Espionage slider higher difficulties

[Erlend78]

Hi!

I usually play Immortal. I'm wondering how much you prioritize to see the other Civ's research early on, especially your one or two main tech-traders.

Is there a certain time when you set the slider up for some turns, to get enough points to see what the tech-guys like Mansa is researching? If you bulb Philo you can usually catch up in Tech, but wouldn't it be far easier if you could plan your research in relation to what your tech-friends is researching? The downside is of course that putting the espionage slider up lowers your research and/or gold for some turns.

 

[Qactus]

Usually you don't need to raise the slider at all if you just want to track one AI's tech choices.
So I just direct all my EP to the one strong techer that will most likely trade away his techs (ideally Mansa if he's in the game - if not then Asoka, Pericles, etc.) right from the start.
Then I'd only need the slider for spying on additional targets. But I find that it's usually sufficient to monitor their tech progress via the tech screen, since they won't trade monopoly techs anyway.

 

[Erlend78]

@ Qactus

I see. I'm in a game now where im friendly with Vici and Mansa is also there. I have finished Literature and wondering what to research next. It's a Deity game so at this point they are ahead in tech. I am pretty far from seeing their research at this point although i switched all my points on Vici when i met her. I researched some steps into CoL but then Vici got it. Guess i can trade it to Mansa anyway. In a few turns i can bulb Philo and hopefully catch up.

If i have marble i think the research-path up to Lit is pretty easy. I usually trade Aest for Alpha, and hopefully Aest for IW++ with another civ. But from Lit i'm always a bit confused about where to go next. I usually go for a succesful Liberalism-race, but i'm not sure if my road from Lit to Lib is the most effective.

 

[Chase_2_Rabbits]

Like Qactus says, just focusing all your early points on one AI is usually enough to track their tech path. If not, meh. I'll cope using the tech trade screen. I only ever use the espionage slider if I'm running an Espionage Economy. Compass is often a decent CoL/MC/Calendar trade bait monopoly tech that the AI doesn't usually prioritise, if you've got good trading partners - even if it's pretty pointless in itself on non-water maps.

From Lit, I thought it was pretty standard to go for Music to grab the Artist for a Golden Age (and open up MT to Lib Cuirs) and then CS, Paper, Philo, Nationalism and Education with some bulbing help.