Hide the spy?

[Spaced Cowboy]

I forgot about this. My spying is really bad. I have a ton of spies on esp and nothing is ever gained. Do I need to hide them first?

[Garth Vader]

No, I always just put mine right to esp and seldom have any problems.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Is ten spies a sufficient number?

[Garth Vader]

Depends on your spy bonuses and theirs. I often take telepathic and +10 spy. I also research all the spy techs, and seldom start trying to steal until I have Cyber and stealth suit.

I only use 4 spies but focus on races like the humans first! If I start losing a bunch of spies I will usually stop trying and go for somebody weaker.

[Spaced Cowboy]

oh,

I always play with the human portrait. That pretty much takes them out of the mix, right?

Plus sound like you pick spying traits. I stay pretty nuetral and had been picking the spy bonuses. Lately, because of nothing gain, I've been avoiding them.

I do like it when I get Drax, he kills a lot of enemy spies.

[Clear Skies]

Humans IIRC are a Democracy, which inhibits spying quite considerably. Try playing with a Dictatorship race. Plus the humans are just weak and pretty damn ****....

[Urban Ranger]

I tend not to spy on some other race unless I am at war with them, or unless I have superior computer and spying techs.

[vmxa1]

I used to ignore spying, except to stack them up for defence. It can take a ton of agents to keep things going. You also need to check to see if they have anything to steal. If I am in a big hole for tech and at Impossible I usually am, I put a planet on cranking out spies non stop and put them half for me and half for them. It can takes dozens to steal if they are trying to stop you and have some spy bonuses. Being at war is not much of a consideration as at Impossible you are at war most of the time with somebody. There seems to be a limit at around 63 on defense and much lower for agents. Once I hit it, I stop making spies except for replacements. I do not want them to steal from me if I have anything they do not. I often take research that helps spying and when I use a race that has +spying, it is criminal how easy it is to steal.

[moomin]

I spy all the time, but I mostly let the victims rotate, so as to not provoke a war... unless I want that, of course. Tip: you can get away with much more spying versus repulsives than others. The AI doesn't seem as intent on freaking out on you over spying if it can't complain.

[vmxa1]

Moom, what is the game settings? I ask as it seems to me that in a solo game, you are at war from mid game on regardless. Early game gets into wars soon, just not with everyone (Impossible levels). The human looks so weak to the AI at the start and by mid game, they are already upset as you have had to do some battles. Unless you are charismatic. They make demands and you either say no and make enemies or give away the game.

I forgot to mention that I am such a knuklehead, that when they steal from me, I declare war ASAP. As soon as I am in a postion to do any damage, got to have my revenge. The bad news is the AI will not note that and stop stealing, so you have to deal with them all sooner or later.

[moomin]

Hmmm... recall, vmxa, that we seem to differ in play. I am a strong proponent of an early fleet of Potemkin hulls, so the AI is quite tolerant of my little spying exercises, even on Imp.

And I have never gone to war over them stealing anything from me - I go to war when I'm ready to crush.

Anyhow, this is another benefit of a strong fleet - you can easily pull in a lot of tech via spying if you have it. Rotate victims and concentrate especially on repulsives.

Well, be opportunistic, of course. If you get contact with the humans via a universe-spanning wormhole on turn five, by all means steal all they got even if it means war

[vmxa1]

Yeah, I was just curious to see if what I have been running into was the norm or not. True, if you have been looked at as strong that helps. I am never strong until at least around turn 90 or so and then not as strongs as the leader. At Prewarp, I mean. Funny thing is I just stumbled on a race and played it, it has repulsive and I stayed out of war for a long time??? It is a Uni,Aqua and I have been able to steal like crazy without repercusions, go figure. The Meks are by far the largest and got to Orion before me. Lucky for me they did not get X-armor. I have yet to confront them, but I have dropped two races and am working on a third. I am the largest by pop, not systems. My fleet is growing fast with disrupter on BB's, so I am in good shape and have raced up for Star gates to protect any attacks. I think I smell blood in the water.

[Yolky]

I believe the more spies you have the less chance of sucsess you have. More spies mean more chance of getting caught. I ususally have only two or maybe 3 spies per civ and have them on espionage then when nothin left or at war to sabotage. IT's great when you destroy thier battlestations.

Davor

[vmxa1]

Well I submit that if you are not creative you need to start stealing and war is unavoidable anyway. If you are already at war then it has no down side, except the cost. Anyway I ran some test and it seems straight forward, more spies defending means reduced success for the bad guys. Saving each turn waiting for a hit, they finally get a steal. I reload and the steal still occurs nearly always. Reload and move some spies back from some race and add to defence and boom, no steal. Get to 63 on defence and they do not get any steals/sab or anything. This may not be 100%, but I have yet to have a problem once I get to 63.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Vmxa1,

Since new spies always go to defense, If you have 63 already, where does the new spy go?