Spies

[Shafi-is-back]

I'm quite sure im not using spies to their full potential and im holding off playing ARC until i figure this out. All my spies ever seem to be capable of doing is syphoning ome energy or stealing some science and they dont seem to be levelling up too much to let me do other stuff.

They ocassionaly level up to allow me to steal a tech but i dont think my spies have been sucsessful at this.

What am i doing wrong? and more importantly how do you guys go about making maximum use of your spies?

Thanks
Shafi

 

[m15a]

I've seen a lot of people not being able to get to the highest levels while others, myself included, have been able to do so without much difficulty. As far as I know, I haven't been doing anything very complicated just, basically, establishing the network and then doing the highest possible option up to steal tech, which is mostly what I want to get anyway.

It might just be largely a matter of luck. The only other factor I can think of is trying to get the spies sooner rather than later since eventually the AI will defend against your spies so the benefit of spies taper off later in the game.

 

[Chaleb]

I can always get up to Steal Tech but never anything higher..

 

[Cannonballninja]

It might honestly have to do with difficulty. On the higher difficulty levels, the AI would presumably be more likely to use spies themselves. This means less of their spies are at home (reducing intrigue) and more of their spies are abroad (increasing intrigue). All leading to more cities with higher levels of intrigue that you can take advantage of.

 

[m15a]

Good point. I've been playing on the two top levels only. (And able to get the level 4 or 5 options.)

 

[Alpedar]

Does game speed affect this? I played on middle dif./normal speed and got to lvl5 without even trying, then on higher dif.(worked my way to apollo)/epic speed i cannot get to lvl4.

 

[m15a]

Another good point, especially since we know there are balance issues with spies at other speeds. I played at normal speed. Can people having trouble with spies post their level and speed? Thanks!

 

[ggmoyang]

Harder to build up intrigue in slower speeds since it doesn't properly scale.

 

[homegrown]

There also has to be a point where the AI is building surveillance nets in its cities. I say that because I can have intrigue moving right along in several cities and suddenly, the best I get going is steal tech no matter how many ops I perform there.

 

[Resipsa]

anyone know the formula on how many beakers you get from steal science?

 

[Cai30]

anyone know the formula on how many beakers you get from steal science?

The numbers I found elsewhere (Civilization Wiki) show that the amount stolen is based on what's being researched by the player doing the spying and level of the agent.

Recruit: 15% current research
Agent: 20% current research
Special Agent: 25% current research

This sounds similar to my experience, but I didn't check the files for a proper citation.

 

[Resipsa]

That's what it seems like to metoo

 

[Serenya]

I've found on Quick speed it's not that hard to flip a civ's city, even a capitol (I particularly enjoyed doing that when an AI declared war on me . At Standard speed I'm much less likely to pull it off, though I've not tried playing ARC on standard yet, as they can protect a city faster than I can push up the intrigue level.

What I cannot figure out is what determines whether or not I can even see the city in the list to send a spy to. It doesn't seem to be directly tied to fog of war (ie not having opened up a visible path there) as it is a bit random about it.

 

[AlaskA]

Always leave spies at HQ and use Health dogma. The best choice i think.

 

[War_Pig]

What I cannot figure out is what determines whether or not I can even see the city in the list to send a spy to. It doesn't seem to be directly tied to fog of war (ie not having opened up a visible path there) as it is a bit random about it.

You have to see the city after having build the spy agency. Since there is no fog of war on any of the capitals they are always on the list. Any city you find after having build it will be on the list. To add a city you have been too before just get it back in line of sight of a unit.

 

[chazzycat]

to build intrigue and get promoted as fast as possible, rotate your spies between the same cities and just do the "establish network" mission. it only takes a few turns, gives you a promotion, and increases intrigue. i generally do this twice to get to the highest level ASAP then switch to steal science.

 

[War_Pig]

to build intrigue and get promoted as fast as possible, rotate your spies between the same cities and just do the "establish network" mission. it only takes a few turns, gives you a promotion, and increases intrigue. i generally do this twice to get to the highest level ASAP then switch to steal science.

If you don't mind ofcourse. I'm sure this will go away after the first patch.

 

[chazzycat]

If you don't mind ofcourse. I'm sure this will go away after the first patch.

maybe, but all we can do for now is base our strategy on the current state of the game. there's no sense changing your strategy based on guesses as to what will and what won't be patched.

 

[shmily_dana]

In my last game, one of the AI capitals was already at level 5 without me doing anything. I had a spy at another capital. Was about to assign it a mission and noted this. I moved my spy over to that city, and flipped it a few turns later. Maybe another civ was working this capital, but it should not have been level 5 to me.

 

[stormtrooper412]

The difficulty/success rate seems to be related with game pace. On Quick, I can flip cities, dirty bombs, everything. On Standard, I can't get past the Steal Tech, and success rate is WAY down