How to spy on AI players?

Question

Long long time ago in the original Civilization, there was a cheat that allowed one to not only see the whole map but more importantly — see how AI players developed.

Is there any way to watch the AI development in Civilization 5?

Answer 1

Firetuner lets you see everything that is happening as well as modifying it. It is part of the Civ 5 SDK. Download it from the Tools menu in Steam. Start up the SDK, and choose Firetuner. Once it starts, load up Civ 5 like you normally would. Once you are in game, switch back to Firetuner.

Describing everything that Firetuner can do would take a book. A few highlights:

• The Selected City tab will let you look at any city and what buildings it has.
• Going to the Map tab and pressing "Reveal Terrain" will remove the Fog of War completely. It also lets you add units anywhere.
• The Game tab lets you autoplay turns or take over a different power.

Answer 2

Currently there is no way to spy on your opponents, once the expansion Gods & Kings is released sometime in Quarter 2, then espionage shall be possible. Although you shall find that spies in the upcoming expansion will be a bit different then in past Civ games.

Answer 3

The only way i know of to do this in Civ5 is to save the game, retire or quit and to use the maps and statistics to see where the AI players are up to.

There is even a time elapsed mode that allows you to see events, city placement and wars via seeing the cities being taken or razed.

After you have cheated, you load the game back up.