Civilization V: Gods & Kings multiplayer will have Espionage or not

[--MasseySian--]

I just watched the trailer for Civilization V: Gods & Kings and I am very excited about it. I and my childhood friend have been playing this game for a long time. Previously it would happen that we didn’t have high speed internet connection and thus we wouldn’t be able to play Civilization V in multiplayer mode. But now we have a good internet connection and will be able to play Civilization V: Gods & Kings in multiplayer mode against each other. One of our friends who have played this game in multiplayer mode told us that there is an Espionage option to use in this game’s single player mode. But this option is missing in the multiplayer mode. Maybe he must have not reached till the level where this Espionage option is available or maybe due to his decisions, this option never evolved in his civilization. Can someone tell me if there is Espionage in multiplayer mode of Civilization V: Gods & Kings?

[Rashid]

According to me, there is no need of having the espionage options in multiplayer game of Civilization V: Gods & Kings. I mean, when you are playing against an AI, it is useful because the actions of AI are pre-programmed by the developers. So it is useful to know what it will be doing next. Since the actions are pre-programmed, there are least chances of AI changing it. Also the AI of games is developed such that it knows what the human player is dong and thus changes decisions according to it. So if you think that sending spy in AI’s kingdom and getting information about his next move is nothing great, AI itself shows you what it is doing. But when playing against any human player, the scenario is different. The human player isn’t programmed for following pre-programmed while playing game. He might change his decision any time without any prior notice about it. So if you send a spy to see what he is doing, you might see when he is just trying to improve his civilization. Your friend might change his decisions unexpectedly. So I think that having espionage options in Civilization V: Gods & Kings’ multiplayer mode is useless.

[reddevil6]

Programming and designing of game in single player mode is different and same in multiplayer mode is different. To implement fancy features like espionage in multiplayer mode will need extra efforts from the developer. Also the working of this system will change. An AI is programmed to check for spies at regular intervals. So maybe it will take a lot of time for the AI to realize you have been spying. But for human player, he can check for spies at any random moment. So the developers might have to design a different system to match these conditions. It might have happened that having espionage in multiplayer mode wasn’t possible or maybe impractical, that’s why the developers skipped it. Anyways, since you are playing with your friend, after one or two games, you can easily recognize the pattern in which he plays and get to know his next move yourself. So there is no need of espionage in multiplayer mode of Civilization V: Gods & Kings.