What to do with your first spy

[vinstafresh]

Sometimes you get a spy when you defeat a barbarian village.

Do this if you play against:

- France: find Paris and destroy the cathedral which will end their culture onslaught
- America: find Washington and steal their great person
- Greece: find Athens and destroy the courthouse
- Aztec: find Tenochtitlan and steal their gold

Do this if you are:

- France: fortify the spy in Paris to counter the cathedral attack
- American: fortify the spy in Washington to counter the great person attack
- Greece: fortify the spy in Athens to counter the courthouse attack. Since the courthouse isn't that valuable early in the game, I'd rather use the spy offensively

In 99% of the other cases, I'd use the spy to attack the capital and weaken their defense. I'd use it to steal gold when I'm at 88 gold or so and it doesn't seem I'll be getting 12 gold from somewhere else in the next couple of turns to get the free settler (other than setting my workers to gold in stead of science).

[TooTrickyFoU07]

When another person gets a Spy from a village, its really hard to counter, as researching Writing and spending 25 production points (if it isn't free) is too long to react to a free Spy.

To counter this, place a unit in a chokepoint or a little away from your city. Unless accompanied, this should make catching the would-be James Bond from entering your city, and you can now use it yourself!

[bonafide11]

I love taking Great People from America with spies from villages... Somehow, I don't think my opponents who play as America enjoy it as much.

[Masquerouge]

In single player, I usually use mine steal a great person if available, and if not, I steal gold.

[KAZUY4]

Depending of my adversary. If I have a American, I'll go and stole his GP, against a French, cathedral and so on, but usually if I have a target lock I'll go for fortifications if he has strong defenses or destroy a wall.

[Im_An_Eejit]

Why steal 25 gold from the aztecs, when you can sell the spy for 25 gold on the spot?

[eireksten]

The aztecs have probably used their gold on a warrior or something already...

When I'm french, I always keep an eye out for offensive spies, and usually manage to take them with some unit or another. I most often already have a spy in Paris when this happens, though, so the only difference is that I now have gotten myself another free spy...

[vinstafresh]

The Aztecs could have more gold, because they start out with 25 gold. They might have more gold because of the barbarian villages and get closer to 100 gold. I agree, this doesn't hold up against human Aztecs, since everyone buys a warrior at turn 1.