I know there's some criticism about espionage and its efficacy, but I'm wondering, does anyone have some effective / useful ways to use it now?
I'm hoping to find the best strategy for each individual Operation, and how a build focused on Espionage can do as much as possible given the current system.
For example, I know having the right kind of Asset gives you a longer-term +10% on Research Speed after a Steal Technology Operation, and getting a lot of Assets allows high infiltration which means you can observe enemy fleet movements.
What are your absolute best Espionage strategies?
Tech pathing efficiency for aggressive tech-alloy empires that invest in diplomats but don't intend to rely on diplomacy in favor of early-game conquests. (Shared Burden-Diplomatic Corps, Xenophobe-Pompous Purist, Xenophile Catalytic-Anglers, Syndicate-Corps, etc.)
Espionage's highest opportunity cost in that it requires an envoy, which in the early game is a source of significant influence for claims, and then diplomatic impacts. However, the tech implications of the steal technology operation are considerable.
Steal Technology doesn't outright give you a tech, but gives you 1/3rd of the tech (at your current sprawl cost) and turns it into a permanent option. This is unironically great, and in some ways better than if you got the tech outright due to how Stellaris's tech draw system works. Any technology that is already an option will never be drawn in your group of 3 cards- this gives you a better chance to draw a high-value card early. And any technology that is a precursor to two or more later techs, that is set aside as an option, will never have those two techs clutter the pool either, which they would if you got the entire tech outright.
What this means in abstract is that you want to steal all the techs you
don't want, so that the only techs you
can draw are the ones you
do want. (And if you do steal a tech you want- congratulations, instant progress on it, and guaranteed for your preference.)
This is similar in principle with the tech option advantages of the Discovery Tree and related tech, which- by broadening your selection of choices- gives you a higher quality gain every tech generation. Those give you a good option; tech theft removes bad options from the pool. Together they can greatly increase you chance at what you want. The best payoff, in my experience, was getting an exceptionally early Cruiser or Psionic draw.
And honestly, even if you don't get something new because of nothing to steal you get something good: up to 1000 stored research of a random type basically means you double your research rate for a random technology for months/years.
Now, this takes time to set-up in terms of infiltration, and you'd really like an appropriate asset to help. It's also not 100% reliable due to the tech-based RNG events, like the... shield check, IIRC? But this is why you tie it to a build that will
already wants/support a strong enough CG economy to support a healthy science economy, and a militarist outlook/incentivize for early expansion.
The real cost-saving is to understand you can bypass on robots for the early game. At 1 pop, 2 alloys, and 5 energy a month, robot factories are a drain on any early-game war economy, to the point that if you are a warmonger, you want to start building robots
after the first conquests. But if you're not stretched the max supporting multiple robot factories of energy costs, you. have the energy to afford many more operations, and by that point most people should have a tech worth stealing, improving your efficiency (and- if not giving an option- helping you research what you do have much faster).
Now, it is annoying that you have to re-infiltrate and claim influence, but this is where you can start by alternativing with Asset operations until you get an asset you want for tech-theft.
Now, is this an optimal sort of strategy? Not really. It has a payoff of around year 30-40 or so, when tech tier 3/4 starts becoming available and highly dependent on your tech pathing influence. It relies on assets; no one took the Enigmatic Engineering tech. 40 years is a relatively long time for a strategy to start bearing subtle fruit. But given that machine assembly has a similar or longer return on invement window, it's not bad.
