Do you disband your initial scout?

[mcd1901]

So I generally start each game by building a scout. After a few dozen turns the scout will have explored my continent. Assuming that the scout didn't find a goodie hut with advanced weapons, I am then faced with the decision to keep him or disband him. I have been disbanding him to save on military costs and I figure I can always build him later if I need to explore another land mass.

Does anyone keep their scouts around after they have explored the starting land mass? Are there good uses for scouts later in the game that I am missing?

 

[kenkeast]

No. after he has searched everywhere on my home continent I bring him home to protect workers. As soon as I research Astronomy I have him to auto search. It's cool to have a unit that can cross oceans and sometimes find and open ruins. Of course, some times he runs into barbs, and that can end that.

 

[FeiLing]

later in the game they can be cheap garrisons and ... scouts. d'oh! (never been surprised by an army showing up right next to an undefended city?)

Usually I'm losing the scout at some point. And it's very rare for him to have everything explored unless I'm on a small island. in that case the embarking tech is high priority so I'll just keep him and he'll be exploring again in a few turns.

 

[Tabarnak]

Rarely. But it can happens later in the game if he didn't transform into archerscout.

 

[mcd1901]

I love archerscout. He's the best! Although... I was playing on Saturday as the Celts and one of my warriors hit a hut and became a Pictish Warrior on the 3rd turn of the game. The early strength and faith bonus was awesome as I tore through barbarian encampments!

 

[Hambil]

Upgrading UUs to modern era is always a fun challenge. I love having modern units that heal when they kill, for example (Aztecs), or can move freely through forests and such. The scout really needs an upgrade path. They went to far in CivUp with Levy's in my opinion, but they had the right idea.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

I usually don't have to worry about that; because I end up doing something stupid and running him into a mob of angry highwaymen, and that answers the question for me.

 

[IgnatiusTBarfat]

Ha! They usually die from a barbarian's wet fart in their general direction, but as others have stated, if they hit an upgrade ruin they can be priceless. The ignore terrain cost promo stays through upgrades.

 

[krc]

I love archerscout. He's the best!

Machine-gun scouts can be a lot of fun as well....

 

[The Pilgrim]

Machine-gun scouts can be a lot of fun as well....

Ranged machine-gun-CKN-scarchers are the best!

 

[Feyd Rautha]

I think they should bring back the Explorer unit for those Terra maps.

Perhaps not tied to a tech, but maybe tie a middle tier upgrade to Optics and then Explorer to Astronomy.

Explorer - 15 power, double strength vs. barbarians, +1 sight, can embark defensively.

Would have to be modded in so no achievements. Alas.

 

[Hambil]

I turn off barbarians. Two levels of promotion for all that aggravation and they seem, especially with G&K to be around forever. Barbarians with Ironclads, I saw at least once. No thanks.

 

[The Pilgrim]

I turn off barbarians. Two levels of promotion for all that aggravation and they seem, especially with G&K to be around forever. Barbarians with Ironclads, I saw at least once. No thanks.

Usually barbarians hurt AI more than they hurt you. For Aztecs it's widely common to set raging. But I've also noticed that there are more of them in G&K and they are funkier. Slightly slower movement for civilian units, more free XP for military ones. It's a decent trade off.

 

[Callonia]

If it upgrades into an archer, yes, if not, nope. Plain and simple as that xD

 

[Hambil]

If they went away with say, the Renaissance or something, it might be more tolerable.

 

[smallfish]

Barbs are GREAT farming sessions for your units. Plus you can always get a new privateer or three out of them.

e: also, skoot tends to go the way of the meatshield if un-upgraded, or... later on meatshield (they usually die before long :/)

 

[Randall_Flagg]

I keep mine and post him out as a scout for which ever AI I feel will come knocking on my door with troops. Get him 2 upgrades and he can see for miles. Then like one other said, use him to unfog map when he can embarck. But my scout does not clear map in no 12 moves lol, I am lucky if map is clear by the time he can embarck.

 

[alpaca]

Depends a bit. If he got one or even both of the scouting promotions I'll usually keep him around to scout the enemy (he can move in, check if there's any unit or spot for artillery, then move back). This makes informed decisions about which units to put where much easier.

If he has no promotions, I usually gift him to a city state after some time, unless I'm playing honor in a wide empire.

 

[PreLynMax]

Disband my archer-scouts? BLASPHEMY! I have no time for such nonsense!

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

I useally do not even build a scout but If I got one I would probably not disband it, if I do not need it it can attack the enemy for some damage.