How reliable are scout reports?
 

Title says it all; how reliable are the enemy force predicitons? How reliable are the estimates for neighboring a province vs with a spy? Will a spy ever lie and indicate a smaller force than there is in actuality?

Re: How reliable are scout reports?
 

I think in Dom2 there was margin of error - scout would report something within +-50% of the actual amount, spies would give more precise numbers.

Re: How reliable are scout reports?
 

Keep in mind also that the scout is just reporting what is there currently. Movement in friendly provinces happens before moving into enemy ones... so the enemy can drop a big stack onto it in the same turn you try to attack. They can also recruit units there too.

Re: How reliable are scout reports?
 

Not worth a flip against stealthy units.

I lost a battle in which the enemy had 113 surviving stealthy glamour units. I had a scout in the province. The report only mentioned the nonstealthy units. It reported just over 50 units when I could look in the messages and see 160 surviving nonrouted units at the end of the battle.

Re: How reliable are scout reports?
 

Glamorous units can never be observed while in friendly territory, no matter how you look.

Re: How reliable are scout reports?
 

What about when they are commanded by unstealthy commander? Would they be they still invisible to scouts?

Re: How reliable are scout reports?
 

The easiest answer to this question is to re-read his response. The answer is the same, with absolutely no qualifiers. You can never, under any circumstances, see units with glamour. It does not matter one bit whether they are hiding, sneaking, defending, patrolling, or any other order. They are completely invisible on the strategic map. Stealthy units that are hiding in friendly provinces are just as invisible.

Re: How reliable are scout reports?
 

IOW (In Other Words) : You might see their non-stealthy commander, but you won't see the glamorous troops. Kind of the opposite of glamorous individuals. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: How reliable are scout reports?
 

Interesting. So commander with glamour AND with stealth, such as Van, can build castle, search, preach, do whatever he wants without being observed by the enemy. Effectively castles will pop out of nowhere as far as your opponent concerned (unlike when you are building castle with scout, who becomes visible while he is performing "build" command.)

It's good to know, thanks.

Re: How reliable are scout reports?
 

There are no commanders with Glamour but without Stealth. Glamour gives a unit/commander an automatic Stealth +25, as well as the Glamour advantage of being unseen in friendly provinces.