[R&F] Does the spy mission to reduce loyalty actually work?

[DrJambo]

if so what does it actually do? As far as I can see it doesn’t seem to do anything to the city’s current loyalty rating ...

Does it reduce the overall number or does it affect the rate of change?

 

[MACKA0ili]

Its was the overall number when I tried it out. I believe it's - 20 to the overall city loyalty, about as much as the mapuche lua.
Since it takes so long to trigger, you're better off runningra bread and circuses project or neutralizing a governor if you want to really affect loyalty

 

[darkace77450]

Since it takes so long to trigger, you're better off runningra bread and circuses project or neutralizing a governor if you want to really affect loyalty

Combining the two (project and mission) could be a really nasty loyalty swing if they both end at the same time. I presume you can also have multiple spies fomenting unrest in the same city at a given time.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

if so what does it actually do? As far as I can see it doesn’t seem to do anything to the city’s current loyalty rating ...

Does it reduce the overall number or does it affect the rate of change?

Its was the overall number when I tried it out. I believe it's - 20 to the overall city loyalty, about as much as the mapuche lua.
Since it takes so long to trigger, you're better off runningra bread and circuses project or neutralizing a governor if you want to really affect loyalty

It does reduce loyalty after at the end of the mission, but if the city has positive loyalty gain per turn it can recover faster than your spy can degrade it. I think the loyalty reduction depends on spy level.

Combining the two (project and mission) could be a really nasty loyalty swing if they both end at the same time. I presume you can also have multiple spies fomenting unrest in the same city at a given time.

Bread and Circuses doesn't give a large loyalty swing at completion, instead it increases/degrades loyalty by one per citizen of the city that's doing the project while it's active. If you're in a normal age it doubles the pressure, if you're in a golden age it increases it by two thirds, so you'll want the project in a city that has a high population and is pretty close to the border or use it in a few border cities at the same time while your spied are formenting unrest.
You can't have multiple spies do the same type of mission in the same city at the same time, but you can reduce loyalty with one spy and send aother one to neutralize a governor.