Tech stealing

[Zelda's Man]

I know that we can steal techs from the AI. I am pretty sure the AI steals techs from each other. Does the AI ever steal from the human player? I would assume it would try to. If it does, is it always successful? I have never seen a popup that said that some AI tried to steal something from me, but we caught him in the act and we are not pleased. Has anyone ever caught the AI trying to do espionage missions on them?

 

[Rohili]

Yes, once I got a notification saying that the production of one of my cities was sabotaged. I was rather surprised, frankly, since that was the first time an AI civ conducted espionage on me.

ADDIT: I didn't "catch" the AI though, if that's what you are asking. I just got notified that my production was sabotaged.

 

[k-a-bob]

I've exposed spies before, and "thwarted" planting of spies before.
I never have known if they steal techs or anything...

 

[bonscott]

I've had them try to steal my maps or military plans before. I've actually never had them attempt to steal a tech before. However that is pretty expensive if you've ever tried it yourself so if they don't have enough money they can't try it. Another reason to bankrupt the AI.

 

[Hyronymus]

Only offense they played on me was planting a spy. The war due to that was fun . But I'm surprised to hear the AI actually tries to sabotage production.

 

[Drakan]

I've had the AI stealing my military plans, sabotaging the production in one of my cities, they have been caught red handed planting a spy in my capital but never heard anything of it stealing one of my techs. I'm curious aswell.

 

[Tomoyo]

I"ve had the AI sabotage my production, steal my world map, among other things, but in those games I was so far behind that no AI would steal my technology.

 

[microbe]

AI does all the spy stuff when it has enough money. I've caught AI trying to steal tech from me.

 

[Renata]

I don't think I've ever caught them specifically trying to steal tech from me, but I know they've done it. Once that I remember, I was the tech leader, with one remaining strong AI two or three techs behind, and all the rest left in the dust. The leading AI came up with two techs in two turns without trading with me (I'd gotten ToE already). Nice trick, that.

Renata

 

[mikehunt]

some games I never get notices, other games I've had a ton of notices, luckily they were all "we stopped ______ from planting a spy"

 

[hievery]

Yeah, one time I got notified that "a rival civilazation has stole your battle plans. This is while i was at peace, so i didnt worry me too much

 

[Rambuchan]

I am pretty much certain that the Japanese have stolen a tech off me before. The signs all point to it: a) I kept catching them trying to plant a spy which they must have eventually succeeded in doing. b) They got their treasury up to about 5000 or 6000gp from trading with me (to keep them at peace) and got heavy cash off a civ we were both warring with. This treasury dwindled to about 150gp in one turn and c) They were lagging by about 5 techs or so and suddenly caught up with two of them in the same turn that their treasury went down. d) No one else had those techs but me. I don't see anything else for it, they must have stolen the tech.

What I find amazing though is that they must have only had enough cash for an 'immediate' steal - and they were not Commie at the time. I would never try an immediate steal (cheapest) in any gov other than Commie yet the AI did and got away with it! Go AI!!!

 

[Rohili]

I am pretty much certain that the Japanese have stolen a tech off me before. The signs all point to it: a) I kept catching them trying to plant a spy which they must have eventually succeeded in doing. b) They got their treasury up to about 5000 or 6000gp from trading with me (to keep them at peace) and got heavy cash off a civ we were both warring with. This treasury dwindled to about 150gp in one turn and c) They were lagging by about 5 techs or so and suddenly caught up with two of them in the same turn that their treasury went down. d) No one else had those techs but me. I don't see anything else for it, they must have stolen the tech.

What I find amazing though is that they must have only had enough cash for an 'immediate' steal - and they were not Commie at the time. I would never try an immediate steal (cheapest) in any gov other than Commie yet the AI did and got away with it! Go AI!!!

I tried an immediate tech steal with democracy and got away with it. I must confess, though, I saved beforehand in case it went wrong.

As for your game, you should have tried exposing enemy mole after suspecting that the Japs stole a tech from you. It would be interesting.

 

[Rambuchan]

Yeah I did I think but they were playing catch up too late in the game. If I remember rightly my domination victory win came shortly after so I wasn't too miffed. I must say espionage missions are too damn expensive and the risk factor is just too high. The only time I've used espionage to really good effect is when I converted almost half a tiny nation by way of propaganda. I don't have any other really great memories of spy work otherwise.

 

[TyranusBonehead]

I've had the AI steal tech from me once. Kind of aggravating because you don't see it coming.

One funny experience I had, I had the AI over a barrell, and was whipping up on it big time. They tried to trade me Economics for Ironclads (which was a tech I had just researched). I told them no way. Then I proceeded to steal Economics from them. I know it cost me a good amount of gold to do that, but hey it's the principle of the thing.

 

[Aegis Shield]

Are the tech stealing missions cheaper than outright buying a tech? Or is it just a good plan because the AI doesn't get the money?