How on earth can I place a spy successfully??

[Lord_Anders]

I'm really starting to get frustrated, I've tried counless times with all other computer players (6 atm) wasting 5k cash, and always failing, getting the message that my spy has been killed (I've tried every turn with all civilizations for like 10 turns)
Is it supposed to be this hard?
Is there any way to improve the chances of planting a spy?
What is the point of having a central intelligence agency, when its impossible to plant spies??!
(I'm on my own little island, does that have anything to do with it?)

 

[Yzman]

Here is a few key tips

1. If you fail planting a spy in a civ on the first try, do not attempt to do so again, it will always fail that turn.

2. The government type depends on the success.
Anarchy-very good chance
despotism-very good chance
monarchy-moderate chance
repulbic- hard
communism-hard
Democracy-very hard

3. It also matters wether you are at peace or not with the person. I can't remember exactly which it is, but I believe its harder when you are at war.

4. If worse comes to worse, and you don't consider reloading cheating, do what I do, keep random seed off and keep reloading til you get it successful. But this is probably considered cheating.

 

[Hades]

I would try every other turn. I have never succeed when I do it in consecutive turns.

 

[thefrenchzulu]

I have had moderate success with spies.

Tips:

1. Never plant spies if you are not ready for war!
2. I tend to get MPP with everyone before trying. The AI don't like declaring war if they know the are goinf to lose all those luxary trades!
3. Never try more than one time per turn.
4. Once you at war, try every turn! Watch when the AI switch to communism and try during anarchy!


Having spies makes your war effort much easier, as you can see their military capability.

 

[mhwarren]

I think that the mood of the leader effects the outcome as well. - More successful when the opponent is polite less when the opponent is furious

 

[andrewgprv]

Why would I give you tips????! Play the World is days away, my stradegies are my own!!!!!!

 

[Edgar Newt]

As is your spelling.

Seriously, though, I have yet to successfully plant a spy. I have a related question -- why use spies? The only reason I can see for using a spy is to root out an enemy spy. I am not about to spend a 1K+ to plant a spy just to wipe out that civilization. Am I the only one who avoids spies altogether?

 

[nubble]

spies are essential to me. i won't pick a major fight with any other comparable nation unless i have a spy planted. being able to tell exactly what units and how many units each enemy has is an invaluable asset.

 

[Yzman]

Spies are essential for me. I use them to see the current military status of my enemy and occasionily for propaganda. I fond it works very well and size 1 cities. I've never had it work on a bigger city than that. Spies also help keep track for the space race.

 

[gen.dragolen]

Gentlemen,

The best strategy is to get Espionage first.

You can still fail to establish a spy but if you have Espionage well ahead of anyone else, you can get a few shots at it. And they are worth at least 50 of your best troops in battle. Being able to estimate the defenders in each city is the only balance you have to the computer knowing which units are in which city or what units are in your transports.

And I don't agree with the default settings since the Communist governements have recruited many spies among the political and scientific elite of the western democratic world. There's just no accounting for human stupidity... it seems that anyone can get spies in any government.

Fortunately the game editor can redress these sorts of issues.


D.

 

[Edgar Newt]

Thanks for posting your experiences with spies. I will try to plant some spies tonight as last night I had a battle in which I really could have used some insight into troup positioning.

 

[morkaphi]

Failing to plant a spy is a good way to have the AI declare war on you. It's an expensive way, but that makes the AI the aggressor when it's YOU who wants a war.

 

[hbdragon88]

I've been having a big deal with planting spies as well. But these tips will help me a lot.

 

[EdwardTking]

I tend to play huge world with 16 civs in monarchy.

My strategy is to wait until I have Espionage;
build the Intelligence Agency; and then place
one spy (with each polite civ).

Knowing if an AI has 4, 14, 44 or 104 Modern Armour
can be very important. If an AI has many powerful
units; either stay on its side and let it weaken itself and
another AI up; or alternatively find a good ally and
let the hostile AI run down its strength of its powerful
attacking units against your AI ally.

Wait until your enemy depletes its armour; then attack;
when your enemy has few units to counterattack.

So having spies to tell you about the units the AI has;
confers two benefits:

(a) helping you play them off against each other
(b) getting the timing right for your attack
(c) or, oops, 1044 armour; time to quit & restart.

 

[Yndy]

I obseved that the best time to place spies is just when you get espionage and build CIA. I don't know why but it seems that the AI would only be upset then. Trying later seems a little more riskier.

I ussually try all civs in one turn and get about 20 - 60 % of the spies in.

I do this every two turns for about 5 attempts then if still not successful (happens sometimes) abandon the idea because the AI would already be pi**ed of on you.

Try spies when you are in war. I didn't notice a difference in success rate although there could be.

Main uses of spies:
1. evaluate your enemy (most important by far)
2. Steal tech (I observed that with v1.29 it is sometimes cheaper to attempt theft than research)

 

[Clown2TheLeft]

The main thing I use them for is to view enemy's military strength. Rarely do I bother trying to steal techs or anything else (though I would like to plant disease). Just use 'em as a set of eyes into the rival civ.

Another thing worth mentioning is the "investigate city" option. I don't think you can do this to an enemy civ in wartime UNLESS a spy is in place, as your embassy is then closed. It's cheap, and shows you what's there, what resources the city has (both strategic and luxury), what they're building, the general mood of the populous, and all that. Spending 120 gold to check out that size 12 city before you move troops into position is a good idea.

So says me, your mileage may vary.


Later!

--The Clown to the Left.

 

[lincon]

i think there is nothing to do and to help it i think there is a better chance if the person you want is at WAR

Originally posted by Lord_Anders
I'm really starting to get frustrated, I've tried counless times with all other computer players (6 atm) wasting 5k cash, and always failing, getting the message that my spy has been killed (I've tried every turn with all civilizations for like 10 turns)
Is it supposed to be this hard?
Is there any way to improve the chances of planting a spy?
What is the point of having a central intelligence agency, when its impossible to plant spies??!
(I'm on my own little island, does that have anything to do with it?)

 

[hbdragon88]

Careful, careful. I was at war with five other nations in an MPP/Alliance tanle and the French tried to plant spies twice in my capital. I assume that they succeeded, as some AI stole my plans twice.

This is a little off-topic, but about them doing spying on you:

1) Has anyone ever gotten military plans stolen. The AI stole my plans twice and then started to overrun me with tanks vs. riflement if a freaky AI move

2) Spies getting caught. I've never had spies caught before. I always catch them, but never vice versa

 

[morkaphi]

Originally posted by hbdragon88
1) Has anyone ever gotten military plans stolen. The AI stole my plans twice and then started to overrun me with tanks vs. riflement if a freaky AI move

2) Spies getting caught. I've never had spies caught before. I always catch them, but never vice versa

1) I have never experienced that, but it's a proven cheat that AI knows all about what and where your units are.
2) I catch them, and I get caught too. I believe that AI has the same low success rate as human players do.

 

[Finvola]

I have had my spy caught on a few occasions. I think it was Germany that expelled my spy.