Please someone, post how you use explorers other than as a medic.
And, if you use them to actually just explore, is it on a map other than Huge?
It just seems that Explorers are the most situational of any unit. Really, I have never used them.
Am I the only person here who likes explorers?
Granted, I like to play on Terra maps and be the first to reach the New World, which makes them genuinely useful for mapping out the land, but even without new lands to explore, they still have other uses.
I find them most useful as cheap observers (usually positioned on hills and key strategic points) for keeping an eye on possible enemy approach routes and to monitor the military forces in other civ's cities.
Lately I've been playing with 18 civs and it's not uncommon for distant civs to launch a surprise attack by moving through a friendly civ's land.
I learned that lesson when Bismarck suddenly declared war on me and an army appeared just two squares away from one of my cities, having travelled through my good friend Mansa's land. The same thing happened with Napoleon travelling through another friend's land. Being friendly with your neighbours is no protection against attack from a distant enemy.
Had I placed explorers near their borders I'd have seen their armies coming and had plenty of advance warning of their intent. Napoleon didn't surprise me, but Bismarck did, since relations weren't bad at the time.
Of course, you can do the same thing with spies, which cost the same, but explorers have a big movement advantage over spies. Not only do they have 2MPs, they ignore terrain costs too, which means they can move 2 tiles no matter what the terrain. This is a great advantage away from roads.
Another good reason is that spies often get discovered and killed off in supposedly "friendly" territory whereas explorers don't. (Surely that's not supposed to happen? Is that a bug?)
Alternatively, with enough espionage spending it is possible to get visibility into and around other civ's cities, but with 18 civs it's hard to devote enough points to that, it's much cheaper to station a few explorers in key locations instead.
As for just exploring, yes, I use them on maps other than huge.
Also, in spite of how weak they are, they're better than nothing in a desperate situation. They can be used to soak up enemy attacks while waiting for reinforcements to arrive.
My vote goes to ironclads, although they have their uses too. I usually build a nominal one, but typically end up wondering why I bothered.
