Is there a defence to false spy accusations?

[Sinophile]

So I've had several games, usually with Darloks, where the entire galaxy accuses me of spying, and declares war on me. Also, every time I make a spy they end up dead. Is there any sort of defense to this?

[Sloan]

Originally posted by Sinophile:

So I've had several games, usually with Darloks, where the entire galaxy accuses me of spying, and declares war on me. Is there any sort of defense to this?

Play a custom faction with bonuses to espionage +20 & Dictatorship (or Unification) & Telepation. Recruit leaders with spy skills.
Form an Alliance against the Darloks and kill that faction.

Originally posted by Sinophile:

Also, every time I make a spy they end up dead.

It's not a very clear situation.

[Persreikuli]

Are your defending spies dying constantly? Sounds like your enemy has an advantage in spying.

Note that several techs influence spying bonuses too, and if the Psilons exist in your game, they can research all of them, since they are Creative. Late game Psilon spies can become very effective because of this, especially if they have control a large amount of systems.

[MindShift83]

There is no defense but a workaround. Save your game every turn. Everything one Turn in advance is scripted. Want to avoid random events or random aliens having diplomatic issues you need to load a game 2 turns backwards. Also check Turn Sumamry. It says either "A Spy sent to XYZ has gone missing" or "One of your spies has been mysteriously murdered".
The Percentage of Spy states the Chance to be succesful, the percentage of Agent is successfully killing an enemy spy.

Btw spying is overrated. You can't dismiss or kill your own spies, they cost money and cause diplomatic issues. Better conquer an enemy System and gift it back and reconquer it until you have all technologies. You can beat Psilons only if you beat somone who is stronger than Psilons. And that is Antarans. Capture Antaran ships instead of wasting time on spying.

[dONUT]

Have more spies and better spying tech then the other xenos.
Max spies is 63 I think. That is per defence( in your bar) and 63 per xenos race you have contact with.
Mind you that if a xeno race dies, your spies come back home... and if there's no space home bar, they die.

[rgp151]

Ironically there is a "defense" against this, which is to use "Repulsive". The Repulsive trait is fairly poorly implemented. It actually has many advantages. When not Repulsive you can quickly find yourself in diplomatic hot water due to things like either False or True spying accusations. When Repulsive this will never happen. Also when not Repulsive opponents will almost inevitably ask you for tribute, which you will no doubt decline, leading to wars. When Repulsive this never happens. In fact you can often stay out of war longer as Repulsive than not Repulsive.

The issue with Repulsive is that it doubles the time it takes to assimilate conquered planets. So it pairs well with Telepathic. Indeed I think Repulsive + Unification + Telepathic is one of the best setups.

[Cyrantel]

Well ... many tips on the wrong matter!
He didn't ask for help, because he loses spys or is spied on.
It is because he gets framed!
So on this matter, here we go:
1. take Darlocks yourself (I always do, since they're the only race that get +20 on spying an WILL FRAME other empires, especially yours, later on)
2. Framing depends on the gap of successful spying. So if Darloks spy successfully with e.g. 90 on a victim with only 40, it is like that they can frame ON TOP. You can boost other AIs by giving them spy tech, so they get nearly immune to framing attempts (the gap between Darlocks and them should not be greater than 30 points).
3. Your on assets on spying are irrelevant in this case. You only need them to defend against Darlock's spy attempts against YOUR empire. But if they do and you suffer from a gap of 30+ ... well, they'll get the tech and frame other empires for stealing your tech (so you really don't know, if it was the said empire or the Darlock's that stole your tech).

[gdt]

I don't know about a defense as such but there do seem to be a few workarounds.

Getting framed seems to be part of the game. Occasionally the false charge is an immediate prelude to war so nothing to be done there. If this is not the case there are some things that can work.

Vote for them for emperor (if possible).

Offer them some low level tech as a gift (check to see the effect in diplomacy screen). May have to be repeated every once in awhile. Offering income doesn't seem to have much effect so don't try this unless you have no other option.

Create an outpost on some random system you have no interest in and "gift" that system to them. It doesn't matter if there is also a third party in the system.

All of these actions will improve your diplomatic standing with the race you are targeting.

One more thing. Play a Charismatic race. You'll still get framed but being Charismatic means the negative diplomatic effect is less.