So... wait... how do I steal techs?

Hmm, I'd like to know about this as well. I never got a manual (download probably has some kind of manual somewhere but I haven't looked much), but as far as I can see there's no missions you can send agents on - just sabotage it seems.

I just checked the manual and it doesn't say exactly. It does mention being able to steal techs but it doesn't say how. Maybe it just randomly happens if you keep a spy in someones world long enough. Or maybe they need to be on a tech building square?

Hi!

If you have a free spy, click a planet of a mayor AI, then the Spy button at the bottom of the screen. Now click a building on the Spy pane and click Place agent. Please note that some buildings are immune to spying. And there's no point using spies on any other "wonder" buildings but manuf., research and econ. capitals.

Now each turn (while you have an active spy) you get a small chance you'll steal a random tech from the race you're spying upon. What I don't know is:
a) does the chance rise with more spies, and
when you get the ultimate level of spying, can you steal tech without having spies assigned (like it is in DL)?

BR, Iztok

Surely SOMEONE must know...

I wouldn't bank anything on stealing tech from spies. Almost all the techs you steal will be from invading planets. There are good reasons to spy, but stealing techs is not really one of them.

What are the good reasons, then? Disabling squares? Bah.

While I have never "stolen" a tech in DA myself, it has been said that you need to have the highest level of intelligence for a given race BEFORE the "small chance" per agent applies. Spies alone have extremely limited use, but they can make a huge difference in the event of a tie between you and your opponent. You can ruin an opponents economy, or on the short term, prepare a planet for invasion by sabotaging the farms and thereby reducing the population to 6000

So how do I get the highest level of intelligence for a given race, now that the espionage slider has disappeared (referring to the individual sliders for each race, wherein you could adjust how much you spent on spying on that race)?

Hi!

{sarcasm}Easily. Just put 20 spies on their planet(s) and in 20 turns you'll have it. {/sarcasm}

Seriously, in current DA version that's almost impossible for more than one race, because other races will nullify your spies, and you'll need to spend tens of thousands of BCs for new spies to get to that advanced espionge level. It's waaaaay cheaper to just exterminate them.

BR, Iztok

You don't have to have the highest level of espionage (Advanced) to steal techs. I've gotten it on Medium before. I'm a big believer in espionage, but like I said, stealing techs is not the reason. The biggest reason is to gather intelligence on a race. Once you reach a certain espionage level, it will never go down, for the rest of the game. You can pull out all your spies and put them on somebody else, doesn't matter--if you reached High espionage level, that's where it will stay. And at High espionage you get to double-click on his planets and see everything he's doing. You get to see his ships' autopilots, know where they're going. You can see what techs he has researched even if tech trading is turned off.

But other reasons to spy are, you can disable his bonus squares. That can come in handy when he has a 300% manufacturing square and you're trying to beat him to a Galactic Wonder (on higher levels that DOES happen). Also you can spy on him before he spies on you. If he's spending all his money nullifying your spies, he won't be plopping down any on your planets.

So it doesn't matter where I place the agents, so long as they're on a planet belonging to an opponent that I want to increase the intel level on?

Can you explain that part for me? I'm not clear on how Espionage works now, or what that means. I just know that no matter WHO I'm playing against - Terrans, Drengin, etc. they ALWAYS neutralize my spies in three turns or less.

I always find that spies on alien homeworlds get neutralised more quickly than spies on lesser planets. When targeting high-value squares, have replacement spies in reserve.

I have managed to steal some techs.
My observations is that

1) You have to have reached "medium" level of inteligence toward that race for
stealing to be possible at all.
2) Having better levels than medium does not seem to inrease stealing possibility.

This is my observations but still just speculation of course.
Only the devs knows for sure how the tech-stealing concept works and they do not really seem to be willing to share this information with us no matter how frequently and kindly we ask for it.   

Oreo's spying guide (DA 1.6): (since I can't play the music for you, just hum the elevator version of "Girl from Ipanema", or if you happen to own it please play it as you read this)
To see the full effects of spying give the Krynn a spin. I configure them for max spying. Any race will do, but if I want to see tech stealing, and not stumble randomly on it, I pick Krynn. If I don't play as the Krynn, I don't spy on the Krynn, it's a waste of spies, because they will neutralize them and return the complement. I start making spies right away on the first turn, increasing the espionage spending slider to 25% as soon as my economy can handle it and I leave it there.
I spy on my enemies first and my friends later. For example if I am the Drengin, I spy on the Torians. If I am the Iconians, I spy on the Yor.
I don't just send in one spy, I wait, send six, and keep a couple in reserve. I put spies on their economy structures first. The structures that are vulnerable to spying have a green box around them. The structures that can't be spied on are not boxed in, like empty terrain and military structures. I always look for that Econ capital. If they are at war they will be particularly vulnerable. They will neutralize some of my spies at first, but they will have to make a choice with their resources. The AI tends to choose military and social production over spying. The AI will always choose military over spying when at war. I just keep adding spies to their worlds to deplete theirs. Note: Spies are available for reasignment after a world is conquered.
For military conquest, I neutralize farms with my spies. For influence conquest, I neutralize farms, embassies/(insert upgrade name here), and the political capital. For Tech stealing, I put my spies on labs. I've never stolen a tech from a farm or market. Neutrality learning centers seem to be harder to steal techs from also. I had 15 spies all on neutrality learning centers on Thala for at least 10 turns, the planet flipped via influence and I did not steal any techs from them.
Espionage levels:
Low - gives some basic data on the race and shows where ships are going, this is useful.
Medium - gives some more data including economic data, also useful now I can see how to hurt them.
High - gives everything I need, and don't want to know. Most importantly, I can double click their worlds. This is a convinience, since I keep at least a few spies in my pool I can click spy on a world and always see what's on it.
Advanced - more data that I don't care about, their bonuses are already in the game manual, and the rest I can figure out more or less from their upgrades and starbases. So what if I can double click the starbase I am about to blow up to see what modules were on it.
In the late game spying can become as useful as avant garde gourmet professional rabid weasel polishing, so I turn off spending and apply as necessary.
(Stop humming or turn off music.)

Persistence. Spies get more expensive as you get more of them, but they also get more expensive for him. Also, even if he does nullify your spies, that is not always a reason not to do it--every spy he spends neutralizing yours, that's one less spy he can place down on your own turf.

How the hell do you neutralize spies then? Maybe that what I don't get about this..

When you have spies available in your spy pool, bring up your economy/trade/espionage screens and click on the espionage tab. You'll see your agents and the active foreign agents. Left click on the foreign agent you want to nullify and then click the nullify button.

I've been looking around at what's known about espionage, and thus far, I'm not sure that I've seen an answer to my specific question. Maybe somebody here can provide some empirical results. I just recently purchased the game, so I haven't had a chance to really go in-depth with it and test it out for myself. Anyway, here it is:

I've read that agents become progressively more expensive to recruit, but what does that mean exactly? If I train one spy, send him out immediately, and he gets nullified in a single turn, does my next agent cost more to train than my now nullified agent did? Or is the cost only incremental if you have *active* agents (like, because you also need to funnel funds to agents out in the field)?

It costs more and more to train each agent, regardless what you do with those that came before.

I have noticed since I updated to 1.61, there are rarely any spies.

I usally wait till I get 5 spys then place them all on 1 planet. And keep replacing them as they get nulified. AI usally only nullifies 1 every few turns. And with all these spies on one planet I find I get to High Espionge really fast. However the only time I have ever gotten a tech by stealing was when I would take over a planet.