New Role of Spies

Why would a aoe3 player now want to use spies and similar units in wol
Spies were formally trained at the church and were good against natives, heroes, and mercanaries. In Wol spies and similar units can be game changers in many situations. Spy units are now trained at thier own special building

Spies have many new special abilities
Spies now have a handgun giving them a ranged attack through research, and coronels start with a hand gun. The stealth of spy units with such a ability is improved and therefore can stay in stealth mode as long as no hero unit (explorer, shepard dog) is nearby. What gives spies, coronels, and hashishins a edge over thier enemies is thier special abilities that have a cool down. All civs have access to at least one variety of a spy unit.