Tutorial: Quick Combat Rank w/Thargoid Scouts

Here we look at the best ships, outfitting, weapons and techniques to find and dispatch Thargoid Scouts to gain very quick combat rank, as they provide as much rank as 4 Elite NPC ships.

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[Architex]

“Pitiful ten thousand credit combat bond”

Too right CMDR!

[wesleyoliveira]

This is the video I needed. I can’t wait to start Xeno hunting!

[ziljanvega]

The best ship I've found for fighting for fighting scouts is ironically the T10. This is because the best weapon vs the Scouts is the large turreted AX multicannons and the T10 can support 4 of these with an excellent firing horizon, and also 5 more regular multicannons for added DPS. The combination is enough to kill a scout in under 2 seconds, or a single pass. It's so effective that it turns out to be even more deadly than any agility based ship. I say this as an avid small ship pilot!

[Brody_Austin]

It would be cool if there was a new thargoid type that's a medium class threat. It'll fall somewhere in between a scout and an interceptor. It can still be destroyed with non AX weapons

[NoMoremrNiceGuy]

These scouts drop some interesting materials which are useless now, but I'm pretty sure I'll regret not gathering them. That's why I've been using a similar build with limpets and a bit of cargo. The most boring thing is that sometimes when I'm overheating to remove caustic damage my hatch malfunctions dropping all my limpets, it's kinda annoying.

[davidkennedy]

This is good to know, as I need to get Elite in combat then I'm triple Elite!!! (I'm not too bothered about CQC Elite) Thanks a lot for the info o7!!!

[alaskanbas]

I really like to use Shock Cannons against Scouts. I've found them to be one of the best tools for the job when you're not talking about engineered weapons, but including the Guardian weapons, which are still more effective but somewhat awkward.

[OptionalZero]

Thanks for the clear and concise info. I'm working my way towards this, but as with everything ED I've got a few steps before then. Looks like I've got some things to unlock first.

[NinjaZXRR]

I have a Cutter, but that thing is too slow for scout hunting, now I'm building up a Challenger. This video is helpful

[Kissamiess]

Picking Scouts off with the gauss cannon is oddly satisfying. That also makes the Lance a fun fighter for this task. I also think having point defence makes taking caustic damage a bit less bothersome.

[TJafo]

Lots of good information, great video. Keep them coming.

[moose]

Scouts are the best way to get combat rank but I don't know where he got the 4x elite pilot thing. From everything I have seen, and over 1000 scout kills they appear to be slightly better than 1 elite pilot (like 1.1 or 1.2)

[bengambino]

Great guide, Commander. Thank you for this!

[jetsonring]

Am finishing up engineering on this build right now. Never owned a DBS before and this seemed like a good excuse to get one. I am enjoying the maneuverability, speed and armament. In addition to the DBS build I fitted a size-2, shielded (G4) fuel scoop (to be switched for the second HRP) and modified the FSD module for (G5) extended range w/mass manager. I had to overcharge (G4) the power plant to get the energy budget under 100% and added thermal spread. Looking forward to kicking some Tharg Scout butt and hopefully, finishing up my Triple Elite. I named her "Stinger".

EDIT: So I tried out the DBS build, first with fixed Gauss and then with AX MC (I am just not a good enough pilot for fixed weapons) and found it simply too weak against anything above a TL-3 Non-Human USS and in fact, challenging even against a TL-3 so tried a similar build in a Krait Mk. II. Mostly just added more HRP and another MRP. The Krait can fit larger AX MC and more of them so basically a five-fold increase in AX MC firepower and up in class on beam lasers from size 1 to size 2. TL-4 Non-Human USS pretty much evaporate. Much more effective. If you enjoy the FIGHT, use the DBS. If you enjoy the KILL, use a Krait. o7

[MrShadowpanther]

I looked up "Late to the Party" in the dictionary and found my CMDR's picture... So last night was my FIRST set of Thargoid Scout kills. I know, I know... but I was busy hauling a couple million tons of supplies for stations during the war. I outfitted my Krait with 3x class 3 multis, 1x class 2 and a class 2 plasma accelerator (which I had on hand). Deep plated everything, couple guardian reinforcement packages and off I went.
To find... Thargoids like to hide a LONG way from the jump in point. With no little bit of nervousness I dropped into my first Threat 3. Target Scout... pull the trigger! and... Nothing. Crap! Explore mode. Switch hud, pull the trigger! Nothing! Crap, wrong weapon group! Taking hits, shields sparkling I finally got all those turrets spitting death. Now, my fixed weapon skills are... shaky at best so that Plasma Acc was not pulling it's weight at first, but the MG's chewed the first Scout down.. Scream and BAM! A kill! Er... what's that big cloud of... Crap. Vents closed, Plasma ACC to the rescue to heat things up, caustic damage removed. Second scout down, and more caustic damage. Thanks to the engineering, little damage was done. By my third scout I was wiser now and would pull off the target before getting too close and was dodging their "farewell" acidic love cloud like a champ. On to the Threat 4's!!! Oh yea, 150, 000 ls away.
Next on the list may be hopping back to a guardian location and unlocking their weapons.

[giorgiomacchi]

This video it’s great as all on you channel. Can’t wait for te interceptor video. I killed two of them in solo but still it’s a really hard fight

[CdtFabio]

Gunship with gimballed multi cannons is easy mode. Eagle with beams or pulses is exciting at first but gets old fast as it takes so long to kill them and being so maneuverable it isn't as hard to survive as I initially expected.

[trigun]

So much engineering, that’s just about all you’ll be doing. Happy thargoid hunting!

[DogeCharger]

The vulture is pretty good against them, even if you just have a normal multicannon and beam laser - I killed 20+ scouts in HIP 38225 this way

[ianorionmef]

Amazing video! As always great work commander. Thank you o7