In both cases (wolf rider and scout) they work better than most nations scouts as being able to take advantage of an opporunity. NO, they dont work well against independents. But if you discover an AI then you might watch for unprotected provinces inside his domain and attack those.
You dont have to keep them. Crank the taxes to max and move on. You get gold, maybe drive the unrest too high fo him to use for gold/units even if he does get it back. Or put some defense into the place and see if you can hold it. 6 points on Jotun defence is worth twice that of any other nation.
Just those units can start a real nice hit-n-run conflict with some nation that doesnt even have a clue yet where you are to hit you back. Of course this works better with AI's than in multiplay since they WILL find you and they will start using defenses more. But pros and cons exist. In multi you seem to find back provinces undefended more often than against AI's. You just have to make use of it quicker since human players tend to learn faster
[ December 30, 2003, 14:04: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]