Propaganda - why can't I use it?

[jodiecon]

I have finally figured out how to plant spies and have been attempting to use propaganda to gain some cities (this was one of my favorite tactics in Civ II).

Every time I go to use it, I get a message "So-and-so civilization is immune to propaganda."

How is that?!? What can I do to utilize propaganda?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Haertgaeden]

Aren't democracies immune to propoganda?

[jodiecon]

Mmm... I hadn't thought about that option. I knew they were in Civ II.

Okay... my next question would be, how do I tell what government they have?

I can't seem to make much use of my embassies. Maybe I just don't understand how. I build the embassy (pay for it) and can see in the capital city when it's done but what good does it do me from that point on (other than making other diplomatic options available)?

For instance, where can I see their technology listing without actually talking with them?

[Duncan Idaho]

how do I tell what government they have?

hit F3
change the right side pane to the civ you want to see by clicking on the name of the civ
it should show you the government type for the selected civ, like 'Japanese Anarchy'

what good does it do me from that point

hit Shift-E for espionage missions (er,.. diplomatic missions), or the tiny E on the lower-right side of the screen, on the status window
you can check any of their cities (for a price)

where can I see their technology listing without actually talking with them?

you can't

[Platypus]

You can tell what government each Civ is from your military advisor (strangely enough). One Civ will be listed on the right side of the military advisor screen and the caption will include the government type (e.g. Roman Republic or American Democracy). You can change what Civ is shown by right clicking on the caption and selecting another Civ from the pop-up menu.

For telling what technology other Civs have, they only way I have found is to contact them and open up the bargaining screen. Unlike Civ II, they don't seem to be get annoyed by moderately frequent content that doesn't result in a deal.

As for embassies, I, too, am rather underwhelmed by them. If I know I'm close to attack another Civ and take some (but not all) of their cities, I'll hold off on making the embassy until I'm close to attacking them so that I get the intelligence of how well defended the capital is (and use that to guess how well defended the target cities are). When I finally discover espionage, I do plant a spy in each of the Civs that are still large enough to be a threat, since this allows your military advisory to tell you the full set of military units they have, but I don't use any other espionage missions, as they don't seem worth the money.

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by Platypus
... When I finally discover espionage, I do plant a spy in each of the Civs that are still large enough to be a threat, since this allows your military advisory to tell you the full set of military units they have, but I don't use any other espionage missions, as they don't seem worth the money.

This can be an especially exciting period in the game if, when you are planting a spy, your spy is captured and the civ declares war on you.

More likely to happen if the civ is from a different 'region'. I was Babylonians, they were Germans. Planted a spy in Berlin again hundreds of years later to instigate their declaring war on me (it worked).

[jodiecon]

I leanred last night while reading some posts that planting the spy could cause problems. I've only done it twice (since I wasn't finding much use for them) and they "planted" successfully both times. Interesting tactic to use though when you want some war!

I'm looking at my Military Advisor Screen now. WOW! I see the name of the government they are using but look at that! I can see what all units they have too! Too cool! I thought you had to pay for that. Ah... I see... you need to pay to find out who is where but they spy will tell you how many overall units the guy has. This is VERY helpful!

Thank you also for telling me about the little "E" (and I also see the D, P, and H now too. I had never noticed them before! Nice shortcut (as is the F3 too!).

You have been a great help!