How to use Spies effectively?

[Leard]

I've had games where the enemy has used spies to make my cities rebel, this never works for me. I had 5 spies in an enemy city and I only saw a 10% decrease in public order.

[Xamt]

you should try a combination of spies, assassins, some troops, and a priest if of different religion

1) put spies in the city (i think the effects stack only with 1 or 2 spies, put more spies and it will only raise the chance of them opening the gates)
2) have your assassin sabotage buildings with public order
3) leave your army (a rebel army will do just fine if you can "push" it in their territory) for a few turns so they create unrest through pillaging the countryside (if you arent at war with them expect relations to go down a LOT, even to get attacked)
4) send at least 1 priest to start converting the population (more if u want faster results) and team it up with an assassin (or more) sabotaging religious buildings and killing enemy priests - heretics work better than your priests for some reason ...

if you do all of the above the city will rebel 100% (i usually manage it with 1 spy and 1-2 assassins - but i have to wait for a pretty long time and sometimes it doesnt happen unless i move in a priest)

[Leard]

I'm playing as Wales and all I can do now is defend from countless English attacks, I'm hoping to make their near castles rebel so less armies will be formed so I can then use mine to counter-attack.

[Hyllus]

I've done a nasty trick with the spy once.I had a city with plague and I had a spy within the city who was affected then I moved the spy to all of one of my rival's cities and they got affected too.

[Xamt]

I've done a nasty trick with the spy once.I had a city with plague and I had a spy within the city who was affected then I moved the spy to all of one of my rival's cities and they got affected too.

thats an old trick from RTW days, when the plague was alot more devastating then... the only bad thing about this is that once you get rid of the plague, and enemy agent who has contacted it through you might come and infect your settlements again

[hull19]

Indeed. The plague can be used as an advantage and disavantage very easily

[Silent Assassin]

I personnelly never used them much

[Tantive]

keep a spy with your general, also in the city thatss prone to being investigated. All those spies dying is fun to see XD ...plus you get traits with that!

[The Northern Marches]

Adding spies to your armies is always a good strategy. I always hate getting ambushed...and it helps to see when enemy assassins are sneaking up on some of your generals as well so you can take the proper "precautions"

Its too bad spies can no longer expose the negative traits of your enemy's generals as they could in MTW. It often didn't work, but when it did it could be extremely effective.

[Jsay]

i always use two spies and a assain with a big force when i can get them, one spy in front to look for enemy armies and to open gates, and a spy and assain with my geneal, assains are good countering other assains

[Callawyn]

For turning provinces rebel, first off forget about castles, go for cities only. Really helps to be of different religion. I use 1 spy in the city, and find that the real key is to use a pack of priests. At least 3, though 6 is better. An assassin or two to sabotage helps also, but often isn't necessary. Assassins are more necessary if there's a General in the garrison, kill him if you can. Easiest targets are cities that the AI has recently captured, or are far from their capital, particularly if they have a small garrison and no governor. Hardest are cities they start the game with, or have owned long enough to have a lot of buildings inside to keep the population happy. Heresy has a big effect on unrest, so if you see a Heretic parked in an enemy province, rather than killing him for the piety gain on one of your priests, leave him be and try to get the province to rebel. Be prepared for success: park an army within an easy move of the city, even if you have to annoy the region's owner by trespassing their territory to get there. No point going to all the trouble to flip a province just to have the AI besiege it before you can.

For spies with armies, I'll generally have 1 per army, usually scouting in advance. Some of the campaigns in Kingdoms, the AI is aggressive about killing player Generals. Too bad they don't do this in all versions of the game, its pretty cool Need to have a couple of spies per army, scouting ahead, an assassin permanently grouped with all your Generals, and spare assassins nearby in case you have one die. The idea is to spot the enemy assassin, and assassinate him before he gets a chance to take a poke at your General. It can be expensive and a bit of work, but its necessary: can really blow to lose a good general to an assassin.

[medieval elephant]

If you want to use spies effectively, you shouldn't be trying to cause unrest with them. Rather send 2 or 3 spies into a settlement you want to conquer, and they will unlock the gates when you attack. This is most important when attacking high-level castles, as your siege equipment will probably not survive the slow journey to the first gate, and then the second, and then the third. Even if they do, your army will be probably be withered down by arrow fire while waiting. However, a spy will open all the gates, allowing you to walk straight into the settlement.

[Callawyn]

Well, obviously, but the question by the OP was about how to make cities rebel.

Its a very useful tactic to use against an AI faction that, for whatever reason, you don't want to be at war with. You can essentially open up another front with a few agents and a half-stack army just strong enough to take out rebels, stealing province after province from AI factions without ever having to actually fight their armies.