If there is one thing that almost all EU4 players can agree on it's that France is overpowered... I mean that espionage is a useless idea set.
It often seems to me like espionage is just a wasted opportunity. There they are those 3 diplomatic actions that I've never used and will never use. But all is not lost, I think that espionage could in fact be a very interesting new dimension that could be added to the game. All it needs is a bit of effort to design.
First thing, that I believe should be done is a new type of envoy - spy. Every nation would start with 1 by default. This alone opens up new possibilities for national ideas, not to mention events and decisions with an extra spy as a bonus.
Obviously, most players would use their spy to fabricate claims, this is a war game after all. So that's why Fabricating Claims should still be done by diplomats. That way spies could be used for more creative actions.
What actions, you say, all that remains is supporting rebels. Well, here's the thing: all espionage actions should be available to everyone [well, some may have extra requirements like religion or government type, plus there could be one (at most) extra that would be espionage-specific]. It's just that without espionage you'd only have one (or very few) spy to use them with and espionage would make them more potent.
Another thing of note is that there should be both actions that could be done against other countries and actions that would be performed domestically. This would require a new tab in the government screen. Spies could be used to counter rebels, help missionaries, or in a number of other ways as a new form of internal politics.
What do you think?
It often seems to me like espionage is just a wasted opportunity. There they are those 3 diplomatic actions that I've never used and will never use. But all is not lost, I think that espionage could in fact be a very interesting new dimension that could be added to the game. All it needs is a bit of effort to design.
First thing, that I believe should be done is a new type of envoy - spy. Every nation would start with 1 by default. This alone opens up new possibilities for national ideas, not to mention events and decisions with an extra spy as a bonus.
Obviously, most players would use their spy to fabricate claims, this is a war game after all. So that's why Fabricating Claims should still be done by diplomats. That way spies could be used for more creative actions.
What actions, you say, all that remains is supporting rebels. Well, here's the thing: all espionage actions should be available to everyone [well, some may have extra requirements like religion or government type, plus there could be one (at most) extra that would be espionage-specific]. It's just that without espionage you'd only have one (or very few) spy to use them with and espionage would make them more potent.
Another thing of note is that there should be both actions that could be done against other countries and actions that would be performed domestically. This would require a new tab in the government screen. Spies could be used to counter rebels, help missionaries, or in a number of other ways as a new form of internal politics.
What do you think?
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