There's been a lot of talk about adding an espionage system to the game. I also agree that it feels wrong for technologically advanced, spacefaring civilizations to have no way to influence each other covertly. There are many mechanical ways to implement espionage, but instead of argue about which one's better, I'd like to come up with the actions that any good espionage system would allow a player to take. In no particular order, I want to:
Not all of these things should be easy; in fact, some of them should be really, really hard to pull off--even achievement-worthy. Long-term aspirations can be fun.
What cool, nefarious, devious tricks have I missed here? What would YOU like to be able to do with an espionage system?
- Steal map data (because it makes zero sense that belligerent empires would just share that with you)
- Steal resources and/or ships
- Tap into an active sensor link
- Steal technology (or progress toward a tech)
- Sabotage planetary buildings and/or spaceports
- Sow discontent (reduce happiness among pops)
- Agitate for liberty among conquered/enslaved pops
- Agitate for ethics shifts (probably using the faction system)
- Influence elections
- Plant false information about my empire's fleet positions/strength and/or outpost strength
- Introduce computer viruses that disable or damage enemy ships/outposts
- Assassinate/kidnap enemy leaders
- Recruit/plant a spy loyal to my empire among another empire's leader pool
- Support crime on a planet/empire
- Incite wars between two neighboring empires
- Perform counterespionage against all this
Not all of these things should be easy; in fact, some of them should be really, really hard to pull off--even achievement-worthy. Long-term aspirations can be fun.
What cool, nefarious, devious tricks have I missed here? What would YOU like to be able to do with an espionage system?
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