Re: Master scout on Insane
I do not think it will work, at least not by itself. Even if you play on a large map with few AIs, so that you actually have room to expand, you will be surprised by how fast the AI grows. I have an AAR with Master Scout and Insane here. I do not abuse pioneers (i.e. I have not settled any cities by turn 40, I do not make outposts before monsters have been cleared, etc...)
But still, here are a few facts:
On turn 22, Yithril's capital had 165 citizens, 96 research, and 170 production.
On turn 40, Magnar's power was 1676. Good luck trying to get them to surrender.
On turn 42: Yithril is by far the weakest nation (I am crushing them) but they have 5 heroes, and no less that 12 trained units. Their single city grows by 30 citizens per turn.
I'm not disagreeing with you. Master Scout is broken - I started a topic on that myself. But by itself, I do not think it will beat insane, not unless you get one Hell of a starting position.