MoO 2 Anti-spy tactics?

Pussycat669 · Sep 21, 2008

So I found that old CD with this gem of a game on it and decided to give it a go. I really sucked at it back in the day when I got it and decided to play more sincerely this time around. I've chosen Silicoids as player race and it really went on well for a time. Only thing in my way now is the Gnomal Empire. Those bastards are stealing/sabotaging my entire good tech and their fleets are technological superior to mine so I can't just kill them off. The help messages say that I can use my own spies to counter other spies but didn't explain how exactly. What could I do to stop this spy invasion in my systems?

spectre · Oct 27, 2008

You need lots of your own spies sitting at home (that is not assigned to any other race on the diplomacy screen). That's basically it.

Also, check the two % values right below your spies on diplo screen - first is your defensive spy success bonus, second is the bonus for spies on enemy territory. If these values are low, your agents are not working efficiently.
You can increase these through research and government selection.

Finally, you can hire a few governors who give bonus to spy rolls, and who have a chance of killing enemy spies each turn.

All in all, you don't need much for an effective counterspy network, just research a spy technology from time to time and make sure you have a few counterspies.

Fenril · Oct 27, 2008

MoO2 : AWESOME.

I just made this reply because I never got MoO 3...is it good? I heard they streamlined and automated alot of stuff, but not sure if it sucks or not.

Mnemon · Oct 27, 2008

Fenril said:
MoO 3...is it good? I heard they streamlined and automated alot of stuff, but not sure if it sucks or not.

Yes/No. It suffered from a number of things that reallly quite killed it off, especially before applying fan made fixes/patches.

1. It was too ambitious and tried too much.
2. It changed hands (developers) way too many times.
3. It's UI is horrible (both clunky AND not enough feedback given to the user).

Below all that there are a good number of nice ideas and a quite interesting design philosophy. Just the end result doesn't do it much justice.

It's also nothing like MoO2. The whole kitschy not quite serious presentation is gone. That is, those "species" that are in both games only share similar features, but look and feel quite different. The mechanics are completly different (to most other games in the genre as well). You'll be disappointed if you approach it expecting an updated MoO2.

If you find a super reduced bargain bin edition ... worth a look.

spectre · Oct 28, 2008

What he said.
Moo3 feels a bit like running screensaver, where most of your job is to click end turn.

Supposedly, the mods make it enjoyable, but haven't got time do try it.

Silellak · Oct 28, 2008

MOO3 is to Master of Orion as Ultima 9 is to Ultima.

Vaarna_Aarne · Oct 28, 2008

With the fan patches and mods MOO3 has actually gotten a lot better since a lot of the stuff got streamlined . It's no MOO2, but it's helluva lot better most strategy games out there.

The biggest flaw, however, is what spectre said. It mostly ends up feeling like a screensaver unless you are willing to step into the massively complicated economic mechanics.

The only actual concrete flaw that no one can get by is, however, the occasional vagueness of diplomacy and the NEVER SURRENDER attitude of the computer. Someone threatening in the "stop what j00're doing nao" without giving any details is just confusing.

In LAN environment it's pretty damn fun though, since there's a lot of room for politics and backstabbing.