Espionage Idea - Branch Offices

[gathomas88]

It occurs to me that the "Branch Office" mechanic could probably be used as a fairly decent way to introduce espionage into the game. Either allow everyone to build them, and call them "Embassies," as opposed to "Branch Offices," for regular empires. Or, simply add them as an another mechanic, in addition to the existing branch offices, instead.

From there, all you really have to do is introduce buildings for those embassies, and/or planetary decisions, to get the desired effects you want. Sensor detection within a certain range should come standard, of course. But even beyond that... "Criminal heritage" megacorps already have buildings that increase unrest and crime, for example, so it should be fairly trivial to add something similar to a theoretical "embassy," if you're trying to start a coup. You could also have buildings that do things like increase relations, bring about government ethics shifts, or generate revenue and science for your empire while adding malus bonuses to the other empire. You could even make it so that some of those buildings create a small chance of you "stealing" one of the other empire's techs, and getting the option to research it, or maybe even special projects to give CBs, kill / debuff ships and fleets, or damage relations between one empire and another.

Pair this with a new "Spy / Diplomat" leader class, who you can either assign to serve at and give buffs to foreign branch offices / embassies for offensive purposes, or assign on a sector-by-sector basis for defensive purposes, and it'd seem like the game would have pretty much everything it needs to have a fairly decent espionage system.

Thoughts?

 

[RealCyclonit]

I think your idea might work, but it could easily lead to too much micro management. Maybe, building embassies should be limited to capital worlds to reduce their number. Otherwise you would have to not only mage loads of your own planets but those of other nations too.

Edit:
I would also consider using embassies not as a requirement but as a buff for diplomacy and espionage. You should be able to spy and sabotage without them, but the embassy should provide a bonus.

 

[gathomas88]

I think your idea might work, but it could easily lead to too much micro management. Maybe, building embassies should be limited to capital worlds to reduce their number. Otherwise you would have to not only mage loads of your own planets but those of other nations too.

Edit:
I would also consider using embassies not as a requirement but as a buff for diplomacy and espionage. You should be able to spy and sabotage without them, but the embassy should provide a bonus.

True. I'd recommend making it so that you can only build a maximum of three of the things starting off, so you have to prioritize when, where, and with whom you want to use them. That number could, of course, be increased with techs, civics, or ascension perks.

Diplomacy should totally be possible without an embassy/branch office. However, I'd definitely recommend tying the majority of espionage actions to them. That way, you could avoid having the AI simply spam negative actions into oblivion. That tends to be the major (obnoxious) problem with most of the espionage mods that are out right now.

 

[permeakra]

I posted recently similar thoughs in suggestion subforum

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/diplomacy-espionage-planetary-level.1146464/

 

[gathomas88]

I posted recently similar thoughs in suggestion subforum

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/diplomacy-espionage-planetary-level.1146464/

Frankly, I'd be surprised if I *was* the first to consider this option. It seems like a fairly obvious direction to take. Lol

 

[powerofvoid]

True. I'd recommend making it so that you can only build a maximum of three of the things starting off, so you have to prioritize when, where, and with whom you want to use them. That number could, of course, be increased with techs, civics, or ascension perks.

Diplomacy should totally be possible without an embassy/branch office. However, I'd defintively recommend tying the majority of espionage actions to them. That way, you could avoid having the AI simply spam negative actions into oblivion. That tends to be the major (obnoxious) problem with most of the espionage mods that are out right now.

I would go with something like starbases, possibly even having them compete with starbases for slots, instead of costing sprawl.

They fulfill a similar function in being a place to build buildings that isn't your own colonized planets.

 

[littlemikkey]

This is a great idea. I use this method allready to see what kind of weapons my neighborgs have in their fleets. When you establish a Branch Office, you can see your enemys fleet composition, if the fleet is in orbit. Go to starmap, click the fleet icon and use the magnifying glass and you can see their wessels, weaponary and shields/armour.

 

[gathomas88]

This is a great idea. I use this method allready to see what kind of weapons my neighborgs have in their fleets. When you establish a Branch Office, you can see your enemys fleet composition, if the fleet is in orbit. Go to starmap, click the fleet icon and use the magnifying glass and you can see their wessels, weaponary and shields/armour.

I actually haven't played as a Megacorp yet. I've only had to deal with criminal megacorps wreaking havoc with crime rates and unrest on my planets. Lol

How is the number of Branch Offices you can build limited?

 

[permeakra]

How is the number of Branch Offices you can build limited?

They cost sprawl (meh, the benefits vastly outweight the cost), energy (meh, as a megacorp you are likely to swim in it) and influence (and this is the bottleneck). You also need commercial pact or equivalent, and that might be non-trivial. Getting yourself AI buddies takes time, and conquering requires investment of time and resources. Consider bribing and look at tooltip, you'll likely need to adjust your policies.

 

[Ikael]

If you want to avoid spy sprawl there's a very easy solution for that: Tie spyionage "branches" to spy leaders: One spy per branch. If you want to build a galaxy wide intelligence network, you will need a deep pool of talent for that. Also, make the option for spies and its spy cells to become diplomats and embassies should the situation ask for it. Embassies for our allies, terrorist cells our enemies. Or perhaps both at the same time...