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Team leader can put beacons on maps, but that takes time, and requires them to open the map and waste time fiddling when they should be running or actively seeking more targets to report back on. It's a fairly good idea that's under utilized. Why not build upon it, and make it more effective?
Give mech's a call out function, based on wherever they're looking. It could almost work like a projectile that has an area of effect. For example, a scout sees 5 mech's traversing through a canyon. He aims near the ground of one of the units and activates the call out. All mech's that he can actively see appear as red question marks on allies radars at the location. *Note, they would literally have to be seen, you couldn't use this to find hidden targets near what you see* These emblems are static, and will not move, and after a few seconds will disappear off the radar. However, if the scout maintains eye sight, the question marks will refresh every few seconds. If two or more scouts call out the same unit, information presented on the radar will refresh even quicker.
In terms of monetary rewards, units spotted like this could have a marker of sorts placed on them(not a locator for radar, but just a generic true false boolean flag), for a lengthy duration, say a minute, which would refresh every time a scout marked the units again. All damage, kills, etc. made on these marked targets would grant the scout cbills and experience. After allies can actively see targets and target them through normal means, a scout would be unable to mark them again. However, the target would still be marked for up to a minute, so damage applied to the target could still reward the scout that spotted them.
Why do this you ask? We can already see blips on the radar when someone glances over targets? The answer is that enemy sometimes has ECM, which utterly breaks the scouting mechanic. The scout can easily see 5 enemy mechs moving through a canyon, but they have ecm, so the team doesn't know when or where a friendly scout encountered hostiles. He has to physically enter in information or use voice communications to speak with the team. "Well why not use voice communications?" Players sometimes speak different languages, so information relayed cannot be understood by everyone. "Why not just type in the information?" This takes time, and sometimes you might have another light spot you and try to engage you. So you don't have the leisure to just sit there and type out information to the team.
This system could give scouts the economy upgrade they need so desperately, and allow them to do what their intended function was designed for, scouting.
Edited by Capnflintlock, 22 April 2015 - 07:04 AM.
