View Full Version : The Power of A spy.
Use them, they are great. Story I wanted Wales. French owned it for some time. I didnt want a war with france but wanted Wales. Solution 15 spies in there causing trouble. They did such a good job a revolt everyturn attacked the french. It took 15 years for the french army to be defeated but it worked. (They were huge).
And Now in the game Im at war with the Elmos http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif. They were very large and over streched. Solution before the war Spies causing trouple Here, there softened them up Hardcore. The Elmo leader was a loser, I can see his empire falling apart now.
My biggest problem right now is dealing with his fleets. He had like 25-30 ships all througout the seas. My supply routes are cut off. But slowly my fleets are mopping his up and clearing the seaways for me. I win most the battles but have lost maybe 8 ships so far. Fun, fun, fun. Elmos lost about 17 or so. Cant keep track too many battles everyturn to count.
----Edit----
Changed whales to Wales.
[This message has been edited by Papewaio (edited 09-02-2002).]
Shrinkwrap
09-02-2002, 18:49
Yes, I've also noticed how spies are great at fomenting unrest in other players' provinces as well as doing counter-intelligence in your own. At times, I try and recall my assasins from far away areas where they've followed targets only to see them knocked off on their way back. Spies seem a little more resilient, or is this my imagination?
Lord Aeon
09-02-2002, 19:12
Hmmm... what level were you playing on? The CPU in my games tends to have quite good counterintelligence. In fact, if you sat 15 spies in a provinc in the game i'm playing right now, they'd all be gone in 4 - 6 turns. The CPU tends to keep border forts, assassins, emissaries, and spies of their own. in regular rotation.
Your right I was losing about 1 to 2 spies per turn in Whales. But I was making 3 a turn, in provinces right next to whales. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif I would throw some assasins in too to overwhelm thier counter intelligence. So to be fair I did lose at least one spy a turn and a bunch of assasins. Maybe total of 15 spies and 4 or so assasins. It worked though. Thats the ticket though you need to overwhelm the AI Counter Spy Units.
Sjakihata
09-02-2002, 21:03
Does the spy gather intelligence in MTW too?
In shogun, if you had a shinobi in enemy lands, they would tell you that perhaps Oda planned an attack for the next summer, a cool feature, but not very reliable.
Is it more reliable in MTW? if it is still included. never tried with high level shinobi though, maybe that would've worked.
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*bows* - Power to the Sultan!
Clan Seljuk
Don't forget that you may discover hidden vices in generals with spies.
1dread1lahll
09-03-2002, 01:24
Not surprised about the Elmos..... HEHE.
I one the war agaist the elmos. Hard fought war but now Im Strecthed a little thin. On the year I one the war the Darn French invaded me. They hit 4 of my lands in the first year. I held of 3 of them and retreated into the castle in my other land.
My next turn is going to take about 1 to 2 hours to complete lots of stuff going on. Counter attack in Two Provinces and sending an army to save my Besieged forces. Boy and I have only manybe 45 years left in game world too. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif
TheLastEuropean
09-12-2002, 16:23
The spy seems to be a little more powerful than STW's shinobi. In STW it usually required about 15-20 in a province to cause a rebellion, but in MTW I find 10 spies are more than enough. Yes, they do report intelligence back to you regarding the enemy amassing troops and their plans to invade at a particular time. The problem with the so-called 'reliability' of these reports is that it was all based on how the strat map was on THAT turn. Obviously, when you hear that such-and-such a faction is planning to invade in 2 years time and YOU are the target, you will then immediately add troops to the province bordering that faction. However, this will usually stave off the attack since the AI now has to reconsider it's strength needed for said attack - resulting in a no show come invasion time and a assumption on behalf of the player that it was just buggy AI or something. Generally, if you do nothing (and nobody else impinges on their invasion plan) you WILL see the said attack occurring exactly as predicted!
I usually just swap out the weak troops with my better troops and keep the number of units level. That way I can get impressive victories.
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BTW, Danish Crusades are needed.[/]
[i]You may not care about war, but war cares about you!
Quick question on a related topic - anyone know how Spies can increase their honour? - I've only just got to the stage where I'm producing them in reasonable numbers, but I haven't seen any stars yet.
Some come out with stars... they are seldom.
