How Good is Auto Scout?

[@frikativos]

New civ bonus for the Celts: your sheep have auto-scouting option.

[@edwardblom2661]

Perfect, sheep instantly goes to auto scout enemy TC

[@The_Room_2_Doggys_Revenge]

with that, they are now a sheep civ

[@austinpugmire2843]

Just your starting sheep

[@dl8935]

but your enemy can kill your sheep.

[@tudorinbogdan240]

@Txc " *I am a generous god.* "

[@Caldaris]

I'm terrible at AOE, and tend to forget my scout exists after about the 5 minute mark. I will most certainly be using this in my games against the AI.

[@nbrocx4216]

It's a good thing to use in AI games. It's been most useful for me in the campaigns, wherever I got that auto-scouting option.

[@improvedbowman]

Same, but as you say - forget after 5 min. So the plan for me would be: scout for sheep, then auto-scout.

[@Gorlami1945]

×2

[@radubirsan2672]

It would be easy if would select the scout and press ctrl+1, so you will make a “group” with that unit and every time you press 1 that “group” will be selected, after this you will just need to develop a skill to periodically press 1, this thing hellped me a lot

[@Caldaris]

@@radubirsan2672 While I know about grouping, I tend to only use groups for military units. And even then I don't tend to use it effectively.

[@jordanthejq12]

It's poor for high-level play, decent for newer players without the APM to scout and manage economy and manage fights simultaneously, and absolutely AMAZING for inducing salt in the AOE2 community.

[@nbrocx4216]

Wow. How did you convey so much in just 2 lines? xD Absolutely true, man. It created such a big uproar upon its announcement. You should have seen the scene in the Reddit community. xD

[@jazzabighits4473]

why did it make people mad?

[@jordanthejq12]

Because AOE2 stans are elitists who refuse to accept making the game more accessible in the interests of "preserving the integrity of competitive play". Similar drama erupted over the implementation of multiqueue years earlier. (Admittedly, scouting is an actual skill and more than simply clicking buttons, but the point stands.)

[@vartosu11]

@@jordanthejq12 AOE1 and 2 were essentially dead to me for quite a while PRECISELY because all other strategy games had multiqueue, just these 2 special snowflakes didn't. Best I did was play through some of their campaigns.

[@Tremere]

Jordan Quiles “Uuugh, these gate-keeping nazis that kept this game alive for over a decade don’t want noob-friendly changes made specifically for shitters like me that can’t even be bothered to learn how to scout!! LITERALLY SHAKING I CANT EVEN”

[@stormrunner4081]

I like it just for the convenience since I’m the type of player who sends his scout on 3/4 map adventures after getting the important bits out of the way (sheep boar gold and stone)

[@anotheracc8292]

Yeah that’s the annoying part that auto scout is good for. After you find your resources and enemy all you do is uncover the black.

[@-Raylight]

I don't know why people are freaking out about this auto-scout feature, it exists in few RTS games already (Rise of Nations, etc) But looks like this time the auto-scout is much better because it's not scouting randomly

[@Eli-dp9hk]

Yep, Empire Earth uses the same mechanic too

[@nbrocx4216]

I think that's the key point about auto-scouting. It does not scout "randomly". If it did, it could possibly have been better. The scouting behaviour resembles that of the AI scout. And, the scout has a priority in scouting at least one map corner, before going on to scout the enemy. So, it's almost perfectly designed. Not too good. Not too bad.

[@Feraligono]

Warrior Kings (2001/2003) has auto-scout as well. Although valuable resources don't remain visible if you leave their LoS in that one.

[@zonetropper]

@@Eli-dp9hk its terrible in empire earth

[@bogdanbogdanoff5164]

@@Feraligono Is that the game where you played a campaign as a Gaul against Teutons and Romans?

[@TheJBerg]

Personally, I'll manually find my starting resources and opponent, then auto scout

[@Kaocito1]

My normal game goes: Scout sheep Scout enemy Scout gets massed into army He dies Now i can set him free into the wind after im done scouting enemy

[@Carpatouille]

I still do that lol

[@fernandopires135]

Honestly im amazed at how good and not overwhelming the auto scout is. Its definitively a nice addition to the game

[@user-xo9ig8kc3u]

Lobbies should have an option to turn it off at least.

