To start off with, let me just say that the game looks amazing so far. I've watched all the Blorg videos, and actually just pre-ordered the Nova edition on steam. Stellaris basically looks like a blending of the best elements of SOTS, Star Ruler, GalCiv, and Europa Universalis all rolled into one game.
One thing that does seem a bit off, however, is the espionage. Namely, it doesn't seem to actually exist. The guys in the Blorg stream even said that there was effectively no way to know what you're really up against in a war as far as enemy strategy, weapons, and fleet dispositions go, other than to simply charge in and see if you get slaughtered or not.
Will that be addressed in a DLC? It seems like a strange oversight for a game that's so well put together in every other regard.
Between Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence, there are all kinds of crazy gameplay mechanics that could be added. Spies could be recruited like regular leaders, running special projects both inside of your own empire and out of it; stealing techs, fomenting - or reducing - unrest, rebellions, and ethos divergence, assassinating enemy leaders, sabotaging production and buildings, influencing elections, helping to start wars between rival empires, maybe giving you a "snap-shot" of the AI's most recent ship designs, and fleet locations - if not doing so permanently if your spy network is extensive enough - and etca, etca. On the Counter-Intelligence front, they could do things like give the false impression that your fleets, economy, and tech are more powerful than the they really are, making enemies less likely to attack you, and making life more livable for empires which don't necessarily want to be militarist.
You could even have techs which serve similar purposes to that, like the "wild weasel" ships in SOTS, which make fleets appear larger than they actually are. Imagine placing a "wild weasel" station in a system, that always gives off the false impression that there's a massive fleet present, in order to deter attacks. ECM and ECCM techs could also be added, making it harder for enemies to target your ships in battle.
Again, don't get me wrong. The game looks great! Still though, I think some sort of "Cloak and Dagger" DLC in the near future would make for a awesome addition.
One thing that does seem a bit off, however, is the espionage. Namely, it doesn't seem to actually exist. The guys in the Blorg stream even said that there was effectively no way to know what you're really up against in a war as far as enemy strategy, weapons, and fleet dispositions go, other than to simply charge in and see if you get slaughtered or not.
Will that be addressed in a DLC? It seems like a strange oversight for a game that's so well put together in every other regard.
Between Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence, there are all kinds of crazy gameplay mechanics that could be added. Spies could be recruited like regular leaders, running special projects both inside of your own empire and out of it; stealing techs, fomenting - or reducing - unrest, rebellions, and ethos divergence, assassinating enemy leaders, sabotaging production and buildings, influencing elections, helping to start wars between rival empires, maybe giving you a "snap-shot" of the AI's most recent ship designs, and fleet locations - if not doing so permanently if your spy network is extensive enough - and etca, etca. On the Counter-Intelligence front, they could do things like give the false impression that your fleets, economy, and tech are more powerful than the they really are, making enemies less likely to attack you, and making life more livable for empires which don't necessarily want to be militarist.
You could even have techs which serve similar purposes to that, like the "wild weasel" ships in SOTS, which make fleets appear larger than they actually are. Imagine placing a "wild weasel" station in a system, that always gives off the false impression that there's a massive fleet present, in order to deter attacks. ECM and ECCM techs could also be added, making it harder for enemies to target your ships in battle.
Again, don't get me wrong. The game looks great! Still though, I think some sort of "Cloak and Dagger" DLC in the near future would make for a awesome addition.
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