Hey there, after playing several games of GalCiv2 (and really enjoying it), I found I was sort of dissatisfied with the espionage feature of the game, feeling like it really wasn't worth spending too much BC on. I could tell there was promise there -- keep up the spending on espionage, and your civ will begin to steal technologies from enemy civs -- but in its current form it's kind of, well, less than useful. The BC is really better spent in social, military, or research.
With this in mind, I pondered how to make espionage a more fun, deep, and dangerous part of the game. I came up with the following, copy/pasted from notepad -- so do forgive my lack of capitalization and great formatting.
new espionage:
*espionage is counterable via counter-espionage spending.
*(espionage spending * [100 + espionage skill]% VS counter-espionage spending * [100 + espionage skill]%)
*the espionage slider cannot be manipulated until the first espionage tech is researched.
*new tech line:
-espionage -- unlocks espionage & counter-espionage sliders
-espionage ii -- [espionage +]
-espionage iii -- [espionage ++] allows general (empire-wide) espionage goal. requires high infiltration
-espionage iv -- [espionage +++]
-espionage v -- [espionage ++++] allows planet-specific espionage goals -- requires high infiltration
-ethical espionage (req esp5 and declared alignment)
*general espionage goals unlocked at esp3:
-incite -- focuses on inciting the opponent's population, lowering his approval rating.
-techsteal -- focuses on stealing enemy tech. cheaper techs are easier to steal and will be stolen more often than expensive ones.
-sabotage -- disrupts enemy production -- resets production time on a social or orbital project to 0.
*planet-specific espionage goals unlocked at esp5. allows goals to be set on a by-planet basis:
-incite -- most effective against planets with big populations or extant approval problems.
-techsteal -- most effective against planets doing large amounts of research.
-sabotage -- not only can specific planets be targeted with sabotage, but sabotage can now target extant structures or ships in orbit. higher-level structures are harder to destroy, and wonders or trade goods are even harder. ship sabotage difficulty scales with how big the ship is -- tiny ships are easiest, gigantic are hardest.
*ethical espionage grants additional bonuses and options based on the declared alignment:
-good -- bonus to incite. incite now lowers the planet's cultural loyalty as well as approval rating.
-neutral -- bonus to techsteal. techsteal now steals consistently better techs.
-evil -- bonus to sabotage. sabotage can now target a planet's population (easy) or overall quality (hard) in vicious terrorist attacks.
