Auto Explore?

[Nightfang]

I was wondering if anyone used the E key to send warriors/scouts exploring instead of doing it manually. Me, being the control freak I am, like to manually control where my explorers go, but have wondered if the autoexplore feature was decent or just a useless and automating workers.

Will auto-explorers automagically go after barb huts? Will they idiotically enter rival's territories?

 

[thedirk]

I've never tried it and my guess is you're better off doing your own exploring. IMHO those sorts of features tend to be less than helpful.

 

[Woody]

The only time I use auto explore is with ships after I have made contact with all civs. There is generally a large area of unexplored ocean that is not worth exploring except for the fact that the AI will pay you more for your world map as you uncover more area. I set 3 or 4 ships on auto explore and then trade maps with the AI every 4 or 5 turns and get a few gold each time. It is not alot of money in any one turn but it does add up over time. I know I could do it more quickly manually but it is of minor importance so I let the ships go off on automatic.

 

[rdomarat]

I never automate any of my units. Using automation will reduce that unit to the same effectiveness that the AI has, since they are most certainly using the same algorithm. Since humans are smarter than AIs, you gain an advantage by doing things yourself.

Having said that, I've never played on a map larger than Standard, so I'm at most controlling maybe 40 workers near the end of the game.

 

[Henry_X]

I'm pretty sure that automating explorering gives you the AI-advantage( knowing where something is befor you can see it ).

Some scouts make the wierdest moves but seem to find goody huts without any problem.

I usually set the first 2 - 3 units on auto-explore and manually explore the rest. Later in the game, I also put some ships on auto-explore, because it's so easy to get the entire map.

 

[BillChin]

Auto explore has one huge benefit when using scouts. They seem to know if there is a hut within one turn range. So for the first turn I often use Ctrl-E to get a hut if there is one within two tiles of the starting location. After that I go manual (need end of turn warning turned on in preferences otherwise the scout will keep going on auto), because the auto explore does not seem anywhere optimal.

That said, I will set units to auto after they get far from home and I have many other things to attend to each turn.

As for workers, the early game is critical, and irrigation generally useless on grass, so manual control is a must while in Despotism. After a while I tire of controlling each peep and by 1000 AD, I estimate 80% of workers are on auto.
+ Bill

 

[Henry_X]

Sometimes they get stuck in non-ROP civ's territory but they tend not to cross borders. Especially galleys, they try to pass by a coastal city but automaticly leave sea-tiles not to prevent they should sink.

 

[Frithiof]

I do the same thing as Woody stated above. I just set some ships to auto-explore all of that unexplored ocean.

Be careful to watch them though. They'll sometimes go into other civs' territory and get you the nice "Move your troops" message.

 

[Clown2TheLeft]

I automate scouts, after sending them to a general direction as they have the AI cheat of knowing where goody huts are, and ships after I've scanned the adjoining sea tiles manually. If I'm not playing an expansionist civ--as is usually the case--I will explore manually with archers or horsemen

Later!

--The Clown to the Left

 

[MTheil3508]

I automate my explorers unless I want them to go into a specific area. I tend to not to explore manually anymore because of the time consuming effort and the greater likelihood of uncovering goody huts.

 

[DaDoo]

I'll manually explore for the first 20-30 turns. I move them out slowly in a circular pattern and by around 30th turn, I've explored enough that when I have settled all the land I've explored, it'd be standing room only with AIs all around me. After that, I set all my explorers/warriors on auto-explore. They seem to be able to seek out the goody huts and also other civs too. What's even better is they respect other AI's border _MOST_ of the time. I always have trouble spotting where the border is whenever it runs along a river.

As far as I know, the auto-explore units will "automagically" seek out goody huts, but will not actively seek out barbarian camps. And like I've stated above, it will generally do a pretty good job respecting other AI's border.

 

[muppet]

I frequently found my scouts to NOT head for the nearest goody hut. Often I found goody huts close to my start location that my scouts never headed to despite the many posters that insist that auto explore scouts have an advantage. I decided to play with this in the PTW editor by editing goody huts where I wanted them and restarting the scenario. I discovered that I had pretty bad luck that everytime I played an expansionist civ, if there was a nearby goody hut, it was always someplace inconvenient for the auto explore scout.

Initial observations of Auto Explore priorities on a huge map:
1. Uncover the most tiles possible, while using the maximum movement of the scout.
2. If blotches are left here or there, circle back to uncover them later.
3. Whenever a goody hut is within 1 turn of grabbing or coming into view by the scout, move the scout to that goody hut.

Example:
If there is a goody hut within 3 tiles of your start location, and the path to it is unobstructed, the scout will head for it immediately (it can't grab it in 1 turn, but at least it will be in view of the scout within 1 turn). If your start location and that goody hut are completely blocked off by forrest etc., it will take more than 1 turn to come into view; therefore, the scout will head anywhere but there in order to satisify it's first priority (uncovering the most tiles).

Taking that example further, the same goody hut will come into view when your cultural border has expanded. A newly built scout will still not head for that goody hut, but will head off in a direction to make the most use of its movement points to uncover more tiles. So, unless that goody hut just happens to be in the direction of least exploration, you still have to manually direct something to grab it.

The advantage of auto explore is about the equivalent of having a 3 movement point radar for goody huts. The trade off is having missing pieces here and there of your map because the AI is more interested in total tiles uncovered not necessarily uncovering them in any logical order.

Initial observations of auto explore on a tiny map:
Get to any goody hut that can be grabbed within 3 turns.

Tiny maps... they just aren't all that big! When auto explore sends scouts straight to goody huts, that's well.... kinda unfair.