[dogscoff]

QUOTE:
2) mines and selective intelligence hits vs minesweepers; nice combo - any hints as to the best way of knocking down 100,000 pts of counter-intel? (I have 200,000 pts of intel available)
/QUOTE

Now the way I understand counter-intel is that no matter how many points are invsted in a counter-intel project, it can only counter a certain amount of enemy projects, 1 for level I counter intel, 2 for II and so on.

Therefore, (correct me someone if I'm wrong) if the enemy has invested 90,000 points in a counter-intel I, you can effectively cancel out that entire project by throwing a single 5000 point cargo bomb at them. A 150,000 point CI II can be wasted with any two cheap ops.

This means you can wear down your opponent's counter intel much faster than he can build it up. Set a dozen or so cargo/ ship bombs to complete in the same turn, and there will a very good chance at least one of them will get through. If it does, you know that next turn your opponent will have _no_ effective counter intel projects left. He will have to start some new ones from scratch. OK, if he's investing more in counter intel than you are in sabotage AND he starts enough projects then you won't be able to touch him, but if you can hit him with enough projects and / or persuade other empires to spend intel points on him you will sabotage him into the ground=-)

Oh, it's worth mentioning - I think the defender in intel conflicts gets some kind of bonus modifier, so counter intel points are worth more than offensive ones.

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"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"Uh, I think so, Brain, but balancing a family and a career ... oooh, it's all too much for me. "