Marathoner
Warlord
Is there any purpose for spy hideouts? I can't see any use for them. Am I missing something?
Hideouts
- Thread starter Marathoner
- Start date
Nick Hynds
Chieftain
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2013
- Messages
- 37
No there is no use for them. They are simply a place for your spies to be before you meet anyone eles
Aaron90495
King
I guess if you only had one city, had two spies, and hadn't seen any other cities, you would have one in your capital but would have one excess spy, which you would put in a hideout. Although being in a hideout is just being idle, really. There IS no use.
Yes, there is one use, but its limited.
Say you have 2 cities and 2 spies and want to swap the spies.
You need to move one to the hideout to make room for the other one to move.
Then you move the one that's in the hideout where you want to.
(All in the same turn; you don't want to leave a spy in a hideout between turns.)
Say you have 2 cities and 2 spies and want to swap the spies.
You need to move one to the hideout to make room for the other one to move.
Then you move the one that's in the hideout where you want to.
(All in the same turn; you don't want to leave a spy in a hideout between turns.)
^ This is the only time it use the hideout.
"Holding pen" would be a better description than "hideout"
"Holding pen" would be a better description than "hideout"
Most of the time, you don't need the hideout to do this. Just assign one spy to a different random city, move the second spy to the original spy's location, and then reassign that first spy back to what you originally wanted (but couldn't since it was occupied at the time). It does take an extra step, but you don't technically need to use the hideout. (This assumes you are aware of at least 3 cities).
Hideouts exist as a default place for idle spies. You couldn't assume they were in cities (like your capital) since there is a limit of one spy per city (for a given player) and you could be playing an isolated OCC for all we know.
Also, look at the case of Advanced Starts. If you start in an advanced era, you might have multiple spies from the beginning but don't have any cities yet. So the spies will need to be located *somewhere* other than a city. Hence they created the hideout.
Biologist
Emperor
I feel like the hideout should have some kind of utility. Say, if you leave a Recruit in the hideout for 30 turns, they could undergo training and become an Agent. That would sacrifice the use of the spy for those 30 turns but guarantee a promotion. That could be helpful if you intend to dedicate a spy entirely to rigging city state elections (and preventing rival coups/rigging).
Sadly, not needed, just place whichever spy you want to promote in your capital. It will probably get promoted much faster than 30 turns from multiple AIs trying to tech steal.
Aaron90495
King
My idea is you could be last in science, and it takes 50+ turns to steal a tech (which is common late-game). Nobody is going to try to steal from you, so you could level up the spy quicker - and with a guarantee - than you could otherwise.
