Pro Deo Et Rege (Mod)/The Spy and His Various Uses

[ColIndyJackson]

Gents:

Merry Christmas from Canada!!! I hope this finds you and yours well.

For openers, I downloaded the above mod a couple of days back, and I have no clue whatsoever as to whom did it nor do I know how to get to run. If the creator of said mod could send up a flare, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Secondly, the spy in Med 2 and how to use him. I have read in the Med 2 strategy guide that the person I refer to as my "advance man" (read: spy). What does he have to do raise his skill level and how does go about doing it? Right now, I feel my spies at an -1 skill level for I still keep sending them to check rebel towns.

Is there more to what the spy can do besides spy on the neighbours? I feel as though I'm wasting his talents.

Live long and prosper, take care and thank you kindly!!!

Sincerely yours always,

Indy.

[predaturd]

a spy can open castle gates and decrease the chance of an enemy assassin succeding in killing your best men :)

[Guru]

Spies' skills get better when they succesfully perform, well, spying. A spy in an army will protect the general from assassins as well provide a better line of sight. You can get foreign cities to rebel by using (many) spies to infiltrate the settlement and stir unrest among the population. Rebel settlements cannot of course rebel, they're already rebels... If your spy enters a plagued city he'll catch the disease and you can use him as a biological weapon. When the diseased spy enters a settlement, the disease will spread. I used this method in my Sicilian campaign, effectively killing tens of thousands of innocents French civilians. hey, war is war and they attacked me first! And of course you can use spies to explore the map.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Yeah you can't underestimate the value of that plague trick. I practically wiped out a full stack Danish army in my last campaign using a plague-ridden spy.

[ColIndyJackson]

Gents:

Good morning from Canada!!! I hope this finds you and yours well.

I never thought of using a sick spy. You guys are geniuses. Three questions here, of course: 1) How do I get my spy to come down with something? 2) How do I keep him from infecting my own people? 3) How do I get him, and my assassins, to go up a level?

I don't call my spies and assassins my "Secret Service" for nothing!!!!!

Live long and prosper, take care and thank you kindly!!!

Sincerely yours always,

Indy.

[Rhyfelwyr]

You have to get your spy to inflitrate a settlement that already has the plague. If one of your places already has the plague, you've nothing to lose so just garrison him there for a moment (he takes the plague on the turn) and then inflitrate enemy settlements/armies and spread the goodness around.

Spies usually go up a level by inflitrating a settlement or army, usually 2 levels from my experience. For assassins just make successful kills or sabotages. Thats another use for spies, if your spy is in a settlement your assassins get a better % chance when attempting a murder/sabotage there.

[ReiseReise]

The base spy skill is random 1-3. They get bonuses from Thieves Guilds (make sure you have patch 1.2 which fixed some thieves guild bugs), but other than guilds or sending them on missions, the only control you have is to get them ancillaries:

Beguiling Bard	+1	5%  Spend turn in city with Brothel
Dancer		+2	5%  Spend turn in city with Brothel
False Documents	+1	33% Spy on city under revolt (or cause revolt?)
			33% Recuit in city with Printing Press
Pickpocket	+1	12% Recruit in city with Market
Pet Monkey	+1	5%  Recuit in city with Market (not avail. in Europe)

Notes:
'Brothel', 'Market' means that level or better.
Other effects besides Skill:
Bard gives +1 against assassination; Bard, Pickpocket give +1 LOS; Recruiting in city with Dockyard gives 20% chance for Spyglass +2 LOS.
All info is from http://noctalis.com/dis/totalwar/m2tw_agents.shtml, an EXCELLENT reference for all agent/general/princess traits, it's not totally complete but it is a lot easier than digging through the data files.