Spy...clearly not a James Bond

[aslindy]

I voted for the third choice. But then I realized I read it wrong - I thought it said "My spy is a Banana Head."

Well, same difference, I guess.

Amy

[Silver14]

Suitcase nukes were also born out of the cold war, and not by terrorists. I have no doubt they would have been used if the cold war became hot as a first strike weapon against strategic targets.

[Medic911]

spy should be weak, but after doing a few things, or building some improvement, your spy should become promote-able into 3 or 4 specific types...

revolutions/corruption based

demolitions based (destroy buildings in city, unlimited pillages until out of moves by moving to squares to pillage)

Strategic warfare spy (disabling nukes, intell, or planting nukes)

Counter spy

[wardhali]

Originally posted by Medic911
spy should be weak, but after doing a few things, or building some improvement, your spy should become promote-able into 3 or 4 specific types...

revolutions/corruption based

demolitions based (destroy buildings in city, unlimited pillages until out of moves by moving to squares to pillage)

Strategic warfare spy (disabling nukes, intell, or planting nukes)

Counter spy

that is a good idea! it would also go with the overall theme of specilization!

[Jaybe]

I am in Cort Haus' camp. Spies are useful to increase awareness of what's going on in other civs. See how much they are spending on science, see their happiness thresholds, see how close they are to finishing their last spaceship part. Haven't been succesful yet with production sabotage.

Last game I completed, I was to the point of despair that Frederick was going to beat me in the space race. But I persisted in achieving a UN victory, and after the Aztecs were eliminated, the population shifts gave me the votes needed. My highest score to date. Without a spy roaming through Germany, I wouldn't have had that extra appreciation of my plight!

[Urban Ranger]

You people watch too many Hollywood movies. Real life spies are nothing of that sort.

[Senethro]

Needs more probe teams.

[Silver14]

Urban Ranger just wants us to believe that so he doesn't blow his cover.

[Urban Ranger]

Who's this Silver14 smart alec n00b?

A fun book to read is Peter Wright's Spycatcher, if you can find it. Real spy stuff.

[AoA]

To the best of my knowledge, the Pyramids didn't grant Egypt access to all Civics either.

More functionality is more gooder.

[Adagio]

The spy unit seems to be very annoying, but without chance of hurting me... but on the other hand, there's no chance of catching it, unless it does something

In my last game I had an AI who kept sending spies to one of my islands, to sabotage all my oil fields (I had oil fields on several islands, so cutting all oil on one island wouldn't make a difference). I built 2 spies, so I could find their spy, but without any luck. Numerous of times their spy walked over to my oil-field where one of my spies was standing, destroy the field, and run away. None of my spies could ever find their spy... why?

The only times I cought their spy, was when the spies destroyed an improvement... weird that the spy wasn't cought until the next turn (after destroying the improvement)

Why doesn't it reduce the chance of success if another spy is standing on the tile?
There should defently also be some more uses for spies, maybe like trying to get border cities to revolt (hoping to join the other side) or (as mentioned) planting nukes and such... of course with a hefty diplomatic penality for all Civs (that are not annoyed or worse to the target Civ)

[Silver14]

Adagio's last post had me thinking could a spy on a submarine sabotage ocean improvements? And the answer is yes...




Its just one aspect of Civ4 spies I hadn't thought of.

[Dr Strangelove]

Stealing technology is a real world biggie for spies. Remember Alger Hiss and the Soviet spy ring that essentially stole the secrets of atomic weapons from the US?

Frankly I think they should have left guerillas ( ala Civ2 ) in the game.

[Urban Ranger]

Apparently, there's no solid case for that.

[Feyd]

Bringing in stuff from another thread...

Razing an enemy capitol apparently no longer stops an enemy's space project. Spies just went up in value in my book since they are now the only way to delay your enemies in this sometimes hotly contested victory mode.