[@Maxi_Moxn]

@@user-xo9ig8kc3u why if your opponent is using it its only good for you

[@kylethomas9130]

Is the Auto Scouting as good as the AI's Scouts?

[@Th3hUnT3R1]

pretty sure its exactly the same

[@waaedalord6474]

I think its the same Thats how the devs included it in the first place

[@lf2208]

Good question! They must have based it off AI scouting I imagine

[@fancydeeldo]

i also want to know about this

[@Latexi95]

Yes. It is the same algorithm.

[@Harkruel]

It's even more important to keep your first scout alive. Being able to discover the entire map with 0 effort is so nice

[@Zzannez]

This comment doesn't surprise me since its coming from SCOUT himself

[@TheGSone]

I think it's a great feature. You can manually do your first loop around your TC to find your sheep/boar/stone/gold, then set autoscout and focus on economy. I'm still struggling with the fast castle, my scout almost always is idle.

[@user-xo9ig8kc3u]

The AI shouldn't be playing the game for you.

[@SchemingGoldberg]

@@user-xo9ig8kc3u Great idea. So let's remove farm auto-reseeding too. You have to rebuild farms every time they run out. Let's also remove villager tasking: when a lumberjack finishes chopping wood you have to manually reassign them to a new tree. Let's remove auto attacking too: you have to individually select every unit and tell them to attack. No more Attack Move or Patrol. That way you will need a minimum of 5,000 APM to even reach the beginner level. Then the game will be super amazing and successful! /s

[@user-xo9ig8kc3u]

@@SchemingGoldberg Cool, someone should make a mod for this

[@Spiz103]

​@@user-xo9ig8kc3u It's called AOE2. Auto farm reseeding and villagers going to a resource after building a camp (mining/lumber) only came in with the Conqueror's expansion.

[@OytheGreat]

I always imagined the starting scout was me, the noble leader of the civilization. The fact I can be distinguished from the pleb scouts I'll create without having to control group myself is the n°1 feature of this autoscout BS. Just my two cents :)

[@nbrocx4216]

Oh, Lord Scout, please bless us with your scouting information. How can I, as a pleb scout, achieve this power that you seem to possess?

[@DaSticks]

Could this be used for a scout regicide mode?

[@Hemostat]

I always retired mine to a nice castle by the sea

[@Slith3rdLegion]

Your services are no longer required. [Delete]

[@OytheGreat]

​ @Deluded Dimdoul Dude, that's just cruel! **deletes 20 wood vils for pop space* * **sends 20 halbs as meat shield into certain death**

[@madrox8]

i think Viper said it right with the unit about if your just playing vs ai its alright for those who want to focus more for playing sim city as there are players who enjoy that aspect, but if your playing online its always better to learn how to scout properly as soon as possible on your own as it can help you learn faster for hotkeying and getting your overall apm to improve faster.

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

If you convert the enemy's original scout, do you then have 2 scouts with autoscouting ?

[@T-West]

Haven't tested conversions, but with multiple TC starts (like the maps Budapest or Metropolis) or in the campaigns (where every unit from the Scout-line or Eagle-line has the option), you can have multiple Scouts all auto-scouting at the same time.

[@Spike-hl2mw]

Asking the real questions

[@lebulle4544]

We need a new video now.

[@AgeofNoob]

Lmao asking the real questions here :D

[@lukasg4807]

@@T-West well it's definitely OP in cases like that

[@yamaha-rb9tk]

This is a great feature. It can easily be out done by an experienced player but it helps new players get started. And bringing in new players is great for any game to survive grow.

[@JanJanNik]

fair enough, but i dislike how it gives one unit a "hero" like status, where it has an individual intelligence, yet still the same stats as any other scout cavalry unit so you have to keep that one alive.

[@devonbueno8344]

I wish auto scouting was around when I decided to go for the Marco Polo achievement 11.

[@ogrimbothesour2976]

its pretty decently implimented tbh, its a nice crutch for noob players but becomes more and more useless the better you get at the game, yet at the same time it is so inferior to a high tier players manual scouting that it doesnt really feel like it impacts the competitive scene.

