Information sharing policy - neighboring empires are like mushrooms: keep em in the dark and feed them crap

[Mastikator]

I feel that some empires would WANT to share information to other empires, some want posture militarily, some want to stay secretive. I would like to propose a new Policy with three options.

• Secretive - this empire prefers to keep their cards close to their hands, they give no information to empires that they have contact with.
  Adds +1 encryption strength
  Share no information, not about pops, not even location of capitol. (borders, planets, etc will be visible only via direct line of sight). Name of species, portrait, name of empire is the only information you get.
  -50% diplomatic weight (due to difficulty of verifying source)
  -20% trust increase speed from diplomatic pacts
  Other empires has -10 intel
  Default for xenophobes, non-militarist authoritarians
• Posturing - this empire prefers to embellish their military might, they're powerful and they want you to know it.
  Automatically share location of bastion star bases and total strength of fleet power with all empires who either have embassy or are co-members of GC
  Automatically share founder species info and location of homeworld
  Gain +50% diplomatic weight from fleet
  Gain +10% naval cap
  Default for militarists
• Transparent - this empire is open and honest
  Automatically share borders, economic and tech info with all empires who either have embassy or are co-members of GC
  Automatically share founder species info and location of homeworld, total pop count and colony count
  Gain +25% diplomatic weight
  Gain +1 envoy
  Not available to Genocidal empires

 

[HistoricalScore1]

I feel that some empires would WANT to share information to other empires, some want posture militarily, some want to stay secretive. I would like to propose a new Policy with three options.

• Secretive - this empire prefers to keep their cards close to their hands, they give no information to empires that they have contact with.
  Adds +1 encryption strength
  Share no information, not about pops, not even location of capitol. (borders, planets, etc will be visible only via direct line of sight). Name of species, portrait, name of empire is the only information you get.
  -25% diplomatic weight (due to difficulty of verifying source)
  -20% trust increase speed from diplomatic pacts
  Default for xenophobes, non-militarist authoritarians
• Posturing - this empire prefers to embellish their military might, they're powerful and they want you to know it.
  Automatically share location of bastion star bases and total strength of fleet power with all empires who either have embassy or are co-members of GC
  Automatically share founder species info and location of homeworld
  Gain +50% diplomatic weight from fleet
  Gain +10% naval cap
  Default for militarists
• Transparent - this empire is open and honest
  Automatically share borders, economic and tech info with all empires who either have embassy or are co-members of GC
  Automatically share founder species info and location of homeworld, total pop count and colony count
  Gain +25% diplomatic weight
  Gain +1 envoy
  Not available to Genocidal empires

I like the concept!

I think Transparent is fairly exploitable. Seems way too strong. Can easily stay off Transparent and switch to it, just as you need the weight, envoy.

Sharing strength of fleet power automatically can make you a target and I think the bonuses are too small. Perhaps decrease upkeep cost of fleet. I'm still unsure on this one. Perhaps it's a range. Like 100-200K or something along those lines. This really worries me.

Secretive. If you don't want another empire to observe anything, this to me, would halt activity on the GC and Diplomacy. Someone looking outside the embassy window could just watch and observe and learn over time. Or go to the bar and listen to drunk patrons. If gestalt, I could buy secretive, with far harsher maluses. Perhaps -1 envoy or envoys (your rep/messengers) are less effective.

 

[Mastikator]

I like the concept!

I think Transparent is fairly exploitable. Seems way too strong. Can easily stay off Transparent and switch to it, just as you need the weight, envoy.

Sharing strength of fleet power automatically can make you a target and I think the bonuses are too small. Perhaps decrease upkeep cost of fleet. I'm still unsure on this one. Perhaps it's a range. Like 100-200K or something along those lines. This really worries me.

Secretive. If you don't want another empire to observe anything, this to me, would halt activity on the GC and Diplomacy. Someone looking outside the embassy window could just watch and observe and learn over time. Or go to the bar and listen to drunk patrons. If gestalt, I could buy secretive, with far harsher maluses. Perhaps -1 envoy or envoys (your rep/messengers) are less effective.

