[BtS] Super Spies

Super Spies v1.23
For BtS 3.13 - Bhruic's patch included

Download Super Spies v1.23
Please note: Super Spies is NOT save game compatible, you will need to start a new game
If you have a previous version of Super Spies you will need to remove it before installing the newest one as some of the file layout has changed.

Description:
Super Spies offers a new promotion and xp gain mechanic to spies in BtS. Xp can be gained through doing missions, catching other spies or having buildings like Intelligence Agencies.

The promotions currently consist of several different lines:

Logistics - Increases spy's movement.
Deception - Aids in avoiding being caught while on the move or during a mission.
Security - Aids in catching other spies, increases sight radius and improves counter espionage missions
Improvise - Decreases the time necessary to attain the maximum possible discount on mission cost.
Loyalty - Prevents spy from giving away nation's identity when caught
Instigator - Improves unrest and city revolt missions
Alchemist - Improves poison water missions and unlocks fallout effect for improvement sabotage
Escape Artist - Allows a spy a chance to escape their captors even after a mission is foiled



A New mission:

Assassination - Allows spies to eliminate any unit that finds itself alone, regardless of whose territory it is in.

AI Changes:

Better Global Espionage Use - AIs will now prioritize their espionage targets by focusing on tech leaders and enemies rather than simply having an ever escalating EP war with everyone.

Counter Espionage - AIs will now use counter espionage units against enemies and those who have proven they cannot be trusted (those whose spies they've caught). This is a large change from vanilla where they were never used at all.

Better Mission Choice - AIs will now prioritize tech thievery while avoiding petty needless strikes against people they don't even care about.

Lastly Super Spies now offers a counter espionage ticker to let you keep track of who you're defending against and to who you've let your guard down:



Instructions:
1. Download the mod. http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=8096
2. Extract contents into your Mods folder: ..\Sid Meiers Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Mods\
3. Launch BtS and switch to mod Super Spies
4. Play as you normally would.

Future Plans:
New Missions - Add bribery (should be easy to do now that assassination is done as a model), and explore other possibilities as well.

Note to Modders:
All of my SDK coding should be marked with a TSHEEP tag. Most of the XML has been reverted to modular, but I haven't retried doing the promotions as I'm fairly certain it won't work.

The python changes for the Counter Espionage Ticker are listed in the Readme.

Final Note:
This is my first released mod and I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what I can do to improve it or expand upon this concept.

Thanks!

Wow it sounds very interesting. I always wondered why spies in bts can't get more experience - it could be real cool to get own "james bond"

Much like aircraft gaining XP, this is something that needed to be in for a while!
As an idea, could Scotland Yard or Great Spies in a city also increase XP for Spies in much the same way as Great Generals do? Or could Great Spies be added to other Spies as Generals add to other units?

It sounds very good.

Cool stuff. New missions would be cool, like assassination of a unit leader (to temporary demorolize a unit (getting a negative promotion)).

Sounds good Trojan, was just reading about spys on the other forum you posted in, so ill download and give this mod a go. Your Super Spy mod could open a new dynamic in hostile confrontations with other civs, especially useful if aggressive assaults on your enemies are not an option for whatever reason.

Nice idea, it'll also be cool to be able to give these promotions through buildings and civics to simulate a society that places more emphasis on better spies.

This also makes a good reason for me to update my Commerce Rates mod to allow greater specification of experience points so that increased espionage rates give extra XP only to Spies.

Sounds interesting. I'll have to check this out and see if it will be useful for Dragonia II.

Samael said:

Much like aircraft gaining XP, this is something that needed to be in for a while!
As an idea, could Scotland Yard or Great Spies in a city also increase XP for Spies in much the same way as Great Generals do? Or could Great Spies be added to other Spies as Generals add to other units?

Click to expand...

Intelligence Agencies give 2xp, Scotland Yard gives 3xp and Security Bereaus give a free Security I promotion. Nothing for Great Spies just yet, but maybe in the near future

Great area of the game to improve on that has been somewhat ignored by the mod community. Well done!

Cheers,
ripple01

Great and interesting idea, shall try it soon.

Version 1.1 is up

Promotions to improve unrest, unhealthiness and city riot missions
Security promotions now aid in counter espionage missions (they directly increase the cost penalty it inflicts)
New Loyalty promotion for when being found out is not an option
New Escape Artist promotion for the blood thirsty dictator who cares about his saboteurs
Finally a new counter espionage ticker so you can easily see when it's time to send those lazy security spies back to work

Enjoy!

This looks really, really cool! Very creative Trojan Sheep. I'll definitely be trying this mod out!

Few questions:

1. Is this able to be combined with the BUG mod? I think they both use a modified CvMainInterface so it may be tricky unless they can be combined fairly easily?