[@nbrocx4216]

I believe it behaves almost the same way as the AI scout (Not the extreme AI, the regular, DE one) So, it's a nice added feature for newcomers. I wish others shared the same view as you. Unfortunately, it did not happen. I was especially surprised when experienced players started saying that it was game-breaking.

[@the_wookiees]

@@nbrocx4216 pretty sure the (vast) majority of the community is either positive or doesn't care all that much about this feature. Of course the elitists in game forums are hardstuck in their ways, but i guess this is not exclusive to AoE2. Luckily they are very few in numbers and just happen to be particularly loud and tend to have a lot of free time 😅😂

[@snarbolax6962]

@@nbrocx4216 I think a lot of people just think it will simply handicap players later on. Like if you were to only play huns from day 1 or something then a month later try playing another civ only to realise you're constantly get housed.

[@SchemingGoldberg]

@@snarbolax6962 That's just concern trolling: they don't really care about the well being of other players. It is not our responsibility to "help" other players become better, it is their choice and their choice alone. We cannot *force* other players to get better. And the auto-scout is so bad that players *will* be forced to learn how to scout manually *if* they want to reach a higher rank.

[@124085]

@@snarbolax6962 If players get frustrated and don't play at all then they won't improve either. No one's making anyone start with training wheels. It's up to the player to try them on and take them off.

[@aliensaxophone]

Wow, Very usefull video: I learned: - WHen i find a relic or a lion, it will not be close to the enemy camp. - Confirmation that sheep always come in pairs - Timestamp within wich i should've found my sheep and Tonw Center (i'm usually more worried about my villagers production, not killing 2 sheep, getting that 1st boar without losing a villager. Finally managed to beat a moderate AI just around castle age comfortably. but still a lot to learn and improve. I would love a more specific Scout tutorial video. Consecutive steps is usefull but i'm not sure what search pattern to use after my 2 town circles and first resources found - What different approach to take wen youré on a water heavy map (f.e. look for nearby fish and where to build 1st port for a hybrid water/land / water only build

[@Bennnjj]

The real question is: does it run under the enemy's town center and die as often as I do when I'm manually scouting lol

[@scout4996]

Only thing left unanswered is what happens when they reach 100% explored? They go on an union break?

[@SchemingGoldberg]

In my experience it just keeps scouting, so it'll rescout areas that it's already been to.

[@castielchieng7475]

They will just take their retirement fund and go on a vacation

[@nayeemhaque1064]

They pretend to keep scouting to still be on the payroll “oh look maybe something changed over there better keep scouting”

[@Stoic_Lizard]

Good job also providing the previously found human results alongside the ai results. Something about your thinking works with me. Now I'm gonna go back to playing offline

[@ssbhide123]

I use this feature in arena maps.. there is no fear of scout running under enemy town center, boars are almost always inside the walls and you can easily guess the location of sheep if they are not inside. Once you find everything, put the scout in auto scout and see the roomba cleaning in mini-map.. It actually moves like Roomba on arena maps.. :D

[@ElArto95]

Even the most divisive and "least good" feature in AoE2DE is better than the entirety of WC3R

[@Carpatouille]

WC3R had the curse of being released in 2020 it was already not a good sign

[@Jay_Sullivan]

That minimap timelapse makes me think that autoscouting is fine. It didn't do a good job at finding the enemy and it doesn't even find all of the food first. It's also good that it only works on the starting scout. Autoscouting is a good addition. Thanks for the video.

[@raarnt]

I saw a comment on this, that you should manually scout your enemy base first and then put the auto scout on. Seems like a solid advice

[@Lucas_Jeffrey]

Please Spirit, do more videos on the strategy of scouting in various stages of the game. Include similar replay footage of getting observation towers up in the perfect place at the perfect time, and what to think about during castle and imperial age. Love your editing.

[@tipsysmichigander6483]

Why would anyone need auto scout when you can just que a massive spiral going outwards from your base? Simply do it during the 20+ secs your first villager is being built. Anyone specifically looking for sheep is probably missing valuable time. You should be queuing a giant search area for your scout. Not continuously going back and forth to them to apply a new route.

