Is there any way to get rid of it, or find out who's sabotaging you, or are there any ideas to help defend against it?
What can you do about Sabotage?
- Thread starter Masquerouge
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You can build a spy center on your capital which will increase local defesiveness, which will help catch spies. However, I find that the AI usually insta-sends another spy right after you bust one, and it seems like the AI does not give a damn about the negative relations coming from doing it at all.
http://www.eu4wiki.com/Idea_groups#Espionage
But that idea group kind of sucks. There are some buildings that reduce enemy spy chance also.
But that idea group kind of sucks. There are some buildings that reduce enemy spy chance also.
Yeah, I've already built the spy center. I usually catch spies trying to fabricate claims. And it's late game (1750s) right now, so I'm not really willing to pick up the Espionage group just for that.
So, just suck it up? It's kinda lame, but hey.
So, just suck it up? It's kinda lame, but hey.
Sabotage Reputation opinion should be ticking IMO. As it stands, you can go for Trading in Tobacco and the Government special buildings for a total of +105% spy defense with 100 Prestige, +1 stability, and 5 provincial base tax but no Espionage Ideas. Against a +45% Spy Offense (Espionage + rival) that's about 7% discovery chance per month.
Having the Cathedral built in your capital also contributes 10% chance to catch the spy, so overall +35% to spy defense.
Sabotage reputation is intensely annoying, but it's really underpowered.
Russia did it to me and at first I thought "Wow this sucks! -50 malus to my relations with everybody! I guess I undervalued Espionage Ideas!"
Then I caught Russia's spy and realized:
1. It only works as long as you have a diplomat actively sabotaging in your enemies' capital, thus permanently tying up a valuable diplomat who now can't be used for anything else. That alone makes it a lot less attractive.
2. It used (in 1.2) to be limited to countries that share a common border with you? I'm not sure if that's still active in 1.3. So it wouldn't affect everybody.
Overall, seems like a waste of time. It would be a lot more valuable if it were TARGETED, thus possible to undermine say, France's relations with Morocco, thus breaking up a hostile alliance without affecting everybody else.
The way it works now, it's coarser, the equivalent of whispering "France is a slut!" to everybody, rather than "France secretly is planning on stealing your boyfriend; you should watch your back!"
