I can't fight!!!

[Theben]

Other things that're great about spies is that you can use them for multiple missions in one turn. Say you drop off the spy onto land (1 MP) next to the target city. For 1/3rd MP you may Establish Embassy (if you haven't yet: btw did I mention that you should ALWAYS have embassies with a potential enemy?), 1/3rd more move you Investigate City (again, knowledge is crucial). Now you have 1 and 1/3 MP's left to scout around and steal, sabotage, etc. with your 1 spy. Since by then the enemy usually has railroads (you DID drop her on a rail, right?), feel free to scout as far as you can go and still have enough move left to reach your target.

Now you have to decide what you're going to use the spy for (actually, you should have planned this before). Is it a walled town? Walls are hard to take out, but at least spies have the option. Try to plan for easier sabotage targets. Coastal forts are easy targets, and good ones if you have cruisers offshore. Do you plan on buying it? Target temples, cathedrals, and COURTHOUSES! Does the enemy have a powerful defense? Consider destroying his barracks: no more new vet defenders AND damaged units are not instantly repaired.

Should you lose a city to an enemy, make the best of it. Try to have 3 diplomats at all times, especially early on. Say some superior tech civ who you haven't met before comes along and takes your city. Send in the dips: 1st one Est. Embassy, 2nd steals tech, 3rd buys back city. Now you have your city back, and likely have his invading army as well, and are 2 techs up from where you were!

[Steve Clark]

Oh great! AH is now an emperor. That means we got to bow down to him

I concur with Theben, having a large defense forces of spies and diplomats is a great thing. They cost nothing to support and by bribing any barbs, you get NONE units and bribing leaders gets more diplomats, and so on. I would rather have a wall of fortified spies/dips than artillery.

[Theben]

Yeah, barbarians are great when you have dips, that's another reason I make Writing priority when I'm expanding on my continent. I rarely buy barb leaders, though. Usually I'll bribe his chariot/horseman entourage and then use one against the leader. This almost always gives me +2 military units and a tidy profit, even when including the cost of bribing. Early generations generally consist of 2 horsemen (cost 41 coins each) or 2 chariots (cost 61 each) and a leader. If you are playing with raging hordes the barb leaders are worth 150 coins, so bribing 2 chariots for 122 coins still nets 28 gold! Barbarians are your friend.

[Krushala]

Of course I didn't forget barracks produce veteran units. I just forgot to put it in my first post that's all. You either build war academy or build barracks. Attacking with non veteran units is worthless. It never works on the higher levels. Barracks are always a must build so I don't think about them much.

[Puaxant Tuvip]

I do love spies. But the manual says you can place them in your city to defend against dipolomats stealing tech. But this never seems to work. I just hate it when a lowly diplomat can steal tech when I have esionage. I still have to have units outside my cities to keep the unwanteds out. So I usually end up using these to take care of barbs.

[Sieve Too]

In most of the fast conquest games I play, I never build Barracks or STWA. If you combine ICS with fast conquest and Leo's Workshop, you'll be pumping out so many units that vet status won't matter much. But if you play perfectionist or hold off attacking until later years, you better have all vet units.

[Genghis Al]

This thread really helped me, I no longer fear starting near another civ.



Bohlen: I don't think the attacker is affected by terrian. The manual says nothing about that, nor does any strat guid I ever read. mybe it is a MOD thing though?

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Ah man! Ghandi! New game.

-Genghis Al

[Smash]

Yes terrain effects attackers but advantage is always with the defender.

In order to have a good shot at thwarting espionage,you will need 5 dips or 3 spys(2 vet spys) in the city.Not very practical and no guarantee.In an OCC game,thru bribing I ended up with 18 dips in the city and that seemed to work.So station 18 dips in all your cities I haven't seen a benefit of a courthouse in this matter.At all.Not in any of my games anyhow.

[Scouse Gits]

Smash....18 dips a city - I love it ....especially when you're playing ICS. That's a lot of beer and sandwiches for those guys. Is there any way of knowing when you have thwarted espionage?
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Scouse Git (2)

[Genghis Al]

It just so happens that before the chinese nuked the hell out of me. They tried to preform so kind of spy thing on Moscow (which had a vet spy) And the spies went in and a messege box said, "russian spy fiols espoinoge attempt"

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Ah man! Ghandi! New game.

-Genghis Al

[Smash]

yep.Thats the message you get.Its a good feeling.

That game it was 2 ais sending dip after dip rather aimlessly.Interestingly,the ai sort of "learned" and started sending them in stacks.I had to use my "SS" freights as blockers.It kinda resembled a goal line stand in football with the ai trying to punch a dip thru..hehe

[Scouse Gits]

I will have to keep more spies in frontier towns. Never seen the message yet.

In one game the French were desperate to get the superconductor. I had sealed off all land and sea access - but the A1 kept building more spies. It seems the program says keep making them until the tech is stolen.

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Scouse Git (2)

[Scouse Gits]

SPIES
Has anyone ever stopped an AI from stealing techs, by keeping a spy in a city? (Never seen a notice like coastal fortress doubles defence etc.)
Come to think of it, I have never had any of my spies fail to steal. They may get captured afterwards - but they deliver the goods.

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Scouse Git (2)

[Bohlen]

MWHC - I've been thinking the same thing about the terrain of the attacker. I have been playing MOMjr this week and have been battling Chaos for years over a strategically located city. Whenever an Iron Golem on mountains attacks my defending Iron Golem fortified within city walls, my Golem is either destroyed or severely damaged. If the attacking Golem is on the nearby plains, the attack fails miserably. I've never noticed anything like this before. Have there been any lengthy discussions on the effects of the attacker's terrain during combat? Anyone have any thoughts?