Do Spies work?

[mbrown]

I have built the intelligenec agancy several times.
I have attempted many times to plant spies only to get the message ... "your spy has been caught and killed. Emperor so and so is not pleased"

Am I doing something wrong or is this simply the law oif averages.

 

[Deatvert]

law of averages

 

[Granite88]

Yeah, alot of times that happens. Either re-load or just try again in a few turns. Remember, if you fail, wait (i think it's four turns?) before trying to infiltrate said civ again.

 

[JustBen]

Nothing to do with the law of averages... You just probably never read the line of text that's hidden the-gods-only-know-where that says that if you fail to plant a spy, you are guaranteed failure when planting a spy in the same civ for the next 2-4 turns. So wait 4 turns and try again.

And also remember that reloading (if you're into that) will only work if you've taken care to turn on the "Re-seed random number generator" option at the beginning of your game.

 

[MajorFallout]

You may also notice that the type of governments the AI has (specifically Anarchy, Republic, and Communism - I think) and if the civ is a war will give you a much better chance of planting a spy.

 

[JustBen]

Good call, MF -- the Commies will be better at thwarting your spies and if you're Red your spies are more likely to work (it's not worth it, though!).

Don't know about being at war, though. The AI is more likely to be communist in the middle of a war, though.