Intel Guide?
 

Can there be a guide to Intel projects created for us newbs?

I'd like to know:
1) what the possible projects are
2) What the result for you is if it succeeds.
3) What the result is for the other guy, if it succeeds. (This is just as important!)
4) Why you'd use the mission, why you wouldn't.

Also some tips on how to defeat CI projects, since they seem to be this invulnerable (albeit depleteable) shield against Intel operations.

IF anyone has any links they could offer as a help for intel ops, I'd appreciate it.

Re: Intel Guide?
 

Open up Intelprojects.txt in the Data folder. It has all that info in there. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Intel Guide?
 

Including usage tips?

For example: I figured out, after much hmming and haahing, that stolen ship blueprints can then be plugged into the simulator to give you a much better idea how your ships will compete with available enemy designs.

Re: Intel Guide?
 

Well not usage tips, but nearly every project's uses are self-explanatory. Like Crew Insurrection. It captures an enemy ship. Uses: capture enemy ships. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif If you can see them, capture minesweepers, and watch their fleet hit your minefield and go BOOM! Capture Stellar Manipulation ships. Thanks for spending 20 turns building this WP Opener for me! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Intel Guide?
 

Or, you can think more subtly... Capture an enemy Colony Ship... He's probably got dozens of them hanging around, so he won't miss one or two... What can I do with a Colony Ship, you ask? Well... now you have a sample of another race's population, which if you're lucky breathes a different atmosphere - and if you're even luckier he even has a different planet type so you can analyze the colony ship and steal his colony tech! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Always use the latest Version of Counter-Intel. (Unless you have a lot of points stored in a previous Version, of course, then you might as well keep it around until it expires.) Counter-Intel 2 blocks twice as much intel as CI 1, and CI 3 is 3 times as effective as CI 1!

Only use Food Contamination on smaller colonies - don't even bother with a homeworld! The population will regenerate in a turn or two and you'll have wasted 20K intel points. But if you use it on a smaller colony (<50M), you can wipe out the entire colony and force the enemy to send a transport to repopulate it before it can produce or build anything! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Conversely, use the intel that causes plagues (if there is one - I don't use intel much anyway since it always seems to get blocked http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif ) against larger colonies, since (I think) plagues kill based on a percentage of the population, not a fixed amount (unless the population drops really low, otherwise it would take forever to finish a colony off! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif )

Write down the results of stuff like Ship Blueprints and Tech Reports because this will not be updated where you might expect (known technology for an empire, known enemy designs) - though this might have been fixed for Ship Blueprints.

Never use the one that destroys resources, if you feel the urge to, use the resource stealing project instead - it's cheaper, has the same effect on the enemy, and you get resources as a bonus! (Note: some mods fix this oversight, check the mod before you try this!)

Use Crew Insurrection as a poor man's Technological Espionage - it's only 1/3 the cost, and you can get multiple technologies from a single ship! There are only two drawbacks: 1. The enemy has to have the technology you want actually deployed on a ship, not just researched. And 2. You have to manage to get the ship back to one of your spaceyards safely to get the technology! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Intel Guide?
 

Ed, these are great tips. May I ask if they may be added to an Intel Strategy Article in the Newbie FAQ?

Re: Intel Guide?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There is no such project. Plagues kill a nearly constant amount, with just a small amount of variation each turn. I am fairly certain that it is not percentage based.

Re: Intel Guide?
 

Sure, go ahead and add those tips to the FAQ... except the one about the plague intel of course! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif I THOUGHT plagues killed a percentage of the population every turn... hardly ever run into them so it's hard to remember, and besides, that would be more realistic http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Intel Guide?
 

I will summarize the points here and add it to the FAQ.

Slick.

Re: Intel Guide?
 

OOPS! I misunderstood that post.

Stone Mill, are you intending to write an Intel section to the Newbie FAQ? If so, that's the right place to put this info and we can wait for that. If not, then I'll summarize this thread (with author credits of course) and put it somewhere in the Intelligence section. Which do you prefer?

Slick.