Planting Spy

druidravi

King
Joined
May 30, 2005
Messages
871
Location
Spirit World
How do you people manage to plant spies??. By the time I get to plant spies nearly everyone is furious with me because of my razing of many captured cities.
And due to the infantry mass upgrade and the value ai places on infantry the military advisor gives me average to many of them disregarding my cavalry artillery stacks.
So when I try to plant a spy the ai mostly declares war when it fails therfore making me lose my luxuries ,be at war with a deity ai with mutual protection act with powerful nations facing potential war unhappiness to my republic and also lose 100+ gpt the ai pays for my techs which is fuelling my research.
Signing mutual protection act before planting spy also seems to be of same result as the ai drags you into several wars and breaks your reputation.
 
Well, the first commandment would be never to plant spies you aren't going to need, and to always weigh the risk against the advantages. If you risk losing several luxes, more than 100 gpt and getting a big and dangerous AI on your tail, and cannot use your spy fo anything useful right away, then just don't plant that spy.
 
Yes think you are right there.But if I go by that way I will not get chance to plant a spy for a long time . Spy has several advantages the greater chance at stealing tech thus denying ai money while making it broke from its payment to you.

And also the magical lure of the nice display of the ai troop , chance of investigating cities in war time, ability to steal troop plans ,which troops the enemy is constructing( it is making bombers I better make some fighters or its making marines better guard by costal citites), and also knowledge of how war is going on between ai 's helping you decide whether you should jump in or not.

So how do I decide when to go for planting spy?.

Well by the way does the ai attitude and/or government influence chance of success at planting spy.
 
Spy missions have a greater chance of succeeding if you're a Communist government, and if your target is a Republic or Democracy (except for propaganda, I think Democracies are immune to that spy mission).

I think the odds are even greater if your target civ is in anarchy, but I haven't verified that.

A couple of things you can do to avoid setting off MPP triggers with a bad spy mission: one, wait until your target cancels whatever MPP's he or she has. Two, keep to yourself until somebody ELSE sets off an MPP trigger. Once everybody is shooting at everybody else, most of their MPP's will get dissolved as ex-allies turn on each other.

In any case, a thing that has so many advantages in the game is naturally going to be programmed with large disadvantages by the folks who write the game. Otherwise everybody would jump on that thing instantly, and Civ3 would degenerate into an espionage contest.
 
Don't enter MPPs, unless you are about to start a war and want to drag others in.
Building the Intelligence Agency improves you chances of success at spy missions as well.

I plant spies when I want to go to war, that way I either get a spy - useful, or a war - which I want anyway.
 
MPPs are very go if you have a much more powerful neighbor and your afraid of getting your butt kicked. But still, i would like to have a spy in his cities still to know what he is up too.....
 
Planting Spies is not as difficult as you first think . Even though i dont recomend it unless you have the highest cultural influence .

Yes, you are a prime target while your civilation is in anarchy , however always make sure your Miltary Population is Higher then your civ's populations , The more well guarded your captial is the lower of the chances of spies . Russia is the only worry . Thier spie missions are completed easier and more low risk then any other civ and they get higher chance of sucusses right . Your Chances also increase under a Communist goverment . However if your not a communist goverment you have a 9/10 chance of failing most spie missions against russia espcially trying to expose a enemy spie will usally turn into a act of war .

This is wear your properganda machine should kick in , Influence graciouse leaders or cultures that are in awe of your culture witch should make it easier to create Mutal Protection Pats .So if you do try spie missions against larger civ's with more cultural influence the affect wont be so devistating to your rebuilding . Always get others to do your dirty work for you then take the glory i say :crazyeye:
 
Don't you have to have the Intelligence Agency to even plant spies, It doesn't increase the effectiveness of your spies? Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Yes, you need the IA to be able to plant spies. The only thing that affects planting spies is whether or not you are communist. Don't forget that if planting a spy fails, it will fail for the next 4 turns for that civ.
 
Only when i want to start a war with a civ will i try to plant spys into it. After all, you will use spys mostly in a war.
 
Unholy Cow said:
Don't you have to have the Intelligence Agency to even plant spies, It doesn't increase the effectiveness of your spies? Correct me if I'm wrong.

i wasnt saying it affects the effectivines of your spies if you have one or not i dont even belive i mentioned anything of Intelligence agency's out of curisoty i take it all civ's are allowed to build one ?


cheers
 
Attempting to plant a spy or do an espionage mission (if you already have a spy) is a great way to get the AI to declare war on you. I use this when I want a war, but want to have lower war weariness. (WW is lower if you aren't the one who declared war).
 
.Shane. said:
What are some of the uses of a spy?
I think SW5 shows effective use and explaination of how to use a spy. Stealing monopoly techs from the AI and then trading it around is very satisfying.:evil:
Spies are also very helpful in viewing where all your enemies troops are in a war. It highlights where they all are.
Read this in SW05
 
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