Late-game tech stealing

[ProkhorZakharov]

In my last game every AI (deity level) seemed to build a constabulary and police station in every one of their cities, making Special Agents take over 100 turns to steal a tech - in other words, the game would be over by the time they completed their mission. Might it be worth changing the bonus for one or both of these buildings, so that spies stay relevant later on? Changing police station to prevent the secondary effects of spies instead of slowing their stealing rate could work.

 

[Stalker0]

Basically I find spies are for Renaissance and early Industrial eras (or late Medieval if I'm that far behind). Past that, tech stealing is worthless, and I will switch to Diplomats or drop them into CS.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, though I think CS election rigging is on the weak side, but can represent a natural transition of how spies work in the game.

What I don't know is if the Order double agents tenant (which doubles tech stealing) is good enough to bring spying back in the fold.

 

[tu_79]

You don't only steal techs, you can also kill gp points and steal some gold, in addition of just knowing what's going on in that city. But I believe it's intended to switch your spies to diplomats or send them to CS.