How to catch spies?

[MrZeddify]

Sorry but I've played 3-4 games now and I still don't get it, how the hell do I catch spies? There must be SOME way of absolutely guaranteeing that no spies get into your cities? I mean sometimes I 'stumble upon' spies every turn and sometimes not for an entire game .. What has an impact on whether I stumble upon them or not? And is there any guaranteed way of ensuring they don't wreak havoc in your country?

 

[Molon Labe]

Stumbling upon spies is good. Not stumbling upon spies means you're not catching them.

I believe if you up your espionage spending it will help protect you. There's also a building after communism, I believe, called security bureau or intelligence agency that gives you 50% chance to foil spies.

I've found an effective way to play espionage defensively is to spam spies in your borders. In my last game I had some cottaged cities with low hammer yields that weren't able to build much. But spies are cheap, and I set them all to build spies and put them in all my cities, on my resources and scattered about. Wouldn't you know it, I stumbled upon spies constantly, and nothing bad ever happened to me. Much better than getting the water poisoned in my production city.

 

[LDeska]

Exactly - te best way to protect yourself from enemy spies is to put your own spy in own cities. Also Great Spy is very useful - he might detect enemy spy not only on the tile where it is, also in other close tiles (I don't know exactly how many tiles away he's able to detect enemy spy - 2 or 3 I think).

 

[Moon Pine]

I want to know how can a spy avoid to be caught ^^
My spy was always caught by AI before action.

 

[JZ Temple]

Exactly - te best way to protect yourself from enemy spies is to put your own spy in own cities.

Really? I hadn't thought of this since my spy has no actions available unless he's in an enemy city. I'll have to check this out, thanks for the tip

 

[_alphaBeta_]

Really? I hadn't thought of this since my spy has no actions available unless he's in an enemy city. I'll have to check this out, thanks for the tip

The way the old systems in Warlords and Civ4, the mere presence of the spy on the tile the enemy is trying to sabotage greatly reduced their chances for success. I'm guessing from the conversation that two probabilities are again given - one if a spy is there, and another if a spy isn't there - just like pre-BTS.

 

[kazapp]

Can you disable spies altogether?

Having to muck about with spies seems to be a micromanagement nightmare I definitely don't want in my game.

 

[Molon Labe]

Can you disable spies altogether?

Yes, it's called Warlords.

Having to muck about with spies seems to be a micromanagement nightmare I definitely don't want in my game.

Espionage is a factor in BtS and it requires an adjustment of your usual play style. That's not bad and it certainly isn't a micromanagement issue. Set the slider to 10%, build a few spies and no micromanaging needed.

OTOH, if you get into the espionage, you can reap some great benefits. Stealing techs, stunting growth or research and knowing what your neighbour is up to is very valuable.

 

[LlamaCat]

Yes, it's called Warlords.

Espionage is a factor in BtS and it requires an adjustment of your usual play style. That's not bad and it certainly isn't a micromanagement issue. Set the slider to 10%, build a few spies and no micromanaging needed.

OTOH, if you get into the espionage, you can reap some great benefits. Stealing techs, stunting growth or research and knowing what your neighbour is up to is very valuable.

actually it is possible to ignore it altogether - why not just ignore the espionage slider, don't worry about the spy effects of buildings, and never look at the espionage screen? some buildings will automatically give you spy points and you can't avoid accumulating them, but you don't have to build spies and carry out specific missions. I bet many games can be won this way. you are devoting more to research and military or other matters. same concept with religion and corporations. you don't entirely need any of these aspects in some games depending on the situation.

 

[Molon Labe]

actually it is possible to ignore it altogether - why not just ignore the espionage slider, don't worry about the spy effects of buildings, and never look at the espionage screen? some buildings will automatically give you spy points and you can't avoid accumulating them, but you don't have to build spies and carry out specific missions. I bet many games can be won this way. you are devoting more to research and military or other matters. same concept with religion and corporations. you don't entirely need any of these aspects in some games depending on the situation.

To be honest, I haven't tried ignoring it all together. Mainly because I like knowing what everyone is up to because I'm nosy-and I also like to invade them.

If making the buildings and creating spies works defensively, great. I just don't buy any of this complaining about espionage being a micromanagement issue or complicating things.

 

[CanuckSoldier]

actually it is possible to ignore it altogether - why not just ignore the espionage slider, don't worry about the spy effects of buildings, and never look at the espionage screen? some buildings will automatically give you spy points and you can't avoid accumulating them, but you don't have to build spies and carry out specific missions. I bet many games can be won this way. you are devoting more to research and military or other matters. same concept with religion and corporations. you don't entirely need any of these aspects in some games depending on the situation.

Yes until some AI or human player figures out that before it's military attack that changing your civics and poisioning all your cities/inciting revolt is a good plan for victory

AT the very least a little of your gold and production used on espionage slider and to make defensive spy's is worth the effort.

CS

 

[kazapp]

So you mean that the spy features cannot be turned off?

That's almost insulting, considering how any number of less impacting changes can be toggled at will.

If you find the "spy game" interesting, that's your choice. Myself, it's far too much micromanagement. And no, I don't want to "set my spy bar to 10%", I want to get rid of it. I need that 10% for more interesting things than sabotaging my neighbours. Say, building things!

As it is now, all you need to do is poison the water supply of your enemy cities, and that entire civ almost vanishes from your screen. Yawn.

Please, no defense of - or praise for - this system. I am perfectly aware I might give it a test - someday. As for now, please just tell me how to shut it down.

Thanks,
Z

 

[HUSch]

Play another game without spy. C3 is a good one.

 

[bode404]

Well, maybe it's possible to make a mod - Spyless Civ.
I didnt like the Espionage thing too, but let's just try it.

 

[JCFalkenberg]

I think it adds to the realism. As the leader of a civilization you have to realize the espionage is a reality whether you want to deal with it or not. Do you choose the "lazy man's" espionage method? (Set your slider to 10%, make a spy or two and hope for the best.) Do you throw tons of money at espionage hoping to reap more rewards than you lost by putting that money in espionage? Or do you try to find a balance somewhere in the middle? The choice is yours, but realize that your enemies have the same choice. If you choose not to engage in espionage, you actually have a great chance of outpacing your enemies, and this could be a viable short term solution. If you plan on rushing, you might consider keeping the slider at 0% and using your resources to make units and tech up. Once you get to where you want to be, throw the slider over to 20 or 30% while you wage your war, moving it back and forth as necessary. The possibilities are endless.

Having said all this, if you still want no esp in the game I guess somebody might consider making a mod if there is enough call for it. Personally, I like the challenge, but hey, different strokes...

 

[MrFelony]

I really dont see why people dont like the spies. i mean ya it's annoying to get a city poisoned everyso often, but the ability alone to throw spies in your enemy territory to see where that stack of doom is going to come from/when it's coming is amazing. and even if you ignored spies completely, the AI isnt that harmful with them. just a poisoned water supply here and there.