Why can't I explore dungeons?

[Tielby]

I'm Doviello, it's turn 12 and I'm on two dungeons with scouts. Which of these facts represents the cause, or is it a bug?

 

[Breunor]

It is because you are the Doviello, you have the Barbarian trait so you can't explore dungeons.

I usually don't recommend exploring dungeons that early in the game.

Best wishes,

Breunor

 

[Tholal]

I'm Doviello, it's turn 12 and I'm on two dungeons with scouts. Which of these facts represents the cause, or is it a bug?

It's because you're at peace with the barbarians.

 

[Emptiness]

The Doviello leader Charadon is at peace with the barbarians at the start of the game. Mahala is not, and so is able to explore dungeons (not, as Breunor indicated, that this is necessarily a good idea on turn 12).

The two Clan of Embers leaders also start at peace with the barbarians.

 

[popejubal]

It is because you are the Doviello, you have the Barbarian trait so you can't explore dungeons.

I usually don't recommend exploring dungeons that early in the game.

...unless you have a neighbor's land closer to the dungeon than your own.

That way, anything unpleasant that you summon will be their problem long before it is yours.

I actually make it a point to send an early scout/warrior (especially Dwarven/Elvish warriors with their high move rates) to the far side of a neighbor's territory to look for lairs to explore.

Good results = good for me.
Bad results = bad for them.

I expect that this is why Barbarian trait leaders can't explore lairs/dungeons. It would be very unbalanced to find a swarm of angry lizardmen on turn 3 and be able to simply ignore them.
"Oh, no! I summoned a horde of Chaos Warriors and an angry Mistform! Oh, wait. I don't care."

 

[Tielby]

I expect that this is why Barbarian trait leaders can't explore lairs/dungeons. It would be very unbalanced to find a swarm of angry lizardmen on turn 3 and be able to simply ignore them.
"Oh, no! I summoned a horde of Chaos Warriors and an angry Mistform! Oh, wait. I don't care."

Good point!

 

[Emptiness]

...unless you have a neighbor's land closer to the dungeon than your own.

That way, anything unpleasant that you summon will be their problem long before it is yours.

I recently popped a named earth elemental (Str 12ish iirc) on the other side of the globe from my capitol in the fairly early game (it's possible to cover a lot of ground when playing on Marathon). It walked past or through three AI's lands to come kill me. It may have done some collateral damage on the way, but I was the only one eliminated. Sometimes distance isn't enough, and there are some foes that can spawn from lairs that Warriors (in realistic quantities) simply can't be expected to kill.

 

[Fafnir13]

iirc, the barbarians have a "dogpile" function. Barbarian units will seek to crush one particular Civ, regardless of distance and the like. So, if you're the lucky player, all barb units will be headed your way. This is particularly nasty on pangea maps.
I think the targeted player resets at random, but I don't know exactly how it works.

 

[WRobN]

The "explore dungeon" button should give a notice that it cant be used because you are at peace with the barbarians.

 

[SurahAhriman]

I usually don't recommend exploring dungeons that early in the game.

Best wishes,

Breunor

Trading a scout for a pair of lizardmen that early IS pretty awesome though.

 

[Zongo]

Trading a scout for a pair of lizardmen that early IS pretty awesome though.

I usually choose the dwarfes, if there are hills nearby. And there are always hills nearby.

 

[fjordan]

Or you pop a disciple and found a (late) religion with it. Happened to me twice.