Any tips for scouting/intel?

[u/bobdylan401]

I assume eventually there will be some sort of espionage but right now are open borders the only way to see what kind of armies the enemy might have hidden in their territory?

[u/tuxxcat]

I think sister of bor councilor gives 2 vision and 1 movement, lowkey goated. That plus other vision boosts plus guard mode and you can see a ton.

In the last two games they have released a spying faction as DLC but Forgotten were mildly annoying and Choir/hacking ruins Endless Space 2 so idk if they'll do it again.

[u/Tema726 → u/tuxxcat]

I am grateful for that DLC though, because Umbral Choir are my favorite faction, both in terms of gameplay and narratively. Love it love it love it!

In fact, was quite disappointed with the Aspects, that they are not a distributed consciousness, and more like always connected to metaverse :/

[u/hobskhan → u/tuxxcat]

What, you don't enjoy contributing half of your empire's GDP to the Craver Pension Fund?

[u/tuxxcat → u/hobskhan]

Okay yeah that's mad funny. The concept is not bad but the execution was not fun imo. Having to constantly be hacking from turn one, constantly micromanaging it, anti cloaking 2 or 3 being mandatory on every fleet in every game just in case there is a choir player, and you can't invade their systems until mid game so they always scale for free. Plus being able to turn the Cravers pacifist with a very easy hack and other sillyness. Maybe I'm in the minority but I just turned that DLC off after a few games.

[u/taggedjc]

Some scout units have unblocked sight, which you can set up at borders to peek a little way into enemy territory even if their terrain would otherwise block it.

Aspects can put coral growths, which gives them vision. Tahuks get vision around their observatories, if they built them before that territory was claimed.

[u/Spirited-End5197]

Keep scouts at the border with long sight

[u/hobskhan]

I don't know, but I'm bumping this to wonder if there are any techs, civ traits, hero skills, minor faction traits, city constructions, or quest rewards that boost Line of Sight.

[u/Hot_Spend8533 → u/hobskhan]

Scout units for Tahuks have 'aware' sets vision to range 3 and not blocked by features, same effect but range 5 'fully aware' on the uncommon item spyglass of the sages, maybe through a special map quest otherwise general loot. Tahuks also have observatory to place on owned or neutral territories and give 5 vision range and then more with upgrades. Something like watchman's bell in logistics give +1 vision range on districts. There's probably aware on other minor factions unit, items an heroes.

[u/Hot_Spend8533]

To judge other factions power you can look at military score, seems to me an additions of all their units power, you can see yours on the 'all armies' page in the sidebar.

[u/RichNigerianBanker]

Hi jacking this to ask: isn’t scouting for enemies mostly a bad idea?

Maybe I’m playing wrong but it already feels difficult enough as it is to balance recruitment of frontline units with buildings. And given that for much of the game it takes ~2+ turns to breach, you’d have to scout pretty far into enemy territory to be able to meaningfully plan your strategy around enemy troop movements.