2. Does/can the AI use these missions, and if so, do they use them appropriately? I.e. will an AI spy with Security be used to perform counter-espionage missions more often and will a spy with Alchemist or Instigator be used to poison water or create unhappiness accordingly?

3. I really hope you keep this mod updated, lol. Particularly with regards to Bhruic's patches and the proposed official patch!

Looking forward to the enabling of the other missions.

DrJambo said:

1. Is this able to be combined with the BUG mod? I think they both use a modified CvMainInterface so it may be tricky unless they can be combined fairly easily?

Click to expand...

My addition to CvMainInterface is very small and noted in the readme, although python merging can be a pain in the neck it should be relatively easy to anyone who has done it before (I'll be facing this challenge myself when I merge this with the homebrew mod I use that also has other python changes). If anyone runs into a road block with this I'll be happy to offer help where I can.

DrJambo said:

2. Does/can the AI use these missions, and if so, do they use them appropriately? I.e. will an AI spy with Security be used to perform counter-espionage missions more often and will a spy with Alchemist or Instigator be used to poison water or create unhappiness accordingly?

Click to expand...

My goals thus far have been to simply get the core features of the mod working, but once that's done I'm definitely tackling the AI. My biggest complaint about the base AI is that they don't seem to value counter espionage at all even when they're being hit hard by sabotage and other nasties, yet they'll happily waste their EP blowing up the same copper mine over and over again when you're in the industrial era.

DrJambo said:

3. I really hope you keep this mod updated, lol. Particularly with regards to Bhruic's patches and the proposed official patch!

Click to expand...

I certainly intend to, CIV has been an addiction for me since it first came out and I don't see myself going to rehab any time soon

Cool. I'll give combining a try and let you know if I run into problems. As the code change is simple and highlighted in the readme, I don't imagine it will be difficult.

One initial thought as I read through the readme - the promotions that affect the length of counter-espionage might be a little too powerful, since performing counter-espionage always has a 100% success rate if I recall correctly (assuming spy doesn't get caught en route!). Maybe the promotions should impart a smaller reward than a 50% increase in time per level? Say 25%?

Tweaking the AI to make sensible decisions in relation to the promotions it selects will obviously be a big task, particularly as spies are invisible and there'll be no way of knowing what the AI's doing with them promotion-wise! Good luck!

Hi again,

Assuming I have installed this correctly, I'm getting several xml error messages when trying to start Civ. They all say:

"Tag: UNITCOMBAT_SPY in Info class was incorrect
Current XML file is: xml\Units/CIV4PromotionInfos.xml"

Any ideas?

EDIT: I'm trying to install this straight into the Custom Assets folder so I can use the mod in my currently active game. I'm beginning to wonder whether it will pick up the Module folder this way?

In fact I'd better ask the question:

Is it possible to install this mod directly into the Custom Assets folder and have it load by default into all games, rather than having to install it through loading a mod?

If so, how?

I don't believe you can use modular XML with the Custom Assets folder, mods using modular XML require a specific ini flag in their mod.ini to enable this so I'm not sure.

One way to get around this would be to merge in all the changes from the modular XML into the full XML files from BTS and put those in the custom assets instead.

I'm guessing you're trying to use this with the BUG mod which is why you're using custom assets? If so you could always move all the mod's files into BUG's folder and set BUG as a modular XML mod (if it's not already).

DrJambo said:

One initial thought as I read through the readme - the promotions that affect the length of counter-espionage might be a little too powerful, since performing counter-espionage always has a 100% success rate if I recall correctly (assuming spy doesn't get caught en route!). Maybe the promotions should impart a smaller reward than a 50% increase in time per level? Say 25%?

Click to expand...

I may need to clear up the text on that promotion, it doesn't affect the duration of counter espionage, it affects the cost penalty it inflicts and is directly addititve. By default I believe counter espionage increases costs by 200%, with security 1 this would become 250% for instance. The reason the duration looks so long in my screen shot is because I play on Marathon

DrJambo said:

Tweaking the AI to make sensible decisions in relation to the promotions it selects will obviously be a big task, particularly as spies are invisible and there'll be no way of knowing what the AI's doing with them promotion-wise! Good luck!

Click to expand...

I'm thinking I'll just make spies a visible unit for testing purposes, should work so long as there's no war and it will be pretty darn funny to watch too.

Ok, I think I can get it to work through Custom Assets. That is as you've just suggested through combining xml files with the originals. Not too arduous a task thankfully. Having done this, it now seems work ok for starting new custom games. However, it unfortunately doesn't seem to be savegame compatible which is indeed a shame. It crashes when I try to load one up.

Do you think that's an impossibility?