Thread Tools
Old December 17, 2001, 16:21   #1
felder
Chieftain
 
Local Time: 10:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Nov 2001
Posts: 37
Intelligence Agency is worthless?
I've found the Intelligence Agency to be pretty useless. It seems that by the time I get it, everyone else is already a democracy so I can't really spread propaganda. Also it's extremely expensive to use the other features of the Agency, and it always seems to fail for me.

Has anyone actually found a way to apply the Intelligence Agency usefully in their games?
felder is offline  
Old December 17, 2001, 16:37   #2
Kc7mxo
King
 
Kc7mxo's Avatar
 
Local Time: 13:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Seattle
Posts: 1,038
Absolutely. It's one of the best ways to get a civ to declare war on you. Just keep trying to stick a spy in their empire. If you get lucky, the turn you try it, it will be impossible. And if you do it enough they'll declare war.

In one game I was trying to stick a spy in Germany, and i tried it twenty times! in a row! a little after 20 they declared war. (they were weak).

Neat huh?

Yes, it does seem to be prohibitivly expensive to be of any use. And propaganda almost never works anyway.

i don'y play it much anymore anyway so it doesn't really bother me.

on the other hand, the investigate city you get from embasy, is VERY useful, and quite affordable.
Kc7mxo is offline  
Old December 17, 2001, 16:48   #3
felder
Chieftain
 
Local Time: 10:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Nov 2001
Posts: 37
Quote:
Originally posted by Kc7mxo
Absolutely. It's one of the best ways to get a civ to declare war on you. Just keep trying to stick a spy in their empire. If you get lucky, the turn you try it, it will be impossible. And if you do it enough they'll declare war.

In one game I was trying to stick a spy in Germany, and i tried it twenty times! in a row! a little after 20 they declared war. (they were weak).

Neat huh?

Yes, it does seem to be prohibitivly expensive to be of any use. And propaganda almost never works anyway.

i don'y play it much anymore anyway so it doesn't really bother me.

on the other hand, the investigate city you get from embasy, is VERY useful, and quite affordable.
Hmm...that's a thought. It never occurred to me to start a war that way. Still seems pretty useless to me though.
felder is offline  
Old December 17, 2001, 17:22   #4
Ralf
King
 
Ralf's Avatar
 
Local Time: 19:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Sweden
Posts: 1,728
Quote:
Originally posted by felder
Also it's extremely expensive to use the other features of the Agency, and it always seems to fail for me.
Anything and everything regarding diplomacy/spy-mission costs can be edited with the help of that CivMod editor -> Diplomats & Spys tab.
Ralf is offline  
Old December 17, 2001, 18:21   #5
rah
lifer
Apolytoners Hall of FameCivilization IV: Multiplayer
Just another peon
 
rah's Avatar
 
Local Time: 13:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: who killed Poly
Posts: 22,919
The only useful thing for it is seeing their space ship progress for timing your trashing of their Capital

Pretty useless otherwise.

RAH
__________________
The OT at APOLYTON is like watching the Special Olympics. Certain people try so hard to debate despite their handicaps.
rah is offline  
Old December 17, 2001, 19:32   #6
Jonny
Civilization III Democracy GameNationStatesNever Ending StoriesGalCiv Apolyton EmpireC3C IDG: Apolyton TeamC3CDG The Lost Boys
 
Jonny's Avatar
 
Local Time: 13:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Nashville / St. Louis
Posts: 4,263
Well, you get 1 or 2 culture points a turn for it. But that's about it.
Jonny is offline  
Old December 17, 2001, 19:43   #7
Jaybe
Mac
Emperor
 
Jaybe's Avatar
 
Local Time: 11:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Henderson, NV USA
Posts: 4,168
If you want to see what a foreign military is composed of, establishing a Spy (and therefore the Intelligence Agency) is the way to go. Can't disagree with you yet, otherwise.
__________________
JB
I play BtS (3.19) -- Noble or Prince, Rome, marathon speed, huge hemispheres (2 of them), aggressive AI, no tech brokering. I enjoy the Hephmod Beyond mod. For all non-civ computer uses, including internet, I use a Mac.
Jaybe is offline  
Old December 17, 2001, 19:50   #8
Stryfe
Chieftain
 