Policies are by default locked for 10 years. So if you stay off Transparent and switch to it when you need it you'll be stuck with it for 10 years.

 

[HistoricalScore1]

Policies are by default locked for 10 years. So if you stay off Transparent and switch to it when you need it you'll be stuck with it for 10 years.

I'm aware. But by that time, I'm sure the embassy/spy networks got what they needed.

 

[Mastikator]

I'm aware. But by that time, I'm sure the embassy/spy networks got what they needed.

At the same time you've tipped your hand to the whole GC only to go back to losing out on 25% diplo power, I don't think it's good a maneuver

 

[GOLANX]

I don't think you should have any diplo weight if they don't have info on you, Diplo weight is very arbitrary with the new intel system and is just a hold over from Federations. I do think there should be policies on how secretive you are though that can increase the amount of intel you give other empires, maybe you just give out intel about your fleet power to make you seem big and scary, ofc that's base intel all empires will now know, you can be transparent and all other empires will know everything. or secretive and give away no information in which case they will only know where your border is when they get close to it. all this would tie into the espionage system and how hard/easy it is to infiltrate other civilizations, but at the same time being transparent reduces a lot of border friction, and gives you bonuses to diplomatic dealings while being more secretive has negatives to those dealings, trading sensor data should give that empire the same benefits of transparency without you needing to be transparent with the galaxy.

also i feel like your post and title aren't very connected, there should be an edict to misrepresent your numbers as higher or lower, that will even effect espionage up to a point.

in terms of Diplo weight... maybe not everyone is going to like this and im killing a meme here but maybe GC should be 1 vote per empire, thats how the UN does it the GC is just to easy to use, instead of favors getting a portion of another empires diplomatic weight you spend several favors and get their whole vote, the only place diplomatic weight should be a thing is federations. vassals will also always vote with their overlord and Federations will be able to form voting blocks to increase their power.

 

[Mastikator]

I don't think you should have any diplo weight if they don't have info on you, Diplo weight is very arbitrary with the new intel system and is just a hold over from Federations. I do think there should be policies on how secretive you are though that can increase the amount of intel you give other empires, maybe you just give out intel about your fleet power to make you seem big and scary, ofc that's base intel all empires will now know, you can be transparent and all other empires will know everything. or secretive and give away no information in which case they will only know where your border is when they get close to it. all this would tie into the espionage system and how hard/easy it is to infiltrate other civilizations, but at the same time being transparent reduces a lot of border friction, and gives you bonuses to diplomatic dealings while being more secretive has negatives to those dealings, trading sensor data should give that empire the same benefits of transparency without you needing to be transparent with the galaxy.

also i feel like your post and title aren't very connected, there should be an edict to misrepresent your numbers as higher or lower, that will even effect espionage up to a point.

in terms of Diplo weight... maybe not everyone is going to like this and im killing a meme here but maybe GC should be 1 vote per empire, thats how the UN does it the GC is just to easy to use, instead of favors getting a portion of another empires diplomatic weight you spend several favors and get their whole vote, the only place diplomatic weight should be a thing is federations. vassals will also always vote with their overlord and Federations will be able to form voting blocks to increase their power.

I really like this idea of one empire one vote. I'd personally go for 1 empire 10 votes, because of "calling in favors", you can at most call in 10 so, base is 10 for everyone, call in 1 favor = 1 vote.

However I think that's a separate but very worth of discussion idea. So I created a new suggestion

Voting weight for Galactic Community - A new Resolution

Edit- Thanks to @GOLANX for this idea Currently the voting in the galactic community works simply: your diplomatic weight = your number of votes. IMO this a good way, however it's impossible to deny that there are other good ways of determining...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

 

[mammonmachine]

I like the idea. It's fun to think of an empire going into a posturing stance and then have everyone realise their fleets are really weak and laugh about them behind their backs.

Should there also be a slightly more neutral option, where you are cautious with information, without being secretive or posturing? Alternatively it could be possible to make stances that work with Tech or Trade, so there are a range of characterful options.