Not forcing smart-link out of scope when they get hit is seriously damaging the balance of the game, creating this weird use case where the sidekick is stronger on long sightlines, like across the top of Bazaar, than the Commando. This puts the Commando in a weird position, because that’s well beyond it’s unzoomed red reticle range, so you have two weapons fighting outside of aim assist and bullet magnetism ranges, but one gets to zoom in, and it’s the one that’s supposed to be used at longer range.
Examples like this litter the game because smart link weapons don’t unscope.