Making scouts relevant...

[flairin]

Any way to fast-track promotions for scouts?? America seems a good choice for scouts since you could have +2 vision with first promotion, but beyond that promotions are hard to come by.

Other civs... perhaps with Mongols and China promotions could come quicker. Persia could have same effect of scouting II over short periods during golden ages. Polynesia could get lucky with "goody hut" later in the game with a scout beyond scouting I (archer or beyond upgrade). Any other scenarios/methods to make scouts more relevant per civ??

I play mostly on Pangaea. Thoughts??

 

[Proximus]

Don't automate them. Approach a few barbarian camps with a ranged unit and take the camps after a ranged attack.

 

[Brigg]

You can also take them along against weak cities and get some xp that way. Be the only unit in range of archers or a weak (str 14) city and you can survive a hit if you are good defensive terrain.

 

[FeiLing]

The problem is: You need to scout, not sit there and heal damage.
So you really need to be lucky to find very low hp barbs on your explorations before you hit an upgrade ruin which will make you unable to get further scout promotions.

What I personally think would be awesome: If a scout would get experience for A) discovering (note: not taking) a ruin (1xp) and B) discovering a natural wonder (10 xp).
[these could actually be a cool mechanic for all units, not just scouts]

 

[Rpger29]

I find scouts to be very useful considering their extremely low production costs.

Try using the bait and run tactic against barb camps. You park a scout next to a barb camp with a brute in it. The brute will likely attack but not kill the scout. Move the scout away and heal up, then come back and clean out the camp.

This tactic is good for that time period when you have done most of the important scouting, but don't have enough warriors or archers to clear barb camps. Granted, I play most of my games on marathon. YMMV if you play on standard.

 

[CoolLizy]

What I personally think would be awesome: If a scout would get experience for A) discovering (note: not taking) a ruin (1xp) and B) discovering a natural wonder (10 xp).

These are pretty much my thoughts as well. Scouts should get XP for things they're supposed to be doing, not for getting into skirmishes. As it is, the third tier promotions for scouts are nearly useless since XP from barbs is capped at 30 and you'll only get them once in a blue moon--by which time, they usually are no help at all.

They could also really use an upgrade path, preferably to some kind of recon unit.

 

[Camikaze]

Assuming the OP is talking about making scouts more unique for each civ, I don't really think doing so would fit with the way unique slots are set up.

If the OP is talking about making scouts relevant to gameplay, well, they are.

 

[Civologist]

This really only applies to one civ, but having a scout with +1 sight is huge for England. When they get their longbows they can only see 2 hexes so having a scout that can basically be the "spotter" for your longbow "snipers" is pretty crucial.

 

[Mesix]

I have gotten a lot of experience for a scout a bit later in the game by allowing the AI to attack me with a boat every turn. The AI will continue to attack the scout as the unit is healed every turn. This, of course, has to be away from the main front of the war and after you have finished scouting your initial area.

 

[Simplicity4]

The problem is: You need to scout, not sit there and heal damage.
So you really need to be lucky to find very low hp barbs on your explorations before you hit an upgrade ruin which will make you unable to get further scout promotions.

What I personally think would be awesome: If a scout would get experience for A) discovering (note: not taking) a ruin (1xp) and B) discovering a natural wonder (10 xp).
[these could actually be a cool mechanic for all units, not just scouts]

Agreed. The idea that scouts gain experience from combat is just silly. Scouts stay out of combat. They are used for exploring. Give them xp based on exploration. It's like if they had promotions for settlers that settlers could get from beating combat units. Just useless.

 

[Mesix]

I've always felt that scouts should have an upgrade path. Perhaps they could become explorers or special forces units in later eras. It always seems like a waste to get a promoted scout who becomes useless once the fog is all gone.

Perhaps it would be a cool idea to have special UU for some civs which are upgrade paths for scouts. Perhaps the Iriquouis UU could be an upgrade path from a scout rather than from a warrior.

 

[Rpger29]

It would be nice for them to have an upgrade path to a unit with stronger defense and one more movement point. Maybe in the mid industrial?

 

[flairin]

Assuming the OP is talking about making scouts more unique for each civ, I don't really think doing so would fit with the way unique slots are set up.

If the OP is talking about making scouts relevant to gameplay, well, they are.

actually I gave examples of several civs that can take more advantage of scouts than others, thus making them more useful... and I was seeking other scenarios

but the point of my post is in seeking how to make the units more useful and an exploration of how one could get their promotions past the second level

 

[Ajuga]

What I personally think would be awesome: If a scout would get experience for A) discovering (note: not taking) a ruin (1xp) and B) discovering a natural wonder (10 xp).
[these could actually be a cool mechanic for all units, not just scouts]

I feel that something like that would indeed be a better way of handling scouts.

They could also really use an upgrade path, preferably to some kind of recon unit.

I also agree with this. Should become available after you research the tech that makes scouts disappear from your possible production list.
I feel that their sight should be a couple of tiles bigger so that you can use them to spot army advances towards your borders.

 

[CoolLizy]

A light vehicle like a jeep or humvee of some kind would be nice going into the modern era. It'd give them some more movement and make nice spotters for your artillery pieces.

 

[King of Prussia]

A light vehicle like a jeep or humvee of some kind would be nice going into the modern era. It'd give them some more movement and make nice spotters for your artillery pieces.

I also would like this. Have them be able to upgrade into an explorer and perhaps into a Jeep. Perhaps give the explorer better sight and with the Jeep give it more movement points with the explorers added sight. I believe in G & K the are basically giving archers there own class, I am sure they can do it for scouts.

 

[gozpel]

We had Explorers in an old game.

 

[MARDUK80]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=459491 we have had some good ideas about Scout/Recon units in that thread.