Scouts=Useless

[zeeter]

Does anyone build scouts? I find them totally useless. They can't move for more than ten or fifteen turns without getting killed unless you just move one space at a time - and seeing an enemy moving out of range. Kind of defeats their purpore. I'd much rather move a warrior unit around, or better yet an archer.

I guess in terms of realism it's cool. But I just don't see a point to building them.

 

[Madrone]

I usually build one scout when I first gett the tech, but after that I use horse type if i need to explore or scout

 

[Stilgar08]

I haven't verified this but the description of the scout states that you get better outcome from goody huts. Secondly I appreciate the low building costs in comparison to two movement points... When a scout survives (my scouts do pretty good! ), I promote them to woodsmanI and woodsmanII AND/OR Guerilla I and II: Two promotions I don't necesserily favor for my combat units... But for exploration...

So, yep, I build scouts (3-4 generally)!

 

[Alphidius]

I have yet to build a scout unit.
Since the start of game comes with one scout, it's good enough for me when playing on a standard map. Usually I will get another scout unit for free from the goody huts which I totally hate. I rather get gold or a Warrior unit.

 

[Dale]

Give your scouts the forest and hill promos and they defend well against animals (if you actually stay in forests and hills). Plus they do give better results out of goody huts.

Dale

 

[Martinus]

I am beginning to get annoyed by these idiotic threads. So far people have been complaining about uselessness of slavery, scouts and machine guns - things that have tremendous uses in the game, as long as one is not a half-wit who tries to do with them something they are not supposed to do.

Scouts are not a military unit. They are there to move fast and they ensure you always get a benefit from a hut, never provoking barbarians. Fighting stuff with them is idiotic.

 

[Rexflex]

In the game I've been playing (with raging barbarian hoards) I lost one of two scouts I built in my initial exploring phase and explored the entire continent and got several huts in the process. A very low loss rate, considering

Although the second scout had got attacked by barbarians in the woods and barely survived that encounter .

 

[MeteorPunch]

I build at least 3 scouts. After exploration I use them for settle escourts. Works great with their 2 movements points.

 

[LeConquerant]

Does anyone build scouts? I find them totally useless.

plus they can be put on a caravel (translation? that boat that can go through other civ's borders), later on land and explore. Unless you really want to go and explore uncharted territories with great merchants or missionaries, who have no defense at all...

if you don't like them for most esploration uses, at least consider they are an opportunity under specific constraints.

 

[XionNova]

I build them. I especially love it when I start out with one. that's very useful. In the huge game I'm playing right now, I'm rushing to the compass tech so I can get explorers... I've never used those before and wanna try them out. =)

 

[narmox]

Scouts are very useful at the start, you get to map out your whole territory, find the resources and the good city spots (and with civ4, you actually have to build cities at GOOD spots rather than tons of cities to cover the whole map), and at the same time you get to kill the roaming animals (woodsman upgrades are the best here), since scouts have defense bonuses against animals, and there's so much wood and jungle the upgrades come in very handy.

as for caravels, you surely have explorers coming around any time and I think they can go in caravels.

 

[Pyrion]

They're not useless, they take half as long to build as warriors.

 

[warpstorm]

Scouts are real good if you use them for scouting. They aren't warriors.

 

[Inflammatory]

*joins the choir*

Yes, scouts are very handy units to have early on. To prefer scouting around with a warrior is like saying that you prefer jogging with concrete boots; a scout moves faster and will therefore be more prone to find goodyhuts before the AI, while also acquiring much better spoils from them. They will also reveal good sites for future cities much quicker.

Try to end turns on hills and in forests, while moving in the open with your first step to maximise their speed. Also try to promote them according to terrain, since they will not only defend better (not that they'll lose to a lion very often anyway) but also get rid of the movement penalty. In short, scouts are a must-have in the early game.

 

[Wodan]

Nobody has mentioned the Fog benefit from Scouts.

Remember the thread about whether the Barbs are too powerful? Well, a couple of cheap scouts parked on a hill or two, about 3-4 tiles from the edges of your empire, does handily on keeping the barbs from spawning nearby. And, when they do, you see them coming from a LONG ways away (considering they never beeline for you anyway...they meander...so it'll take 15-20 turns to be a threat).

With this kind of advance warning, you don't need to build ANY military to speak of. Just build at need, and focus on expansion.

Wodan

 

[Inflammatory]

Well, Wodan, that isn't a bad idea in some situations, but it requires you to build quite a lot of scouts and you really want to prioritise, well, scouting with them.

 

[zeeter]

Interesting point, Woden. I guess they do have a purpose other than being fodder for barbarians.

 

[Inflammatory]

There are many purposes, as described in the thread. You need to be pretty careless with your scouts to lose a bunch to barbs. Sure, sometimes you lose one or maybe even a couple, but very rarely will you suffer extensive losses if you make sure to use the terrain to their advantage.

 

[Cerryl]

I only use them early on, when I either start with one or build it after my initial warrior unit. They're able to defend against animals good enough and if you promote them to forest/jungle twice, they move real fast to reveal the map for you.

But after the early game, no I don't use them.

 

[Wodan]

Well, Wodan, that isn't a bad idea in some situations, but it requires you to build quite a lot of scouts and you really want to prioritise, well, scouting with them.

Do you use them to scout other empires? Personally I would use them to reveal Fog until I run into someone but no further. i.e., scout to discover where I want to expand, but not scout to map out the other players.

So, yes, I'd use them to scout; it's those who said scouts were useless after you were done scouting, that I was responding to (mostly).

Anyway, YMMV of course. I guess I'm just saying they have a use even if you just tell them to fortify on a hill and let them sit.

Wodan