The Spy moves very quickly, and has the stealth ability, although it can be seen at all times by enemy Explorers, Town Centers, Forts, and some other units and buildings. When in stealth mode, spies move twice as slow as normal. They are also highly resistant to special abilities, taking much less damage than non-Spies do.
The Spy is very good at scouting the enemy without them knowing, giving advance notice on what they are building and when they will attack. The Spy has a very low base damage, but huge multipliers against Mercenaries, and especially against Heroes. The Spy can easily change the tide of a battle by coming in stealthed, and unstealthing and taking out enemy Mercenaries (including Li'l Bombards). With all speed improvement upgrades (including the Quechuan Mountaineering), the German Spy is the melee infantry with the highest speed, 9.375.
Upgrades[]
The Spy is automatically upgraded in every Age starting from the Fortress Age.
Spies now no longer have a 4.0x multiplier against native warriors.
Spies are now upgraded in the Fortress Age, giving +25% hit points.
Trivia[]
The Spy is something of a favorite of the Ottoman AI in Random Map games.
Even though the Spy's icon shows a revolver, it always uses a dagger instead.
The aforementioned revolver is fully modeled and animated in the game files, and can be enabled via modding. The reason for making the Spy a melee unit is unknown.
History[]
“
For as long as there have been presidents and kings, governments have enlisted the aid of individuals for espionage. During the turbulent seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, spies were used by various governments to uncover secrets and identify opportunities for attack. Spies were known to use a variety of tools and technologies, such as invisible ink and secret codes. The fledgling government of the United States of America found itself embroiled in multiple assaults by loyalist spies - including secret messages sent to agents of the crown by William Franklin, Benjamin Franklin's own son!