Scouting

[keith.lamothe]

1. High-Level scouts (Scout Drones mkIV and Scout Starships mkIV) are perma-cloaked and can explore everything. EVERYTHING. No resistance. Never research or build them, because the game gets quite boring once you do so.

Well, it depends, sometimes nothing else can get through a particular situation.  And I've known folks be completely non-bored even with Complete Visibility on, so I don't think MkIV scouts totally spoil it

2. Eyebots can scout, so take them as your starting bonus ship if you need more scouts but don't want to expend the research.

Bear in mind that Eyebots are military unit, and AI ships near them can wind up getting freed as threat to attack you.  Non-military (no-guns) scouts cannot cause that kind of freeing.

[BobTheJanitor]

Will have to try that next time I'm on, as now I'm watching CSI and after more wine (now a bottle) I might have a few lapses in judgement, esp. considering all the systems adjacent to mine have AI-Eyes in them and I'm sure attacking those in the wrong way would definately lead to an early appointment with the proctologist....

I don't want to spoil CSI for you, but the semi-famous guest star is the one who did it.

1. High-Level scouts (Scout Drones mkIV and Scout Starships mkIV) are perma-cloaked and can explore everything. EVERYTHING. No resistance. Never research or build them, because the game gets quite boring once you do so.

I wouldn't say that makes the game boring. You still have to actually take those worlds even if you know what's on them. Some people play with no fog of war at all, and I don't think they find the game boring because of it. And MkIV scouts move quite slow, so it still takes a while to scout out the whole galaxy with one of them anyway. And I've never found a niche that scout starships fill, so I haven't ever bothered even going to MkII with those guys.

Edit: Yeah what Keith said. Counter ninja'd!

[Panopticon]

Scout Starships have been nice when going up against a lot of booster-type units on AI planets. Likewise for a Sniper happy AI, or when I just want to brute force a scout onto a planet for a deepstrike I'll send a Scout SS grouped with a few MK I or II scouts for cannon fodder. They are also supposed to be good for dealing with Mines, I'll have to keep that in mind...

But yeah, I've never actually researched them all the way to MK III and MK II is super rare for me.

[Shrugging Khan]

Oh, you sillies. SSs grant tachyon coverage and anti-sniper flares, on the move. There's your niche.

[Red Spot]

Most of the time when you combine them with a fleet there is nothing nearby to unlcloak them and so the mk1's last an entire game.

[NickAragua]

I usually unlock at least mark 2 scouts - mark 1s are great for scouting two-three planets away from your territory, but if you want to formulate a long range strategic plan, you'll need to scout a long ways beyond that, which is where MK 2 and 3 scouts come in. Plus, like others here, I like to leave scouts posted on AI worlds just to keep an eye on things, and MK 1 scouts are perfect for that duty.

Pro-tip: Follow a devourer golem (at a very, very long distance) to drastically increase your scouts' survivability. The devourer golem will clean out most of the guys stationed at wormholes, letting your scouts coast through without getting shot at too much.

[BobTheJanitor]

Regular scouts are great, I'll almost always end up going to MkIV on those. It's just the starships I find less than stellar. (wow, that's a bad pun) Although I have not tried them up against an AI with lots of cloaking or lots of snipers, so that may be why I have yet to put them to good use.

[Panopticon]

I unlock the full range of scout drones. I'm usually using Mk III scouts by the mid-game, with my Mk I and IIs posted. Mk I scouts get posted on my own planets. Once I capture an Advanced Factory a Mk IV scout is the first thing I build. Gotta know the terrain. I have to see everything.

I love the way intelligence gathering is modeled in AI War, it's one of the first things that really grabbed me and told me that this game was something different.

[Malibu Stacey]

I used to post scouts in every single system back in 2.0 & 3.0 days but post-4.0 I find that it's not really necessary.
These days I only post them in systems which are 2 hops from one of my systems at the most just so I can keep any eye on what's massing in those systems. Normally those systems are neutered but left to their own devices they'll build up forces eventually & I prefer to cleanse them periodically myself rather than wait for border aggression to trigger.

The other systems will get their intel periodically updated as I scout out further systems anyway since the scouts need to pass through them. Plus with every single wormhole past your home system having tachyon guardians on them you'll need a bunch of scouts to have any chance of 1 getting to the target system.

Scout Starships are massively underpowered IMO & have been for quite some time. They have no cloaking boosters which is bizarre when they're massive compared to normal scout ships. I guess they may have more survivability now since they have Radar dampening but I haven't needed to try them out yet in v5.0 as mark I & II scouts are working OK for me so far.

[Solarity]

I knew something bad was bound to happen... About 6 hours in and with only a handful of planets taken I got hit with the AI sending me a transport of 200 mark V units, along with a 2500 strong CPA attack and a EXO planet attack (Golum Hard)  I saved before all this happened but no matter how many times I reloaded the attacks came from different places and all with a minute of each other.  My army was maybe 1000 stong max and the AI jsut smeared me into the carpet

[BobTheJanitor]

(Golum Hard) 

That's what you get for stealing his precious. 

That just sounds like bad luck with the CPA and the exo-wave hitting at the same time. Quite a brutal way to end a game. My usual response to that sort of thing is to rage out of the game and swear not to play for the rest of the night. And then to come back half an hour later and start a new game. I don't have a problem! I can quit any time I want! Just one more game...

[keith.lamothe]

I knew something bad was bound to happen... About 6 hours in and with only a handful of planets taken I got hit with the AI sending me a transport of 200 mark V units, along with a 2500 strong CPA attack and a EXO planet attack (Golum Hard)  I saved before all this happened but no matter how many times I reloaded the attacks came from different places and all with a minute of each other.  My army was maybe 1000 stong max and the AI jsut smeared me into the carpet

Hmm, have you tried warheads?  An EMP can work wonders against mobs of mkI-IV units, not sure how concentrated the CPA is.  Nukes are more final, but EMPs can often be used to "break up" a massive coordinated attack into multiple pieces you can deal with in order.

There's tons of other tricks you can try, depending on how much time and knowledge you have from your before-the-attack save.  Also depends on how much territory lies between your "front" and your home command station, etc.  Defense in depth can be vicious