<UNIT IDEA: SCOUT UPGRADE>
Since I can see you are trying to fill in the tech gaps Firaxis has left (bully for you for making ANY light cav between ancient and industrial era; what the hell were guys at Firaxis thinking?!)
Ok, so here is an idea: anything to bridge the gap between the Scout and Ranger units. This is something I always felt Civ designers didn't have much heart for. In Civ IV scouts were pretty ok with better goodie hut yields but died to almost everything past ancient and explorers were barely if ever used by people as far as I am aware.
In Civ V scouts were pretty good, but since there was no upgrade for them they have been quickly losing their ability to scout ahead bcs of squishiness. This led to situations when my carefully exped scouts with +2 sight serving as reconneisance got 1 hit by some enemy cav or RIDICULOUS ENGLISH LONGBOWMEN! (!)
And in Civ VI scouts are trully bizarre unit. They have very strange upgrade tree- tier 1 upgrades are movement bonuses, which is obvious and self explanatory. You can earn them on barbarians, which with basic +5 policy is absolutely possible, or with wonder discovery, though this way is a bit gamey and may take a while (or not pay off at all). If you are playing Murica, Germoney or Greece, it is possible to have both combat bonus (US +5 on home continent, Reich +7 vs CS and Greece with a free policy slot) and double scout expierience. This actually makes a bit risky but fun strategy possible: spamming scouts and rush exping them to god tier 3 promotion Ambush, which gives them +20 combat strength in ANY situation. This, combined with 2nd tier movement after combat gives you a unit that cost-wise, maintanance wise, utility-wise and movement-wise can compete with swordsmen.
The only problem here is the changed barracks exp system, which requires to engage in combat to utilise it.
Promoted or not, scouts do anyway lose their usefulness and for some time until they can be upgraded to rangers (which can be a very long time). How many times have I lost scouts while exploring far reaches of my continent or some land overseas after stumbling onto a blob of barbarians who have been there for like 500 years and are still horsemen while my main military has already got pikes and field cannons. The problem is my scout is still a scout and with a bit of bad luck he can get instatly killed after walking blindly into a trap.
BUT ON TO THE POINT:
I think an additional Recon unit between Scout and a Ranger would be nice. The only problem is what should it look like? Rangers are ranged (no pun intended) which is a fair deal, and combined with their upgrade tree would make them even a bit OP may I say if not for the lack of further upgrades, which makes them temporary investment.
Since Scout is from Ancient Era and Ranger from Industrial it would be reasonable to add a middle stage in the Middle Ages (again, pun not intended).
Yes, I know that light cavalry, especially since you have delievered us its medieval upgrade thanks to you o great Deliverator (ok this one was intended) can do the job, but it can be actually slower in rough terrain than recon units and lacks the visibility buff.
So maybe something like this:
Adventurer
Type Land Combat
Movement:
3
Melee Strength:
20
Ranged Strength:
30
Attack Range:
1
Promotion Class: Recon
Production Cost 150
Purchase Cost: 150
Maintenance Cost: 2
Upgrades From Scout
Upgrades To Ranger
I am not really sure what should be technology/civic prerequisite though. Most suitable lore-wise would be Mercenaries civic or Military Tactics technology.
As for appearance, I would go for something leathery or light-maily, with scout capes if possible and preferably bows.
Also this unit could present and alternative branch of upgrades for Bandeirante, since lore wise bandeirantes were more of explorers and scouts (besides being brigands and murderes of indigenous people) than regular soldiers.
What is more, if this idea strikes you as good a further improvement to Recon branch could be something akin to US Rangers, an aggresive late game ground recon unit for fast crossing difficult terrain, for Modern Era.
Since I can see you are trying to fill in the tech gaps Firaxis has left (bully for you for making ANY light cav between ancient and industrial era; what the hell were guys at Firaxis thinking?!)
Ok, so here is an idea: anything to bridge the gap between the Scout and Ranger units. This is something I always felt Civ designers didn't have much heart for. In Civ IV scouts were pretty ok with better goodie hut yields but died to almost everything past ancient and explorers were barely if ever used by people as far as I am aware.
In Civ V scouts were pretty good, but since there was no upgrade for them they have been quickly losing their ability to scout ahead bcs of squishiness. This led to situations when my carefully exped scouts with +2 sight serving as reconneisance got 1 hit by some enemy cav or RIDICULOUS ENGLISH LONGBOWMEN! (!)
And in Civ VI scouts are trully bizarre unit. They have very strange upgrade tree- tier 1 upgrades are movement bonuses, which is obvious and self explanatory. You can earn them on barbarians, which with basic +5 policy is absolutely possible, or with wonder discovery, though this way is a bit gamey and may take a while (or not pay off at all). If you are playing Murica, Germoney or Greece, it is possible to have both combat bonus (US +5 on home continent, Reich +7 vs CS and Greece with a free policy slot) and double scout expierience. This actually makes a bit risky but fun strategy possible: spamming scouts and rush exping them to god tier 3 promotion Ambush, which gives them +20 combat strength in ANY situation. This, combined with 2nd tier movement after combat gives you a unit that cost-wise, maintanance wise, utility-wise and movement-wise can compete with swordsmen.
The only problem here is the changed barracks exp system, which requires to engage in combat to utilise it.
Promoted or not, scouts do anyway lose their usefulness and for some time until they can be upgraded to rangers (which can be a very long time). How many times have I lost scouts while exploring far reaches of my continent or some land overseas after stumbling onto a blob of barbarians who have been there for like 500 years and are still horsemen while my main military has already got pikes and field cannons. The problem is my scout is still a scout and with a bit of bad luck he can get instatly killed after walking blindly into a trap.
BUT ON TO THE POINT:
I think an additional Recon unit between Scout and a Ranger would be nice. The only problem is what should it look like? Rangers are ranged (no pun intended) which is a fair deal, and combined with their upgrade tree would make them even a bit OP may I say if not for the lack of further upgrades, which makes them temporary investment.
Since Scout is from Ancient Era and Ranger from Industrial it would be reasonable to add a middle stage in the Middle Ages (again, pun not intended).
Yes, I know that light cavalry, especially since you have delievered us its medieval upgrade thanks to you o great Deliverator (ok this one was intended) can do the job, but it can be actually slower in rough terrain than recon units and lacks the visibility buff.
So maybe something like this:
Adventurer
Type Land Combat
Movement:
3Melee Strength:
20Ranged Strength:
30Attack Range:
1Promotion Class: Recon
Production Cost 150
Purchase Cost: 150
Maintenance Cost: 2
Upgrades From Scout
Upgrades To Ranger
I am not really sure what should be technology/civic prerequisite though. Most suitable lore-wise would be Mercenaries civic or Military Tactics technology.
As for appearance, I would go for something leathery or light-maily, with scout capes if possible and preferably bows.
Also this unit could present and alternative branch of upgrades for Bandeirante, since lore wise bandeirantes were more of explorers and scouts (besides being brigands and murderes of indigenous people) than regular soldiers.
What is more, if this idea strikes you as good a further improvement to Recon branch could be something akin to US Rangers, an aggresive late game ground recon unit for fast crossing difficult terrain, for Modern Era.
Last edited:
![[to_xp]Gekko](https://civfanatics-data.community.forum/avatars/m/74/74677.jpg?1475248346){kind=avatar}
