Our spy in Tenochtitlan has been captured!

Master Marcus · November 15, 2002, 21:37

...I don't recall the AI was able to do that in Civ III, I mean various kind of late-game spying missions other than "planting a spy"....the first time the AI has exposed my spy. Anyone else has witnessed an unusual spying mission by the AI?

Zero · November 15, 2002, 22:02

AIs are often too good at exposing spies...

alva · November 15, 2002, 23:43

I've seen a few failed propaganda attemps by AI.

Master Marcus · November 15, 2002, 23:55

Quote:

Originally posted by alva848
I've seen a few failed propaganda attemps by AI.

yes, and sabotaging production also. But exposing my human spy, that is the first time. And you can have only one spy per rival.....it's NOT like MoO2.........

Swissy · November 16, 2002, 00:25

Had it happen once. The turn after I declared war on the Persians, I was honoring a MPP with the Chinese, I got the "Xerxes has captured our spy" or something like that. I was quite surprised as I had forgotten I even had one there.

vmxa1 · November 16, 2002, 00:46

I do not recall it, but it probably has happened to me. I do not do much with them, I did use the steal plans last night to find the nukes and target them. It was cool to see all the units.

Catt · November 16, 2002, 04:18

A collection of pop-ups from an earlier AU game - this under 1.29f, pre-PTW.

Catt

alva · November 16, 2002, 14:05

hmm, Catt, please don't tell me , you've got this poster hanging over you bed???

serious, did you guys give the AI more gold or something? 'Cause that's alot of spy activity for one game

Billster2k3 · November 16, 2002, 14:13

Quote:

Originally posted by Master Marcus
...I don't recall the AI was able to do that in Civ III, I mean various kind of late-game spying missions other than "planting a spy"....the first time the AI has exposed my spy. Anyone else has witnessed an unusual spying mission by the AI?

Happened to me too for the first time ever in one of my first PTW games. It also seemed that I had a great deal more difficulty planting spies. In the past I was successful in about 8 of 12 attempts but now it's more like 4 of 12. Maybe it's just random chance or maybe they beefed up the difficulty level for espionage in PTW.

Alex · November 16, 2002, 14:34

I was about to post that Catt had a nice collection of pop-ups from a very intense espionage game, but I see that I do not need to do it.

Pity that I rarely use espionage in my games. Too expensive and too ineffective. How is it in PtW?

vmxa1 · November 16, 2002, 15:37

I used the steal plans late in the game when at war as you can use the cheap mode. It is nice to see where their troops are and any nuke subs.

Master Marcus · November 16, 2002, 17:42

Once I have planted the spies I can ( half to 2/3 of my rivals), I use them occasionally for steal plans/ (investigate city when at war). From time to time, not every game, I try a propaganda and had a few weak cities with this. The AI city must be weak, very low-pop( 1-2 ), and far away the capitol: very low cost, so interesting......don't try a 3000 gold cost for a big city: it's a waste, and like alexnm said, too expensive and ineffective like steal tech for example.

vmxa1 · November 16, 2002, 19:55

By the time you are able to spy, you are probably in the lead with tech and do not need to steal it.

Master Marcus · November 16, 2002, 20:56

Quote:

Originally posted by vmxa1
By the time you are able to spy, you are probably in the lead with tech and do not need to steal it.

A medieval spy should be quite useful then.....In modern times when I can take the tech lead, I actually do not keep it since- like most players- I trade for gold most of the spare techs I have , so I don't care to have tech parity immediately after the trades, and 5-6 turns later 1 tech lead. The AIs are giving most of their lump sums and x/turn , reducing their economy to almost zero growth.

metalhead · November 16, 2002, 21:45

Quote:

Originally posted by vmxa1
By the time you are able to spy, you are probably in the lead with tech and do not need to steal it.

Not always true, especially if you are trying a OCC, or are focusing completely on one branch of the tech tree and decide not to trade for the rest of the techs. You can be in a tech lead, but still have the AI owning techs that you don't have. 3 or 4 thousand gold for a tech in the modern age is actually very cheap. Modern techs can cost several times that amount, if purchased directly from the AI.

vmxa1 · November 17, 2002, 00:42

That is why I used the term probably.

Catt · November 17, 2002, 10:39

Quote:

Originally posted by alva848
serious, did you guys give the AI more gold or something? 'Cause that's alot of spy activity for one game

Now special rules or mods for the AI (or for the humans) but it was played on a player-made map -- or I should say a Sir Ralph-made map, and a devilishly clever one at that. It was from a game called Banana Island, and I'm sure is still in the strategy forum -- as is a spoliers thread on the game. Just in case someone wants to play the game unspoiled. . .

**** Banana Island Spoiler ****

Sir Ralph made a map consisting of eight identical banana-shaped islands -- all separated by a sea crossing dangerous until Astronomy. This allowed the player and the 7 AIs to develop peacefully until almost the industrial age; and it made wars of conquest very difficult, especially for the AI. I think that the combination of rich, isolated lands, and all the gold from coastal cities, cobined with an inability to make war effectively, led to large AI gold surpluses.

Catt