A few questions about espionage

I've been reading some of the online strategy about spying (in addition to playing of course) and I think that I have a pretty strong grasp on almost all of the mechanics that go into. I just have a few things that I've wondered about, and I was wondering if anybody else had any answers for them (or if they've never really been addressed in the game):

1: When you "establish surveillance" will you get the full benefits (if partial, which ones?), like seeing their borders, seeing what buildings they have, seeing what their plans are, seeing what the potential for spying is, etc. after the first turn has passed, or must you wait the entire time that it takes to establish it?
2: Will any diplomatic hits be taken and/or are you able to be caught just from establishing surveillance?
3: When a spy gets caught, is it only after the turns for "steal tech" is up, or can it happen at any point in the allocated "steal tech" time table?

(Basically for 1-3, I'm wondering if I can establish surveillance from city to city without stealing and without risk of getting caught).

4: Are there any tangible benefits to using a diplomat that is promoted verses un-promoted?
5: Are there benefits for leaving diplomats in civ's for long periods of time verses just long enough to see their votes and/or trade votes with them?

1. While Establishing Surveillance you gain every Spy bonus except progress toward Tech Stealing.
2. Diplomatic hits from Spying only occur if you Spies are caught Stealing Tech or if an AI becomes upset with Coups in their CS Allies.
3. Spies are only killed when Tech Theft is processed. However, I have long suspected that whether a Spy is going to die is decided long before that exact turn, so save whenever you are One Turn from Technology Theft (unless you feel that is cheating.)
4. Levels only matter for Spies, not Diplomats.
5. There is no added benefit in leaving Diplomats in place over time.

That's good to know, so conceivably, if I didn't necessarily want the risk of a diplo hit, but I wanted to make my rounds around the other Civilizations (get a look at their base and buildings and stuff), I could do that without risk?

1) You could bounce your spies around to get more intelligence while trading off stealing techs. High culture influence would help this a lot.

2) no risk of diplomatic penalties until the stealing is done.

3) Can only be caught at the very end of the process.

4) Might be an improvement in the Intrigue you can pick up. Not certain about that.

5) Leaving a diplomat can find more Intrigue (nearly worthless, except for minor diplomatic boosts or the very rare warning of an attack), or can get a warning of a wonder being built.

After playing last night, I definitively concluded that while establishing surveillance you don't get any information until you're actually established and stealing techs (like the ability to look into their city, see what their buildings are and how much their producing). However, I wasn't able to tell definitively if this precludes you from getting tipped off about their plans through alerts.

With BNW, you can get basically the same info with diplomats, (but without the tech stealing). You still have to wait for them to finish making introductions.

The level of the diplomat does matter. I've been informed that a civ is planning a sneak attack against another civ but they aren't sure who yet the turn AFTER they've declared war on that unknown civ.

I think that I started taking advantage of around the time I made this post (after I had done some reading about espionage) is taking advantage of the View City feature. It's pretty awesome to get an inside look to which kind of buildings they have, what they're making, and their outputs. It's nice to know the actual progress of their wonders, instead of just knowing that they're making it (as you can time it to snake them to it, or you can back off if you're nowhere close). I also have a strategy of putting a spy in a city that I'm about to invade to know what I'm up against, or alternatively if it's even worth taking (more feasible towards the end of the game where you have spies to spare).

DarkestOnion said:

5. There is no added benefit in leaving Diplomats in place over time.

Click to expand...

Actually there is one, in a particular case. If you are going for a cultural victory and the targeted civ has a different ideology, the Diplomat will grant a bonus to your tourism effect toward that civ for as long as your Diplomat stays there schmoozing.