espionage should cost influence and lead to more powerful consequences

[Empire of Terra Nova]

since influence is the only scarce mana for aggressive or expansive empires, operations and even building up spy network should cost monthly influence (just like maintaining diplomacy as an isolationist)

there really should also be another stance, a more espionage focused one; maybe something like "enigmatic", making espionage actions free but doubles expansion cost

as for the operations, they simply must be as powerful as to match war-focused play styles

 

[Ryika]

Influence is such an overused resource already, I think adding influence costs to even more things is the entirely wrong direction.

 

[Empire of Terra Nova]

it's the only resource that is, at least under most circumstances, scarce. energy credits are just peanuts. envoys do have some value in diplomacy (or espionage) focused builds but are otherwise of lesser use

 

[Ryika]

Yes, but that only means that it's the only resource that can fulfill the purpose that you're looking for, not that it therefor should be used to actually fulfill that purpose.

There are other ways to add additional costs, for example a diplo stance that improves espionage but comes with some downsides, civics, the subterfuge tradition tree, edicts, maybe an ascension perk or two. A lot of these even exist already, it's just that right now they're numerical bonuses for a system that is very low impact as a whole.

The system definitely needs a rework, but I really don't see why influence costs should be part of that rework.

 

[methegrate]

it's the only resource that is, at least under most circumstances, scarce. energy credits are just peanuts. envoys do have some value in diplomacy (or espionage) focused builds but are otherwise of lesser use

You're absolutely right, which is why influence is the most overused resource in the game. It's the only one that's worth anything.

But personally, I think the answer is to fix the rest of the economy. Leaning even more on influence is just a constant band-aid. The more we use it, the more we'll create a bunch of mechanics that keep not quite working as designed.

It feels weird to say "espionage is broken, so let's fix the economy." But I think you've put your finger on a really core issue. Stellaris routes almost all of its decisions through the economy. At heart it's a resource management war game. You build your strategy around your resources, and use those resources to fight other empires. Sure the game has ambitions of being more than that, but in terms of what decisions the player makes and what you can actually do in the game, that's what Stellaris is.

It isn't possible for something like espionage, or even most other mechanics, to work properly when that underlying economy has only one meaningful resource.

 

[A2ch0n]

Influence is the last resource that espionage operations should cost... I want to spy against more empires than one or two. Energy is exactly what it should cost. Even more, it should cost less energy than actually, especially in the early game.

More power on the other hand is of course appreciated!