How many spies do you biuld

[hongyu20]

I just want to ask , how many spies do you guys biuld and what do you do with it ?

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

Almost none here. Though I've used them at least once to sabotage districts and steal Great Works.

People reported that they managed to get heaps of gold from Deity AI, as well as some tech boosts.

 

[hongyu20]

Did your districts get sabotaged before ? I haven't and at the most I think I had some money stolen from me and that is it .

 

[Mr. Shadows]

The higher the difficulty the more they pay off. At lower levels I only really use them for defense because the AI doesn't have much worth taking. On deity they can get you tech boosts, GWAMS and a pile of cash. There's a promotion that causes all offensive spies to function 2 levels higher as long as the spy that has it is a counter-spy. If you're lucky enough to get that your success rates go through the roof. You can get a lot of nice things that way.

 

[EpicWestern]

On deity, you should get as many spies as possible, as soon as possible, though its not quite worth focusing your tech path over. Increase your temporary spy level whenever you can, your priority at first is to level up your spies. Siphon funds to start. Get the siphon funds or rocketry promotions whenever possible. Middle game, you need your spies to by bouncing from city to city to disrupt rocketry. In some games, your victory will come early enough that you don't really need to, but I've had a turn 264 science loss before due to not prioritizing spying and scouting. If need be, you must trade for open borders and send scouts to the middle of land areas in order to reveal spaceport cities. If managed properly it becomes almost impossible to lose to science. I've had two very long games recently in which I was crippled by losing cities early, one was a turn 495 culture win the other a turn 500 score loss, without spies constantly sabotaging spaceports there's no way you can get that far.

 

[hongyu20]

So basically , because Diety AI gets massive boosts , and will have something you want , be it gold , tech boosts or GWAMs , spies can help you steal these for yourself and if need be stop the enemy from winning , also , how much gold can you get from spying on Diety exactly ?

 

[gimper42]

I play on deity, occasionally on immortal. If I don't put a spy in my capital's commercial hub, then eventually an AI will try to steal gold from me. Once I had an industrial zone in one of my primary expansion cities get sabotaged. I build 1 spy per game and place it on counter duty in my capital's CH to prevent siphoning. I've never seen a need for more spies.

 

[EpicWestern]

So basically , because Diety AI gets massive boosts , and will have something you want , be it gold , tech boosts or GWAMs , spies can help you steal these for yourself and if need be stop the enemy from winning

Yes, but I find it really hard to believe its that different at lower levels. There should be a commercial hub, or theater district *somewhere*. If you can't find one you probably aren't scouting properly. You'll get less gold from your missions but I doubt its low enough to make building a spy not worth it. Might not be worth the policy card, but getting spies isn't a tech detour anyway. The choice is merely to build or not. Perhaps a third or fourth spy might not be worth it since the cost will be greater and you won't level up in time for it to really kick in.

, also , how much gold can you get from spying on Diety exactly ?

Tough to say since gold from cities vary greatly. If you have the map entirely scouted, your best city can be anywhere from ~200 to ~1000 gold. With the siphon fund promotion, mission time reduction promotion, and policy card you have a 90% chance of success every four turns. So for just one spy that's nearly ~50 to ~250 gold per turn (there is the however the off chance your spy fails). Still, gold is nice but *not losing* is nicer, so despite extremely juicy returns you eventually have to put your best spies on spaceport duty.

 

[enar]

I really didn't bother with spies until I started getting serious sabotage problems in my cities. After that, I usually place spies as counter-espionage, especially once I've got a spaceport under construction. (This is on lower levels ... I don't play at the top levels.)

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

I find that beelining Cold War for Cryptography solves almost any problems with enemy Spies. Though it can be hard to slot in if you're starving in Diplomacy slots.

 

[Victoria]

I used to just play defensively but since the last patch as everyone is saying, spies are a blessing.
I wish there was a way to see their experience.
I have never really used the Partisans despite wanting to as something else is always better. And only have done the tech boosts a couple of times when bored. Its all about the gold/defence to get experience levels up then spaceports and defense. Stealing GW can also be fun... I really think French spies should get a Bonus, rushing castles is a bit of effort and the extra visibility can come in handy but your screen gets spammed so much more.
Its not just the messages in the middle of the screens that get me... its the content. It should be Just what you need, for example

What I see

Your lady in waiting having got into the bedchamber of the evil prince has found out that Germany are building a pasture

What I want

Germany built a pasture
Greece gained Rocketry
Gilgamesh denounced Teddy

If you are going to throw something in our faces and whip it away pretty quickly at least make it readable.

Even better a little list on the bottom right under an icon I can call up if I want to... if you wnt to throw something in my face as important, lets not make it building an encampment, lets just have the "has discovered rocketry"... now thats an alert that needs to stand out.

 

[Bro]

The spam is a bit too much and can fill your whole screen. They should come up with another solution to this.

 

[hongyu20]

Yeah I agree , it is annoying when you see a bunch of stuff that are not really hat useful .

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

And then when you Alt-Tab back (after waiting 32478323 minutes for the AI process everyone's turns), either these messages clutter the screen or they're gone forever, and you don't know if someone completed a Spaceport.

 

[gimper42]

What I see

Your lady in waiting having got into the bedchamber of the evil prince has found out that Germany are building a pasture

What I want

Germany built a pasture
Greece gained Rocketry
Gilgamesh denounced Teddy

This gets pretty tedious. I don't care what the names of my diplomats are, and frankly it's just confusing when it comes up. I appreciate the extra effort for flavor, but it makes it nigh impossible to process and filter the actually important information that is coming through on a consistent basis. And there needs to be a reviewable log of everything that pops up. And for trade deals.

 

[Herod]

There's nothing worse than seeing it will take 42 turns to build a spy

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

There's nothing worse than seeing it will take 42 turns to build a spy

That's why you have a policy for that. Or you can also buy them if you have the gold.

Nice things are always expensive (but not everything expensive is nice, mind you).

 

[4N4C0ND4]

Sure you can gold buy them? I though it was like archeologists and can only had build them.

 

[Quotey]

Sure you can gold buy them? I though it was like archeologists and can only had build them.

you can buy both spies and archaeologists.

 

[Esperr]

I ussually build one or two and use them to counterspy in my power city. There not really worth the production/time in SP. You need them for MP though to try and stop the space guy, doesn't do anything against sagan though.