espionage: do you change the slider?

[Angst]

lol wise reply

 

[eric_]

I only change the slider if my points drop below a rival, or if I'm about to war with or am actively warring with someone. I'm a HUGE fan of "support city revolt."

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

am i the only one who leaves it at 0%? i can't bring myself to sacrifice research/income for espionage. i have heard some of you change the slider just for a war to use the city revolt mission and then bring it back down, so i might just try that now, but usually i am so desperate for research so i dunno...

In the industrial/modern age, it is VERY worth it to drop everything to 0% and espionage to 100% for 1 or 2 turns after each tech researched (unless you are struggling in researched). If you focus your EP on your biggest rival (or the rival with the most EP against you), then you can even the playing field, or even fly past them in EP. Then you can spam a bunch of spies and ruin their society.

I've only done this in a couple of my games and it always works better when you are well ahead in tech. Generally, I don't really adjust the EP slider tho.

 

[Thyrwyn]

a settled spy gives 12 EP, Scotland Yard increases EP by 100%, so if you build Scotland Yard with the second spy it not only gives you 12 EP (double the first spy) but will also increase all EP from that since from then on.

If you are getting your great Spies from Spy Specialists (and not the Great Wall) then you might consider using the 1st Great Spy to build a Scotland Yard in the Capitol. Your Palace provides +8 ep, the Couthouse provides +2 ep, and the Spy Specialist provides +4 ep. Scotland Yard (+100% ep) would add +14 ep; Great Spy only adds +12.

 

[Enigma256]

i don't settle it in my capitol, i have a designated spy city, with lots of farms to support the specialists

 

[Fjordson]

No - because I really neglect espionage and the times which I use it for city revolts and such, i will have built up enough points so - I wont need to change the slider

 

[Imperator1984]

No - because I really neglect espionage and the times which I use it for city revolts and such, i will have built up enough points so - I wont need to change the slider

In the past i've usually played Rhyes and Fall 600 a.d on Emperor but I got really annoyed with my outer territories always declaring independance so I dumbed it down to Monarch. Too bad there isn't a "Raze City" or "Genocide" option in order to prevent rebellion.

But anyways I joined this forum because I don't know how to use Espionage. I didn't even know what an "EP" was until I came here.

So overtime you build up these "EP's" and each spy task costs a certain amount?

What's with the EP "weight" on the Espionage Screen? The more EP's I use do I lose money? If I designate many EP's towards a specific civ do EP's automatically deduct themselves from other civ's?

 

[SPQR300]

Wow. They do me all the time. You playing some easy difficulty setting?

I play on monarch. I don't know what the reason is... I use solver's patch.

 

[Nickzilla]

What's with the EP "weight" on the Espionage Screen? The more EP's I use do I lose money? If I designate many EP's towards a specific civ do EP's automatically deduct themselves from other civ's?

I'll try to explain how EP weight works...

Every turn your cities make a certain amount of EPs. On the espionage screen it will show all the civs, and how many EPs go into each. This will usually be an even amount for every civ.

However, adjusting weight will prioritize certain civs over others, so it will stop addding EPs to unweighted civs, but won't take the EPs you currently have against them away.

And EPs won't really mess with your money, unless you're using the EP slider.

 

[alpaca]

Basically, if you set a weight, how it works is this:

- Add up all the assigned weights. Let's call the sum "s"

- For each civ, divide that civ's weight by s (if "w_c" is the civ's weight: w_c/s) and multiply the result with the number of EP you generate per turn (I'll call it "t" for total). This will tell you how much EP you spend on each civ. Round down.

If there are any EP left, assign them from the top to each civ (I think, not 100% sure on this last step).

For example, if you have four civs and 27 points per turn:

Civ A has weight 1 (w_a = 1)
Civ B has weight 4 (w_b = 4)
Civ C has weight 2 (w_c = 2)
Civ D has weight 0 (w_d = 0)

s = 1+4+2+0 = 7

w_a/s * t = 27/7 -> 3
w_b/s * t = 108/7 -> 15
w_c/s * t = 54/7 -> 7
w_d/s * t = 0

Now we have 2 EP left which are assigned to Civs A and B and the end result is:

ep_a = 4
ep_b = 16
ep_c = 7
ep_d = 0


You should definitely try playing with Espionage. On the higher difficulty settings and if you adjust things a bit in your favor (i.e. you have a holy city of your state religion, use a city without Espionage defense and with trade routes - and if possible near to your capital) you can save a ton of commerce and stay on par with your rivals, especially if they don't want to trade techs with you (which happens pretty often).

 

[Civsassin]

I've used espionage in the late game when I am going for the win. For example, when I begin building the spaceship, I will crank it up to 40 or 50 percent since I am flush with money, and I don't want anyone messing with my progress.

 

[LordMachiavelli]

I keep it at 0% until somewhere after the classical era usually. By then I've got enough income to keep sci up at 60%-70%, and I bump the ep up to 10%.

I also love to send my first GS exploring other realms before I bring him back and settle him.

LM

 

[TheWilltoAct]

lol... are all great people invisible when they stroll about?

 

[moggfanatic]

Just the Gspy

 

[brianb1974]

I never use the slider early on.

But late in the game, I sometimes run 100% espionage for a few turns to put a city into revolt or steal a tech. Both of these can be a very efficient use of your commerce.

Personally, I've never set up a city to specialize in espionage. But the idea might have some merit, so I want to try it.

 

[Mik1984]

Normally 0%, but if required I put it for 100% (or the break even value if I'm out of gold) for couple turns if I need to.

OT: I sometimes put the culture slider to 10%.

 

[Supr49er]

... I use it for techstealing...

... while at war ...

Techstealing and War. Otherwise it's at 0.

 

[bardolph]

When behind in techs, the espionage slider is a good way to catch up if your neighbors are tech leaders.

 

[grommit5]

10% most games

 

[TBT]

I like to be able to see what other civs are researching because it helps me to get techs that give free great persons/techs first and avoid futile researching some expensive religion techs. To achieve this on my level (noble) I must keep the espionage slider on 20%, only sometimes 10% is enough.
However 20% seems a bit overkill as I become a spying leader - I guess 15% would be just enough but it's impossible unfortunately.