Tue Jun 04, 2013 7:17 am
How to Sniff Out Alliance Spies (Guide for the Paranoid)
So...
You want to play Haypi Kingdom like it's Game of Thrones. Varys and his little birds are listening at every turn.
They've got your alliance troop count, they read your alliance letters, and you're playing fair like the Starks and are about to lose your head.
You suspect your alliance is filled with spies. How on earth can you deal with them???
So, here is the guide to sniffing out spies.
1. Take snapshots of their prestige.
Spies often inherit their accounts from friends who have already quit, so a spy account can be anywhere between level 0 and level 20. What's important is how much they have been gaining prestige since they've been in your alliance.
The important thing you need to know about spies is that they aren't as active as real players. Often, spies won't have level 9 oases or full forts. They may get very lazy when it comes to gaining prestige. Go through the prestige rankings, find the players you suspect of spying, and take snapshots of their prestige. It will only take mere seconds. Do a prestige comparison after a week. If they have been logging on constantly, chatting, and donating a little here and there but haven't gained a single point of prestige, red flags should be raising in your head. Even simply unhunting and rehunting troops will give them prestige, the fact they gain none at all means they don't even have an army.
2. Watch their typing style.
Sometimes, a rival alliance's spy is really the spy of the whole alliance. Multiple members will log onto the same account...and when they chat, they may do a horrible job at staying consistent. One minute they might have very proper grammar and spelling, and the next it is terrible. Or, if it is a used account, the original account owner and the new one have very different writing styles.
Some questions you can ask yourself:
-Do their sentences always start with a capital or lowercase letter?
-Do they capitalize the letter "I"?
-Do they abbreviate words? (ex: know as no, see as c)
It can sometimes help to take a screenshot of their writing at one moment and compare it to their writing in another. You can even compare it to other active players from other alliances and figure out who the real owner of the account is.
3. Donations.
As a general rule, spies don't want to donate too much, but they still want to donate enough to not raise suspicion. I won't go too far into this rule because some spies donate ridiculous amounts in order to stay low-key (I know of a spy that once donated hundreds of coins to a top alliance). But mass-kicking low contributors is often a very effective way to watch sweep out spies.
4. They leave their old alliance without warning.
Let's say a fantastic player from a rival alliance applies to yours. He says it's because he's looking for a new environment.
DON'T TAKE HIM IN!
Top players in top alliances rarely ever leave theirs for legitimate reasons. What most likely happened is that player quit abruptly and gave their account to their alliance. Another thing to watch out for is players who have multiple accounts and decide to make another account their main.
Also, watch out for active players who used to chat a lot on World Chat, but are very quiet once they join your alliance. It is possible that the new owner knows that the more they talk, the higher their risk of revealing the fact they aren't the original owner. Spies usually like to keep a low profile to avoid being detected.
5. They log on at suspicious times.
They are usually offline, but suddenly come online right before your mine is being attacked. They come online after some players get in a heated argument over World Chat. They come online right after your alliance is attacked, etc.
Enjoy!
You want to play Haypi Kingdom like it's Game of Thrones. Varys and his little birds are listening at every turn.
- varys
- Varys.jpg (6.1 KiB) Viewed 5438 times
They've got your alliance troop count, they read your alliance letters, and you're playing fair like the Starks and are about to lose your head.
- ned stark
- neddy.png (107.47 KiB) Viewed 5438 times
You suspect your alliance is filled with spies. How on earth can you deal with them???
So, here is the guide to sniffing out spies.
1. Take snapshots of their prestige.
Spies often inherit their accounts from friends who have already quit, so a spy account can be anywhere between level 0 and level 20. What's important is how much they have been gaining prestige since they've been in your alliance.
The important thing you need to know about spies is that they aren't as active as real players. Often, spies won't have level 9 oases or full forts. They may get very lazy when it comes to gaining prestige. Go through the prestige rankings, find the players you suspect of spying, and take snapshots of their prestige. It will only take mere seconds. Do a prestige comparison after a week. If they have been logging on constantly, chatting, and donating a little here and there but haven't gained a single point of prestige, red flags should be raising in your head. Even simply unhunting and rehunting troops will give them prestige, the fact they gain none at all means they don't even have an army.
2. Watch their typing style.
Sometimes, a rival alliance's spy is really the spy of the whole alliance. Multiple members will log onto the same account...and when they chat, they may do a horrible job at staying consistent. One minute they might have very proper grammar and spelling, and the next it is terrible. Or, if it is a used account, the original account owner and the new one have very different writing styles.
Some questions you can ask yourself:
-Do their sentences always start with a capital or lowercase letter?
-Do they capitalize the letter "I"?
-Do they abbreviate words? (ex: know as no, see as c)
It can sometimes help to take a screenshot of their writing at one moment and compare it to their writing in another. You can even compare it to other active players from other alliances and figure out who the real owner of the account is.
3. Donations.
As a general rule, spies don't want to donate too much, but they still want to donate enough to not raise suspicion. I won't go too far into this rule because some spies donate ridiculous amounts in order to stay low-key (I know of a spy that once donated hundreds of coins to a top alliance). But mass-kicking low contributors is often a very effective way to watch sweep out spies.
4. They leave their old alliance without warning.
Let's say a fantastic player from a rival alliance applies to yours. He says it's because he's looking for a new environment.
DON'T TAKE HIM IN!
- littlefinger
- littlefinger.png (75.99 KiB) Viewed 5438 times
Top players in top alliances rarely ever leave theirs for legitimate reasons. What most likely happened is that player quit abruptly and gave their account to their alliance. Another thing to watch out for is players who have multiple accounts and decide to make another account their main.
Also, watch out for active players who used to chat a lot on World Chat, but are very quiet once they join your alliance. It is possible that the new owner knows that the more they talk, the higher their risk of revealing the fact they aren't the original owner. Spies usually like to keep a low profile to avoid being detected.
5. They log on at suspicious times.
They are usually offline, but suddenly come online right before your mine is being attacked. They come online after some players get in a heated argument over World Chat. They come online right after your alliance is attacked, etc.
Enjoy!
