I tried that a few times aswell because my shotgun DM was pretty bad. It ended up not working because the combo couldn't really build with the scouts being dead/on the flank. In the end I jsut went onto DM servers and shotgunned only until I had a decent DM. But I imagine with a pretty organized team it could work.

running them to mid is a good idea if you plan to play really aggressive because chances are you're not going to have time to use your shotgun anyways even if you have it

some pockets run them full time on really open and jumpy maps like process because it's good to be that mobile on that kind of map

but running them full time on absolutely every map is probably a bad idea. it would be good to be able to use both whenever you want, so my advice is practice improving your shotgun aim.

tri rockets were so strong that he didnt need shotgun for a couple maps with the tri hards!

so op

i distinctly remember tri saying on his stream that shotgun is a crutch

its situational, you should def switch on to shotgun on like every last hold and a lot of other places

tri tried it in invite.. and his team didn't win...

edit: on another note, some pockets run gunboats to mid

I think Lansky ran them alot in S15 and 16.

Double gunboats to mid on process is hilarious, especially if you stagger the rollouts by about 3 seconds.

a lot is two words
pwned

Depends on the map, depends on your play style, and depends on your team. Try it out a few scrims and you'll see the pluses and minuses of using them pretty quickly, and make your own decision. I would certainly try to get your shotgun aim to a point where you're comfortable so that you can use either the shotgun or gunboats depending on the situation.

In certain situations it's good, mid fights and other open spaces where scouts can pocket... all the time no, and you'll see that when you play high level scouts that will dodge your rockets for days if they know you don't have a shotgun, just having a shotgun should make a scout have to change his dodge.

Hitscan aim on scout does help soldier shotgun aim but the best practice is on soldier because you can't use your movement to line up your shots.. the slow movement makes you use more wrist and twitch then scout does. Sniper would actually probably help too..maybe... but yeah just practice as soldier with shotgun and the aim should come.

My advice, practice with your shotgun. Yes in the past some pockets have had success without a shotgun, tri for example, but the shotgun is a powerful weapon and gunboats make it harder to build uber. As a few people have said, running gunboats to mid (or on koth) is ok sometimes, but as a pocket you are better off with a shotgun.

Also, just because tri could get away without using his shotgun doesn't mean you should try running gunboats as pocket. Tri is a freak. His aim is incredible.

if you got killer RL aim, and with spamming, try messing around with the conch. its a blast and its so fun to use before and after ubers.

Does tri have any povs floating around I could get a look at just to see the gunboats pocket playstyle? I am going to try running them to mid next map, which will be process, and we are going to try to use it with double soldier aggression and staggered rollouts, as suggested by Aeoshima, I'll report back with how it goes. Also, it would appear as though going shotgun main soldier in dm makes me a fag. oh well.

epsi used to run that so that mike + gear could let me get more heals and be focus of pushes

Lansky ran gunboats quite often during the most recent ESEA LAN, check those out. Not so sure about during the season.

Here's a link to the STV demo pack from season 13 LAN, which has tri_ running gunboats occasionally:

http://teamfortress.tv/thread/7416/esea-s13-lan-stv-package/?page=1

Well the aggression worked well for the first mid when I landed on crates and the roamer went on pack, and we were able to completely deny their demo and delay their scouts in choke. The next mid, the demo tried to avoid us by going sewer, but we sent the roamer that way and I went on pack, but every mid after that they wised up and we were basically scout frag meat unless we jumped back after taking the health and spamming for a short time, although it did delay their team a bunch and allowed our scouts some more aggressive positioning.

just practice and believe in yourself and you'll start hitting shot gun shots

Has a time and a place, though I don't use them unless I am goofing around. Shotgun is just too good, and you are sure to overall get more use out of it in every situation.

Especially when you aren't getting healed, it gives you that 1v1 prowess, yet everyone just talks about "mobility" and "taking less damage". The gunboats pockets I see/have seen take as much damage/healing without them, so not much point anyway. If you want to take less heals, focus on avoiding damage and not eating it for breakfast, lunch & dinner.

while were discussing this, what do you guys think of wee booties demo?

Pipes are too useful, both in combat and spam. They help for those clutch situations

Gunboats pocket is very situational just like shotgun roamer. My shotgun is shit at best but it gets the job done when I run it as a roamer. If I really wanted to get good at shotgun I would just lower my sens. If I had to bet I would say you have a high sens, less than 5 inches per 360. I would suggest finding a good sens between rj'ing and shotgunning. It'll improve both parts of your game. If you don't know your inches per 360, check it here http://www.notalent.org/sensitivity/sensitivity.htm

Yeah my sensitivity is about 5.75 inches, I think its more of the way I'm used to flicking while aiming rockets while playing soldier, and not being able to adjust to the tracking. I'll give lowering my sens a try though.

when I roam I often switch to shotgun on last holds