I just had 125 spies drop in! Arnor

Does the counter-espionage thingy remove spies already in place? If so, build them where you need to, and use your own spies to further cripple your opponents.

No, a Counter Espionage Center does not remove spies already in place.

Isn't this a Mega Event? I don't remember it happening to me for quite some time, at least since I turned them off, so I'm unsure. If so, try playing without them?

Either way, might be worth looking into Counter Espionage Centers...for next time.

I'd say just go ahead and finish the game, and don't worry about them too much. Like you said, you can't really get rid of that many.

You -could- try gifting the planets away, and then taking/buying them back, but to be honest I have no idea what, if anything, that would do to the spies.

I had this event happen in my most recent DA game, and it is definitely a tough one to recover from. I had it happen while I desperately trying to research a tech victory before the combined might of the Thalan, Korath, and Drengin empires crushed me.

I managed to make it through and research a tech victory, but it was tough. My advice would be to remove spies from your economy buildings first, until you have a reliable source of income. I initially started removing spies from research and production improvements, and my economy tanked in a very displeasing way.

Anyway, best of luck. It's a crippling event, but definitely survivable.

This event happens to me quite a lot - not as often as the Jagged Knife, who I seem to get every other game and now just take as a given, but more often than Mega-Pirates, Plague etc. Consequently I always start building CECs early. I've learned to love them despite their expense as even in uneventful games they keep me from wasting too many spies on countering, not to mention the handy morale boost (on less populous world's I rarely need a separate morale building. Anyway, they obviously pay for themselves when this event kicks in, and you can sit back and laugh as your rivals start falling to pieces as they never build CECs and have to take ages nullifying.

Am I right in thinking though that the Drengin & Korath can't build CECs now? This event must suck for them, I'm sure it was my game with the Drengin when I discovered I couldn't build them and rapidly got swamped by just regular enemy spies from four other races - thankfully an enthusiastic wave of conquest got rid of most of the buggers!

I've worked through this mega-event in a DA game, and it ended up being to my advantage b/c I'd had a big stack of spies in the bank compared to the computer players.

I've also shamelessly re-loaded to duck it in other games. Sometimes I've ducked it b/c it looks like a sure kiss of death for a game I was very much enjoying, and other times I just don't feel like doing all that extra clicking (I usually have 75+ colonies by mid-game).

I've had this event before. The good news is that this mega event happens to all players not just you and human players can adapt to it much better than the AIs can. Basically this Mega-event usually happens when the human player has stockpiled a large number of spies.

The bad news is that if you are playing in any of the larger galaxies, you are basically stuck with it. The effect is to make all planets in the galaxt one PQ smaller. If you use your spies to free important tiles (like bonus tiles) and destroy all the other improvements that the spies are on, you can go on with your game normally. (Destroying the improvements means that you do not have to pay maintence on improvements that do not work and the spies never move.)

The way to avoid this mega-event is to not stockpile more than 4-5 spies at a time.

Scincerely,

[email protected]

That doesn't work. I rarely have more than 2 spies...one held in reserve and another doing his spy thing. (I don't do a lot of espianage in most games) and I get this mega-event more frequently than any other. Almost every game.

Nice tip. I hope I remember it next time I decide whether to re-load the event away.



Can we get some confirmation or correction here from folks who've had the spy-sprawl numerous times? I buy the theory that game state influences timing and choice of mega events, but I routinely keep 9-12 spies in the bank and I don't see this event very often.

Well since I've never had more than 2 spies at once (ever), and I've had this event a few times, its definitely not 100% correct.

But I do believe that playstyle has some influence on triggering events. I would lean more toward a view that the spy event is triggered when you are holding a HUGE advantage over the AI, and are perhaps prolonging a victory. But thats just my thoughts. Every time I get the spy, its usually if I'm stockpiling ships and growing a booming population/econ for a higher final score. Then the game says, "No more, sir. Just finish the game"

No, I've had it early in the game when things were about even. And since I was playing the Krynn, it ended up giving me a huge advantage since I was able to clear all 45 of the spies it dropped on me, and then start planting my own on the AI while they were still struggling.

Also, I was really annoyed to see that this event dropped spies on minor races. I want to be able to do that.

I still think its at least influenced by playstyle. Thinking of some of the other events, the one that stands out to me are the trade revenue increase and the one where a race changes ethical alignment.


Can anyone else recall when the mega event that increases your trade by a factor of ten hit them? I can tell you that I have NEVER seen it happen if I have no trade routes in or out of my civ. If I leave the UP, or am at war with everyone, I never see this one. So I would guess that having trade routes is a trigger. Can anyone remember having it happen when you didnt have a route?

Now I'm sure the ethical alignment change isnt always this way, but everytime I have ever seen it, its when I'm playing as the Terrans or the Drath. It's as though spending more time on the diplomacy screen or having the Super Diplomat ability raises the likelyhood of it triggering. If I'm playing as the Korath and sporing everything in sight, or ignoring everyone as the Yor, I never see this event.

Does that event lower tax income as well? If so, I'm sure I had it without any trade routes. I didn't even have trade techs. It was a real pain but I pulled through somehow.