Stealing Techs

[KaiserBenjamin]

Okay, I'll be honest. I never really figured out Espionage. I love Beyond the Sword and Rhye's, but I never figured out how to use espionage effectively. I delight in reading the Domination and Conquest forums and it seems like most people use it to steal technologies from smaller civs like the Netherlands or from their own vassals once they get too big and start falling behind in the tech tree.

Anyone care to explain a successful espionage strategy or send me the link to a good wiki explanation? Thanks in advance!

 

[AnotherPacifist]

There is no specific strategy. In general I pick the closest civ (if you can get from your capital to their's in fewer moves you can reuse your spy quicker) which has a tech I need (like rifling) and assign all my espionage points towards them. As soon as it's possible, build a courthouse and assign a spy. Jails are good, security bureaus are OK and intelligence agencies the best. Hope like mad you get a great spy to infiltrate your target (some manipulation of specialists will help)--getting Communism first doesn't hurt either. Make sure you build a spy early and sit him in the city that costs the least to steal techs (you can find this out in the espionage screen). Rest 5 turns to get 50% discount. Sometimes it helps to trade for the prerequisite tech (like replacement parts or military science) and then steal the next tech (rifling/chemistry). When you have flight you can easily fly any spy to any vassal's cities, which saves a lot of turns.
When you have vassals, you want them to research stuff that you want, so that even if you can't get it from trade, it'll save you some beakers.

 

[Jet]

I've only skimmed these myself --
* a basic guide - http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=268722
* a reference - http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=252496
* a sophisticated article - http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=260902#EEvsManualResearch
* from Attacko, the man known as the "Sun Tzu of Civ IV" - http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=276980

Also In Strategy & Tips and Succession Games there are various walkthroughs where people played espionage-oriented games.

One thing specific to a huge map like this. I'm not 100% certain, but it seems to me the AI will tend to spread out EPs and not concentrate them 100% on one target like a smart human who wants to steal a tech. So even without a spy bomb it's easier to get an EP advantage on a target compared to a smaller map.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

The third article is very good, but with the new patch, spies on ships no longer get resting bonus, so you should unload them.

Late game (=large empires) running police state/nationhood and plenty of spy specialists, running 70-80% espionage is worth more than 100% science.

 

[blizzrd]

Okay, I'll be honest. I never really figured out Espionage. I love Beyond the Sword and Rhye's, but I never figured out how to use espionage effectively. I delight in reading the Domination and Conquest forums and it seems like most people use it to steal technologies from smaller civs like the Netherlands or from their own vassals once they get too big and start falling behind in the tech tree.

Anyone care to explain a successful espionage strategy or send me the link to a good wiki explanation? Thanks in advance!

Until a few months ago I was exactly the same. I played RFC BTS for more than a year ignoring espionage, but I now fully appreciate the espionage element of the game. Try it, you'll like it.

As I now mainly play on Emperor difficulty, it is absoutely necessary to use espionage for "research" - it is the only way to get remotely close to some of the UHV requirements for certain civs.

 

[kbk]

As Blzzrd said, Espionage is basically completely required for you to succeed on emperor. My emperor domination games were only possible thanks to espionage, but you'll want it through any other emperor game, and knowing how to use it will still be very powerful at other difficulties.

Follow these guides but here are a few tips:

In Europe, the first civ to the pivotal tech, astronomy is 60% of the time France, 25% of the English, and 15% the Spanish, and occasionally the Dutch will get it first.
Be aware of where the tech race is, and adjust your points accordingly. Early on getting a couple hundred points in the key leaders, and then otherwise focussing on one can work.
Build courthouses early, they help stability AND let you generate espionage early.
Stealing from vassals is a pretty powerful technique, as you will typically have the open borders and common trade routes, culture, etc.
In RFC, tech costs are dynamic (they scale with the size of you empire, past 10 cities). So are the costs of stolen techs through espionage, but you can still get the powerful overall -50% modifier.
Early espionage points are worth a ton more than late espionage points.
You can use points to induce a revolt in heavily fortified cities. Under revolt they will not have any defensive bonus from culture/buildings.
I had one game where I used spies to blow up bomb shelters before a pre-emptive nuclear strike. That was fun.