I'm not sure if it's a bug or just a tooltip that could do with clarification, but when you're infiltrating an AI empire the tooltip on some actions, like Stealing Technology, says that the target empire won't be informed about this infiltration action if the spy is not caught. What tends to happen, though, is that the AI is informed about your backstabbery even if the spy is only injured - but not caught. This has obvious implications for managing your spies. I can attach a save file if it helps, but that looks like something very easy to replicate (unless it's only my game that's affected).

An update - as a player, you also get a notification about AI infiltration actions in your towns even if the note says "the spy went unnoticed". This can't be right, surely?



For actions that are "obvious", like killing population, I'd expect AI to notice and take round-up action, but with players having a game notification is making life a little bit too easy; if the spy "went unnoticed" and you didn't see a reduction in population numbers, too bad for you. If the spy was injured - fair enough, let's have that notification.



It would be good to have a dev clarification on how the infiltration logic is set up?

Well, the spy went unnoticed, and thus not discovered. The consequences of spying action are still noticed, but it is unknown to whom to put the blame.

N.N.Thoughts wrote:
An update - as a player, you also get a notification about AI infiltration actions in your towns even if the note says "the spy went unnoticed". This can't be right, surely?



For actions that are "obvious", like killing population, I'd expect AI to notice and take round-up action, but with players having a game notification is making life a little bit too easy; if the spy "went unnoticed" and you didn't see a reduction in population numbers, too bad for you. If the spy was injured - fair enough, let's have that notification.



It would be good to have a dev clarification on how the infiltration logic is set up?

I'd say that you get this kind of notification from the "city governor(s)". They tell you that something happened, but they don't know who did it. I like this as it is.

So, the only way to avoid AI initiating a round-up sequence is for your spy to 1) perform an action that the tooltip says won't alert the targeted empire and 2) for that action to resolve into "spy went unnoticed"?

N.N.Thoughts wrote:
For actions that are "obvious", like killing population, I'd expect AI to notice and take round-up action, but with players having a game notification is making life a little bit too easy; if the spy "went unnoticed" and you didn't see a reduction in population numbers, too bad for you. If the spy was injured - fair enough, let's have that notification.



It would be good to have a dev clarification on how the infiltration logic is set up?

The spy can go unnoticed, but this doesn't mean that the impacts of its infiltration action will go unnoticed. It depends on the infiltration action.



Sabotage type actions:

Players are always informed of any and all infiltration actions that have a negative impact on their empire. A player will know that somebody has poisoned their city's water-supply and killed hundreds of their citizens for obvious reasons. What they will not necessarily know is who the perpetrator is. This is what "unnoticed" means in the context of "sabotage" type infiltration actions, infiltration actions which have a negative impact on the target.



Spy type actions:

The behaviour is not exactly the same for infiltration actions which apply no direct penalty to the target. For instance if I copy your technology I am not applying a penalty to you. If I steal your vision I am not applying a penalty to you. If I reduce the cost of diplomacy towards you I am not applying a penalty to you. So for these actions if the spy goes unnoticed then the target player is not informed at all.



edit:

Note also that if you are the only other surviving empire then the AI will always know (by process of elimination) that you are the culprit of any infiltration action it suffers.

Thanks for the reply, wilbefast. I did some play-testing today and it seems there is no difference in how AI behaves in these two cases:



Action: Steal Technology

Outcome: Spy partially wounded



Action: Damage fortification

Outcome: Spy partially wounded



In both scenarios the AI's reaction was to send me a message saying my spy was spotted, initiate round-up in the precise town where my spy was active and record this incident in the diplomacy window.



I tested it before the first winter when there were 8 empires playing and the target empire, Roving Clans, had multiple other towns so no way to attribute it directly to me as the spy wasn't caught, only injured. It could've been a self-inflicted injury, like falling out of a window or stepping on a banana skin.



Double penalty (HP loss to spy and target empire informed) seems a bit harsh for spy-type actions, especially for the Forgotten who rely on this mechanic for research.



When spy went unnoticed in both cases, the reaction was predictable, i.e. nothing on stealing technology and a specific town round-up where fortifications were damaged, but no message complaining about my machinations.

If I remember correctly, wounding the spy actually does name the hero and his faction.

Apologies for the delay replying - I neglected to subscribe to the thread!

N.N.Thoughts wrote:
Thanks for the reply, wilbefast. I did some play-testing today and it seems there is no difference in how AI behaves in these two cases:



Action: Steal Technology

Outcome: Spy partially wounded



Action: Damage fortification

Outcome: Spy partially wounded

This is normal: a spy who is wounded is spotted - only an unnoticed spy is, well, unnoticed.

Then why does original tooltip incorrectly states that for some actions is enough to not get caught to not get detected???



Not that this tooltip appears only for some spying actions, so it is supposed to be a feature for those actions.

N.N.Thoughts wrote:


I tested it before the first winter when there were 8 empires playing and the target empire, Roving Clans, had multiple other towns so no way to attribute it directly to me as the spy wasn't caught, only injured. It could've been a self-inflicted injury, like falling out of a window or stepping on a banana skin.

If this behavior is reproducible, then I'd personally see it as a bug / bad design.

The way I see it, wounding should not lead to revealing you to the target ...

Nevertheless, others may see it differently.

Does anyone know if it's possible to mod this behaviour? Alternative is to save and reload until you get a clear pass with infiltration, but that's cheating / too much faff :)