[@iagoabreu6986]

I greatly agree on the sheep, Auto-Scouting is good to Focus in other things but leave tou often without your first sheeps, so usually going for the boar and berries sooner to compensate the sheep

[@jefffinkbonner9551]

This may shake up the daily sweepstakes I hold wherein 1 lucky villager gets selected for a special quest wherein they venture out to cover the map in a grid of outposts so I can see the whole damn thing.

[@nlb137]

It sounds like turning on auto scout but still monitoring your scout would be a good compromise. It can make blind loops around your starting location just as well as you can while you micro villagers, and you can check what it's doing to make sure it's matching your strategy. Like with the sheep thing; if it finds a single sheep, you can make it find the other and then put it back on auto. Or if it's made the first lap and wants to go find the enemy, but you haven't found enough sheep, you can take over and start manually scouting with it.

[@MerMes16]

Just a feature for new players or those who doesn't use scout often and when they do, use it to scout the nearby area, or to locate enemy base from start.

[@leoardulnuan]

Last tiime I was this early, Spirit of The Law would still put in captions, "Go Japs!" every so often in his videos!

[@GameArchiver]

Rise of Nations has this feature too. It was called 'Explore' or something.

[@JanJanNik]

even the first empire earth has it, that rts is ancient.

[@zeflute4586]

@@JanJanNik The scouting dog, yeah lol. That was such a nice game. Napoleon age and WWI WWII were the best.

[@devonbueno8344]

Just had the auto scout miss four sheep that were close enough to the TC to have one in the starting field of view. I recommend using manual scouting to at least find your sheep before turning it on. Unless you wish to potentially self-handicap and go full improvise mode, which can be fun in its own way.

[@edwinpoon]

Thanks SotL. I didnt know there was auto-scouting. Didnt hv this feature in old school conquerors many many years ago.

[@HeliosExeunt]

The Auto Scout feature reminds me of TouchDrive in Asphalt 9. The computer does the cornering for you, leaving you to decide which path to take on the track, and while I believe it is more competent at cornering than a sizeable number of players, it doesn't necessarily take the best driving line. A sufficiently skilled player has no use for TouchDrive in competitive play, but given the game's free-to-play nature, in races where the car is fast enough that time standards are a non-issue, TouchDrive can be used to cheese time standards in order to obtain car blueprint drops.

[@slushyjones4939]

One thing to think about is that if your scout is autoscouting you cannot use it to herd deer. Herding deer is not necessary in most situations, but it can be an advantage to food gathering in early ages. Theoretically, by choosing to autoscout you deprive yourself of the potential resource of the deer.

[@TheNovicek]

For people playing the campaigns - the same rule of only starting scouts have auto scouting applies. And yes, I said scouts. If you start a mission with 30 hussars, feel free to have them all auto scout. They'll uncover whatever unprotected land they can within a minute and die to towers/castles, so be careful.

[@JohndrewtheSylveonking]

I tend to use a mix both, mostly depending on how far I am into the game and the map type. For example, if I’m playing on an islands map, I might as well just hit auto scouting because you won’t get very far on a small island anyways. One method I would use back in the days was just set way points in random areas with the last one being near the town center.

[@LokirofRoriksted]

It's terrible for early game since you wanna scout specific things, push deer, protect a villager building something far from the TC, lame a boar, poke enemy villagers, use it in your early army, find your opponent and all your sheeps and resources, but it's really good to use it later to find additional resources and relics. Me as a noob/inter I just forget about scouting the map once the feudal aggresion starts and have to build outposts later in the game or scout with a monk or something for relics and stuff

[@tkzsfen]

Spirit of the Law is like one of those song channels, where they come up with the cover just a few hours after the official release.

[@hbarudi]

Rise of nations has this as a primary feature on every scouting unit, but getting this new feature in Aoe2 is a nice addition to aoe2, it is not going to be perfect, but does help the player too. I think it should work on any unit from the scout and eagle line in general. In the late game I use a trebuchet to scout certain parts of the map with its huge line of sight that matches its range.

[@oscarvozzi7548]

I was looking for this video. I really enjoy your channel.

