Since the introduction of Influence costs for Operations, Espionage has become of questionable use (commonly referred to as a waste of influence).
There are many things people would rather spend their influence on, including Claims, Mega Structures, Vassal Negotations, Resolutions etc.
Why waste any of your limited influence on an Operation that at best has limited effect (assuming the game even tells you what effect it has) and at worst might fail alltogether?
I decided to have a look at these Espionage operations and to share my suggestions on how to improve them:
Gather Information
Current: Requires the player to keep using it multiple times to get anything worth out of it. The best you can hope for is 15 intel, the worst is 5 intel or information on an intel category you might not even care about.
Change: For starters, remove the random intel category knowledge the operation gives you. People use this Operation (if at all) to gain intel, they don't want to roll a dice and hope they get the right thing. Secondly, the amount of Intel granted needs to be at least doubled, so something like 15-30 intel per use. If a player has to keep using it dozens of times to get anything out of it they will simply not use it and it goes back to being useless.
Spark Diplomatic Incident
Current: The fact that this hits a random envoy and you have no clue what the actual effect is, makes most players wary to ever use this. Random effects are bad if there is no guaranteed effect that comes alongside them. No one wants to gamble their precious influence.
Change: I suggest that in addition to the above, that the target Empire gets a reduced Influence gain for X amount of time. That way you can actually undermine another Empire diplomatically rather than hope that the random effect did something.
Prepare Sleeper Cells
Current: Was fine before the Influence change so this one simply needs more meat to it.
Change: More powerful Espionage requires giving the player Counter-Espionage options. I suggest that Sleeper Cells could fit this bill. Having an active Sleeper Cell in another Empire would increase the frequency of bad events (which can lead to discovery or failure) that Empire gets when its targetting you with Espionage.
Acquire Asset
Current: Was also fine before the Influence change so this one likewise needs a bit more to make spending Influence worth it given that there is no guarantee you will get the right asset.
Change: After stage one of the operation, the player is given a choice between 3 different assets, allowing them to go for the assset they are actually interested in.
Extort Favors
Current: 60 Influence for 1-3 Favors is incredibly bad. There are so many easier ways to gain Favors, that no one in their right mind would use this operation.
Change: In addition to gainining Favors (3-5) the player also gets a decent quantity of energy credits from the target (based on the targets stockpile). Now you can use it to economically undermine your opponent.
Smear Campaign
Current: 60 Influence to hope and pray that the other empire actually believes the Smear Campaign, otherwise your influence went down the drain. Limiting the player to three targets is also bad. If I am starting a Smear Campaign, I have a target in mind already. It can't be that you will only find out after stage 1 whether the target you had in mind is even on the list.
Change: There needs to be a cost associated with not blaming another Empire for Spying on you. If you can just click it away, whats the point of it? Maybe this could cost a certain amount of influence. In addition the player needs full control over what empire they want to target with a Smear Campaign.
Steal Technology
Current: Arguably the only one you might still want to use despite the influence cost. What it likewise suffers from is the lack of control and the utter randomness of it. Enjoy your +20% Food production tech, my dear Machine Empire!
Change: After stage 1 of the operation, the player is given a choice, whether they want to steal Physics, Engineering or Society Research.
Sabotage Starbase
Current: Spend 100 Influence (and a ton of energy credits in upkeep) to destroy a single starbase module (no shipyards, sorry) worth 50 alloys. Just no.
Change: Remove the nonsensical shipyard restriction. Instead of only removing 1 module, the starbase loses half of its modules and is also damaged in the process.
Arm Privateers
Current: 180 influence is quite a lot for destroying a handful of mining stations and maybe (if you get lucky) interrupt some trade.
Change: The Privateers will, after cleaning up the system, attack other nearby systems of the Empire in question, creating additional pirate bases in the progress. If ignored for too long, a pirate base may spawn additional small pirate fleets that also start raiding.
Crisis Beacon
Current: 320 influence for an operation that you are left wondering what it will do (assuming the fleets don't get bugged). Given the risk that this operation carries, having one lousy crisis fleet target that empire is simply not worth it.
Change: Instead of having only one fleet target said Empire, the Empires homeworld becomes a beacon for 5-10 years. While the homeworld is a Beacon, the Crisis will always have at least 1 fleet target this homeworld, even if the previous one got destroyed.
I haven't tried the "Consume Star" operation, so I will have to skip it. One thing the game could use aswell are technologies to reduce the Influence cost of operations (just like we have technologies to reduce the cost of claims).
The last thing I want to bring up are additional operations the game could use. These are specifically for areas where Espionage makes sense but is missing for some reason.
Incite Unrest
The player is given the choice of 3 non-homeworld planets of the target Empire. The game will pick the planets with the lowest stability to appear here and the player is shown their current stability level before making a decision. If the operation is successful against that target it will suffer a loss of 10-20 stabilty for X amount of years. The more strongly your ethics are opposed to the target Empires ethics, the higher the chance for the stabilty loss to be larger. If a planet revolts as a result of this operation, you are given a choice of joining the war on the side of the rebels.
Assassinate Leader
After stage 1 the player is given 3 target choices to assassinate. The game will always pick one governor, one scientist and one admiral to choose from, preferring targets of a higher level. Instead of a governor the game may also randomly choose their ruler and instead of an Admiral the game may also randomly choose a General. When the operation is successful, the target either dies, is maimed (-40 years lifespan) or gains a negative trait limiting their effectiveness by a small amount.
