How does Spy spread culture?

[Blkbird]

What exactly is the Active Espionage Mission "Spread Culture"? Does it increase the percentage of my civ's population in a foreign city, so it would sonner join my civ? Or does it change percentage of my influence on a tile that is under both mine and foreign influence, so it would sooner become under my control?

Right now I have a spy in foreign territory, but on the Espionage Screen, the "Spread Culture" line is blank (no number) for all cities - even though the Spy is current at one of those cities (and has not been moved this turn). So under what condition does "Spred Culture" become available?

 

[Blkbird]

"Spread Culture" still empty everywhere even though I have multiple Spies inside different civ's territories. Can anyone give me a clue?

 

[Bandobras Took]

Go to your Espionage screen (button in the right hand corner). Select a leader, and you'll get a list of costs.

In my game, spreading culture costs easily 10 times more than the next most expensive spy mission. I could wait all game and not be able to afford it.

This could be why it's not showing up.

 

[HiroHito]

this mission is completely ineffective, I must have blown thousands EP's on a viking city for a meager 25% (and it was at 7% or so).

 

[Willowmound]

I guess you use this to push a city "over the edge". Say it has already 50%. Another 20 would then make rather a difference.

 

[largedarryl]

It is a very expensive mission to perform. Do note that each city will cost differently depending on several factors. It is worth checking every city in the EPM screen to see what cities its available in.

 

[RedRalph]

Why would you ever do this intead of stealing several techs? ridicolous

 

[ConanDBarbarian]

Why would you ever do this intead of stealing several techs? ridicolous

Its a good option to have........What if you wanted to flip a city to get a rare resource like oil? You could also flip a city because of geographic reasons, like needing a port on that side of the continent or whatever. Maybe the city acts as a canal that seperates two continents and you want to control the waterways........You could have more advanced tech than them anyways.

 

[Bandobras Took]

For the same price as one culture mission to one city, I could poison and unhappy every single city, reduce them to size 2, and have enough left over to steal some tech. Seriously, I think the inject culture mission's a bit overpriced. It's quicker and cheaper to declare war and take the city.

 

[largedarryl]

What if you hav peaceful relations with your the target civ. I don't know how effective it is when it comes to culture flipping (or possibly getting the AI to liberate the city to you). In my current game I don't want to go to war with Brennus, but if my spy missions allow me to flip a key city then it will be more than worth the EP points.

 

[aronnax]

Cities flipping have confused me,

I have a Greek City that revolted to my chinese control, even though 65% of the city was greek, I have been influencing this city for centuries, the rate is 30% Them 70% Me, but i never got the city

 

[Bandobras Took]

What if you hav peaceful relations with your the target civ. I don't know how effective it is when it comes to culture flipping (or possibly getting the AI to liberate the city to you). In my current game I don't want to go to war with Brennus, but if my spy missions allow me to flip a key city then it will be more than worth the EP points.

Well, looking at the screenshot, if I poured all my EPs into Mansa, I'd have enough to inject culture once (not cause a flip, just inject culture) if I saved up for 210 turns. After another 210, I might be able to inject some more culture. Unfortunately, somebody will have won the space race by that point. Exactly what factors are making injecting culture so much more expensive than any other spy mission?

 

[Welnic]

Cities flipping have confused me,

I have a Greek City that revolted to my chinese control, even though 65% of the city was greek, I have been influencing this city for centuries, the rate is 30% Them 70% Me, but i never got the city

If they have enough military units in there it won't flip. And if you don't have open borders and the units can't leave because the city is surrounded by your culture there can be a lot of units in there.


All of the spy missions have a distance modifier, I'm not sure whether it is distance from your capital or something else. So it would cost different amounts for different cities. This mission might also be affected by the amount of culture that is already there. If it is a city that is on the verge of flipping the price might be more reasonable.

 

[Drago Askani]

Well, looking at the screenshot, if I poured all my EPs into Mansa, I'd have enough to inject culture once (not cause a flip, just inject culture) if I saved up for 210 turns. After another 210, I might be able to inject some more culture. Unfortunately, somebody will have won the space race by that point. Exactly what factors are making injecting culture so much more expensive than any other spy mission?

Well for one thing for stuff like that mission your spy needs to be placed for a long time for its "hasnt moved" discount. I dont know how high the discount can go. I usually Pop the mission I have planned (if expensive) after 5 turns for the 50% discount. I dont know if it can go higher, I alwas get nervous that my spy will be caught if I wait much longer....

*edit- Also if you mouse over the mission it will give you the % of everything that is modifying its current cost.

 

[Bandobras Took]

So if I wait five turns, it'll cost me 20000 instead of 40000? That's a relief.

But why does it cost 36000 more EPs than stealing a tech? That's a bit extreme, isn't it?

 

[Goombaz]

I wonder if you could make them all and for a while, and then pop the at about 2 pop?

I imagine it is expensive because it allows you to take a city during peacetime. That be powerful stuff.

 

[largedarryl]

I don't think its a big advantage in a SP game, but if you go to war with that civ, they will get more from the war.

 

[Drawmeus]

You can steal cities without going to war.

... get that?

It's extremely powerful. It's not always useful, but when it is, its back-breaking.

 

[Blkbird]

Sorry, guys, I'd love to join the discussion about if, when and how it's useful to Spread Culture, but my original problem is that I don't have the option at all:



As shown in the screenshot, one of my spies is currently in Karakorum - and hasn't moved this turn. However the "Spread Culture" line is empty. It has been like this all the time, for all cities.

Why is that?

 

[largedarryl]

That' because you don't have enough EP saved up to allow the mission. Also check every city in the list to see if it's available in any of the other cities.

EDIT: There are probably some other prerequisites not shown that need to be in place to allow for that mission. You probably need to have at least some cultural influence in the city prior to the mission.