| Unit | Old version(s) | Quotes | Gallery | Changelog |
| “ | Disguise ready. | ” |
| —A Spy disguising himself as enemy infantry |
The Spy is the Allies' espionage infantry. While lacking any additional abilities, they are the cheapest infiltrator who can disguise as enemy infantry, and has slightly lower training requirement than other espionage units.
Official description[]
Espionage has been an essential part of warfare for millennia. Spies exceed in blending in and disguising themselves, allowing them to slip past enemy lines. Spies can provide a commander with invaluable assets when he infiltrates an enemy facility, but be wary of units that can detect them, as a Spy is not armed. The Allied Spy is the cheapest infiltrator that can disguise.[1]
Overview[]
For a detailed list of changes from the original game, click here.
Totally inconspicuous. Totally.
Serving as the Allies' main espionage unit, the Spy's main purpose is to infiltrate enemy bases providing substantial benefits. Like other espionage units, they can disguise themselves to what infantry the commander need in order to slip past enemy lines. While lacking in special benefits compared to its new counterparts, it makes up for being slightly cheaper. To increase chances of successful infiltrations, Spies should be transported with either IFVs like the swift Stryker IFV or the airborne Stallion Transport.
The Spy's main advantage compared to its counterparts is their cheap cost.
However, Spies are vulnerable once discovered by the enemy commander. It also vulnerable to Dogs, Spooks and other units that can detect disguised Spies rendering them ineffective. Another downside is that a building protected by walls will block off Spies unless the wall is torn down.
As with other espionage units, the Spy can infiltrate an enemy building, but the effects will vary depending on the building:
- Barracks: All infantry will be trained as veteran.
- War Factory: All War Factory units will be produced as veteran.
- Radar: Battlefield will be reshrouded for the radar's owner.
- Power Plant: Owner's power will be shut down for 1:30 (2:00 for Nuclear Reactors).
- Ore Refinery: Steal $5000 from the refinery's owner.
- Ecobooster: Can see owner's money count.
- Tech Center/Palace/Battle Lab/Atomheart/Pandora Hub/Cloud Piercer: Partial prerequisite to unlock additional technology.
- Superweapon/support power structure: Resets the countdown of the superweapon/support powers.
- Construction Yard: Partial prerequisite to unlock additional technology.
- Field Bureau: Owner will lose all captured infantry technologies.
AI behavior[]
The AI is notorious for building Spies as early as building a Barracks.
Spies controlled by the AI have the following attack patterns:
All difficulties[]
- 1x infiltrating power plants (except Nuclear Reactor) or ore refineries
Medium/Hard[]
- 1x infiltrating barracks, war factories
Hard[]
- 1x infiltrating offensive superweapons (including Fake Psychic Dominator), radar structures, Field Bureaus or Harbinger Towers
Appearances[]
| “ | - Be on the lookout for spies, comrade. It seems a little too quiet tonight. - Hehe, we don't need to worry about stupid American spies. That's what the dogs are for! | ” |
| —A Conscript and a Rhino Tank operator during Operation: Eagle Fly Free |
In the campaign, Spies are never trainable from the player's Barracks, while the enemy can train them normally. It's possible to gain access to an indefinite amount of them via mind control or abduction with Drakuv Prison Vehicles, but they are still unavailable to train by sending them to Field Bureau. In addition, they are prohibited from infiltrating labs and Construction Yards in the campaign, unless if that's a mission objective.
In some missions, Spies are critical personnel if a mission objective requires infiltrating a structure. A mission will end in failure if all Spies are killed before successfully infiltrating a structure.
Act One[]
After the Tech Satellite Hack Center is captured, one of the player's PsiCorps Troopers is required to mind control the only Spy on the map, who must then be kept alive in order to infiltrate the Tech Center. His location varies with difficulty (see difficulty changes of Peacekeeper).
- See: Peacekeeper
In the first part of mission, Spies are tasked with infiltrating a Tesla Reactor to disable the Tesla Coils blocking the path of Allied soldiers.
There are three Spies disguised themselves and hiding among the civilians at south of the map. The player can find and mind-control them to use.
The player will be given one Spy once the base has been retaken.
The Allies have three Spies. All of them must be mind controlled by the player's PsiCorps Troopers, then infiltrate the Soviet War Factories on the map. These Spies are disguised as blue-colored Conscripts, which is mixed with some Conscript-costumed Allied soldiers and needs to be distinguished by the player.
A group of Spies will be paradropped at initial position after capturing the old Soviet airbase. Their first task is to infiltrate the Soviet Enrichment Facility to obtain necessary information, and should fetch the opportunity to shut down power of the Soviet base to assist Tanya's attack. If there is no Spies left, more of them will be sent.
A Spy is given to the player at the beginning of mission. The player is instructed to use the Spy to infiltrate the Tactical Nuke Silo and buy more time before it fires, although this is not mandatory.
Four Spies are in the main base and can be used once the base is handed over to the player.
Act Two[]
The player will be given four Spies if the Psychic Amplifier is destroyed.
- See: Puppet Master
The Allied Commander starts with four Spies in his disposal and can use them freely.
A few minutes after the MCV is secured, several Spies will emerge from the Mine Shaft if it has not been destroyed. They can be used freely.
A Spy who disguised as magenta-coloured friendly Initiate will appear at bottom right of map from the start, heading towards player's Radar Spire (this activity can be seen on the radar at the moment). When the player's battlefield control goes online, his sabotage is just finished.
Origins[]
- In Tainted Empire, a few minutes after the initial Chinese attack on the Adapted Tech Center is repelled, six Spies will be given to the player, and they can be used freely.
Special Ops[]
Shortly after the Allied base is established, two Humvees will be chronoshifted nearby, each carrying two Spies. Two more Humvees carrying Spies will arrive later. The player is instructed to use them to infiltrate the enemy Ore Refineries to achieve the objective of accumulating $250000, although this is not mandatory.
- See: Fullmetal
A large number of Allied Spies will attempt to infiltrate the player base, and there will be a warning text for the player.
The player will be given three Spies once the two bases have been established.
Cooperative[]
- The first objective in Mad Monster is to contact a team of Spies located south of the players' starting position. Once they're found, they'll fall under control of the players and must infiltrate the Soviet Advanced Radar Dishes.
Assessment[]
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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Trivia[]
- As of the latest version, Spy is this only standard Skirmish unit that does not have its owner's color on it at all.
See also[]
External links[]
Spy on the Command & Conquer Wiki
