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[ErinaceusSwe]

It's nice to see a game mode that's made for avoiding to fight or at least fight smart. The interchangeable start-at-two-ends-of-a-map-and-move-to-the-middle-to-kill-everything-red gamemodes, while fun in their own way, leaves a lot to be desired if you spend enough time in the game.

I feel however that the phase 3 scouting mode hasn't become what it should be so I suggest remaking the scouting and recycling and renaming the current with a small amount of work (I think, can't code to save my life).

I'd normally separate the queues, but I don't think the player base needs to be more separated than it already is. I'd just make it 2 variations of scouting, like attack and counter-attack is in the invasion queue.

Raid
Take the current scouting mode, remove the data points, make it a 40-55 tonnage drop, and call it Raid game mode. It could be something like, "In order to facilitate future scouting missions we need you to clear out a lance of medium class defenders" The objective of the attackers is to destroy the enemy. Once the defenders are dead a timer starts and you get intelligence points for your faction based on how many mechs make it back to the drop ship in time. One per mech with a bonus for all for example. You win even if none make it back, but gain no intelligence. Gonna be a legging fest as defenders probably, but it is already to a certain degree. The defenders need only destroy the enemy. This game mode shouldn't reward as much intel as the one below.

Intelligence gathering
(Times and points are only of the top of my head, not too much thought gone in to balance those)
Limited to 35 tons (streaks could be a balance problem here, but It could be addressed)
Think conquest, but an attacking mech have to remain inside a capture zone alone (both friendlies and enemies interrupt it) and not taking damage to gain intelligence. For example one point per 5 seconds after a 20 second startup time that has to restart once interrupted. A point being used will be visible to the defenders however so don't stay for too long.
The intel gathered is tied to a mech and only the specific mech can extract the intel. Once the attackers have minimum points(say 30% of max) their dropship is called in and location is highlighted on attacker maps, much like scouting currently works except no green smoke to give it away to defenders. Just before the dropship arrives, the location becomes highlighted on defender maps as well.
To discourage attackers from killing defenders and staying hidden there should be penalties per defender mech destroyed.
After one mech destroyed the defenders get 1 second satellite sweeps every 30 seconds (Suspected enemy activity detected, sensor sweeps initialised). This should also activate just as the attacker dropship arrives and starts counting down.
Two mechs destroyed and the intel gathering rate is cut in half (Enemy scouts confirmed. Choking data feeds).
Three Mechs and further intel gathering becomes impossible, failing the mission if you don't have enough across all surviving attackers (Local assets under attack. Enemy objectives ascertained. Terminating data links).
Four mechs and attackers loose, unless the dropship has already arrived and is counting down.(Incoming enemy dropship located and intercepted).
It would of course be VERY important that the counter doesn't count suicides.

This game mode would initially favour the attackers, as they can spread out and hit multiple gathering points at a time. But for every minute it shifts towards the defenders as it increases the risk of a friendly being engaged. An attacker being engaged has to either run away, keep the defenders occupied, eventually getting destroyed(which lowers the total intel gathered and potentially means the dropships arrival is pushed back) or destroy the defender and suffer the penalties. By the time the dropship arrives the advantage should favour the defenders, because they know where the attackers are and where they need to go to get out. To offset that the attackers could escape and still get a little intell and they can now start killing the defenders without automatically loosing. But since the dropship departs after the timer is down, and intelligence gathering slows down if you start killing defenders it is only intended to give the attackers a chance to defend themselves while escaping.

There should be a max amount of total intel gathered, allowing each mech to gather max, but the total not going above it. High enough to really reward a scout that remains undetected, but low enough that attackers facing AFK/DC'd defenders can't exploit it too much. If the attackers gather less than half (assuming minimum is 30%), it counts as a tie, giving both sides only minor bonuses(but allowing the attackers to keep the intel). In order to get a win bonus the attackers have to get at least half of the available intel, in other words continuing gathering for a short while once the defenders know where they are. For the defenders to win they have to simply deny the attackers intelligence, weather by destroying the attackers or chasing them away from gathering points, letting the match timer run down.