"Initiate propaganda" - what the HELL?!

[ravenland]

I ask: Has ANYONE EVER HAD SUCCESSFUL PROPAGANDA?

I was tired of this feature being absolutely useless, so I finally decided to use the "Trainer" and had ALL wonders and MAXIMUM culture points in the first 20 turns. They had warriors, I had ICBM.


They were all in "awe of my culture". I intitiated propaganda on about 30 cities and ALL UNSUCCESSFUL....

... man WHAT THE HELL??? What is this crap??? When they are willing to join me, they join me automatically, but NEVER with propaganda.

Anybody else angry on this propaganda? How does it work?
HOW COME IT DIDN'T WORK WITH THE TRAINER EVEN?

Replies will be highly appreciated

 

[DaveMcW]

First, take a deep breath and count to 10.

If you fail an espionage mission, it will always fail for the next 4 turns or so. Wait a while and try again.

 

[MummyMan]

I think a lot of the espionage missions are messed up. Try adjusting the rules and start a new game.

 

[Chieftess]

If the civ is a democracy, you can't successfully initiate propoganda.

 

[MTheil3508]

you will also have a better chance if you keep trying. I am not sure what the percents are, but they are in the editor.

If you are a communist, then you will have better spies, too.

 

[Knowze Gungk]

The first time I tried a propaganda campaign (on chieften), I succesfully fliped the entire German nation (about 15 cities, for about 40 grand), starting with the capital. I couldn't belive it worked on the capital so easily, but that was it for me, after that propaganda hasn't worked since.

 

[Zouave]

I long, long ago lowered significantly the cost for every Espionage related function and improvement.

It still remains best for just one thing: getting another civ to declare war on you.

I once suddenly lost a game to the Chinese. Why? They had just launched a spaceship. I had tried six straight times to place a spy in Beijing with no success - other than starting a war. So I had no way of knowing they were even building a spaceship.

It was so much more fun when we had Spy units as in Civ 2.

Propaganda is another bust. It usually fails even when directed at me by the computer which should know beter than to use it when it will not succeed.

 

[Txurce]

I have only tried propaganda once, while finishing out a culture win with a superpower. It worked on the third or fourth try, in the very same turn.

 

[ravenland]

That's interesting... Never knew multiple tries applied in 1 turn.

Thanx a lot all of you for calming me down and giving clues.
=)

 

[ottoman empire]

Hey this if my first time posting. Well what ive noticed is in initiating propaganda is the further away a town/city is away from its capital the easier it is to get them to flip, especially when that city is on a different continent to its nation. Also one other tactic i use in war is with nukes and propaganda. Ive discovered that right after nuking you can easily use propaganda on that town and they flip very easily so eliminating the need to send troops into the town right after nuking.

 

[Ville]

Originally posted by Knowze Gungk
The first time I tried a propaganda campaign (on chieften), I succesfully fliped the entire German nation (about 15 cities, for about 40 grand), starting with the capital. I couldn't belive it worked on the capital so easily, but that was it for me, after that propaganda hasn't worked since.

You can't use propaganda campaign to capitals (at least if you have all patches). You probably had a patch like 1.07 or 1.16. (don't remember that far )

 

[Hygro]

I believe you can propagate the capitol, it's just really hard

 

[jeannie]

Originally posted by Ville

You can't use propaganda campaign to capitals (at least if you have all patches). You probably had a patch like 1.07 or 1.16. (don't remember that far )

In the game I just played in PTW, I tried propoganda on the last remaining city of one of the civs (so it had just become the capital), and it worked, so you CAN succeed with propoganda against the capital.

 

[earendil 1]

I have used propaganda lots of times, and if the city has the proper conditions (close to your capital, in awe of your culture, etc.) it will almost certainlty flip. Its really hard to use it against empires on another continent, but when they place a far-flung city right next to you, it can be pretty easy.

 

[Ville]

At least I couldn't initiate propaganda in Civ3 v1.29f to capital IIRC
And yes in PTW you can initiate propaganda to capital. (Tested with civ with only one city)

 

[cavemanf16]

Has anyone put together a comprehensive "guide" on how to lower the various espionage levels to make Civ3 Vanilla and PTW more fun without causing an imbalance for you or the AI? I'd really like to go in and make some edits to the "Spy" engine in Civ3, because I NEVER use it! It's too expensive, and too much of a rep hit when you do use it.

 

[TerraHero]

propaganda..i luv covert opps in the game.. just pick on a small Civ..i defeatd 2 civ's with propaganda..and heres a good tip..look at there fav. goverment..if the Russians have Demo. then give em Comm..just for the sake of it..when there in Anarchy..pick em off

 

[cavemanf16]

Hmm... thanks TerraHero. I suppose I never have paid much attention to the AI's government changes and such. I'll see if I can't be a little sneakier in my next game. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by ravenland
I ask: Has ANYONE EVER HAD SUCCESSFUL PROPAGANDA?

Unless you have a very high culture (and you are in Democracy while the AIs are in Despotism), don't waste your time and gold on propaganda.

 

[Hygro]

actually democracy to despotism is no better than monarchy to despotism, republic to monarchy, communism to republic, or democracy to communism.