Scouting with spirecraft jumpships

[Catma]

I just turned spirecraft on for the first time and found the amazing spirecraft jumpship. With these, I can take worlds deep in AI territory (colony ship + 4 highest mark engineers + warp gates/turrets, only good for taking MK 1 or maybe 2 worlds.) They can also be used to kill all raid-ables that are not surrounded by huge piles of high mark ships, getting slow starships where you need them, and a hundred other tasks.

But the very first thing I did with them was to take 3 or 4, load them with scouts, and pop in for about .01 seconds on every single world in the galaxy. It was so quick and easy, I felt dirty afterwards. Did I just waste valuable asteroids for a not-too-important task? After all, I would have scouted eventually anyway with regular transports/raid starships, and I didn't really NEED the knowledge right now. I just feel so absurdly powerful, it'd be kind of comforting to hear that I did something stupid! 

[Minotaar]

And here I thought you were supposed to scout with the spirecraft scout! 
Makes me want to build this thing right now. Don't even need to build a lot of them, one would suffice, even though it would slow down the process. Makes it really easy to deliver sentries where you need them, and quickly, too.

[Commiesalami]

And here I thought you were supposed to scout with the spirecraft scout! 
Makes me want to build this thing right now. Don't even need to build a lot of them, one would suffice, even though it would slow down the process. Makes it really easy to deliver sentries where you need them, and quickly, too.

The scout is much better used as antagonizer.  Drop it in some far off part of the galaxy that you dont care about to put all of the AI systems over there on alert.  This spreads out the AI reinforcements away from the front lines.

[Catma]

And here I thought you were supposed to scout with the spirecraft scout! 
Makes me want to build this thing right now. Don't even need to build a lot of them, one would suffice, even though it would slow down the process. Makes it really easy to deliver sentries where you need them, and quickly, too.

You actually need 3 or 4, or more in a larger galaxy. They will attrition to death/take a few shots here and there. You are only going to be microing one at a time anyway, there's not much point in using multiple ships for this at the same time.

The scout is much better used as antagonizer.  Drop it in some far off part of the galaxy that you dont care about to put all of the AI systems over there on alert.  This spreads out the AI reinforcements away from the front lines.

That's a fantastic idea as well! I'd put a build squad in there to pump up the alert and keep it there. Just the lightest-defended world you can find with the most possible wormhole connections >=D

[PokerChen]

The scout is much better used as antagonizer.  Drop it in some far off part of the galaxy that you dont care about to put all of the AI systems over there on alert.  This spreads out the AI reinforcements away from the front lines.

That's a fantastic idea as well! I'd put a build squad in there to pump up the alert and keep it there. Just the lightest-defended world you can find with the most possible wormhole connections >=D

Ship-abuse alert!

= = = = =
 With the jump-ships... well, I don't think that's particularly dirty.
 On second thought, maybe... all those tachyon guardians must be feeling very upset at your trickery.

[Commiesalami]

Here is an example of "putting the galaxy on alert" using SC Scouts:

All of the systems with a 1 overhead have SC Scouts, without those about I would have a total of 11 systems on alert.  With all of the SC scouts out and about I've got a total of 41 or so systems on alert.  In real world terms, it means that I've only got to deal with 1/4 of the reinforcements that I would have to deal with normally at this AI Progress Level.

This method takes a good amount of Xampite, and is less effective against higher level AIs because those then to have more MkIII and MkIV planets.  In order to get your scouts to survive your going to need ebonite and adamantite which are considerably rarer and more valuable.

[Catma]

Thanks for that! What is find mode? How do I turn it on?

[Commiesalami]

Thanks for that! What is find mode? How do I turn it on?

You just hit the little magnifying glass on the far left.  The interface is a little clunky, but it lets you find all of a certian type of unit and send them all to one place is a single order.

[chemical_art]

enjoy those carriers!