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SithLordAJ
SithLordAJ
Join Date 04/2008
+37

scouting

September 25, 2010 7:11:24 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

So i've been trying to get better at using scouts. I seem to do alright at the begining, then mid-game start forgetting, and near end game checking out just the places i want to invade next. When I say I seem to do alright at the begining, I mean that all planets I can actually get my fleet to are well scouted. I also use the scouts to kite/divide forces of the militias in preparation for attacks. I play advent vs AI, if its relevant. I have a few questions:

  1. Someone told me that autocasting explore shouldn't really be done. There are points where I try to live by this, but I end up wasting too much time microing/lose too many scouts because i didnt see them arrive. Am I maybe taking that comment too literally? Should I maybe make sure I have a number on auto-explore all the time, and have a few that dont just for specific front-line target planets/specific tactical questions?
  2. How disposable are scouts? I know their cheap, but that doesnt mean wasting money. Should I bother trying to save them? If not, then I'd guess that remote view tech upgrade would be worth it. If so, then:
  3. How long should I keep a scout somewhere? I'll see a nice juicy planet, and I stick a scout there because I plan to invade it. Of course, right about then I get hit somewhere else or I start to see enemies incoming, and my planned invasion gets put on hold (and actually, I usually counter-attack along the line of attack, so I end up going a different direction). If I'm not immediately invading it, I'll have to waste time trying to keep it alive for the intel. Is that worth it? should I replace it if I lose it?
  4. I tend to forget to scout mid game as I start to turtle. I'd guess that having the intel would help for setting up the defenses and positioning forces, but my turtling seems to be more of a theoretical setup. ie this is the only entrance on this end into my domain, thus I need a SB. I'm also usually being attacked somewhere at this point, so I'm busy enough. My question is: Is it necessary to keep scouting at this point (beyond maybe a few auto-explores filling in the map)?
  5. There are some planets that are difficult to scout, meaning they will kill the scout in a few seconds of reaching. This is more true in the late game, which is why I basically only scout the planet just before I hit it. If I send the scout and aren't waiting on the edge of my seat for the intel, I lose the scout and dont get the more vital info, layout/forces preparing to jump. Is this asking for too much? should I be happy with the text breakdown I get after the scout dies unless I'm just about to invade?
  6. How many scouts should I have out in a random medium map in the begining, mid, end?
  7. I use scouts for kiting purposes because they can actually survive doing it due to their speed. I do this often for militias. Is it common to do alot of this?
  8. Any tips on how to train myself into better scouting practices?

Non-scout question: I havent yet 'skipped' a neutral planet. Not that I havent tried. I just get bogged down dealing with the militia (coz you are supposed to wipe out most of the militia so that the colony frigate will get by, right? or is this a mothership only tactic?). I usually change my mind and end up taking the planet anyhow due to the time already wasted there. Does anyone have a nice efficient strat for this? Im talking about an Ice or volcanic. I've got the asteroid turret trick down.

strategy
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SithLordAJ
Darvin3
Join Date 12/2008
+177
Reply #1 September 25, 2010 12:37:26 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

coz you are supposed to wipe out most of the militia so that the colony frigate will get by, right? or is this a mothership only tactic?

Pretty much mothership only.

As to scouting, there are basically no easy ways to do this.  I'd say 5-8 scouts is the right number to have (more for Vasari, obviously, to nab neutrals) and later on you can probably tone that down to just 4 actively scouting at any given time. 

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SithLordAJ
onomastikon
Join Date 02/2006
+18
Reply #2 September 27, 2010 7:41:14 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

What is the asteroid turret trick?

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SithLordAJ
Cykur
Join Date 03/2003
+48
Reply #3 September 27, 2010 6:11:26 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

You can take an asteroid with just a colony frigate as long as you have enough antimatter when you arrive in system. 

Fly in, colonize the asteroid, and fly your colony frigate back out.  The militia siege frigate will start bombing your new asteroid.  Immediately build a turret right next to the asteroid in front of the siege frigate.  The siege frigate will stop bombing for a bit to fly away from where the turret is being built, but won't quite get out of range.  The turret will finish building and will destroy the siege frigate before it kills off your asteroid.  The turret will then kill the militia cobalt.

