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Last x-mas my brother got me Civ4: Beyond the Sword. I've been doing my best not to let it consume time from school. Really 
I didn't fully understand the game's new espionage system. I understood well enough that training spies and keeping them in your cities helps stop enemy spies. Courthouses also generate espionage points and are usually one of the first projects my new cities built. But beyond that I didn't allocate a budget towards espionage. Hell I hardly even looked at the espionage management screen.
Anyway my game is now in the reniassance age. Most of the world has been settled by now, and I've made some enemies by now. My empire was getting hit by increasingly frequent espionage attempts. Thanks to the spies I had already trained, enemy spies were being thwarted. But I couldn't tell which empire had sent them. I took no action.
Eventually, one of the enemy spies succeeded in poisoning the water supply for one of my southern border cities. Again, no idea who was responsible. The city got a huge health penalty. I took immediate action and had them build an aqueduct. That stopped the city from starvation, but again I ignored the espionage problem.
A few turns later, more unsuccessful-yet anonymous espionage attempts. Then my capital city, the heart of the empire got hit. Another poisoned water supply, with no idea who was responsible. Finally I got up off my ass and allocated an espionage budget. Finally I looked at the espionage management screen and figured out how to direct my efforts towards the empires who didn't like me. Finally I started training more spies with the intent of sending them into enemy territory to conduct counter-espionage.
And lo and behold, on the next unsuccessful spying attempt I got a return address: the Roman empire.
That was when I came to a vaguely depressing realization: I acted like a typical short-sighted do-nothing-but-cover-my-own-ass bureaucrat. I hear about a vulnerable situation, I do nothing. Situation becomes an issue in far-away outpost, I take minimal action. No centralized action. I can almost hear myself say "Bah, it's not my problem. Let the locals handle it." Then my capital, my backyard gets hit, and suddenly it becomes a problem worthy of national attention.
So the moral of the story is: don't put me in charge of the government! On the other hand if I were, I suppose I'd fit right in
I didn't fully understand the game's new espionage system. I understood well enough that training spies and keeping them in your cities helps stop enemy spies. Courthouses also generate espionage points and are usually one of the first projects my new cities built. But beyond that I didn't allocate a budget towards espionage. Hell I hardly even looked at the espionage management screen.
Anyway my game is now in the reniassance age. Most of the world has been settled by now, and I've made some enemies by now. My empire was getting hit by increasingly frequent espionage attempts. Thanks to the spies I had already trained, enemy spies were being thwarted. But I couldn't tell which empire had sent them. I took no action.
Eventually, one of the enemy spies succeeded in poisoning the water supply for one of my southern border cities. Again, no idea who was responsible. The city got a huge health penalty. I took immediate action and had them build an aqueduct. That stopped the city from starvation, but again I ignored the espionage problem.
A few turns later, more unsuccessful-yet anonymous espionage attempts. Then my capital city, the heart of the empire got hit. Another poisoned water supply, with no idea who was responsible. Finally I got up off my ass and allocated an espionage budget. Finally I looked at the espionage management screen and figured out how to direct my efforts towards the empires who didn't like me. Finally I started training more spies with the intent of sending them into enemy territory to conduct counter-espionage.
And lo and behold, on the next unsuccessful spying attempt I got a return address: the Roman empire.
That was when I came to a vaguely depressing realization: I acted like a typical short-sighted do-nothing-but-cover-my-own-ass bureaucrat. I hear about a vulnerable situation, I do nothing. Situation becomes an issue in far-away outpost, I take minimal action. No centralized action. I can almost hear myself say "Bah, it's not my problem. Let the locals handle it." Then my capital, my backyard gets hit, and suddenly it becomes a problem worthy of national attention.
So the moral of the story is: don't put me in charge of the government! On the other hand if I were, I suppose I'd fit right in
), Green (recycling good! 
Whoops?)
I AM the evil bastard!
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