[Phoenix-D]

"What about using colonizers as scouts, not just mine sweepers/detectors? Exactly how would a colonizer sweep mines anyway?"

In an old patch mine damage wouldn't stack, and would be erased after every mine. This meant a colonizer, with that huge, damage-soaking colony component, could take an infinite amount of hits from small low tech mines and survive.

It worked like so:
Small mine, two 100-damage wareads.
Colony component, 200kt resistance.

Mine warhead one explodes, does 100 damage to colony component. Since the component is still inact, the damage is lost. Mine warheads #2, 3,4,5,6,7..n do the same thing. The colony component absorbs 100n damage, when really it should have been taken out with the second warhead.

Phoenix-D