I'd like to get a discussion going about what long term strategies and turn-by-turn tactics you all have found to work best in exploring the map.
I'll prime the pump with some comments.
Obviously, information is power, and the only thing worse than bad recon is no recon. Those said, how do you go about exploring the map? What rules of thunb do you apply?
Some of my thoughts, in a rather random order:
Early on, I want to expand, expand, expand. I want EVERY goody hut, and I want to find good city sites. Lots of them. Frankly, even mediocre ones will do, since my cities stay rather small. I build warriors and send them out, because they are available immediately. They find some huts and units that can explore either more durably (Archers) or fast (Horsemen). Does anyone see a value in WAITING until you an explore with better units?
Do you produce Horsemen early on for exploration purposes? Do you ever research Horseback Riding or just (like me) assume it will come to me somehow before not having it causes pain?
Although I prefer to build Settlers first befores Triremes, and have them irrigate or build roads while whatiing for a ship to get them off my original island, I still often find myself exploring a foreign coast with an unoccupied trireme. I generally keep exploring, as these triremes sometimes find other ciovs (though they can not "make contact") and will discover good city sites and coastal goody huts that I target for return voyages. On the other hand, there is an opportunity cost in having these vessels not constantly engaged in Trade or immediate conquest.
I like sending out an exploratory trireme with at least one unit in it. Preferably a two-move unit like a diplomat, horseman, elephant or crusader. EVERY turn that this trireme spends near land I send my two-move unit off on a quick "make landfall and get back" mission, to explore some inland square "for free". Sometimes they find a city, or evidence of one (fort, road, mine, etc.). I always try to make contact in these cases--do you? Sometimes they discover a goody hut two squares inland.
Do you have an "exploration partern" you follow for some particular objective? At various times, I have done"move to reveal the most terrain", or "delineate the coastline" (presuming that interior space is mine eventually, and revealing coastal bonuses such as fish or whales, plus building me a map that lets me know wheter there is ANY land visible a square away from my island/continent or whether I NEED Lighthouse to confidently expand without loss--that knowledge is worth a LOT).
Does your explore pattern vary based on what unit you are exploring with? One thing that I do is based on whether I have a two-move unit or a one-move unit. One-move units like Archers and Warriors move to the terrain square offering the best defense unless there is a hut to snag (since they can only move one anyway), while two-move units like Horseman and Chariots and Elephants always take their first exploratory move onto flat land, from which they will at least have a chance at taking their second move.
Once in a while I build an explorer. In general, they come too late--I know my surroundings and can either use diplomacy to see another civ's map of be strong enough to simply not care about them. Under what conditions do you build and use explorers?
I often find myself with Diplomats on my frontiers. Do you? Do you explore with them, accepting the occasional loss, or are they too valuable, especially early on, to risk in exploration.
What about exploring with Settlers? Therse are really valuable, especially early on, but I do find myself with frontier cities producing Settlers that have a choice of either turning inward to build roads or irrigate or going out, without advance recon, to "settle the black spots". My bias is to accept the rish, continue to push out, and explore with a Settler on the frontier if need be. I also send out Settlers in triremes that don't have a known destination in mind when I need to expand early on. To paraphrase the immortal words of Manny Sanguilllen, "you gotta get off de island, mon".
At some point I send off Admiral Byrd or Peary (although they may be elephants and not explorers!), to circumnavigate the map along the north or south edge. There are generally one or two huts on each of the north/south border rows. Crummy city sites, but often free units or money, and valuable geography info, and sometime I pick up a settler I can deposit elsewhere.
Obviously, you learn to read the coastlines, and can take a pretty good but not perfect guess regarding what is a peninsula, an ithsmus, or an island. Any AHAs here?
Do you immediately grab each goody hut you find? Time is money, and assuming finding a city, or settler, or technology is good, finding it sooner is better. Or do you wait to take it with a more powerful (in case of barbs) or tw-move (that can attack barbs before thy ataack me) unit?
Sooooo--who else has tips or rules of thumb they use regarding exploring, especially in the early game?
I'll prime the pump with some comments.
