I have flown both of these DB ships extensively in Open vs CMDRs and vs high level AI. The Scout is fun to fly at first. It has quite a bit of maneuverability, and it has a decent boost (on paper). However, it bleeds speed too quickly and is extra-sensitive to engine pips, so you can't pull off certain combat tricks very easily. Some tricks you just can't do if the enemy knows how to counter them. Even with 4 pips to engines, an enemy can easily back out of a circling engagement. Also since it bleeds speed too quickly, the boost speed of 414 quickly drops down the 360-70s before the next boost is available. This makes it quite easy for many larger combat vessels to keep pace with a Scout because they have higher "inertia" and their average boost speed is very similar. Because of this weird combo of agility and an excessive "space friction" cooefficient, having good footwork and positioning is a bigger challenge on the Scout than on say, the Cobra. You tend to lose shields a LOT easier on the Scout because of this single failing.
And it is VERY strange because the ships are only 10T apart in mass .... ??? adding an extra 10T to the Scout doesn't alter the lack of inerita or reduce the sensitivity to engine pips. You'd think with booster rockets that large, that it would be able to at least keep pace with a Cobra for sustained speed or combat maneuvers, but no.
It's not all bad however. Besides allowing people with poor aim to hit targets almost perpendicular to their line of fire, the one thing that the Scout can do VERY well is stealth. It has a very low base heat signature, and it dissipates any new heat from component usage (FSD, Boosters, Weapons, etc) extremely efficiently. This means that a single heat sink can render you invisible to the enemy for a LONG time. It's kind of the ninja of space craft. The Explorer variant has similar heat properties, which is good because it can't out run or outfight any CMDRs in any ship besides perhaps a trader, so you will need this stealth in order to not lose hull integrity while escaping an interdiction from someone in a Python/FDL.
...For better or worse, the game was pretty much built around the capabilities of the Cobra. The turning speed, top speed, momentum, and sustained boost of the Cobra makes it an all-round superior combat vessel for the moves available in this game. It is just a better ship. The hardpoint placement might reduce your DPS by a bit if you're not very good at aiming even gimbals, but if you can take advantage of the amazing pitch-speed of the Cobra and control your ship with FAoff in combat, then keeping a firing solution on a target should be no problem.
In case you're thinking I have just logged more hours on a Cobra, I actually have never flown the Cobra in combat before 1.3. And I only learned these differences after using the same moves on my Scout and trying then trying them for the first time on my Cobra. But thanks to 1.3, I am now more familiar with the Cobra and superior ability to do everything you'd want in a small ship, including combat. I have yet to use a Shield Cell in my Cobra, and it doesn't even have any Shield Boosters slotted...
