Trapped scouts

[angkor t. wat]

What do you do when a scout or other unit is trapped another civ's borders and you're many many turns away from open borders (civil service)? Delete it? Declare war? It really pisses me off.

I will admit to buying tiles to trap enemy units and sometimes to deny their scouts access to areas of the map i suspect may contain ruins/CS meet and greet gifts. Bonus if it's a tile with some resource - they all seem to cost the same now (within the same ring).

 

[Arachnofiend]

If the tile your Scout is sitting on is absorbed into the civ's culture borders it will get pushed out of their boundaries. This can take a long time though, it could be in your best interest to just delete it and get your GPT back.

 

[Jelster]

for a scout you won't get much back, so I'd be inclined to push it up to the Civ's borders and use it to look at what's going on...

 

[Donaskme]

What do you do when a scout or other unit is trapped another civ's borders and you're many many turns away from open borders (civil service)?

They cost 140 gold, cheapest unit in the game. I delete it and buy a new one, unless I've now researched Horseback Riding, in which case I buy a horseman instead and send him out to scout.

 

[Fluffball]

I guess in that situation i would delete it but you shouldn't get into that situation in the first place.

If you spot a potential cut off you should get you scout out of there before the last tile is claimed unless you have a good idea there is a lot of stuff left to explore beyond that point still.

 

[Rex_Mundi]

Don't delete it, gift it to a city state.

 

[The Pilgrim]

Don't delete it, gift it to a city state.

For 2 influence. Yay!

 

[WeaselSlapper]

For 2 influence. Yay!

If you're already friends/allies that can buy you an extra 2 turns before you have to either give up the benefit or pay them 250.

That's worth more than what you would get for just deleting him.

 

[inspiredunease]

Having a unit right next to another civ's borders is actually quite useful, it causes them to keep at least one unit, and often an entire army close to home to repel the "terrible threat" caused by that one scout or warrior or whatever. If you're trapped on the other side of an isthmus, you can also often use the unit to control their access to all of the lovely land on the other side. The strategic use of a trapped unit should not be underestimated. Sucks when you're simply trapped in two squares of land next to a minor city that the AI doesn't care about though. In that instance I would probably delete, unless I'm on a luxury and pretty sure it's going to pop through in a small number of turns.

 

[The Pilgrim]

If you're already friends/allies that can buy you an extra 2 turns before you have to either give up the benefit or pay them 250.

That's worth more than what you would get for just deleting him.

I'm not arguing it's not more, the question is how much more. I do that myself, still it's a little silly. Since I routinely overlook some serious moments and make big mistakes, but no-no, I do not delete scouts and lose a whole 2 points of precious influence.

 

[smallfish]

Do you think you can nab enough workers with your lone scout before it dies horribly? How about the extra bonus of pillaging crucial worked tiles like farms, mines, luxes, strat mines/pastures?

If so, take everything but the kitchen sink till the scout gets rained in by arrows.

 

[Browd]

Well all that assumes you are prepared to be at war with a civ just to get your scout back home -- as he dodges enemy cities, pillages tiles to stay alive, and then dies just inches (well, a few tiles) away from home.

I'm all in favor of rescuing troops who are trapped behind enemy lines, but sometimes you have to take the long view. If he dies, he will be remembered with a star on my palace's "Wall of Fallen Heroes".

 

[smallfish]

What is the utility of a Scout? They die too easily, their cheapness and terrain mobility is disadvantaged by the fact that their attacks are weak, all things considered if we have CS and ruins switched off they would be totally useless except for speedy discovery of civs and that's debatable right?

Think about this. A scout takes... what? 5 turns to build. A worker takes at least 10 turns in early game.

With a scout, you can easily shave off 10-20 turns needed to build 2 or 3 workers (most likely at scout's expense) by doing this:

Spoiler :

Did I mention how much I love this guy whenever I DOW him?

At Emperor or below, you will also be able to receive free gold deals (and lux, however temporary) quickly if you are able to build CB army asap

 

[smallfish]

Well all that assumes you are prepared to be at war with a civ just to get your scout back home -- as he dodges enemy cities, pillages tiles to stay alive, and then dies just inches (well, a few tiles) away from home.

That largely depends on where and when he is trapped too, of course. But getting cornered in the early game tends to mean less cities to handle, and if there is some terrain UA your current civ has (like hills or woods) and there's plenty of it nearby, you can get those workers and perhaps even the scout out before the enemy can react in force.

 

[angkor t. wat]

Sometimes I'm just not trying to become a warmonger by turn 40... you know...

I just don't like it when people say this is how you play Civ correctly and any other way is wrong.

 

[WeaselSlapper]

Sometimes I'm just not trying to become a warmonger by turn 40... you know...

I just don't like it when people say this is how you play Civ correctly and any other way is wrong.

Nobody said that's the only way to play. You asked for options for a trapped scout and war is one of only a few options in that case.

 

[angkor t. wat]

OK. I clearly over-reacted. Still