Civilization 6: How to Get Spies and Steal Great Works, Gold, and More

This article is part of a directory: Civ 6: Complete Guide

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There are many different units, districts, and facilities that help players in Sid Meier's Civilization 6. However, the unit that's best for dealing with other civilizations behind the scenes is the spy.

Spies are units in Civilization 6 that go undercover in the cities of other civilizations and perform various actions to benefit the player. This can range from increasing Diplomatic Visibility to stealing a Great Work. The actions that can be taken in cities are reliant on what districts are in them.

The only risk for spies is getting caught, which can result in them getting captured or killed. Being caught with a spy in another civilization's city can greatly reduce that civilization's opinion of the player.

Players can first get spies in the Renaissance Era after players complete the Diplomatic Service Civic. Initially, players will only be able to have one spy at a time, but later civics allow for a higher maximum number similar to trade route limits. Spies generally take a lot of time to train, but the training time can be halved by using the Machiavellianism Diplomatic Policy in the Government menu.

Spies can be sent to any city that the player has discovered including any of their own. Like other units, spies can gain experience and obtain promotions. To earn experience, spies need to perform successful offensive operations in other cities or capture enemy spies while counter-spying in their home civilization.

There are many different missions spies can take on and they are dependent on what districts are in the cities they will be entering. The possible missions are:

Gain Sources - Causes spies in that city to operate at 2 levels higher for 24 turns.
Listening Post - Increases Diplomatic Visibility within the civilization by 1 rank as long as the mission is active.
Siphon Funds - (Commercial Hub required) The spy will steal the Gold produced by the Commercial Hub for as long as the mission lasts.
Great Work Heist - (Great Work required) The spy will make an attempt to steal a Great Work in the city.
Sabotage Production - (Industrial Zone required) The spy will pillage every building in the Industrial Zone.
Steal Tech Boost - (Campus required) The spy will steal a Eureka moment for a technology that hasn't been discovered by the player's civilization yet.
Recruit Partisans - (Neighborhood required) The spy will cause 2-4 barbarian units to spawn around the neighborhood.
Disrupt Rocketry - (Spaceport required) The spy will pillage the spaceport.
Foment Unrest - (Rise and Fall DLC required) The spy will cause the city's loyalty to fall by 25.
Neutralize Governor - (Rise and Fall DLC and Governor required) The spy will stop the Governor from working for a few turns.
Fabricate Scandal - (Rise and Fall DLC and functions in City-States only) The spy will remove top-ranked civilization's envoys from the city-state.
Breach Dam - (Gathering Storm DLC and Dam required) The spy will pillage the Dam.