How do I stop enemy spies from sabotaging me?

[Alexfrog]

I dont realy understand the espionage mechanics very well yet. Mostly I've stolen some technologies, money, and sent a city into disorder to remove is culture bonus so I could attack.

But often I am getting spaceship parts sabotaged by AIs and its very annoying. How do I prevent this? And I dont want to have to send in spies for counterespeionage missions all the time, there are too many diffreent AIs for that to work well.


What effect does stationing spies in my cities have on catching their spies? Does multiple spies help more than 1? Does having spies in my land between them and my cities help? Whats the best way to limit the damage?

Does generating more espionage help much?

Thanks!

 

[bestbrian]

I generally park a spy in all my cities until I build Security Bureaus, then I unleash my stockpile of spies on my enemies (or friends).

 

[Refar]

Bhruic laid it all out here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=247719

 

[Bushface]

Short amswer to the thread title - you can't.

 

[Willem]

What effect does stationing spies in my cities have on catching their spies?

It increases your chances of catching an enemy Spy before it can sabotage anything in your city. It has no effect on your resources/improvements however, for those you'd need to park a Spy right on the tile.

Does multiple spies help more than 1?

No, having multiple Spies does not improve your odds. Nor does having the Security Bureau and a Spy in the city at the same time. You're just wasting your Spy if you have that building.

Does having spies in my land between them and my cities help?

To a point. Spies can detect other Spies but their effectiveness is somewhat limited. So you don't want to go crazy placing them all over your empire. Just park one on your key resources and leave it at that.

Whats the best way to limit the damage?

There's not much you can do really, if a neighbour is determined to sabotage you, they'll find a way.

Does generating more espionage help much?

Yes. If your ratio of espionage points is higher than the civ sending in the Spies, then any actions he/she tries to take will cost them more points. It's probably a good idea to increase the weight of your espionage spending to your immediate neighbours as they're the most likely to be sending in the Spies. I don't think the AI does very well at overseas espionage attacks. At least I've never noticed any civ from another continent engaging in it against me.

 

[Dida]

It is a no-brainer, turn espionage off. I recently did it and the game plays way better.

 

[Willem]

It is a no-brainer, turn espionage off. I recently did it and the game plays way better.

That sounds rather boring to me frankly.

 

[WuphonsReach]

Willem pretty much covers it. I'll add a few refinements.

- Cities at bottleneck / funnel points should always have a spy or security bureau (use a spy until you can build the SecB building). This increases the chance that an enemy spy will pass through and be detected.

- In the same vein, resources along a bottleneck / funnel route should be protected with sleeping spies. Again, the goal is to have a spy in a spot where an inbound spy will stop or attempt a mission.

- If you have a really long thin piece of land between you and your opponent, it may be worth putting spies every 2-3 tiles at bottleneck points. Any bit of land that is one tile wide and can't be bypassed is a good location.

- Spies are a lot less of an issue on islands/continents where you have no neighbors. They have to be transported somehow, which slows them down quite a bit.

If I understand the threads correctly, spies can only be detected on the destination square. Which means that they can hop over defending spies without the "anti-spy" detection check being triggered.

 

[Cashew]

It is a no-brainer, turn espionage off. I recently did it and the game plays way better.

That's like turning on "always peace" because you can't live past turn 20.

 

[noto2]

In the BTS manual it says if you build up enough spy points against a rival they will not be able to perform missions against you. I'm guessing this feature was removed??

 

[Willem]

In the BTS manual it says if you build up enough spy points against a rival they will not be able to perform missions against you. I'm guessing this feature was removed??

It still applies. Each mission costs a certain amount of points and if you or the AI don't have enough of them then you can't perform the mission. The problem is that the AI likes engaing in missions that don't cost alot of points, like sabotaging improvements, so you can never really stop it from doing so.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

It still applies. Each mission costs a certain amount of points and if you or the AI don't have enough of them then you can't perform the mission. The problem is that the AI likes engaing in missions that don't cost alot of points, like sabotaging improvements, so you can never really stop it from doing so.

I've only seen them sabotage improvements a few scattered times. The majority of the time, they're poisoning my cities and destroying buildings (that's a big one in newly conquered cities). Also, they'll start stealing techs if I'm really running away techwise. In my most recent game, an AI stole Gunpowder from me while I was researching Flight. That was a real bass ackwards civ, though. The gap usually isn't THAT wide. Still, after this game, I'm starting random civ random mapping b4 moving up a level. I think it's time though.

 

[Willem]

Also, they'll start stealing techs if I'm really running away techwise.

If they're stealing techs from you then you need to increase your espionage spending. That's one of the most expensive missions you can conduct and it doesn't take much to make it unaffordable to most civs.

 

[nanomage]

run counterespionage. if you can, better conquer them.
some AI's will never give up doing nasty things to you (Abe, Winst and especially SB come to mind first)

 

[PieceOfMind]

It is a no-brainer, turn espionage off. I recently did it and the game plays way better.

Turning off espionage sends the game way out of whack. It turns all esp points into culture, making the dynamics of the game potentially very different (particularly if you abuse it by using spy specialists etc., intelligence agencies and security beureaus etc.), and it also turns all spy points into GP points of neutral flavour, making it way too easy to get the exact great person you want most of the time.

Game is broken with no espionage.

I've said it before, but the "no espionage" option should be renamed to the "espionage becomes culture and ruins culture game" option.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

If they're stealing techs from you then you need to increase your espionage spending. That's one of the most expensive missions you can conduct and it doesn't take much to make it unaffordable to most civs.

Why spend EP when I'm cruising through the game. I'd rather the AI steal Gunpowder when I'm researching flight. At least then I'll still need the fighters! I need to move up a level.

 

[Tephros]

run counterespionage. if you can, better conquer them.
some AI's will never give up doing nasty things to you (Abe, Winst and especially SB come to mind first)

Exactly. Counterespionage makes the biggest difference. It's a relatively cheap mission that makes their missions hugely expensive for them (+200%), and increases the odds of their spies getting caught everywhere more than having a spy on every tile, which would be funny but expensive. The great wall/sea of spies!

Also prioritize espionage defense in cities closer to their capital and cities with their state religion, i.e. build security bureaus there first, or have spies there preferentially. Note that bureaus are better than spies because they also increase the cost of missions significantly (+50%)Their expenses will further go up, and odds of success go down, as your total espionage earned throughout the game go up, and your espionage ratio with them goes up.