Exploration methods?

[comatosedragon]

What type of explorer are you? When you send your first first brave warrior or scout out into the wild, how do you instruct him? Do you tell him (for example) "Seek the borders of the southern wood", or are you more methodical and militeristic, odering your troops to march in a spiraling pattern outward around your capital city? Do you send your units out and say "Everything west of the mountain ridge is my teritory", or do you make your first priority discovering all your neighbors?

Are these bits of fanciful role-playing injected into your games? I will often scout out a certain distance from my capital in the (very) early game, imaging my great empire streching from the desert west, to the sunny coast south, to the 'Hells Pass Mountains' in the northeast. I will then attack any entering settler in my territory, assuming the units protecting it are not way overpowering (three archers vs my spearman, for example).

I was just wondering if any of you do this (or similar things) in your games. Obviously, this is not anything you are going to do when on immortal, but for a fun game, it can be well, fun.
Right?

 

[TheMeInTeam]

First 2 explore along the coast. The rest fogbust nearby territory to both deal with barbs and because doing so scouts the surrounding land. These units garrison new cities after that.

 

[slobberinbear]

As far as the fanciful stuff goes, if a warrior lives long enough to be promoted to Woodsman II, he gets a name.

I generally explore my immediate area first and foremost, leaving no stone (or tile) unturned. If I am set up for an early rush, finding neighbors is more important.

Also, because I am a huge fan of the goodie hut, I will often build extra scouts at the beginning of the game if I start with Hunting. Since sometimes a hut will yield a bonus scout, some games I've ended up with five scouts running around. =)

Never, ever put scouts on auto-explore unless you really don't care if they live or not.

 

[Bostock]

Are there any mathematicians (...geometers?... ...tesselaters extraordinaire?...) out there who would like to expound on the relative merits of spirals vs. diagonal (to abuse the map geometry) radials vs. hillhugging vs. whoring for opportunities to get both moves out of 2-move units (when working with such units at all, of course) vs. combinations of the above?

Bostock

 

[IronCrown]

My first warrior/scout moves in a half-circle around the capital to get as many goodie huts as possible and quickly reveal land so I can decide where to settle next.

If I'm lucky and get a scout from a hut, he will cover the other side of my capital. Scouts die too soon though, playing Emperor+

As soon as possible I send out archers or, better yet, chariots to fogbust and explore. They survive barbs and shield my lands from them. Actually chariots are my main explorers. I only build explorers (the unit) when I play on a sea map and want to explore other continents/islands, because they are the only regular unit that can be carried by caravels.

If I happen to get a Great Spy I send him around a little before using him up. Being fast and absolutely invisible, he is the perfect explorer.

 

[Bostock]

Scouts die fast even on Monarch+ until you get used to not having any anti-animal bonuses. In fact I guess any discussion of best exploration methods really needs to be divided into <Monarch and >=Monarch discussions, as on the higher levels any pattern that leaves you hugging the hills and the trees gains against other patterns.

 

[Bleys]

If I am coastal I always build an extra Work Boat ASAP. The new changes have caused some to be eaten, but usually, they can do a LOT of exploring before that, and if you are lucky enough to avoid barb galleys, that boat can get a new coastal city off the ground really fast.

For land units, my first warrior/scout explores til eaten. I never build a second Scout, but will build warrior and archers as escorts for settlers, often using them to explore a bit first, in whichever direction I havent gotten a look at.

 

[Phatkarp]

I initially spiral around my capitol until I have revealed the surroundings well enough to plan my first two expansion cities. After that, I free-style.

 

[Nibs]

The first warrior follows the coast or a river. I just pick a direction and go. I'm interested in finding a close civ to wipe out. If the first warrior went east, the next warrior goes NE or SW. Once i make contact with a civ I head towards it.

 

[El Faro]

The first warrior follows the coast or a river. I just pick a direction and go. I'm interested in finding a close civ to wipe out. If the first warrior went east, the next warrior goes NE or SW. Once i make contact with a civ I head towards it.

I am generally curious if anyone has done the research regarding the frequency in which huts appear near rivers or deltas versus other terrain. I believe its technically random but there could be a bias.

 

[LiberiGlacialis]

I'm such a tech whore in Noble I'll find all of my rivals first, then start really looking nearby.

Or, at least, send that first one out and use the rest for nearby exploration.

 

[gdgrimm]

First scout-type goes off in a particular direction and attempts to map out the whole coastline. The second will usually finish off a "ring" around the capital (within range of where I'd reasonably expect to settle next), and then take off along the coast in the opposite direction.

No auto-explore at all. During the age of animals, I don't worry too much about terrain hugging unless a unit gets to Woodsman II. When real Barbs start showing up, then I'll always terrain hug.

 

[Refar]

Just look where the map is still unrevealed, and go boldly, where no one has gone gone before.