Spies

[fwfessly]

Just wondering how do you get spies to be more effective?
I was try to place a spy and he always gets caught. it is only about after the 10th attempt that he succeeds. Thks

 

[Pounder]

I have no luck either, seem like a waste of gold.

 

[Gelion]

Try not to be at war with the civ you want to spy on.

 

[Aggie]

If you fail to plant a spy, don't try it agin for about 5 turns. Only then will you have a chance of success again. Planting speis on communist or facsist governments is extra difficult. Planting spies or performing espionage actions on an anarchy is easier. I totally disagree with Pounder: spies are extremely important. They give you valauble insight on the AI military and increase the chances of tech stealing. Tech stealing is quite often a last resort, but especially important when you are at war with the AI frontrunner.

 

[Khift]

Aggie is right. Spies are vital assets to any good warmonger, and the spot in which you get them is excellent. Try and get that Intel. Center built as fast as possible, and if you're good enough you might just catch the civs that go after Fascism/Communism while in Anarchy, making it very very easy to plant your spies.

 

[Theoden]

If you're under Communism or Fascism your spies will be better.

 

[Pounder]

I'm learning a couple of things here, I may start using them again.

 

[Yaype]

You actually only have to wait for 4 turns to try using a spy again, if I am not mistaken. If you do not wait, however, you are subject to automatic failure.

 

[se7en]

How can you tell what government the AI countries are in?

 

[Aggie]

When you press F3 you get the military advisor, telling you what troops the AI has, but also what government they are in.

 

[ManOfMiracles]

I have much more (roughly 4X better) success if I wait one turn to plant a spy after the Intelligence Agency is completed instead of trying on the same turn the I.A. is finished.

 

[ssvensson]

I have much more (roughly 4X better) success if I wait one turn to plant a spy after the Intelligence Agency is completed instead of trying on the same turn the I.A. is finished.

Hmm To what extend have u tested this?

I don't think that u will better chances of success because u wait 1 turn - it's probably because the conditions have changed e.g. the nations have fallen into anarchy or something like that.

Could others confirm this?

 

[Grille]

If you fail to plant a spy, don't try it agin for about 5 turns. Only then will you have a chance of success again. Planting speis on communist or facsist governments is extra difficult. Planting spies or performing espionage actions on an anarchy is easier. I totally disagree with Pounder: spies are extremely important. They give you valauble insight on the AI military and increase the chances of tech stealing. Tech stealing is quite often a last resort, but especially important when you are at war with the AI frontrunner.

I *think* that trying to plant a spy is (at least) possible one turn after a failing attempt. Not sure if succession chances are relative low then, though, or, if the affecting circumstances like gov must change inbetween these consecutive turns.
OTOH, I think that an unsuccesful spy mission, i.e. spy already in place, seems riskier/impossible when repeating (resp replanting) within ~5 turns.

Maybe you still remember some related details from the stealing chances test (top secret, so it regrettably sits hidden here), especially on the replanting issue (if you did such replants).

 

[ManOfMiracles]

I know my results are not because the opponents are in Anarchy. I always check their government type before attempting to plant a spy. I do have a higher success rate against Anarchy, but what I was talking about is against Monarchy and Republic. I rarely get to plant spies anyway since often my opponents are in Democracy by the time I have I.A. built. I would appreciate if someone else can confirm this. Can anyone glean info from the editor on this?

 

[Aggie]

Maybe you still remember some related details from the stealing chances test (top secret, so it regrettably sits hidden here), especially on the replanting issue (if you did such replants).

Sadly (for this topic) I didn't replant spies. I only reloaded saves.

 

[Oystein]

Seems like lots of people think the opponents government is important. I have not seen any indications of that.

Acording to my testing the chance of planting a spy is 50% for regular and 60% for veterans. I get the same results when the AI is in communism, despotism or anarchy.

I also wonder about the "wait at least 4(5) turn" rule after failed mission. At least, it is posible to plant a spy the next turn after a failed planting. But it might be some random time which happend to be 1 in my test.

 

[Metropolis Man]

Planting spies or performing espionage actions on an anarchy is easier.....

But how would you know if an AI civ is under anarchy?

 

[Aggie]

Anarchy is a government form, so: when you press F3 you get the military advisor, telling you what troops the AI has, but also what government they are in.

 

[El Loco]

How do spies become regs. or vets

 

[Grille]

Hmm, apart from success chances, it's of course risky if planting attempts permanently fail in a row of turns. ~5 turns may grant enough time to counter balance an attitude drop and eventually avoid a war declaration.

edit:
El Loco: that depends on the gov; comunist spies are automatically veterans