[BTS] Defensive Spies

[photophor]

I'm playing Brennuss and Napoleon is giving me some problems with espionage. He has destroyed buildings and my espionage slider is at 20% just to keep damage to the minimum.

As a short term solution I'm making spies for defensive espionage. This idea comes from the manual which states that spies can see and intercept enemy spies.

Other units such as a horse archer would be set to sentry mode and would awake if an opposing unit were to come into range. So, on the basis of the manual's assertion, I'm placing three spies in cities that have been affected by espionage. [Edit: That's one spy in each of three cities]

Spies do not have a sentry mode!?

If I put the spy to sleep I imagine that it will not detect an enemy spy and that would defeat my objective.

On the other hand, if I leave the spy awake awaiting orders then I'm going to have to deal with three spies every turn forever. That just doesn't seem to fit with the way the game is designed.

So what am I doing wrong?

[Cam_H]

photophor,

I refer you to a couple of guides;

• Espionage Guide 1.0

• Cloak and Dagger: A Basic Guide to Espionage

One spy put to sleep (as in "Zzzzz" not !) in your cities and on any crucial resources is a good start. There will be a chance to auto-detect other nations' spies regardless of whether they're sleeping or not.

Both of the above linked guides go into more detail about defensive espionage.

Hope that helps.

[DMOC]

Or you can try a simple, albeit not always feasible solution: Kill the spying AI.

[Leventis]

I wouldn't touch the slider unless I'm the one looking to be aggressive with my EPs. Build spies instead and garrison them.

[Gliese 581]

By raising your EP slider you let the terrorist win. Planting a spy in targetted cities is enough if you're really bothered by it, otherwise I say let Nappy poison your water, I can understand the frustration of losing buildings though.

[Infantry#14]

Use counterespionage on the ai

[photophor]

Originally Posted by Cam_H

One spy put to sleep (as in "Zzzzz" not !) in your cities and on any crucial resources is a good start. There will be a chance to auto-detect other nations' spies regardless of whether they're sleeping or not.
Hope that helps.

Thank you.

The writer of "Espionage Guide 1.0" seems to suggest that it was neither tested nor based on experience at the time of writing.

[JEELEN]

Raising the espionage rate is a good countermeasure in itself, as it increases your espionage points, making it harder to spy against you. (Great) Spies may be used repeatedly against a target and if succesful, become more succesful; so you'll need a couple of Spies of your own as well. (Although 3 per city seems a bit excessive; I suspect the spying was so succesful because of more espionage points against you by the AI. I always keep track of enemy espionage points in order not to fall behind; you can also give specific civs priority via the Espionage button. A trick I use to raise Esp points is to lower Science 1 turn before any advance and raise the Esp rate; it gives you Esp points you otherwise wouldn't get. As a side-effect, higher Esp point rate also gives you Intel on other civs. But I'm sure the articles cover all this in depth.)

[Jaaboo]

It's a bit hard to spy on your neighbors when rocks are falling out of the skies and guys with swords and guns are killing everyone.

[vicawoo]

Unless he has the great wall, he gets no multipliers, which sabotage missions need to be cost effective. I have had many a games where the AI will spend countless points sabotaging my tile improvements, which get improved one turn later.
You can place a spy, you can also change your religion from his for a severe penalty, reduce cultural pressure, and focus all your espionage on him.

In a zero sum game, if he spends his points on sabotage missions and you spend it on stealing his monopoly techs and inciting revolts, you come out way ahead.

[Baldyr]

I'm a bit ambivalent about creating points. Using the slider seems wasteful to me - as my high end cities will generate less of whatever their specialization is. And assigning Spy specialists in smaller developing cities seems like a poor solution because those cities really need all the they can produce - in order to get all the necessary buildings in place.

The option I usually end up using is the Infiltration mission with a Great Spy, since I supplement my Great Scientist points with a Spy in my research cities. (My local governor is mostly all for this idea, by the way. ) I've also experimented with using the National Park wonder in order to run free Spy specialists with the Scotland Yard wonder, in the late game.

Any thoughts or advice?