[BNW] How to stop AI spying?

[stachnie]

Hi, I am new to Civ V. IMO Civ V is a step back when compared to Civ IV, but I have decided to give it a try and I have bought Civ V Complete recently.

In my present game I play at (IIRC) third difficulty level and I have a huge tech lead - I have Riflemen, Artillery and Cavalry while AI has Musketmen, Trebuchets and Knights. I aimed a Cultural Victory (however, I have no idea how exactly it works now) but it seems I will end up with Domination. The problem is that AI cannot resist to steal my techs and I want to prevent it. My rules are simple: the first steal/attempt: warning. The second one: raze all cities but the capital, bomb the capital to zero, maybe pillage some tiles. The third one: raze new cities, take the capital.

I play Continents. My home continent had 3 AI's and I had conquered them. The second continent had 4 AI's and now 2 of them are down, one is about to be finished in a few turns, the last one just begged for peace (they have managed to rebuild one town). The third continent has 2 AI's and there was a succesful tech steal from (I guess) one of them...

S.

 

[millsware]

The only way to prevent tech steals is to place a spy in your capital to kill the other spies. Even that is not 100% effective. There are also buildings like the constabulary and police station to reduce the AI chances of stealing techs.

 

[stachnie]

Thanks. I have noticed this is not effective - even the most experienced spy in the capital does not help much. AI tries to steal techs from the capital anyway (and sometimes it does) or chooses another city - and I will never have enough spies to place them in all cities. Now there are only two last AI's and one of them is down to one city...

It seems espionage is a cheap and effective way to get techs in Civ V if you are behind. One just needs to be not afraid of a war or two...

S.

 

[docbud]

I hate how the spy system works in Civ V. I mean, why should I get a negative modifier for demanding the AI stops stealing from me? Yet I get a negative modifier if I spy on them, get caught, and continue to do so.

And they will steal from you, no matter where you stand in tech. I had a game (quite a while ago) where I was in last place. I had a lousy start and was in 7th place so far as tech. I was getting robbed left and right. How come they weren't stealing from the tech leaders?

What's disheartening is that their spy levels up while my defender remains at level one. Constabularies and police stations will occasionally stop them. But I've had the National Intelligence Agency and I was still getting robbed.

Went to many a war time over it.

 

[stachnie]

So welcome back to the old days of Civ II, when a human player had negative modifiers for warmongering, spying etc. while AI's did not...

 

[phillipwyllie]

...the constabulary and police station to reduce the AI chances of stealing techs.

All these buildings do is increases the time for a tech to be stolen, same with the Firewall. Spys that capture other spys level up which in turn can be used to coup CS.

 

[stachnie]

I play a new game (the middle diff. level). I have conquered my own continent (5 AI's) and after beeline to Astronomy explored the other one. I hoped that if I will not agree to establish embassies, AI's will be unable to steal techs. Nope - they start to steal in the late Medieval era. Americans have stolen Compass (warning), Education (war) and Chivalry (after the beginning of the war), Venetians stolen Compass (warning). It seems I am going to have a next Domination win.

S.

 

[joncnunn]

Thanks. I have noticed this is not effective - even the most experienced spy in the capital does not help much. AI tries to steal techs from the capital anyway (and sometimes it does) or chooses another city - and I will never have enough spies to place them in all cities. Now there are only two last AI's and one of them is down to one city...

I've never seen the AI attempt to steal a tech from any city other than the capital.

The buildings simply increase the number of turns that it takes the AI to steal a tech; and so the capital still needs a spy present to actually catch the AIs.
Constable & Police Station will both give an experienced spy more opportunities to catch them.

Finally, if you've gone tall (e.g. only have 4 or so cities not counting puppets), you can get 100% of your cities Police Stations in order to build the NIA. Once that's done you can sell the Police Stations in all cities other than your capital to save on their maintenance cost.

 

[stachnie]

I've never seen the AI attempt to steal a tech from any city other than the capital.

I am a new Civ V player but it happened to me quite often (at this stage of the game usually I have 4-5 cities and a 3 or more puppets). The spy in the capital becomes an elite quite soon but the next ones are also busy. Thanks for the tip with NIA.

S.

 

[Crus8r]

There is only one way to guarantee that the AI won't steal techs from you: next time you start a game, click the 'advanced setup' button, then check the box labeled 'No Espionage'

If you have a huge tech lead, then you are the obvious and logical target of espionage efforts.

Also, your 'rules' may be simple, but you are overlooking a vital fact: the AI doesn't know them!!! And there is no way for you to communicate them to the AI! If you are thinking "Well, the others will see what happens when I do it to the first offender", then I hate to tell you, but all they see is a raving psychopath(you) murdering another AI!! There is NO way for you to tell them or for them to discern the reasons for your actions...

 

[stachnie]

Also, your 'rules' may be simple, but you are overlooking a vital fact: the AI doesn't know them!!! And there is no way for you to communicate them to the AI! If you are thinking "Well, the others will see what happens when I do it to the first offender", then I hate to tell you, but all they see is a raving psychopath(you) murdering another AI!!

Yes, I know that - the AI is not programmed to learn such things. But I noticed that in case of a huge tech lead and AI's do not know the location of my capital, a good way to delay spying is no embassies and to delay Printing Press as much as possible. In my present game the AI's started spying soon after World Congress became available.

S.