Who likes a scout as first prophet?

[Fal]

Tuidjy said:
or Tir-Na-Nog's Sidhe lords, I will prophetize those, and use them as thugs.

There really isn't any point of prophetizing Sidhe lords, apart from arrow fend and mistform, bless should be the first spell any sidhe lords cast

Anyways, Generally I do like prophetizing my scouts on the first turn unless I'm playing a nation with lvl3 priests. The other commander is normally set to patrol province while I set tax to 140%, of course this is not always the case. I don't see why should one prophetize a normal commander, the scout prophet can still join battle if you choose to, they are more flexible as they can hide, and will probably accumulate some afflications by the end of the expansion phase, just send him to a suicide mission once you have a better candidate. This strategy has worked out very well for me so far.

[thejeff]

It's a trade off.
A commander prophet is more resistant to stray arrows and the like. I also can't count the number of times I've had scout prophets sneak along with the army and thus miss the battle, so the flexibility can bite you.

Mostly I like to have the scout early on, so I can find out who's off in one direction at least. Sometimes you'll get lucky and find indy scouts early. In my last MP game it was almost a year before I had any. EA is especially bad.

[chrispedersen]

Entirely situational.

Do I start with a flying pretender? A scout can help me find a low defense site that I can pick off.

Do I need to spread dominion. Did I start next to a imprisoned low dominion opponent?

Am I yomi, with two starting scouts - or one of the two races whos scouts command troops?

Do I need the extra leadership that prophetizing can result in?

Do I want to deprive others of a slot in the Hall of Fame?
Many times, if you send your scout into the combat they will both HOF.

Am I playing a bless strategy? More importantly, will my pretender build allow me to purchase a sacred leader as well as a full build out of sacreds.. aka .. will I need a prophet for the divine blessing.

I guess my answer is this. The first few turns are: grab as much land as possible. Stake as much land as you can. If a prophet helps you more than intel... you prophetize.

[Saulot]

Unless I have something specific in mind with a particular nation, I'll likely prophetize the most expensive commander, just to save on upkeep.

[NTJedi]

Fal said:

I don't see why should one prophetize a normal commander, the scout prophet can still join battle if you choose to, they are more flexible as they can hide, and will probably accumulate some afflications by the end of the expansion phase,

Reasons to choose the starting commander:

Many starting commanders have an upkeep of 5 or higher... this may not seem like much yet after 20_turns that's 100_gold. The scout has an upkeep of barely above 1.

Most starting commanders have better stats and equipment than the starting scout. One lucky arrow can strike the scout unless the scout is stashed way in the back. The starting commanders(some mounted) have shields allowing more flexibiltiy with where they can stand in battle and how they participate in battle.

Scouts have stealth yet they also have some negative traits such as zero leadership and poor equipment. The Markata scout has very good stealth where it would be worth considering for a dominion kill on a neighbor, the typical 10 stealth doesn't justify worthiness of being a prophet in my view.

just send him to a suicide mission once you have a better candidate. This strategy has worked out very well for me so far.

Ideally you don't want your prophet dead for any amount of turns because his very existence promotes your dominion.

[DonCorazon]

Does prophetizing a unit remove its upkeep?

[NTJedi]

DonCorazon said:
Does prophetizing a unit remove its upkeep?

yes

[MaxWilson]

Fal said:
There really isn't any point of prophetizing Sidhe lords, apart from arrow fend and mistform, bless should be the first spell any sidhe lords cast

Although it can be really annoying when a self-blesser misses himself in his blessing. Argh! Prophetizing would remove that possibility.

One reason I usually don't prophetize the scout is that he's usually the only scout I have for much of the first year, until I find indy scouts. My capital is busy building other stuff.

-Max

[Ironhawk]

I almost always patrol on the first turn so I almost always need my starting commander for that. As a result the scout is usually made into my prophet. I dont find that it detracts in any significant way from using him (never had one killed by a stray arrow/spell).

And the first-turn patrol gives you a significant edge over other nations at a time when it counts most. You may not think much of it, but if I get to a chokepoint province 1 turn before you cause I had just enough gold to get my starting force going sooner, you will be kicking yourself.

[Lingchih]

Ironhawk said:
I almost always patrol on the first turn so I almost always need my starting commander for that. As a result the scout is usually made into my prophet. I dont find that it detracts in any significant way from using him (never had one killed by a stray arrow/spell).

And the first-turn patrol gives you a significant edge over other nations at a time when it counts most. You may not think much of it, but if I get to a chokepoint province 1 turn before you cause I had just enough gold to get my starting force going sooner, you will be kicking yourself.

Yes, these are exactly the reasons that I prophetize the scout. I am usually high taxing/patrolling on the first turn, and I want to get a prophet made quickly. He can then travel along with the army, smiting and whatnot, and as long as you are careful, you can set him to move and not sneak. When he finally gets killed (and in my experience, this will be a long time in the future), you can make a better unit into your Prophet.