You know, it's funny how people come around. Early on, when BtS just came out, many people--including me--brushed off the whole espionage thing, thinking that it would never lead to a tech advantage, as your tech rate would be no better than the best AI tech leader.
Then came the first few infiltration threads, then full-blown espionage economy games, and now I think most people are coming to realize that spying can actually propel you to the top of the tech heap if you research less-popular branches of the tech tree and treat your target civ as a sort of unwilling tech vassal (you know how you can tell vassals to research something that you aren't researching, and then trade with them so both parties are better off?), except that in espionages case, you don't trade techs and your target civ dictates to you what you should research next (i.e., you should research something your target civ doesn't already have and is not already researching).
Then came the first few infiltration threads, then full-blown espionage economy games, and now I think most people are coming to realize that spying can actually propel you to the top of the tech heap if you research less-popular branches of the tech tree and treat your target civ as a sort of unwilling tech vassal (you know how you can tell vassals to research something that you aren't researching, and then trade with them so both parties are better off?), except that in espionages case, you don't trade techs and your target civ dictates to you what you should research next (i.e., you should research something your target civ doesn't already have and is not already researching).
