Spies worth it or not?

[swifticus]

Having discovered spies I thought COOL lets give it a go

Having spent my hard earned gold off they went, what did they find u ask? not a lot....
I've come to a conclusion just buy a unit of peasants far more fun

Any thoughts?

[insolent1]

they have there uses but it becomes a pain to move 20 or more around the map. I use them on enemy generals as they get some nasty vices they r also handy for ending seiges. I use spies mainly to keep the loyalty up in my own provinces I use these instead of garrissoning units its cheaper

[GDukeofKiev]

3-6 spys in each friendly provence keeps all those nasty rebels from poping up.

[71-hour Ahmed]

or if you are cheesy, (or if you are fighting the almohads and they are huuuwge) use 15 to 20 at once in a province to start a rebellion, then move next door next turn, then again,,,

but of course, we wouldn't be that cheesey would we?

[Guthwyn]

I'm not sure exactly why this happened (i.e. if it was the number of spies I had or their placement), but I received a warning message along the lines of Your spies report a number of your generals are disloyal, you may want to take care of that. Sure enough, a number or garrison generals as well as some more powerful generals had to be taken care of.
In addition, I once received a warning about a particular general planning a civil war. Good thing, too, because he had a full stack at his disposal.
I thought it was helpful, to say the least, especially late in the game when I don't want to check the loyalty of all my garrison generals each turn.
So I would say spies are worth it (for the above and their additional abilities).

Guthwyn

[Oaty]

1 problem about 71 hour ahmeds

Quote[/b] ]use 15 to 20 at once in a province to start a rebellion, then move next door next turn, then again,,,

but of course, we wouldn't be that cheesey would we?

I play Shogun but I'm pretty sure this can relate to medievel. I've noticed rebellions that u cause by spy action are almost very weak, so yes it does take enemy troops away but not a significant amount. Now heres what happened to me, I was fighting a clan on 1 front and decided well since I dont want a 2 front war wich usually isnt wise if you can. I caused some major rebellions on my other front. I was doing well and time to make a new enemy . Great I had spies there so time to do a thorough inspection of there army to see what I need. Uh oh wasnt that level 6 general a level 2 general 2 years ago

Realizing after what I had just done I gave the enemy general 4 ranks at a very low cost and not to mention the honour I gave the other troops, I was just waiting for the enemies Emissary to come and give my Daimyo a big thank you letter. Guess he liked his head where it is lol. (Too bad that doesnt happen to the A.I. emissaries, and if you have the throne room turned it shows a man bringing your emmisaries head in on a platter )

So use your spies wisely and dont abuse them or you might become the abused.

So heres how I learned to use them try to filter spies in on a central territory basically by by putting a few in each border territory so you dont cause a rebellion there. Then sneak them in on a central all friendly surrounded territory. This will divert there troops from the frontline and keep goin further in there territory and you can get lucky a lot of times by causing a territory they cant get troops to in time then you surround that territory with spies so the rebels have a territory to retreat and eventually there is 1 huge rebel armal in the middle of there country now thats cheesy

DO NOT READ BELOW UNLESS YOU LIKE GAME SPOILERS

So are you ready for the cheesiest of them all. Put spies into there frontline. Next turn move the spies into the un occupied spots. Next turn do a major assault on there frontline considering you had a succesful revolt. If you are victorious you just cutoff there retreat and obliterated a major part of there army

BYE BYE ENEMY ARMY

[Brutal DLX]

Since VI, spies are not that valuable as an offensive unit anymore, but of course they are still useful counterspying in your own provinces, so don't discard them altogether.

[Maedhros]

apparently I'm very cheesy.

I almost never go to war without first causing chaos and bedlum via spies. Many rebelions and disloyalty. Often I'll use a victorious rebellion as an excuse to invade.

Wouldn't want that nasty lot spreading would we?

I use them as a standard part of a garrison, though keeping down rebelions is a distant concern. I consider any province with a chronic rebel problem a training ground for new recruits and to boost general star status.

I use garrison spies to protect me from enemy spies and assasins.

I consider spies, black ops and inteligence gathering invaluable.

As for general loyalty I've found checking in on them a year or two after a new king comes to the throne is a good time to check in on them. That is when they have their biggest loyalty shift anyway.