And no you cannot get a mini fleet to follow around the scout, sorry I missed that.

or you could stop being lazy and watch over it yourself. A little micro won't hurt you.

As I understood it, the idea was to 'limit' micromanagement. Not remove player skill entirely from the equation.

If the health of your scouts and information-gathering in general is of value to you, then dig in and micro the scouts. If you're tied up in combat, then park the scouts in strategic sectors (meaning, sectors where you genuinely need to be aware of enemy movement) and deal with what needs dealing with.

Building a scout doesn't entitle you to constant, risk-free, up-to-date information. Like most things in this game, you'll get a decent return on autopilot but you'll get a better return if you prioritize and take the time to manage it yourself. And remember, your opponent is working with the same restrictions as you are.

Besides, at the stage of the game you're talking about, it's not like the few extra credits that go towards replacing scouts is going to break the bank.

Since I only play the AI, I've actually stopped bothering with scouts after the first few. Especially with the Advent tech to view stuff with culture and the phase jump detection techs.

i agree that when you are fighting on 2-3 fronts that it is hard to micro manage 2-5 scouts and consentrate on the battle. i know the AI micro manages and tht often it uses the javelins to scout - this is something the computor was built for in the first place. i agree it would be nice if there was an up grade that would allow them to stop at a safe place where there were no enemy ships - like a dead astroid / astoid belt / gas giant / space junk if they were at 50% or lower in both shields and hull plating.