What does this signify?

[dante alighieri]

Unless a major setback hits me, i'm probably going to win my latest game as the ethiopians via spaceship. I share a continent with Gilgamesh, Ramesses, Darius and Wang Kon. Darius is the closest in score to me but Wang Kon, last i looked has a border city with a lot of cavalry in it. I've started mass producing tanks and bombers and upgrading troops just in case....

Anyway, in the modern age Darius was beating me for awhile in techs because I beelined straight to computers and built the Internet. Once it was built I instantly knew all of the techs that he and the others had gotten and regained my lead. Then I looked and saw that both Darius and Ramesses had techs coming at stuff like 109 turns. WTF? It wasn't like that a minute ago. The only thing i can guess is that they both are going for cultural wins and have diverted all of their resources to it. (Good luck with that. I have 2 legendary cities, and it wasn't easy. I doubt either of them has the time left to do it). Does that sound about right? I guess they could also be hoarding money to build a giant army to attack me with, but Ramesses is my vassal, and Darius....well, he could stir up trouble, but I'm hoping he's not a crazy jerk. I'm thinking the cultural thing, which if fine with me. It'll keep them off of my back while I build my spaceship.

 

[AfterShafter]

The CPU sometimes either goes huge culture or huge espionage on the slider. Unless you're looking at them in anarchy, it's one of those.

 

[dante alighieri]

The CPU sometimes either goes huge culture or huge espionage on the slider. Unless you're looking at them in anarchy, it's one of those.

Eek! It might be espionage. Other than going nuts with my own science how can i combat it? i've got spies in practically every city, secruity bureaus, etc. I did get one alert a little earlier that an infiltrator had stolen the secret of refrigeration. No duh, it was darius. i know because i'd been wtaching the techs he had and didn't have. He was researching something else, but suddenly he has refrigeration.

 

[AfterShafter]

If the AI is stealing techs from you, they have either been A) focusing on you for a long time with you putting little into them, or B) going really, really heavy espionage. That's probably your answer.

As for how to fight it... Get a lot of EP yourself, dump a lot into the people who are likely spying on you, and put a spy, or later a security bureau, into each city you can afford to. The "espionage defense bonus" from spies and security bureaus do not stack - so have one or the other, not both. In the long run, security bureau is the obvious better choice (gives you EP and no unit upkeep) but you get spies way before them, so... There is no absolute defense against enemy espionage though - just ways to makeit more costly.

 

[Willowmound]

Tangential question: Do multiple spies on a single tile improve security? Or is one enough?

 

[ConanKND]

No, from what I've heard. There's a thread in the Strategy Forum about this, though.

 

[Willowmound]

No, as in they don't stack, or no as in one isn't enough?

 

[Walliard]

You only need one.

 

[Willowmound]

Fantabulous. Much obliged.

 

[PibbZ]

I still dont know if a security bureau only counts as defense for the city square itself, or for the entire bfc. Anyone know?

 

[BalbanesBeoulve]

Sometimes a civ goes to 100% gold to upgrade their units too.

 

[Polobo]

The thread mentioned previously only shows the security bureau affecting the city tile itself. You still want to places spies onto important tiles (forts, strategic resources).