply don't think the activity should be finacially rewarded then I'll continue, otherwise I'll desist (I have too many one eyed, one armed gangers as it is).


Skill gains without actually playing the game?

You are seriously asking if that's OK?  :thinking:
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vet wv community

Posted Dec 21, 2009, 10:30 pm
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certainly smells like an exploit sorry Iron
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vet marshal wv community

Posted Dec 21, 2009, 10:53 pm
Iron Wraith
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Not like I wasn't risking my gangers. I lost 50% and about half the rest aren't hanging straight.

Isn't weekly training a skills gain without playing?

Anyway I didn't say it wasn't an exploit, I did say I asked if anyone minded. No harm no foul in my book. Once I klnow diffently then it's cheating, but is it cheating if the mechanism is built into the game.

And who am I cheating anyway, it's only me that cares.

Not defending, just sayings all.
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vet wv raceL1 deathrceL1

Posted Dec 21, 2009, 11:58 pm Last edited Dec 22, 2009, 12:02 am by Iron Wraith
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I just earned a record whopping 90k yesterday in one twin-car scout. Whoop! B)
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vet wv zom

Posted Dec 22, 2009, 7:43 am
simonmaxhill
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I think Iron's tactic should be totally legal, honestly.

It's not as if he isn't risking gang members every time he puts them into these events and let's the AI decide what they ought to do.

The downside of adding a lot of "mileage" to the gangers early in their lives surely makes up for the "unearned" skill gains.
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vet wv

Posted Dec 22, 2009, 9:14 am
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I learned in the Mad Mike Mega Scout School for Dummies, so:

I don't group scout much. I take out 10-15 vehicles, mostly Apaches with as many dropped weapons as possible: Spikes [[ two Windsor II's with twins ]], Mines [[ Windsor II with twins ]] and as many FOJ's as I can.

Never go out more than 15 miles, scout towards GW. This gives you twisty roads with mountains: perfect for funneling bad guys into your dropped weapons.

Make a mess!! Cover the road with nasties. Keep moving...settle in about 60 mph. Reload dropped weapons, keep making a mess. It's a riot watching the enemy run into each other or over the dropped weapons. Tires go away very fast!

This limits their mobility and they can't chase after me. Today I demo'd 3 vehicles in 15 before a shot was fired. Even red-deaded a pirate with a mine.

So by the time they get to me, they're just waiting to be demo'd. I'm bringing home 3-5 untouched pirate vehicles per scout which sell for about 36-70K. Some micromanagement in shooting allows single-side breaches on another 5-6 vehicles, which net about 30-50K. The other 4-5 I have to shoot up net about 25-40K. Average scout: $120K in salvage.

Since I barely get shot anymore, armor repairs are neglible. To repair 12 Apaches and the Windsor II's today, I spent under 25K.

You can also sell the undamaged vehicles in market if you can wait a while for your cash. Running one of those every couple days....  Now if I could just quit giving away all those pristine salvage vehicles to newbs and actually sell some....
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vet wv

Posted Dec 24, 2009, 3:56 am
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procyon112 said:
I take 2 cars solo out of SS.

Scout is 30+ (generally 60+, but I don't scout with under 30).

1 Apache 2xHMG F, GG side, LR rear, 3.2v8 B armor
1 Windy2 2xGG F, MR side, 3LR B armor.

I pull on average 10-30K Per scout but they take less than 10 minutes.


When I bother to solo I do something similar. I take 2 vehicles, usually with different capabilities, for instance a sedan or apache and a muscle. I can usually loot about 10-30k worth of vehicles in 10 minutes or so. I don't even bring a scout at all (in SS). I have done this with before with a 150+ scout and the pull was not significantly better since SS pirates are so beat upon anyway.

But two things, 1) I know what I am doing and 2) I am too lazy to run more than 2 cars at once most of the time. Still, this tactic can be made newbie-friendly with practice. Since I am fighting simple odds I can usually get in close and flank, so high skilled characters are not vital.

I usually scout with others, actually, and save this for when I am testing a new car design or some tactic that might be too tedious for a multi-player game.

It is very ill advised for a new player to consider scouting alone, for reasons too numerous to list. However when you have some degree of competence and know what you are dealing with it is not impossible and can be profitable.

If you have done many successful scouts with others and are thinking of going alone I have some simple advice:

4saken's Guide to your First Solo Scout in 3 Easy Steps.

STEP 1: Learn to operate more than 1 car at a time effectively. I recommend running 2-5 cars if you run a scout by yourself. One car has some advantages but will be time-consuming and leaves little room for error. And once you can run 5 cars at once, you can pretty much run as many as you like.

STEP 2: Go out with vet to help and train. When you can run 3 cars at once, grab a vet or decent player and run 2 cars each. If that works well, next run 2 or 3 and have the vet run only one car. While this is going on be sure to listen to the vet's advice on tactics, weapon loadouts, etc. You should probably do this part with several different people to see various tactics and strategies.

STEP 3: Enlist the help of a vet and have him help only if needed. Again you run 2 or 3 and he runs only one support vehicle. But this time the vet does not run the show. You do. You decide where to set up, etc. The vet is only there to help shoot stuff and offer advice after the fact (or before if needed). Once you can do this with pretty much no real need for tactical help or high skilled characters from the vet the next step is to do it all by yourself. School is over.

And again, a final reminder. Don't even think of doing this unless you're sure you are aware of all the factors you'll need to deal with. Jump in too early and you'll lose far too often and get discouraged. If you must do it "just to see" make sure you have disposable vehicles and new hires you can easily replace. You may win, or you may not. But you will only be aware of a fraction of the things you need to worry about in order to be successful. And it's the stuff you don't know that will kill you.
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vet combatL1 wv1,0,0

Posted Dec 24, 2009, 9:24 pm Last edited Dec 24, 2009, 9:33 pm by 4saken
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