more effective scouting

usually, scouts are set to auto explore and they arent part of the fleet. They go out on their own to explore the galaxy. Scouts have no value in battle, except maybe as fodder. And even then I have never heard of anyone using scouts in that way.

Typical beginning game user builds 2-3 scouts, 3-4 light frigates and a colony cap ship.
After that, depending on the size of the map, you may or may not need to build more scouts.

And no you cannot get a mini fleet to follow around the scout, sorry I missed that.

I upped the shields and hull of scouts to make them take a lot more punishment, and upped their speed so they are not so vulnerable.

Scouting is basically a suicide mission in Sims. But by making them stronger and faster, they at least get more scouting done before they finally die from not being able to regenerate.

What I'd like to see is that when a scout reaches a planet thats empty or allied, it stops to recharge shields and fix the hull, before it continues on its scouting mission. Its a bit stupid for a scout with 29 hull left to sail through a empty planet area and straight into a war zone, without stopping to repair itself first.

or you could stop being lazy and watch over it yourself. A little micro won't hurt you.

Lazy ?

Ok, there is 130 planets. I have 2 battlefleets engaged on opposite sides of the system, and I have set 20 scouts going to update the stats on whats going on where.

Now......in the grand scheme of things, micromanaging 20 scouts when you have 700 ships in 2 battles, one of which is a life or death struggle, is somewhat of a joke !

The whole idea of a scout on auto is for it to not need to be micromanaged. Why would anyone in middle to end game be the slightest bit interested in micromanaging scouts ?

Its not a matter of being lazy. If I take my attention off my main battle fleet, I may lose a couple of capital ships instead of a scout. Where is the sense in that ?

As I understood it, the idea was to 'limit' micromanagement. Not remove player skill entirely from the equation.

If the health of your scouts and information-gathering in general is of value to you, then dig in and micro the scouts. If you're tied up in combat, then park the scouts in strategic sectors (meaning, sectors where you genuinely need to be aware of enemy movement) and deal with what needs dealing with.

Building a scout doesn't entitle you to constant, risk-free, up-to-date information. Like most things in this game, you'll get a decent return on autopilot but you'll get a better return if you prioritize and take the time to manage it yourself. And remember, your opponent is working with the same restrictions as you are.

Besides, at the stage of the game you're talking about, it's not like the few extra credits that go towards replacing scouts is going to break the bank.

True, but when you send a scout into a war zone so you know whats ahead, it would be nice if it could survive long enough to get more than 1 planet ahead of you.

I send out 20 because I know that only 1 will likely make it all the way to the target, and no expectation of any of them making it back. But unmodded, the standard scout in the middle end game has no chance of making it anywhere unless you only watch it, and even then, it likely wont make it.

Its not the credits. I hate losing ships !

It took some adjusting to send scouts out on suicide missions, as suicide is not in my game plan.

Since I only play the AI, I've actually stopped bothering with scouts after the first few. Especially with the Advent tech to view stuff with culture and the phase jump detection techs.

Alas, TEC doesnt have either.

I only tend to use them when I want something found. Like the direct route to the center of the system, or where first contact with an enemy is made so I know where I need to put a block point in. Or how far the enemy have come since the last scout so I can prepare a fleet to block them in appropriate time.

I also dislike their doubling back on themselves logic. There should be an option you can set that only lets them travel on to a planet that hasnt been explored. Its annoying when the autoexplore wants to go back to an already recently explored system and ignore the next one out the arm its following. When you tell it to go there, it insists on retracing its steps first. Nice, but rather dumb !

i agree that when you are fighting on 2-3 fronts that it is hard to micro manage 2-5 scouts and consentrate on the battle. i know the AI micro manages and tht often it uses the javelins to scout - this is something the computor was built for in the first place. i agree it would be nice if there was an up grade that would allow them to stop at a safe place where there were no enemy ships - like a dead astroid / astoid belt / gas giant / space junk if they were at 50% or lower in both shields and hull plating.