Scouting is dumb

[_Marco]

These are the counterarguments I’ve received from pro-scouting people so far and here is why I don’t agree with them:

1. “Light tanks have so little armor, that’s why they need scouting”

1. Many medium tanks don’t have much more armor than light ones. The best example of this is the comparison between a TAM and a Leopard a1a1. The Leopard has an advantage against autocannons, but the TAM has an advantage against guns thanks to its front-mounted engine and overpen. mechanics. So I don’t understand why, for example, the TAM, which is essentially as good as a Leopard a1a1, needs this mechanic. The similarity to medium tanks applies to many light tanks, especially between 9.0 and 10.0.

2. Especially in mid- and low-tier, light tanks are far faster than all other tanks, and that’s often not the only thing they are good in. In principle, less armor can be well compensated for by other aspects, such as mobility but I do believe that maps should offer more opportunities for mobile vehicles again. On many maps today you simply cannot make great enough use of good mobility.
   Tanks like the Waffenträger don’t have scouting either, they have other qualities that make up for he lack of armor (such as a good cannon). Here, that’s accepted, so why not for light tanks?

2. “Light tanks have such low firepower”

I understand this point a little, especially for tanks with autocannons as their main armament. But:

1. This doesn’t apply to most light tanks; most have at least average firepower.

2. Tanks with autocannons are often called rat tanks for a reason. They may not be able to reliably destroy everyone from the front, but they are extremely deadly against light armor, so it’s a trade-off. A ZSU-75 or Falcon is also often used to hunt tanks without being able to penetrate any tank from anywhere, and all without scouting.

3. “Scouting serves as a tactical compensation for the disadvantage you have compared to squadron players”

This is probably the strongest point in favor of scouting. However, it has a few drawbacks:

1. Squadrons are limited to 4 players. So, scouting is much more powerful, as it reaches not just 3 other players but the entire team with about the same kind of information squadron players can exchange.

2. Why do only light tanks have the privilege of having this “balancing” mechanic? As I’ve already described, light tanks are by no means unplayable. In some cases they literally play just like medium tanks.

3. With scouting, you can, for example, track the movement of enemy vehicles through cover. This is a major advantage that doesn’t exist in squadrons.

Overall, the advantage that squadrons have, although limited to four players, will always exist. The only way to change this would be to abolish squadrons, which I think is beyond debate. If you wanted to balanced squadrons’ advantages, the way to wouldn’t be to give that advantage on steroids to a selected group of tanks.

4. “Scouting makes gameplay easier”

The main difference between Ground RB and Arcade is not less horsepower or no indicators for weak spots, it has always been the absence of markers that show you where the enemy is. If you don’t like that, that is literally what Arcade is made for. What even is the point of Ground RB when some matches look like this:

Scouting is the attempt of turning Ground RB a bit more into Arcade and that in a very bad way on top of that;
Since scouting is given to a handful of tanks, enemies will only get scouted if the right tank sees them and that is a very inconsistent and luck based way to make gameplay easier. It’s just like when ammo exploding was based on RNG because people found it annoying to die from it. At the end of the day, it just makes the game more random and unfair.
Furthermore, in any PvP game, if one player’s life is made easier, another’s automatically becomes harder. Specifically in this case, this means that scouting can make it easier to spot enemies, but it also makes it easier to be spotted by enemies. Just pay attention to how often you get clapped by half the enemy team at once or bombed by an aircraft after coming into contact with an enemy light tank. Often times a 1v1 against a TAM turn out to be way harder than against a Leopard a1a1, just because of scouting.

[Exocetta]

Bless your heart.

[FlyingDoctor]

You didn’t cover my reasons…

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@__Marco__

Scouting as a consequence:

Light tanks, being less and less utilizable in a tactical way, got the Scouting and Recon Drone mechanics in order to give them some artificial tactical purpose again and make their lives easier.

But if in a pvp life is made easier for one, it becomes harder for another. Ironically this change put not only tank destroyers but also light tanks in another disadvantage.
Higher mobility opens the possibility of ambushing or flanking for example. Both tasks can get impossible if an enemy light tanks sees you for a very brief moment (which is impossible to avoid every time) and scouts you. Then the enemies’ attention is directed towards you and the moment of surprise is gone. A light tank that everybody sees is useless, the same applies for lightly armored TDs.