[@BirdMoose]

As a new player I've been using auto scout mixed with manual commands. I use auto scout just so it never stops moving and throw in commands to check out specifics, like sheep.

[@Whoop8969]

As someone who took time to get the 99% ludicrous map scout achievement. Little upsetty that I wasnt lazy and waited for this.

[@RolfReibach]

it is very good between minute 1 and minute 7. before you can get your first sheeps by yourself and after this the auto-scouting does great work until you want to take over control to find your enemy

[@darkranger116]

Good stuff!! Use it for mid-late game to soak up that fow score. Or if you want, get an extra scout early game, and just leave him on, while you micro the other.

[@Joes_Apartment]

I personally like spiraling out with manual scouting, and having it double back to the TC at the end, at which time when I see it by the TC I send it out on auto scount, but I'm very new to AOE2 and focus on economy right now.

[@whinemax]

As someone that haven't played multiplayer seriously in any RTS ever, and haven't played AoE2 since 200x I find this feature very helpful. I'll control the scout manually for 2-3 minutes to scout the nearest surroundings of my starting location, and then I can put on the autoscout for a less stressful time

[@edgarjdq]

Other games have auto scout for all units (ships, villagers, and military), I wonder why they only added that for one unit per player.

[@MrChuanhquan]

Best perhaps to keep it off till mid game after you explore base surrounding and enemy location , have auto scout on to locate extra resources and relics

[@jesusrubiomaldonado27]

Hey Spirit of the Law, a guy here. I've been thinking in some civs team bonuses now that we have new civilitations. (Actually Lithuanians and burmese is nice). It would be nice to see a rechapter of those top 10 (civ combinations, top infantry, etc.) You're the king, man.

[@henrybartholomew5383]

I find my sheep, my boars, try and find an enemy, and then autoscout so I can focus on other things

[@rafarvs33]

Really nice research. Congratulations!

[@marcellusveneziano2130]

i usually find myself using auto-scout, then raging as it spends 3 minutes scouting the same corner behind my starting area, then manually scouting. then once i've scouted the area i wanted to, i turn in back on and he's back in the corner.

[@Zawazuki]

Helps my low level ass out a lot lol

[@waaedalord6474]

I swear i was watching one of your videos when this pop up

[@circeowaggles]

Prove it

[@PressA2Die]

I didn't know about the cliff thing spawning away from bases. Good to know

[@2010Failbrids]

It’s actually pretty good on maps like arena or hideout, after I push deer and locate opponent I autoscout the map until certain times when I need to scout what opponent is doing

[@heidtb6746]

I usually turn it on, when i dont go for a scout rush and got everything i need (8 sheep, 2 boar, 2 golds, enemy base including woodline, berries and gold) When i found everything and just want to see more of the map

[@Quantris]

I look forward to the inevitable late-game autoscout shenanigans

[@JanJanNik]

how does one and the same scout cavalry unit survive for 4 ages though?

[@RMOB]

Quick tip for quick scouting: marco -> for resources. polo -> for enemies

[@bonneville1285]

I've been surprised how many players say the don't scout at all. I am an absolutely horrible AoE2 DE player (still haven't played online) but after the scout has done a few circles and found my starting resources I always just pick a few semi-random spots on the map, making the last one back to the TC. Repeat as soon as I notice him back. It takes seconds and is probably less useful than autoscout but at least he keeps moving.

[@JNCressey]

Tzar had auto-scout in 2000. looks like it was 20 years ahead of its time, a truely classic game.

[@SomethingEls]

I was waiting for this vid, thanks!

[@Zarconus8]

It's About Time!

[@petersmythe6462]

There should be a civ bonus: "all units have autoscout." And I mean all. Autoscouting with Mangonels? sure.

[@andrebenoit404]

I love auto scout so so much. It helps a lot. I can manually scout when I want to and then auto scout if I want afk scouting

[@Cyrikyty]

I don't mind this feature all that much. I still look for all of my resources manually, scout the enemy base and after seeing everything i need to see, i set it on auto now. I'm not that good of a player and do mostly fast-castles into knights or boom, depending on the map, so that scout wouldn't do a whole lot anyway. Now it can help find relics and extra golds before those become relevant.

