Why we need espionage

[alteration]

One simple reason, basically you can see in the diplomacy screen if an empire is equivalent or not to yours, however equivalent could mean that he has even 70% more fleet power than yours, so you never know if you can actually declare war or not.
If you have no vision, espionage would be the only way to know what enemy's real power is (also it would be fun).
Let's be honest, you always reload the game once you realize that you fu**ed up

 

[jstech3]

I agree, espionage is sorely missing in this game.

 

[Fourthspartan56]

And when they do the inevitable external empire mechanics update/DLC combo then I'm sure we'll see some kind of espionage.

 

[Emraldis]

I would rather see a decent diplomacy and federation system first. The current one is just baseline functional, there is no depth to the system at all. Though I guess you could slide an espionage system into a diplomacy overhaul. I wouldn't mind.

 

[TerrBear]

One simple reason, basically you can see in the diplomacy screen if an empire is equivalent or not to yours, however equivalent could mean that he has even 70% more fleet power than yours, so you never know if you can actually declare war or not.
If you have no vision, espionage would be the only way to know what enemy's real power is (also it would be fun).
Let's be honest, you always reload the game once you realize that you fu**ed up

They could easily fine tune the power equivalence to make it more useful and accurate, I don't think finding how powerful the ai is particularly interesting, I have no issue with their being espionage in the game but i hope it add a whole lot more just telling you if you should attack or not.

 

[alteration]

They could easily fine tune the power equivalence to make it more useful and accurate, I don't think finding how powerful the ai is particularly interesting, I have no issue with their being espionage in the game but i hope it add a whole lot more just telling you if you should attack or not.

Yeah ofc, but that's the main issue I'm having with my games right now.

 

[TerrBear]

Yeah ofc, but that's the main issue I'm having with my games right now.

I just keep building ships till it says they're weaker, even if im already at fleet cap just keep building and swap research buildings for power, because of how doomstacks work you're better off overwhelming them anyway as you will suffer less loses.

 

[Fourthspartan56]

I just keep building ships till it says they're weaker, even if im already at fleet cap just keep building and swap research buildings for power, because of how doomstacks work you're better off overwhelming them anyway as you will suffer less loses.

This. In the early game I've found that 30 corvettes is the minimum that will allow you to successfully destroy their spaceports and win the war.

 

[sdeezie]

I was also thinking about espionage in the context of the awakened empires: something like that may be the only way to weaken, destabilize, and ultimately defeat an awakened empire with 1,000,000+ fleet power, especially once you're vassalized. You know, espionage followed by a daring attack run on an exhaust port.

 

[Eze]

I'm going to drop a link to this thread because I really like how Alblaka paints Diplomacy and Espionage as two sides of the same coin.

 

[LucasII]

Spionage would be great to know what techs and ship designs your enemy uses, so you could develope special weapons ans ships up to the task.

 

[Wolfgang I]

The main problem are truly hostile empires as parking scouts on the planets of neutral/friendly empires gives you a good view of their fleets before you attack them.

If you don't mind abusing a bug you can get an active sensor link because they stay active during wars. At least the last time I tried such a link it worked that way. As I like leveling my scientists by scanning systems I'm currently avoiding such treaties though and I wish federation membership would only show fleets and stuff.

Stealth probes which ignore closed borders could solve that problem and I suspect implementation of such probes would be much easier than adding an espionage system.

If an espionage system comes I hope they add something like the hunter seeker algorithm from Alpha Centauri because constant espionage actions by the AI are just annoying from my experience.

 

[Aries666]

The espionage system in Imperium Galactica 2 was one of the better ones I have come across. It was nice and simple but also effective. You could have up to 12 spies each requiring a spy base building. They had levels and stats and that affected their success rate on missions of increasing difficulty, from acquiring empire info, sabotaging ships and assassinating leaders.

 

[Grubnessul]

Spionage would be great to know what techs and ship designs your enemy uses, so you could develope special weapons ans ships up to the task.

This. I have my ship designs on "auto best" all the time as there is no way to know what you might be facing. Using espionage to find out what kind of weapons/defences my enemies are using would make this much, much more interesting.

 

[Grubnessul]

Spionage would be great to know what techs and ship designs your enemy uses, so you could develope special weapons ans ships up to the task.

This. I have my ship designs on "auto best" all the time as there is no way to know what you might be facing. Using espionage to find out what kind of weapons/defences my enemies are using would make this much, much more interesting.

 

[safe-keeper]

One simple reason, basically you can see in the diplomacy screen if an empire is equivalent or not to yours, however equivalent could mean that he has even 70% more fleet power than yours, so you never know if you can actually declare war or not.

I can grant there could be some techs that aided in how much and how accurate intelligence you had on other empires, as well as things like buildable sensor arrays.

If you have no vision, espionage would be the only way to know what enemy's real power is (also it would be fun).

With respect, I personally never found espionage fun. I much prefer systems like in HOI4 where you have "intel" and various ways to get an idea as to what the enemy is doing. Could be as simple as techs and edicts aiding intel gathering, giving you more precise estimates.

Dominions is an exception, where you have "spies" that are basically regular units that have the ability to move through enemy provinces with a risk of being detected, and with missions you could give them like instilling uprisings or assassinating commanders. But 007-style "spies" that you send on missions? No thanks.

Let's be honest, you always reload the game once you realize that you fu**ed up

Nope.

 

[Emraldis]

Let's be honest, you always reload the game once you realize that you fu**ed up

nope. Always go ironman.

 

[PalmettoExplorer14]

Espionage adds a good bit of roleplaying, as well as can influence gameplay. Not to mention, it can be fun to mess around with your enemies...as long as you're not caught!

In Master of Orion, your spies can do several things ranging from stealing secrets like in the pic below to causing unrest (which can cause one of your planets to rebel) to sabotaging political relations with other empires to even assassinating your leaders.

Besides, she looks good in a skin tight suit. Meow!

I'm going to get slapped for that comment aren't I?

 

[krios41]

Let's be honest, you always reload the game once you realize that you fu**ed up

Nope, ironman

 

[Qoff]

I hate espionage in 4x/Grand Strategy games, but I have to agree that is missing on the game.