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How do you deal with spies?

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 11:07 am
by Hans Lemurson
In my current game, British and Austrian spies are wandering around my territory blocking railroad tracks and bribing units. They bribed a unit in a fort that was guarding my main rail line and now that's British territory and I can't think how to fix that.

Both nations are at peace with me, and I have no desire for war with Britain any time soon. Surely there must be some way to expel these foreign spies from my borders. I only forsee this problem growing worse with time, and I don't fancy declaring war on the entire world just to keep their spies out.

I am playing Version 2.5.10. Has the behavior relative to spies changed in newer versions? I may have to upgrade.

Re: How do you deal with spies?

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 2:51 am
by drgerg
once i defended with spies! i was playing the Europe scenario and expanded out of central Europe to Greece. I had built a railroad along the Adriatic Sea to feed my expansion along the Black Sea. Like you, I had pesky units (caravans) from other countries sitting on my railroad. So I built spies and positioned then on each tile of my railroad. My units could pass through easily and their units had to hike in the mountains next to my railroad.

in the future, position a spy in each fortress along with your defender, one set of rules I have read says that if more than one unit is on the square, none of the units can be bribed. Also, if you are a democracy, your units can't bribed.

Also to the unit that was bribed, bribe them back. It's doubtful it will start a war. It could if you are at peace with that country, but they distrust you.

Re: How do you deal with spies?

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 6:46 am
by Hans Lemurson
I'm playing Portugal on the Europe 1900 map, and my military operations against Spain leave me with few spare resources for such extravagances. Also Britain is a Democracy, so I can't bribe my units back. Not that I have the spare funds to, in any case.

I knew in the back of my mind that I should have doubled-up my Fortress Guards, but Spain didn't have the funds to Bribe me, and I never considered that a spy from a neutral nation would just wander around causing such pointless havoc.

But more to the point, I'm not asking "How could I have prevented this?", I'm asking "How do I fix this?"

Re: How do you deal with spies?

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 10:27 am
by Corbeau
Play with humans where it is clear that bribing your units means war :)

Re: How do you deal with spies?

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 11:21 pm
by Hans Lemurson
Humans are greedy scheming and aggressive far beyond any AI, and are scary in how well they understand the power of First Strike and the implications of a Railroad network. Not only that but they aren't instantly ready to play whenever the fancy strikes you, and make these ridiculous demands about wanting to spend more than 5 seconds on their turn.

I tried loading my save in FreeCiv 2.6 (beta3) because I read that interactions with non-combat units were changed and you might be able to expel spies without war. As far as I can tell, there is no change, and I need to make my tileset work properly in 2.6 before I can tolerate playing on an overhead view.

Re: How do you deal with spies?

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 5:30 am
by Corbeau
Hans Lemurson wrote: Not only that but they aren't instantly ready to play whenever the fancy strikes you, and make these ridiculous demands about wanting to spend more than 5 seconds on their turn.
You should try Longturn. It is not only a game, it is also a social event :)

Re: How do you deal with spies?

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:37 am
by XYZ
You should try Longturn. It is not only a game, it is also a social event :)
Kirby is right. If you join the team game now you dont have to worry -probably- much about the enemy. Just take an idler spot.

Re: How do you deal with spies?

Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 3:37 am
by Hans Lemurson
I guess I'll just have to double-up my fortress units to protect them against the marauding spies. I've been building fortresses all over the place to protect my wounded Artillery units when they assault the enemy city. I can complete fortresses before the Spanish get their turn to move, but I suspect that this is because they come before me in the turn order and the "End of Turn" processing happens before they get to move again.

If you are Player #1, is it possible to ever build insta-forts?
XYZ wrote:
You should try Longturn. It is not only a game, it is also a social event :)
Kirby is right. If you join the team game now you dont have to worry -probably- much about the enemy. Just take an idler spot.
I may very well try this. Does a team-game consist of more than just "Caravans for the Greater Good"? And what happens if I go on a vacation for a week? I see that the team game is set to start right about now. What would I have to do to join in the fun?

Re: How do you deal with spies?

Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 6:39 am
by Corbeau
Contact Wieder on Longturn forum or Discord and wait for someone to go idle, which is usually likely to happen in the first week.