[@Jovian999]

Good feature. I'd happily manually scout early on, when I'm mapping aorund my base, then switch to auto once I've discovered my important resources and have a few more important things to micro.

[@JanJanNik]

yup! although i think it's lame that only 1 specific unit gets to have that ability, it should be that every unit can auto-scout, but only one at a time (to balance the free APM gained) makes it utterly frustrating to lose it to TC fire.

[@noradrenalin8062]

I found the AI is pretty good at finding relics due to its systematical search. My usual order is: 1) find starting resources; 2) find enemy; 3) let AI Scout; 4) take back manual control every now and than to check back on the enemy; 5) back to Auto-Scout

[@williamturk2330]

I like to direct my scout around my camp and find my local resources, then I switch to auto. It seems to last longer and uncover more area than if I set a route. I think it's because it reacts to the enemy, whereas if the scout follows my path, it'll do so blindly and get killed quickly.

[@CloudCuckooCountry]

I usually turn on autoscout after I've fully scouted my base and my opponent's base just so I don't have to think about my scout anymore and so I can find out where the neutral gold and stone are.

[@Schwarzpferd]

This is a great update and feature. Me and my friends just play together on a team against medium AI. We are not pros or great at all, but just want to have fun. Features like this that make game more accessable for casual play is great. Since it is not as good as player scouting that is even better, because I do not want to see games of higher-skilled players being ruined by a feature like this. It is always nice when they can make game better for casuals but not harm the gameplay of the more-dedicated players.

[@MrAskmannen]

Sometimes auto scout fucks you a little by taking an eternity to find boars, stone etc. if that happens manually controlling it for like 10 seconds works fine, and then putting it back on auto

[@KyranFindlater]

I think it's very strange they made it so only the starting scout cav unit has the autoscout command. It's simple enough that every unit should have it. Including sheep when converted!

[@roboyle]

First thought at the end of the video... when finding an enemy base, does autoscouting keep your scout away from town centre fire?

[@leoli960]

2

[@T-West]

From a bit of testing, there may be some limited ability for the Scout to avoid the enemy TC, but it still seems to run into it quite easily. Players could also quick-wall to force the auto-scout to run under the TC.

[@JP_Wu]

imagine it in Regicide maps 😹

[@joshuacagle686]

4 years later, now every scout can auto scout!

[@Royale9]

Please explore a full Ludakris map with auto scouting.

[@GolanL]

May the KZbin algorithm be with you

[@casualandy89]

When I was young and played AOE2 (my first computer game) I didn't know you have TC and Vills menues to build stuff, so for some time I thought you only play with the Scout ^^

[@Nesseight]

Today, entire armies fall to AO's scout. ... "Fire a volley at him!" - "We missed!" :: researches ballistics :: "FIRE ANOTHER VOLLEY!" - "SIR, WE'RE STILL MISSING" "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

[@zeflute4586]

Duel in the middle. Opponent has the hill. GG

[@zombiegroan3985]

It would seem the Eagle Scout could possibly be better with its increased sight. Will need another video.

[@macdam11]

@spirit of the law: How long did it take for the players to find the enemy base?

[@mrezamiolo]

0 mins with vietnamese LOL...

[@imMIB123]

im in the manual control habit but im also in the weird view of thinking that the ai should be able to scout your base pretty well but shouldnt really be able to read clues to find the enemy. i think taking some of the faff out of the start is helpful to new players since they at least might notice what the scout is doing since he'll be on the screen and if they want to they can learn from how he scouts. just randomly scouting your opponent doesnt help develop skills since hes off screen and you likely arent paying attention to him anymore. he'll just find enemies and you'll randomly notice their explored base at some point. that part should be done by the player so they actually notice it happening.

[@jontargaryen3168]

I've always turned autoscout on once the 8 sheep are found

[@Eggster68]

I've wanted auto-scout from the beginning - excessive micromanagement is game killer. This sounds like a good start, though I'd like to see more control options such as exploration patterns, or objectives like scout local area, recon opponent or recon allies.

