Warfare & Tactics

So I'm 8 or 9 jumps behind my fleet trying to catch up when they decide to double-back. I plot a course to meet them and jump into a system w/ lots of WTs on my Fleets' route.

I report to the fleet, I'm in a Merlin. My fleet is down to party but wants intel. How should I proceed?

Help!

You want help on intel reporting, eh?

- total number of WTs in system
- location of WT fleet (which gate, ranged, close)
- ship types (how many of each)

btw, if you're still in your merlin, then make sure you warp to a distance far from the WT fleet but close enough to see them.
Since you probably don't have a cloak, then you're going to tip off the enemy so...yeah

When that happens you hit the dscan button and jump.

Don't hit the dscan button again after jumping and you'll have the results from the last system (& gatecamp).

Oh damn, thanks a lot!

Honestly, by far the best scouts are pilots who also FC. It is very hard to prioritize what information the FC absolutely needs to know over irrelevant details, while at the same time keeping your self alive and in a position to be useful. Besides the FC, the scout is often the most critical role in a fleet. The majority of the time, it is the scout that will be making decisions about whether an enemy force is engageable, and will be dictating primary targets as the fleet arrives.

This clashes with the fact that scouting ships such as frigs and interceptors are pretty much the first thing that new players train into. Despite this, scouting is not a job for rookie pilots.

That being said, every scout has to start some where, and I highly recommend that somewhere being the back-up scout/forward tackle role. This allows you to fly the same ships you will be scouting in, and gives you the opportunity to take over scouting if the primary scout is lost. Aside from doing this, flying around solo in an interceptor is a great way to learn how to keep your self alive and find the limits of your ship.

As far as technical information goes, I highly recommend this blog post on the subject.

http://jestertrek.blogspot.com/2011/03/class-pvp-102-fleet-scouting.html

Although not perfect, it is a good starting place for new scouts.

OSHITIMASCOUTNOW
Welcome to scouting. Hero to zero in a flash. Asssuming you're burning to some system you've never heard of and don't have tactical bookmarks for the system you are currently in (Hisec wardec).
100 off is so predictable. In a scout ship with no preparation, your best tool is unpredictability. Warp to 40, do the Dscan picture explained above and warp out immediately. While in warp, you can relay intel on the hostile fleet composition, and while you have visibility on the camp, you can tell even little things like "Are they on gate?, Are they at range?" These things aren't little to your FC. Game mechanics and aggro timers come to play, and little things like this kill fleets. This tells your FC whether you are dealing with a roving gang or a fortified camp.
Whatever spot you choose to land to, bookmark it. Go back to where you started (never from the same exact spot, i.e warp to 75 or whatever) and back to your bookmark at 100. Congrats, you have a tactical BM. Turn left or right (depending on how your pecker hangs), observe and report (because you can see the hostile fleet fom here, but you are too far away for them to bother), and if nobody wastes an interceptors time to come chase you, make a tactical BM after 10 seconds or so (20-50km from your original drop point). This will help in the long run from keeping people from being able to get the drop on you from celestials. This technique + Arazu= surprisesex with L337 wardec folks. Once you make a bookmark off to the side, delete the first two, and label the one you keep with where you came from. It'll be important later. In a frigate, this whole paragraph should have happened in 20 seconds with a MWD, minute tops in a frig/ABurner.
If you're going to be scout.. you do not fight. Ever. You bounce a shitton, but only as far as you need to in order to be eyes and ears of the fleet. If you are a good scout, you don't die ever either. Demand that your fleet kick down ISK or mods for services rendered. They'll do it. Upgrade to a covops with a probe launcher and you have a career.
Protip rendered: The dscan/jump trick will come in handy alot, as said somewhere above. You can get out of a real bad scene and still give reliable intel..even while in another system, as long as you don't refresh the scan.

Edit* This is the "Im a newbie" version, do not forget dscan in all of this