Monument or Scout first? Aztecs an early exploration civ?

I go for a scout first, if i get culture from a ruin i then get my shrine up before my monument, especially if i have a desert start as i love desert folklore
 
May I ask why people are choosing Scout first instead of Jaguars?

Ok the Jaguar is an extra 15 hammers but they retain the movement bonus on forest and jungle and also have a massive strength advantage vs barbs.
Building 2 of these off the bat means you won't have to worry too much about military later on. You can terrorize nearby civs with them to steal workers and gain extra culture.
 
For any civ with a warrior UU, yes those are a good first option instead a scout. You will still need a couple scouts, but they can be later. Before too long, the Jaguar runs out of forest and jungle to explore. Before too long, any warrior UU will need to come back home. (If not for defense, then to upgrade.) Scouts just keep going and going. Instead of coming back home, eventually they can park on ruins.

My typical pangaea/continents build order is: scout, scout, shrine, monument.

For Aztec, I would go jaguar, scout, monument, and evaluate from there. If the jags have gotten me a pantheon, probably I skip the shrine. After that is another scout, as I will have better uses for the jags than more scouting from them. I really want to unveil the map, so definitely a second scout. If you skip the scouts entirely with Aztec, it is too easy to trick yourself out of good exploring. Not too long ago, someone posted a mid-game screen shot where that happened to them.
 
Scout, scout first always. With aztecs, I don't even build a monument sometimes. If you kill a brute, you just got 8 turns worth of a monument. If you find a culture ruin, that's 20 turns worth of a monument. Even with aztecs though, I still go scout, scout, as they get out there quicker and getting out there quick is the name of the early game. Then it's either shrine or granary, throw in a jag or two if there is a farmable camp nearby.
 
The conventional wisdom from the board is scout (or warrior UU) first. You can expect more culture from ruins and CS than 8 extra turns of a monument. And extra culture is one of the least important reasons to have a scout early. I am not sure where you got the idea that most people build a monument before a scout.



Actually, it is your monument-first play that has been setting you back. One lucky ruin is 20 culture. With aggressive scouting, I think you can expect to hit that in half your games.

For Pangaea and continents, scout first is very clearly the way to go. The more interesting question is: “scout, scout, monument” or “scout, monument, scout”? I have not seen a convincing argument (or math) one way or the other.

I don't think you can expect to get a culture ruin that often at all, especially on Immortal or Deity. If you don't get a culture ruin, then that will take you 15 turns just to adopt freaking Tradition (unless you're the Aztecs and kill a barb) so you're really leaving that up to chance.
 
Aztecs are good at exploration since they're good at forest and jungle movements. However, you could also say that the Inca are also good at exploration because their bonuses are also movement like the aztecs have in the jungle and grassland but in the hills. That could also depend on the terrain type.
 
Considering Aztecs get a jungle start bias and the Incas get a hill start bias, both get a minor exploration boost that probably applies to the terrain they spawn in.
 
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