Stellaris: Spies out of a job?

[999realthings]

I imagine espionage will be a much later expansion once the game have more mechanics (from DLC and patches) that can allow us to perform fun espionage action.

However, some examples I can think of now for use of espionage from what we seen includes maybe spying on enemies to steal their star charts, cause coups or rebellion(potentially change their government) or examine their ship design (think Wiz mention we can't see what weapon types or defense they have until we actually engage them).

For domestic, we could use our spies to crush rebellious factions or slowing down ethics divergence.

 

[Jean-Luc]

How can spies be out of a job when they don't exist in the first place?

 

[REDDQ]

We need espionage badly.

Imagine Blorg, he (she? it?) walks into a bar, orders Martini (shaken, not stirred) and says to the nearest beauty "My name is Blorg... James Blorg".

 

[Helsync]

I imagine counter-intelligence mechanics (the defensive side of things) should be designed to be relatively simple with a straight forward approach whilst the actual offensive espionage system ought to involve more complex decision making. That way it would probably minimize the difficulty of its implementation and players could learn about it at their own pace without having to get too involved with it.

I personally just imagine defensive efforts involving the use of infantry troops with a special counter-intelligence stat. They'd be easy to build and have upgrade options but probably cost a large amount of maintenance. Intelligence leaders could then be used to boost the effectiveness of counter-intelligence efforts on certain planets/systems or are sent out offensively as spies. Depending on the strength of counter intelligence on a planet/system the offensive intelligence can succeed, fail (and retreat) or in worst case scenario, die/become captive depending on policies. Maybe throw in some guaranteed abilities that are only reduced in effectiveness by the counter intelligence stat.

You could have modifiers on the counter intelligence efforts based on something like happiness meaning that even with a large build up of the infantry type you could still have a good chance at affecting an unhappy colony or even have a small chance of reducing their happiness and thus their effectiveness for a follow up espionage attempt.

I should stop before I design the whole thing for them...

 

[barny]

Let's be honest: It took PDX almost 3 years to finally get espionage somewhat right in EU IV...

 

[nuyu]

Can we put our spies to the fallen empires?

 

[darwinthepiercer]

I imagine espionage will come around the same time as superweapons.

"After months of intense undercover work, your agents have stolen the plans for the Hann'Feliir Death Star.

Many Blorg died to bring you this information."

 

[208]

Espionage in most 4x games feels too coarse-grained - you get large benefits (like stealing a whole tech) infrequently. IMO it should be a much finer-grained thing and give you smaller benefits more frequently, so that it becomes more like a statistical bonus (and easier to balance).

For example, instead of stealing whole techs at a time, your spies could (if you're spying on someone who already has the tech you're researching) give you little spurts of research points towards your progress. Instead of stealing a lump sum of energy credits, they could siphon off a small fraction every month. Instead of blowing up some enemy ships, they could cause a small combat penalty for a period of time. Instead of causing instant rebellions, they could decrease the happiness of/add support to a faction within the target's population.

 

[Abayonett]

We got espionage in the infiltration of pre-FTL societies, other that that we will have to wait for expansions.

 

[Misiok]

@Wiz - I am not sure if this is valid question since I only saw it from streams, but pop migration is instant, right? Any chance for a future update/DLC where there's a big focus on POPs to make them move not instantly but slowly by 'using' real transport ships?

 

[Tasmanian Devil]

A good base to start for putting an espionage system into a game is to read what Sun Tzu wrote about the usage of spies in "The art of war". BUT. He never explained how You hide a Penguin spy among 60 Billion Funghi.

 

[Tiaexz]

Considering how successful they were in EU4 (and every other game), spies work better as a role play element than a gameplay one.

 

[Rognvaldr19]

TFW when people keep pushing for DLC before Stellaris is even out.

 

[Tiaexz]

@Wiz - I am not sure if this is valid question since I only saw it from streams, but pop migration is instant, right? Any chance for a future update/DLC where there's a big focus on POPs to make them move not instantly but slowly by 'using' real transport ships?

They are not instant. Only instant whilst on same world, not between worlds. Hence the nomadic and sedentary traits.

 

[Saviour of Galaxy]

A good base to start for putting an espionage system into a game is to read what Sun Tzu wrote about the usage of spies in "The art of war". BUT. He never explained how You hide a Penguin spy among 60 Billion Funghi.

You may ask them

 

[Tasmanian Devil]

You are right. They would make it work ! Try harder, Paradox !

 

[REDDQ]

Kowalski! I need options!

 

[usul294]

The only strategy game with espionage I enjoyed was Star Wars Rebellion. It was character based, with stats for each character that grew with time. Lots of missions were included, basically covering diplomacy and espionage tasks. You could even capture characters It was a really interesting core game mechanic in an inventive but kinda bleh game.

 

[Angelic_Daemon]

I like espionage but looking at Master of Orion, i think it's good that it's not implemented just for the sake of it. I don't want to have to produce hundreds of spies and seeing messages of stolen technologies or attempted theft for dozens of hours, because everyone else does the same thing.

I just played the most recent version of MoO for the spies specifically, I don't feel like they have any impact on the game and just get annoying after a while.

 

[Baro]

I really liked the simple slider and priority spy system in the classic Master of Orion. Don't make spies units or special characters you have to micromanage. Just have an intel budget that lets me learn about the enemy, and potentially mess with them. I'm mostly just hoping we get something that lets us spend on different levels of intel, allowing us to learn more about potential enemies. See their colony tiles, see their full stats, learn their ship designs, that sort of thing.