Re: I Just do not understand intel!
 

Hmmm... I wonder what causes the occasional intel project to break through then. I guess I must not have enough points. Oh well, back to my first point, you need lots more intel facilities than you might think. I think one of the best improvements to SE5 (and I mention it often) would be to have intel tech at the start of the game. So everyone has the facility, and begins building their empire with them in mind.

*EDIT*
spieling

Re: I Just do not understand intel!
 

Research starts out shared points. One of the first things you should do is unshare them and work on one thing at a time. Intel is the opposite. It starts unshared, but the first thing you should do is share the point load across all projects.

Use your first (or three) project as counter intel to protect against any attacks. All other projects are junk at intel level one. Once you get level 2, start your level two counter intel projects (and remove the level one counter ones after you get some lv2 protection built up. Fill the rest with ship or planet(lv3) takeover projects. If you don't have targets that you are sure will be around in 20 turns when the projects complete, set them to "Any ship" All these attack projects should then finish at once. The next set of projects should be less in number and set to finish in a reasonable amount of time. If a group of them is stopped by counter intel, switch targets and surprise someone else.

If you are being attacked, switch all points into counter intel until they stop or you kill them with ships. Remember with the sharing of points they can add attack points up for years and then make one big attack.

Re: I Just do not understand intel!
 

I think one of the best improvements to SE5 (and I mention it often) would be to have intel tech at the start of the game.

I concur. This is why I added (small) intel generation to research labs in Adamant, so that you at least have some inherent defense against intel without researching the tech.

Intel is the opposite. It starts unshared, but the first thing you should do is share the point load across all projects.

I would disagree. Does this not also waste points when projects finish as with tech research? You can coordinate offensive projects finishing at the same time by moving them to the end of the queue one turn from completion until you have enough of them ready to go.

You do not have to be spending points in a CI project for stored points to work for defense. If you have equal spending turned on, you can not keep these projects 1 turn from completion for maximum defense potential.

Re: I Just do not understand intel!
 

Yes, you are correct IF. I left out the part of switching back to unshared the turn before the project completes. This will save all the points that would have been wasted. It seemed kind of complex to go into on an already complex subject. I like the part about sharing the points keeping you defences up, even if you are not thinking about it. A lot depends on when in the sceem of things you get intel tech. If you get it early, go on the attack, if later, defend until you can combine with others against a single person.