They can gain ranks by:
1: Kill enemy agents that floats around in your province.
2: Incite rebellions in enemy provinces. At least they would in STW.
3: Possibly they will gain ranks by successfully framing a general.
4: Possibly they will also gain ranks by finding secret Vices.
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BTW, Danish Crusades are true to history.
You may not care about war, but war cares about you!
Oh yeah, forgot to ask.
Can you see all Secret Vices? Or does some appear hidden to you all the time until found out?
And can you see enemy generals Secret Vices?
I need to know as it can get gruelling to go about with a spy testing all heirs and generals. I have yet to find any.
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BTW, Danish Crusades are true to history.
You may not care about war, but war cares about you!
tobiasds
09-12-2002, 19:54
I believe one can see enemy generals vices and you should consider them prior to placing a bribe.
GAH!
Inquisitors are a hoot!
GAH!
Just found out that you can't see the enemy Secret Vices. Got three kings the same turn... hehehe...
Inquisitors are indeed great!
Start an Inquisition in the enemy country and loyalty will seemingly drop. Also production will drop due to the deaths. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif
But I found a odd occurance with trying people for herecy.
My king and prime heir (had killed the others in glorious battle hehehe) was somewhat lacking in the Pious department, so obviously I put them on trial to get that up.
It worked well and they got past the insane accusations, they gained 1 to Piety but at the same time they got the Atheist Vice (-8 to Piety)... Both of them. That was very strange.
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BTW, Danish Crusades are true to history.
You may not care about war, but war cares about you!
Perec_Dojo
09-12-2002, 23:58
Maybe they came through their trial a bit disillusioned, eh?
Perhaps... http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif
Then the Inquisitor should have taken notice of it.
"Devine light shone through the defendant, so he was set free, though I found it most disturbing that he refused the presence of the One true God. Despite his outburst against the true belief, I found it hard to actually get any proof of his lack of faith."
Seems like the Inquisitors would make lousy prosecutors, they fail even when the defendant has declared himself guilty. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif
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BTW, Danish Crusades are true to history.
You may not care about war, but war cares about you!
Kraellin
09-13-2002, 05:12
take care to use your spies against enemy generals. this can cause a lot of havoc to an enemy, lowering all sorts of things in the province he is in. i've had a number of enemy general vices discovered and it's resulted in lowered agriculture incomes, trade incomes and so on. it's a nice way to weaken an enemy without going to war. and the spies do seem to NOT be caught and killed as easily as assassins. i've had several following enemy generals around through any number of their provinces with all sorts of anti-spy type units and buildings. they are a very handy unit in a cold war or even a hot one.
K.
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The only absolute is that there are no absolutes.
i was preaty excited at first about doing some rebelions in almos teritory so i used to keep lots of spyes in 3 almo provinces but surprise after some time i observed that not only almos seemd to have no problem but with so many easy fights every turn they developed some 7 or 8 generals of 9 level now that is a BIG problem I don't use spyes anymore
insolent1
09-13-2002, 07:06
the best way to train spys is by rebellions drop about 10 of them on a province with a small army & it should revolt move onto next province & the next I have about 120-150 spies with 4+ stars if there is a watchtower in the province you will loose 1 spy every turn.
TheLastEuropean
09-13-2002, 14:37
>>>>>"pies do seem to NOT be caught and killed as easily as assassins. i've had several following enemy generals around through any number of their provinces with all sorts of anti-spy type units and buildings."
Yes, I noticed. A big change from STW and it's nice not having to rebuild your agents every time they step out of your prov........ Hold on a god-damned cotton-pickin minute, what about all MY lovely anti-spy features..... that means they're not as good as I thought!!! Doh! Must make more defences sharpish!!
erhggg...
it would be really nice if there was a way to move multiple units (emisarries, spies, assassins, etc) at once...this click and drag stuff is IRRITATING!
Kraellin
09-13-2002, 19:13
thelasteuropean,
yeah, i wondered about that too. i've got one province of mine that seems to be taking a loyalty hit at the moment with no explanation of why. lol. turnabout is fair play, eh? i'm guessing that to catch a spy you may need to send a spy. i'm going to set a couple in that province and see what comes up.
K.
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The only absolute is that there are no absolutes.
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