Double Scout?

[Crafty Bison]

On the issue of scous, what civs/situations do people find themselves starting without a scout? I'm currently playing a few Inca games and on good starts am not feeling that the movement bonus of the scout is that great for this civ. If it's pangea, I'll still do the scout, but on continents/small continents I regularly find myself toying with the idea of monument-slinger or worker-slinger. Anyone else doing the same? or just starting with a warrior instead?

 

[Hpuk]

With Inca, Aztecs and Polynesia I tend to use warriors instead of scouts.
They all share increased movement (Incan UA, Jaguar Warrior Woodsman promotion, Polynesian UA).
Aztecs and Polynesia also because the warriors are UU that carry their unique traits in upgrades.

 

[chazzycat]

with ethiopia Ill build a stele before scout most of the time. Also, what Hpuk said.

 

[Wargizmo]

On the issue of scous, what civs/situations do people find themselves starting without a scout? I'm currently playing a few Inca games and on good starts am not feeling that the movement bonus of the scout is that great for this civ. If it's pangea, I'll still do the scout, but on continents/small continents I regularly find myself toying with the idea of monument-slinger or worker-slinger. Anyone else doing the same? or just starting with a warrior instead?

If I'm doing a GoTM game and it's my 2nd or 3rd try I'll often skip the scout cause I already know where everything is, and can often work out how to pick up most of the nearby runes with the warrior.

 

[The Pilgrim]

On the issue of scous, what civs/situations do people find themselves starting without a scout? I'm currently playing a few Inca games and on good starts am not feeling that the movement bonus of the scout is that great for this civ. If it's pangea, I'll still do the scout, but on continents/small continents I regularly find myself toying with the idea of monument-slinger or worker-slinger. Anyone else doing the same? or just starting with a warrior instead?

Islands, of course. I rarely play random maps, so I usually know if that's the case. Aztecs are the obvious choice. In all other situations I go with scout. Incan UA is useful in a way you don't need second scout since the warrior is pretty effective by its own. But still crossing the rivers and jungles/forests without slowing down is too good to pass by and there is a chance of upgrade in which case I'll eventually bring the scarcher home. And extra sight promotion is not something a warrior can pick. For the purpose of full disclosure, I have yet to play Polynesia and know very little about them.

 

[Crafty Bison]

With Inca, Aztecs and Polynesia I tend to use warriors instead of scouts.
They all share increased movement (Incan UA, Jaguar Warrior Woodsman promotion, Polynesian UA).
Aztecs and Polynesia also because the warriors are UU that carry their unique traits in upgrades.

Ya Aztecs and Polynesia are the obvious warrior starts, they both get UU and movement bonuses anyway.

I was intrigued as to if anyone did alternative scouting on other civs, for the UU's. E.g. I like to do a warrior start with Huns cause it increases the battering ram chance, then If I do pop a ram, I got something that can work as an early shield for it too. I like this with Greece too, as you need all the units asap, whareas with Celts and Persia they retain their use so you can spam them just before civil service and upgrade. If on an archer UU, I usually like the scout bowmen a lot more so will go scout-scout a lot (on land maps anyway ) with them, but the slingers already have half the movement bonuses anyway and I'll just cram them in before construction so I'm totally confused about what to do with the Incas on continents/small continents.

 

[iconocast]

Carthage, spain and Danes sometimes, i will build 1 scout ( just using the warrior and scout for land) and tech to pottery/boats first, using them to scout the coast fast. as there is a good chance of coastal cs's and wonders

while civs like celts i will try to hunt for ruins wit my first warrior just for a chance for a uu upgrade.

 

[_hero_]

Just had an interesting game. Ran double Scout doing a variation on the Tradition 4 city opening.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=468487

I went Scout-Scout-Worker, as opposed to the typical Scout-Worker-Shrine shown in this video.

I was doing it as France on Pangea, Small (immortal) and I admit I was a bit lucky. My 2nd scout netted me +pop, +20 Culture, +55 gold, and +Trapping and 2 first meetings with CSs for 60 gold (and maybe more but I can't remember after that). I also got lucky with my Warrior and initial scout. Warrior met Jerusalem for 8 faith on the 4th turn. 1st scout met another +8 faith CS around turn 12, also got upgraded to a scout archer eventually and gave me Animal husbandry on turn 8, so it ended up more than paying for skipping the early shrine.

Also, Paris started on a hill and had a plains Wheat as it's first hex. I think that's a major key to the double scout strategy. If you have that initial boost in production, you get your 1st and 2nd scout out a few turns faster which is often the difference between getting those huts and CSs first or just missing out.

 

[Buccaneer]

Playing America, Immortal, standard Pangaea, I found myself at the western end of the landmass and decided to go with double scouts. I was able to pop 8 ruins including Masonry and Writing. Perhaps the luck of the map but the scouts extra site does wonders and with the large free area, I needed two scouts to get the coverage, not to mention to find the other civs/city-states since they were further away.

 

[Barathor]

I typically go double scout. Recon is really important to me and I need to know what's going on in the map around me fast and keep my eyes on the surrounding fog (perhaps I play too much RTS). Also, once I get a trireme, I explore the coasts as well; sometimes with two of them.

I use my initial warrior to just explore in a small radius around my capital to reveal the surrounding terrain and to take advantage of any ruins that have spawned near me. I keep him close so that afterwards I can send him back to the capital to clobber any barbarians that wander towards my city and also to escort my first settler.

The first scout is doing the same as my first warrior and exploring all the terrain in a wider, further radius around my capital. This way, I can better plan out my next couple settlements and I'll know how many unique luxuries I'll have available. Once that's finished, I just beeline out in one direction as my second scout goes in a different direction for some deep exploration.

I believe in Civ5, exploration pays a lot more than in previous games. Ruins never spawn hostiles anymore, and just grant various positive things. You can rake up a nice amount of gold by contacting city-states, which is also nice for future quests (ones you sometimes don't even intend on fulfilling and you just fall into them anyway and receive bonus influence -- they're good contacts to have laying around as the game progresses). Extra happiness is definitely nice if you find any natural wonders. And since the fog of war updates as borders expand and cities are settled, it pays even more to fog bust (cloud bust now?) since you can keep your enemies in check. It's also nice to get more trade partners since you can't trade contacts and either have to find them or wait for them to stumble upon you.

Oh, and with religion now, exploration can pay even more since it can really kick start your path towards a pantheon and prophets, since religious city-states will also reward faith on contact and ruins have a chance for some nice faith bonuses.

If all those things weren't enough, I personally just get a real thrill out of exploring the map and seeing who/what's out there -- it's a fun part of the game for me. Dodging barbs is also a fun little game itself.

 

[pspboy7]

I always go 2 scouts, and on water maps I also try to go 2 triremes as well. Don't forget to get those scouts on water when you hit optics or later.