Sneaky tactics foiled

[QbiK]

To start off id like to say im a sneaky little devil, i like to have the cake and eat it too.

out of this my favorite way of dealing with allies was born, bombard them with spies and destroy their inn's and town hall's with Assassins.

in the past ive been able 2 take over virtually whole factions this way, while they are still allied with me. just don't do it to much or 2 fast... and give them some money to foster amnesia

now I find myself with up 2 6-7 spies in a faction and 3 assassins destroying faster then they can build.... and no revolts =(... i guess karma has caught up with me (or the God; King Kong and company has played with the laws of nature...or script)

Not really complaining... this is what Gods are for i guess, punishing the vain antics of lowly mortals.
From now on i will build a KK & Company shrine in all my towns...

[lesterthenerd]

hmm you write kinda weird... anyways good job i guess.

[Serious J]

I've experienced similar things with SS. It seems that even with 8+ spies in a city, it simply will not revolt. To top it off, it seems as though the AI is rebuilding every single thing I destroy all in one turn.

I don't bother with Spies and Assassins in SS, they're really not worth the trouble compared to Vanilla.

[Eriol]

IIRC when you sabotage a building, it doesn't get completely destroyed, it just gets damaged, and the AI can repair everything in one turn. That kinda takes the point out of sabotaging. The building should be completely destroyed so it would take longer to rebuild than one turn.

[DanMLee88]

In SS I have been using assassins to deal with intruding imams/orthodox priests (or any agents of religion different than my own), foreign merchants sitting on valuable resources, and maybe a 8 ring heretic who just doesn't want to burn at the stake....I found them to be quite effective in such roles.

Also, as for sabotage I once got together four assassins and started sabotaging stables/armorer/barracks, etc all in one turn (100% destruction), and I saw that in the next turn two or three of those buildings were still not repaired....which means the AI could not train certain units for that turn. I also found this to be useful when delaying AI reinforcements.

Spies....may seem nerfed in their role, but I found that sticking one with a character (family member, general) gives the family member a chance to gain 'counter espionage' trait, which could be useful...AI spies seem to gain a bonus in causing mayhem in your city so best to nip it in the bud

[PerXX]

Another way to take over neighbouring cities without war, is when you've crusaded to someplace far away, and are not really interested in holding that city. Approach a neighbouring kingdom, and suggest to swap the crusade target with a city at your border. Quite often they will accept!