Useless Scout?

I have never built a core group scout and since I usually play small maps I seldom build recon ships period.

I build one or two (of my own design -- the stock scouts have poor stats across the board), but usually play on gigantic maps.

on gigantic maps i got a dozen or two, i just need to know whats in the dark space out there before my enemy does

Just get sensors 5 as fast as you can and build "Eyes of the galaxy"(????) it practically give all you ships an 8 sensor radius (including traders)
No enemy ship can slip by when each of you ships got a sensor range that big.

I build a specialized Sensor ship that has upgraded weapons and sensors. I never use the stock Scout ship - although this is true for virtually all standard ships excluding the Defender. (I use the Defender just to get some early military presence while I work towards upgraded weapons that are more worthy of a specially designed ship.)

I usually keep a fleet of custom made "spy ships" flying around the galaxy discovering all the little treasures out there.
I don't use them for checking enemy fleets or planet defenses or anything like that instead I use them to find the resources before the other civs do.
I definitely don't use the core scout design. I load a cargo hull full of engines, sensors, and life support so it can go fast, far, and see everything.

I sometimes build a core Scout ship early on for the largest maps so that I can explore more effectively although I quickly upgrade to my Scout III class which has longer sensor range and is much faster.

Once I get Eyes of the Universe Scouts become obsolete as all ships have the same sensor range (although you still need hulls out there to explore!). Scouts are also become useless once the exploration phase is complete.

The secondary purpose for building scouts is for quick upgrade to my Tempest-class fighter once I decide to build a war-fighting fleet. Presto! Instant fleet throught mass upgrade.

I definitely don't use the core scout design. I load a cargo hull full of engines, sensors, and life support so it can go fast, far, and see everything.

I usually play on Huge maps and this is what I use as well. They are more expensive but Tiny scouts just can't match the speed and range of a Cargo Hulled explorer. It would take a lot of Tiny scouts to reveal as much area as the Cargo Hull explorers in the same amount of time.

I need to see the PQ of those planets quickly and there is no way to put 4 Impulse engines on a tiny scout no matter how hard you squeeze

Never thought about using a cargo hull for the task... Thanks for the new idea!

You're welcome! It definitely makes exploring a lot easier, and makes so much more sense in most cases than using scouts (unless you keep the scouts around until you get weapons and upgrade them to suddenly have a large attack force or some such strategy).

The stock Scout ship is a ruse to make the game harder for newbies. If the play testers actually built these things, I can see why they think the AI gives them a good game. The stock scout is among the worst ships a person can choose to build. On gigantic maps a small fast ship with sensors is useful for anomalies. On all other sizes, building colony ships is a far better use of time. Getting to Impulse tech to make the flagship have four moves is plenty to get most the anomalies.

On even a large map, by the time sensors are researched and the first survey ship is built, 60% or more of the anomalies are gone. In other words a waste of time, and tech. Again, the exception is gigantic maps, where several survey ships are of high value.

One trick is to upgrade the survey ships to fighters once weapons are researched. This usually only cost 100 to 200 credits.

I have a ship designed called the oculus, which is a tiny cheap ship with maxed sensors

I usually keep it in orbit, so i can mobilize defenses before the enemy ships arrive. I mostly used it in the campagin, because i needed to intercept overlord troop transports before they landed, and now i usually bundle one with an attack/invasion fleet to help interception and so i don't waste that massive troop transport on a class 7, when a class 26 was just over there

The way I see it, sensor coverage is very useful. However, sometimes you want to give a fleet that coverage so you can effectively intercept the enmy before they reach your worlds. Sometimes you want that coverage to be independent of your firepower so you can spot a threat that you weren't expecting. Either way, a well-equipped sensor boat is cheap to build and doesn't cost any maintenance, assuming it doesn't have a weapon or defences. Even with Eyes of the Universe of Hypersensors, you still need a point of origin for sighting to happen - if you have no presence in an area, you won't see anything.

I love outfitting the cargo hulls with sensors, life support, and engines. They make nice AWACS / EWR systems. Also, they just look so freakin cool because I always stick a lot of sensor dishes & antenna devices on them to make them look cool.

Also, having a handful of these puppies on your borders set to guard mode means they'll get activated once an enemy comes near.

(Never thought about using a cargo hull for the task... Thanks for the new idea!)

Same here

I will try this

Cargo hull scout works awesome!!!