Espionage questions

from Stardock Forums
Howdy;
I've played through a couple of games and have some questions on how the espionage model works. (Please note, these questions are about the spying slider, not the destablizing slider)
1. There are several levels of reports you can get on other races (low, medium, etc) depending on how much money you put into spying on them. It seems that you have to spend a certain amount on a particlar race, and once you have spent that amount, you get that level of report forever with no more spying allocated. Was this intentional? Pretty soon, you have perfect reports and never have to spend money again? Also, are there any modifiers to how much you need to spend? I've set up spying on two races at the same time with the exact same amount and they achieved each "level" of reports at EXACTLY the same year. I set up one race with double the amount per year and it achieved each "level" of reports in EXACTLY half the time.
2. There is a nebulous reference in the rule book (funny how there are so many of those) about if you spend money on espianage you can avoid some problems. Anyone seen this? I was hoping that by putting large sums into spying I would be able to cause some problems with the other races (industrial sabatage, tech stealing, something), but despite spending a lot of money, other than the reports, I've seen nothing.
Thanks,
V
586 views 14 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
yes I have, there was an event that basicly said a religious sect was trying to find a precursor race and wake it in a particular alien sector.

I ignored it, They found the race, woke it up and within 10 to 12 months I had no fleet! (i was the strongest miltary) The message siad that my agents on this particular planet lost a firefight there and maybe I should have spent more money on spying...This race killed off all the majors, and since it was minor I won the game anyway...whew It seems one should not ignore the messages, they may hint who to spy on.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Never ignore those messages. :)

Liquid: If you stop espionage spending, I *think* that you stop getting updated information. Not sure on that.

~SDC~
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Phaedyme - I would have thought that you stop getting the information updated as well, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Even though I lowered (and eventually eliminated) spending, the reports kept changing. If you think about it, this kind of makes sense. As Za H figured out, there are certain breakpoints to getting the various levels of spying:
Low: 100
Medium: 300
High: 900
Advanced: 1800
(and despite what has been said in the unofficial FAQ, they are not related to the population of the opposing race) Once you hit this breakpoint, you get the better reports. Well, it doesn't matter if you get to a 300 number by spending 3 for a hundred turns or 150 for two turns. Once over the breakpoint, you are good for the rest of the game. Otherwise, it would have to figure out some "maintenance" level of espionage spending that if you went below, it would penalize you. It clearly doensn't.
You know, these are the kind of things we shouldn't have to be figuring out on our own. Has anyone heard if they are going to be releasing more statistical info from the game? They seemed to be good about it right after the release, but they haven't given out any goodies for a while.
V
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Cool. I can stop spending once I reach "advanced."

Of course, you're right that this should be documented, but I'll forgive a lot for a fun game.

~SDC~
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
#3
Liquid998,

The cost points appear to "scale up" relative to the size of Map. In one of my current Huge galaxy games, the "Low" threshold was set at 900gc's (v.1.02.049 of GalCiv).

Can one of the BT's confirm?

~SDC~
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
The 100/300/900/1800 break points were observed on a gigantic map. It wouldn't make sense for the threshold to increase with smaller map sizes, would it? :notsure:
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Has anyone ever gotten the message that Major Race X has uncovered some technology that will slowly increase their power and that you should attack them now before they become unstoppable. I have ignored that message both times I've seen it and still gone on to win the game. What does that message mean?
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
It's sometimes referred to as the "comeback" event. That race will get a bonus to a major statistic every turn for the rest of the game. Usually only a race that's one the brink of being eliminated will trigger this, so even the fact that they are getting these bonuses isn't enough to get them back into the game before you or another member of the AI goes on to win. Ignoring them for too long can lead to trouble if you don't go on to win soon, though.
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
As I understand it, it's a +1% bonus every turn.

I once had it happen to the second-most powerful race (after the Arceans), but since they were my allies, I didn't worry about it.

~SDC~
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
#6

ZaH: As stated, my "break-points" occured at different costs than those you observed. My question was whether this might be due to a difference between the size of maps being played (your original post did not state the parameters under which your costs were valid).

However, I too have now concluded the espionage costs are "fixed" across all map sizes, and the variation(s) I experienced are due to my having continued a 1.01 saved-game under 1.02.049. As Brad has now noted re:1.03, he cannot guarantee calculations between successive updates of the game. :p

Once again, though, I am relying on personal experience, not empirical evidence. I am hoping one of the BT's can verify our observations, so I'm not "mooing" in the dark here. :)

~SDC~
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
#10

Actually ZaH, my apologies...YOUR original post did mention the parameters under which you observed these costs. I meant the post Liquid998 wrote (#3), which I responded to. Doh! ;)

~SDC~
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
Can anyone tell me what further information you get at the high level of espionage that you don't have at medium? I haven't noticed seeing any information at high that I didn't already have at medium. I've never bothered to go to advanced level. What does that give you?

I've read somewhere that stealing techs is not a function of your aspionage level, but of how much BC you are spending at the moment. Is this true, and if so how much is enough?
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
theres a few events that espionage can prevent, they are all bad ones lol

@Vanir, no sorry, i dont' really keep track of those things :/
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
#12

Vanir,

The stats report is the same at bot Medium and High penetration levels.

However, at High + above, you will get popups telling you when an AI declares war/settles peace, or if you are being destabilized.

~SDC~