[@ekim613]

I think all scouts should keep the auto scouting option in Feudal but lose it once the player reaches Castle , or upgrades to Light Cav

[@tcn1john]

Although auto scout is not efficient enough comparing to manual at start, it could be useful after battles kick in, even for top players.

[@mathchessdnd]

"Good for scouting 100% of the map after 20-25 minutes" Oh good, I can clear some fog by making some scouts later and set them to autoscout-- "Keep in mind only your starting scout can autoscout." what. If autoscouting is good midgame and not good early game, why is it that only the first scout can autoscout?

[@TheAmberFang]

Because there are critical things to scout for early-much of the things Spirit of the Law looked for in this video-that are totally worth spending the manual effort on, especially when auto-scout isn't guaranteed to work for it. In the midgame, auto-scout can fill out the map for you, finding where tertiary golds and relics are, which is lower priority but nice to know about. By the midgame, you'd also be able to build your own scouts to manually scout the enemy with, leaving the auto-scout free to do its thing. Of course, all of this assumes that your manual scouting is actually better than the auto-scout (or that you intend to practice it until it is.)

[@starjadiancloneinvestigato1772]

Imagine come midgame, players who spec into light cav would be at a massive advantage. They can keep some light cav scouting for ambushes or new eco booms while keeping up their aggression

[@hedgehog3180]

I'm assuming it's because this feature is intended to help new players. It lets them not worry about scouting at first and then later when they get more used to standard setups they can start to learn how to scout properly and then that'll still give them a benefit. It means that they aren't completely outmatched since they'll get some scouting done but it just might not be very good scouting.

[@xthomas7621]

Your starting scout is now like a sort of hero, but not really. Hmm

[@JanJanNik]

@@BayKirmizi that sounds like a way better solution

[@traderofgoods6500]

I don't play AOE but i still watch these vids for some reason

[@marcosaccone4612]

Can you make a test about auto scouting in middle game? I think that was the main issue of discussion: how good is to find extra resources/relics and to prevent sneaky vills / castle drops

[@GarfieldRex]

I don't see the point of auto scouting when you can put checkpoints for the unit.

[@TubeTAG]

Kinda surprised you didn't do a comparison of the AI Eagle Scout vs. the AI mounted Scout. I doubt it's much different but intuitively it would seem like it would be better at finding early sheep due to the expanded radius.

[@Elfangor567]

Perhaps its because I played so much Empire Earth as a kid, but I wish that every scout had auto-explore. I've never really cared for scouting beyond the super early game, this would make it better. (Also, where's my Empire Earth DE, come on Microsoft, I want to see my high quality killer robots!)

[@bugfeatures]

You forget to check if the Scout goes under the enemy town center. But else, Nice!

[@SchemingGoldberg]

It absolutely goes directly under the enemy town center, I've lost several auto-scouts to that. The auto scout seems really really stupid, it just wanders randomly in areas which haven't been explored yet, that's it. So if you want anything more than that, you need to manually control it.

[@phantom3969]

i remember the days when there was no auto re-seeding and auto scouting... so glad they are gone and i can actually play decently without needing 500apm 11 i sometimes wish strategy games would actually make strategy more important than apm and micro

[@mattslippy]

What about relics? I have found that discovering those before other players gives you a real edge. Not sure manual scouting is superior in that regard since it's *supposed* to be random placement etc. Another strange thing I've noticed is if you set your scout to do a few moves and then it wanders off, it often wanders past a relic. I can't say for certain, but it seems like it's 50% of the time at least. Anyone else notice that?

[@jonathangay465]

Perhaps you could cover the idea of auto scouting and assigning another scout to follow him in split formation. Would this work to give you a super wide area of view, and finish revealing the map more quickly?

[@assasin4730]

Couldnt you also argue this really devalues the burmese team bonus?

[@likeice4032]

@Spirit: In my ELO 1200 DE (200 hour total experience in AOE2, Played other strategy games at really high level before), having auto scout is really good. steps: Scout your base and around it manually. 2, Scout the enemy manually. 3, When you feel like you don't need the scout, set it to auto scout, and you will find it very helpful finding relics or small gold stone patches. thats my 2 cent. PS: In strategy games auto scout should not exist.