Obviously, information is power, and the only thing worse than bad recon is no recon. Those said, how do you go about exploring the map? What rules of thunb do you apply?
Some of my thoughts, in a rather random order:
Early on, I want to expand, expand, expand. I want EVERY goody hut, and I want to find good city sites. Lots of them. Frankly, even mediocre ones will do, since my cities stay rather small. I build warriors and send them out, because they are available immediately. They find some huts and units that can explore either more durably (Archers) or fast (Horsemen). Does anyone see a value in WAITING until you an explore with better units?
Do you produce Horsemen early on for exploration purposes? Do you ever research Horseback Riding or just (like me) assume it will come to me somehow before not having it causes pain?
Although I prefer to build Settlers first befores Triremes, and have them irrigate or build roads while whatiing for a ship to get them off my original island, I still often find myself exploring a foreign coast with an unoccupied trireme. I generally keep exploring, as these triremes sometimes find other ciovs (though they can not "make contact") and will discover good city sites and coastal goody huts that I target for return voyages. On the other hand, there is an opportunity cost in having these vessels not constantly engaged in Trade or immediate conquest.
I like sending out an exploratory trireme with at least one unit in it. Preferably a two-move unit like a diplomat, horseman, elephant or crusader. EVERY turn that this trireme spends near land I send my two-move unit off on a quick "make landfall and get back" mission, to explore some inland square "for free". Sometimes they find a city, or evidence of one (fort, road, mine, etc.). I always try to make contact in these cases--do you? Sometimes they discover a goody hut two squares inland.
Do you have an "exploration partern" you follow for some particular objective? At various times, I have done"move to reveal the most terrain", or "delineate the coastline" (presuming that interior space is mine eventually, and revealing coastal bonuses such as fish or whales, plus building me a map that lets me know wheter there is ANY land visible a square away from my island/continent or whether I NEED Lighthouse to confidently expand without loss--that knowledge is worth a LOT).
Does your explore pattern vary based on what unit you are exploring with? One thing that I do is based on whether I have a two-move unit or a one-move unit. One-move units like Archers and Warriors move to the terrain square offering the best defense unless there is a hut to snag (since they can only move one anyway), while two-move units like Horseman and Chariots and Elephants always take their first exploratory move onto flat land, from which they will at least have a chance at taking their second move.
Once in a while I build an explorer. In general, they come too late--I know my surroundings and can either use diplomacy to see another civ's map of be strong enough to simply not care about them. Under what conditions do you build and use explorers?
I often find myself with Diplomats on my frontiers. Do you? Do you explore with them, accepting the occasional loss, or are they too valuable, especially early on, to risk in exploration.
What about exploring with Settlers? Therse are really valuable, especially early on, but I do find myself with frontier cities producing Settlers that have a choice of either turning inward to build roads or irrigate or going out, without advance recon, to "settle the black spots". My bias is to accept the rish, continue to push out, and explore with a Settler on the frontier if need be. I also send out Settlers in triremes that don't have a known destination in mind when I need to expand early on. To paraphrase the immortal words of Manny Sanguilllen, "you gotta get off de island, mon".
At some point I send off Admiral Byrd or Peary (although they may be elephants and not explorers!), to circumnavigate the map along the north or south edge. There are generally one or two huts on each of the north/south border rows. Crummy city sites, but often free units or money, and valuable geography info, and sometime I pick up a settler I can deposit elsewhere.
Obviously, you learn to read the coastlines, and can take a pretty good but not perfect guess regarding what is a peninsula, an ithsmus, or an island. Any AHAs here?
Do you immediately grab each goody hut you find? Time is money, and assuming finding a city, or settler, or technology is good, finding it sooner is better. Or do you wait to take it with a more powerful (in case of barbs) or tw-move (that can attack barbs before thy ataack me) unit?
Sooooo--who else has tips or rules of thumb they use regarding exploring, especially in the early game?
) dubbed wonder techs. Otherwise, I figure that I will end up gifting them anyway. A good point about map making, though. Since the AI tiremes are not subject to sinking, getting them is a bigger advantage for them than for me. 
