We NEED Espionage System!

[redharo]

We already have all the components for espionage in-game. Hell, when you wardec someone, you check the other player's relative fleet strength, and alloy storage BEFORE you go to war with them. Thats FREE espionage right there. You check the opponent's alloy count every once in a while to make sure their alloy storage doesn't drop from 5k to 1k, and if it does, its your cue to build a fleet.

You can currently see:
Alloy amount/income (trade another player, to see their alloy amt/income)
Relative Fleet Strength
Relative Research
Relative Economy

 

[Ezumiyr]

A good espionnage system would be great.
But a bad espionnage system would be detrimental.
So no, we DON'T "need" an espionnage system just because it would make sense. And we definitly don't have all the components for that in game. What are you suggesting exactly?

 

[aruon]

all we need for a suitable espionage system is the ability to build ships with ECM and cloaking abilities. the prowlers from halo, a bunch of klingon and romulan ships from star trek, dedicated stealth ships from star wars, the list goes on.

they don't need to be fast or even cheap to produce either.

 

[Kryndude]

In my experience with other 4x games, espionage is usually a nuisance rather than a fun game feature.

 

[Jmes Snowscoran]

Please no, we have enough bugs and problems with existing features.

 

[methegrate]

In my experience with other 4x games, espionage is usually a nuisance rather than a fun game feature.

Usually yes, but I agree with the OP.

Traditionally espionage is about random events... You sabotage something or steal tech. It's just occasional trolling.

But in Stellaris you need so much information and you get it all for free. Not just their relative fleet strength, economy and tech but also the location of their bases, their colonized planets and starlanes. You see the resources of all their systems. You see exactly who the enemy is, their ethics, their traits, what they think about you and why. (The latter isn't useful, but only because there's no actual diplomacy game.)

For Pete's sake, when you see an enemy fleet the game tells you where they're going and who they're attacking.

All of that information could be gated behind an espionage system. I'd also particularly focus on getting enemy fleet locations and composition outside of sensor range, then link it to cheaper and faster fleet upgrades.

Basically, I'd build espionage around getting the information you need to make better decisions. A successful system would let a small empire punch above its weight, out-negotiating and defeating much larger empires.