I've not used spies much in M-TW except to try and dig up some dirt- which has never accomplished much.
Any of you sneakier cloak and dagger style players out there have any top tips ?
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I've not used spies much in M-TW except to try and dig up some dirt- which has never accomplished much.
Any of you sneakier cloak and dagger style players out there have any top tips ?
My spies have been rather ineffective in digging up dirt on generals & kings too. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...cons/frown.gif
I sometimes use hordes of them to start rebellions in enemy terretory, and once the rebellion has started, my legions come to clame their lands http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/biggrin.gif.
And they're good for keeping back rebellions on your own soil, remember that there are only a few generals with secret vices which can be uncovered (check out your own generals, only 1 in every 10 or so will have one...)
-Mithrandir
Thanks Mithrandir http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...cons/smile.gif
Do the spies stir up trouble on their own accord or is this something I have to tell them to do ?
No need to tell spies to cause trouble they do it all on there own http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...cons/smile.gif
Nope just place them in an enemy province http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...cons/smile.gif.
Becarefull with provinces which have border forts in them though, they can capture&kill spies &assasins. Also placing spies in a heavily garisonned province wont have much use since the people wont rebel then. Last note : be sure to send in a lot, a few will get killed, and ussually it takes around 5 to 8 spies to make an (unguarded) province rebel within 3 years or so...
-Mithrandir
Nice, cheers matey.
Use them as garrison in no-border provinces. no maintenance cost. Way cool. You can spare up to 100 florins per turn per province with 3-4 spies.
check for spy threads in the Main Hall, there are plenty of good ones.
i really like them, and use them extensively, with good levels of success on all missions.
Once my spy reported me that Egypt are going to intervene the Byzantine's province within 2-3 next years. Pretty cool thing to know about Just place your spy in the enemy's province and hope he is fortunate enough.
Spies are good for counter intelligence too. They seem to help catch enemy spies and assassins once they penetrate your borders. You really can't have too many of them.
I don`t think this works properly, though. Those attacks never seem to materialize, perhaps because they`re too busy attacking me instead http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...icons/wink.gifQuote:
Originally Posted by [b
well i found my spies usefull since they were succesfull at warning me against attacks . however they die like flies so it doesnt worth it. i m gonna try the hint mentioned above about using them to lightly guarded provinces to reduce rebel risk , if it doesnt work its bye bye to spies.
For me, so far, they're more useful as counter-intel guys in my newer provinces (I send them, a bishop & an assassin on a good will tour together).
But Jas. Bond they're not: die at an alarming rate, with mostly half-baked intel. Guess they hang around in medieval taverns too much, where a shaken, not stirred order would be more likely to get them physically tossed about, rather than a perfect martini (hell, there wasn't even gin then, right? Only distilled spirits 'round then would be Keltic ouiskibaugh (wise-water=whiskey)).
Good to have at least 1 in each of ur province to catch enemies' spy & assassin. If u just lost a province to other faction, drop 20-30 of them asap onto ur lost ground and see a loyalist rebellion spring up if the enemy has a small garrision.
And u can also expand without being Xcom by using them, drop 20-30 of spies onto weakly garrisioned places next to ur land, a few turns later u can either bribe those rebels that have took over or lead ur own army to crush those rebels.
Very useful agents http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...cons/wacko.gif
Yes, try to have 1 spy at least in each of your provinces. Another reason for this is that it means you are keeping an eye on your own troops too. In my current game I have had 2 spy reoprts of disloyal generals looking to rebel Next turn I set that same spy on them to try them for treason and worked perfectly both times Saved going through that nasty civil-war stuff http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/biggrin.gif.
Thanks. much appreciated advice everybody http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/biggrin.gif
Spies are probably the most underrated units in the game. Playing as a smaller faction (Danes, Aragonese) they are esential to expanding your empire. I usually build 30 or so spies, keep a couple in each of my home provinces, and send out waves of 9 0r 10 to provinces into which I'd like to expand. I always send a bishop first to check for Border Forts. Find lightly garrisoned provinces with no border forts, and start causing rebellions. I believe for every province in which a spy resides when a rebellion starts, he gets a valour star. It's a good way to build up high ranking spies to use later for finding secret vices, and unlocking castle gates.
I've look around some but didnt see this anywhere. if you move a bunch of spies into a province with a border fort, does it check each round for spys or does it just check as you move them into the province? I ran a bunch into the elmos Cordoba, lost a couple that first round, but it hasnt found any since that i could tell. Course it did revolt after that first year.
Pre-patch, I was losing 1 spy a year, until they went up to level 4-5. Post-patch, not tried yet.
Naagi, from my experience with spies the borderfort seems to catch them one each turn, till they reach a certain valor level. Then it seems to be random, sometimes they're caught, sometimes not right away. It is hard to judge because:
1) When an agent gets caught the message reads that he was caught by bodyguards, but doesn't specify if it was the borderfort, an assassin, or a spy.
2) The AI shuffles its agents and armies practically every turn. So your spy/assassin may avoid detection at first, but then a high ranking enemy general shows up with his entourage of high level assassins/spies and your agent gets caught.
I've had high level(5-6 star) assassins and spies in enemy territory with borderforts present and they would go undetected for several years. Then for some reason they would get caught. If I want to target the Pope or a high ranking enemy general for assassination I take several assassins and spies along. Usually the high ranking assassin survives long enough to attempt the hit.
I had a 5 star assassin who I would send in to assassinate the pope every other turn. He never failed. It took 6 pope assassinations to get him to 6 stars.
BTW I was doing it because I kept getting excommunicated.
I dont like having lots of agents, spies assasins or princesses on my lands counter-spying or whatever they do.
It comes to a point where its hard to select armies because the state is so crowded
Dighee, are you running the patch?
Z toggles Troops/Spies/All and X toggles You/Them/All C will also toggle castles - it makes it a hell of a lot easier...
I bump off non-aligned holymen (so Alims & Priests if I'm catholic) and all emmisaries and inquistitors to build up my assasin power some, and prevent losses to bribes...
I don't send assasins trekking, but I do with spies - currently trawling around eastern europe with 2 emmisaries and a princess on point.