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SithLordAJ
superfleet
Join Date 06/2008
+5
Reply #4 September 27, 2010 10:25:07 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

ah no one seemed to answer your questions so i will

you seem to be scouting properly. only advice there i can give is to scout as often as you remember to.

well as advent u also have several other scouting options of course u know . remote viewing  with culture of course is a great way to scout without wasting scouts but when facing comps they like to build 3-7 culture stations so this is not your best option. my personal favorite is using a culture gun(advent superweapon) with remote veiwing and firing it on enemy worlds it will reveil the planet u hit and unless the enemy has a ton of culture u will see all the surrounding worlds as well for a time until his culture hits u back

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SithLordAJ
Pupetier
Join Date 10/2009
+27
Reply #5 September 27, 2010 11:21:06 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

I just came from a game and while watched reply .....

A vasari player (weakest scout) colonized desert planet with just 4 scouts and colonizer. Planet had one of each ship as militia. 

It went like this

Jump in with 4 scouts and drag enemy ships on far side of the planet. Then Target siege with scouts and jump migrator in and because ships are on the other side they will bump into planet while trying to get to migrator. In the mean time scouts are attacking siege and after that LRM frig. Set your migrator on fly by course and once near colonize planet and place turret. Keep course and get out of grav well on the other side.

Once migrator is out LRM should be dead too. Now run with navigators and voila u got planet with 4 scouts and navigator without loosing single ship..... 

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SithLordAJ
Pupetier
Join Date 10/2009
+27
Reply #6 September 27, 2010 11:27:44 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

well as advent u also have several other scouting options of course u know . remote viewing  with culture of course is a great way to scout without wasting scouts but when facing comps they like to build 3-7 culture stations so this is not your best option. my personal favorite is using a culture gun(advent superweapon) with remote veiwing and firing it on enemy worlds it will reveil the planet u hit and unless the enemy has a ton of culture u will see all the surrounding worlds as well for a time until his culture hits u back

Since i find advent super weapon completely useless and i never build it I would say that is quite expensive way to scout.....

Another thing is if you are playing AI scouting isn't so important since AI is very predictable....

Completely different story is MP where after initial scouting to decide where I will expand I scout just to keep track of where enemy factories are and to track size, location and what enemy fleet consist off.

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SithLordAJ
ZombiesRus5
Join Date 02/2009
+340
Reply #7 September 28, 2010 3:18:36 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

First, I leave autocasting of explore on for scouts I don't intend on leaving in a gravity well. I simply queue up a set of planets for them to explore and then they keep exploring if I miss the next set of commands. In MP I aways have 1 or 2 scouts exploring the edge of the system looking for nearby enemies. I'll send 1 or 2 towards the middle to see what planets are nearby. I keep giving manual assignments to these scouts until I determine they can go on their own. For scouts that find an enemy planet I use the looping strategy mentioned below.

 

A couple of scouting strategies I use.

Kill the constructor. Might as well have your scout do something useful while it's sitting in the gravity well. This is useful in MP when people aren't paying attention to planets.

Shift click around the gravity well for multiple loops. This can be useful if I want to keep a presence in a gravity well but don't want local militia to kill it right away or want to keep an eye on the enemy and don't have probes, lingering presence, etc researched.

Shift click around a set of planets you want to monitor. You can preset the loop quite a bit. I leave the scout(s) on auto-explore in case I don't get back to it in time when the loop finishes. The purpose of this scouting is to identify what ships and infrastructure the enemy is building and to keep consistent tabs on them.

Leave a scout in a neutral gravity well (i.e. worm hole, plasma storm, etc). Even if he dies before you see what happened you will get a report of what last occurred in the well.

Always scout before you jump (stinks when you get excited and forget to scout ahead and get caught in a trap). This can be done with any frigate, but I like to keep atleast 5-10 scouts in the fleet for this purpose.

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SithLordAJ
ZombiesRus5
Join Date 02/2009
+340
Reply #8 September 28, 2010 3:23:40 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

Jump in with 4 scouts and drag enemy ships on far side of the planet. Then Target siege with scouts and jump migrator in and because ships are on the other side they will bump into planet while trying to get to migrator. In the mean time scouts are attacking siege and after that LRM frig. Set your migrator on fly by course and once near colonize planet and place turret. Keep course and get out of grav well on the other side.

Terrans and Deserts with a 1/1/1/1 militia composition are way to easy to clear. This makes it even easier!

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