Local Time: 18:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Seattle, WA USA
Posts: 61
Most of the abilities given by the Intelligence Agency are too expensive to be useful, but the simple ability to plant spies is very useful (so that you can see what other civs militaries are composed of) and just prior to an invasion of a powerful civ, using the investigate troop movement can be very useful also--that way you know where their ICBM's are, their air force, etc, and can attempt to take out those cities as quickly as possible. Otherwise, I don't use it though.
Stryfe is offline  
Old December 17, 2001, 23:19   #9
dissent
Chieftain
 
Local Time: 18:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Nov 2001
Posts: 37
I find the Intelligence Agency invaluable during wartime, to investigate cities and maybe sabotage production in a select few cities. While in Communism I have little trouble planting my spy. Propoganda doesn't work, but is way too expensive anyway. Why pay when you can achieve the same results via force?
dissent is offline  
Old December 18, 2001, 00:29   #10
Dida
Prince
 
Dida's Avatar
 
Local Time: 18:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 604
it is a good way to provoke a war. that's about it.
__________________
==========================
www.forgiftable.com/

Artistic and hand-made ceramics found only at www.forgiftable.com.
Dida is offline  
Old December 18, 2001, 01:12   #11
Badtz Maru
Prince
 
Badtz Maru's Avatar
 
Local Time: 12:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Nov 2001
Posts: 595
Sometimes it's worth it to sabotage another civ's production when they are about to beat you to a wonder you have been working on for 50 years.
Badtz Maru is offline  
Old December 18, 2001, 03:23   #12
bigredlemon
Settler
 
Local Time: 13:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 7
I have tried some 50 times to plant spies under communism, and it almost never works, EXCEPT:
a) We have mutual protection (about 50% chance of success implants)
b)we are at war and i have **** loads of units outside their cities (About 30% chance)

otherwise, the spies never gets in.

After he gets in, only investigate city and steal plans has ever worked....

i think maybe firaxis never finnished the portion, so they just put up some text for show (and take your coins!)
bigredlemon is offline  
Old December 18, 2001, 05:54   #13
zipnar
Settler
 
zipnar's Avatar
 
Local Time: 18:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Nov 2001
Posts: 8
its real nice being able to see how many nukes the enemy has sometimes.
zipnar is offline  
Old December 18, 2001, 08:25   #14
Grumbold
Emperor
 
Grumbold's Avatar
 
Local Time: 19:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: London, UK
Posts: 3,732
I've found the whole espionage angle to be seriously weakened in Civ 3. I use it occasionally in games where the AI has an edge over me and I have a choice of different moves to make. The minute I've got the upper hand or it only becomes practical to attack one opponent it becomes irrelevant because the steady capture, raze, advance tactic is far more cost effective than wasting money on espionage.
__________________
To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection. H.Poincare
Grumbold is offline  
Old December 18, 2001, 20:07   #15
felder
Chieftain
 
Local Time: 10:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Nov 2001
Posts: 37
Quote:
Originally posted by bigredlemon
I have tried some 50 times to plant spies under communism, and it almost never works, EXCEPT:
a) We have mutual protection (about 50% chance of success implants)
b)we are at war and i have **** loads of units outside their cities (About 30% chance)

otherwise, the spies never gets in.

After he gets in, only investigate city and steal plans has ever worked....

i think maybe firaxis never finnished the portion, so they just put up some text for show (and take your coins!)
That's what I'm saying...the thing seems pretty useless because getting a spy in another civ almost never seems to work...once it does most of the features of the agency don't seem to work. Couldn't they have done something that required far less code to enable someone to get a civ to declare war?

Geeze...how about a "send grandma's nasty fruitcake" option on the diplomacy screen?
felder is offline  
Old December 18, 2001, 20:50   #16
Boney
Call to Power II MultiplayerCall to Power Multiplayer
Warlord
 
Local Time: 19:38
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Thailand
Posts: 273
Right now let's get this into perspective.

For examining a city a spy is not needed, just an embassy. This is cheaper and more useful than a spy. It helps to find out when that wonder will be complete, or how many troops are in the city etc.

I can honestly say that I have yet to succeed in making any use of spying without creating some sort of side effect. The side effect often nullifies the gain. The usual result is war, and usually after 1 attempt not 20. The expense of spying is prohibitive given the results, pay loads of money to see spy arrested and war started.
Boney is offline  
 

Bookmarks

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 14:38.


Design by Vjacheslav Trushkin, color scheme by ColorizeIt!.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Apolyton Civilization Site | Copyright © The Apolyton Team