There are many things people would rather spend their influence on, including Claims, Mega Structures, Vassal Negotations, Resolutions etc.
Why waste any of your limited influence on an Operation that at best has limited effect (assuming the game even tells you what effect it has) and at worst might fail alltogether?
I decided to have a look at these Espionage operations and to share my suggestions on how to improve them:
Gather Information
Current: Requires the player to keep using it multiple times to get anything worth out of it. The best you can hope for is 15 intel, the worst is 5 intel or information on an intel category you might not even care about.
Change: For starters, remove the random intel category knowledge the operation gives you. People use this Operation (if at all) to gain intel, they don't want to roll a dice and hope they get the right thing. Secondly, the amount of Intel granted needs to be at least doubled, so something like 15-30 intel per use. If a player has to keep using it dozens of times to get anything out of it they will simply not use it and it goes back to being useless.
Spark Diplomatic Incident
Current: The fact that this hits a random envoy and you have no clue what the actual effect is, makes most players wary to ever use this. Random effects are bad if there is no guaranteed effect that comes alongside them. No one wants to gamble their precious influence.
Change: I suggest that in addition to the above, that the target Empire gets a reduced Influence gain for X amount of time. That way you can actually undermine another Empire diplomatically rather than hope that the random effect did something.
Prepare Sleeper Cells
Current: Was fine before the Influence change so this one simply needs more meat to it.
Change: More powerful Espionage requires giving the player Counter-Espionage options. I suggest that Sleeper Cells could fit this bill. Having an active Sleeper Cell in another Empire would increase the frequency of bad events (which can lead to discovery or failure) that Empire gets when its targetting you with Espionage.
Acquire Asset
Current: Was also fine before the Influence change so this one likewise needs a bit more to make spending Influence worth it given that there is no guarantee you will get the right asset.
Change: After stage one of the operation, the player is given a choice between 3 different assets, allowing them to go for the assset they are actually interested in.
Extort Favors
Current: 60 Influence for 1-3 Favors is incredibly bad. There are so many easier ways to gain Favors, that no one in their right mind would use this operation.
Change: In addition to gainining Favors (3-5) the player also gets a decent quantity of energy credits from the target (based on the targets stockpile). Now you can use it to economically undermine your opponent.
Smear Campaign
Current: 60 Influence to hope and pray that the other empire actually believes the Smear Campaign, otherwise your influence went down the drain. Limiting the player to three targets is also bad. If I am starting a Smear Campaign, I have a target in mind already. It can't be that you will only find out after stage 1 whether the target you had in mind is even on the list.
Change: There needs to be a cost associated with not blaming another Empire for Spying on you. If you can just click it away, whats the point of it? Maybe this could cost a certain amount of influence. In addition the player needs full control over what empire they want to target with a Smear Campaign.
Steal Technology
Current: Arguably the only one you might still want to use despite the influence cost. What it likewise suffers from is the lack of control and the utter randomness of it. Enjoy your +20% Food production tech, my dear Machine Empire!
Change: After stage 1 of the operation, the player is given a choice, whether they want to steal Physics, Engineering or Society Research.
Sabotage Starbase
Current: Spend 100 Influence (and a ton of energy credits in upkeep) to destroy a single starbase module (no shipyards, sorry) worth 50 alloys. Just no.
Change: Remove the nonsensical shipyard restriction. Instead of only removing 1 module, the starbase loses half of its modules and is also damaged in the process.
Arm Privateers
Current: 180 influence is quite a lot for destroying a handful of mining stations and maybe (if you get lucky) interrupt some trade.
Change: The Privateers will, after cleaning up the system, attack other nearby systems of the Empire in question, creating additional pirate bases in the progress. If ignored for too long, a pirate base may spawn additional small pirate fleets that also start raiding.
Crisis Beacon
Current: 320 influence for an operation that you are left wondering what it will do (assuming the fleets don't get bugged). Given the risk that this operation carries, having one lousy crisis fleet target that empire is simply not worth it.
Change: Instead of having only one fleet target said Empire, the Empires homeworld becomes a beacon for 5-10 years. While the homeworld is a Beacon, the Crisis will always have at least 1 fleet target this homeworld, even if the previous one got destroyed.
I haven't tried the "Consume Star" operation, so I will have to skip it. One thing the game could use aswell are technologies to reduce the Influence cost of operations (just like we have technologies to reduce the cost of claims).
The last thing I want to bring up are additional operations the game could use. These are specifically for areas where Espionage makes sense but is missing for some reason.
Incite Unrest
The player is given the choice of 3 non-homeworld planets of the target Empire. The game will pick the planets with the lowest stability to appear here and the player is shown their current stability level before making a decision. If the operation is successful against that target it will suffer a loss of 10-20 stabilty for X amount of years. The more strongly your ethics are opposed to the target Empires ethics, the higher the chance for the stabilty loss to be larger. If a planet revolts as a result of this operation, you are given a choice of joining the war on the side of the rebels.
Assassinate Leader
After stage 1 the player is given 3 target choices to assassinate. The game will always pick one governor, one scientist and one admiral to choose from, preferring targets of a higher level. Instead of a governor the game may also randomly choose their ruler and instead of an Admiral the game may also randomly choose a General. When the operation is successful, the target either dies, is maimed (-40 years lifespan) or gains a negative trait limiting their effectiveness by a small amount.
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