Counter Intelligence Questions

[Magus38]

Ok, after looking carefully at the information on the MM website I have concluded that CI works against any attack, regardless of the empire. I think that it does protect against a number of attacks consistent with "Effect Amount" of the level of CI, though how this is calculated exactly I don't know. Finally, I think the log message simply refers to the Last empire blocked. Of course all this is simply conjecture. I think I may send this whole thread to MM for arbitration.

[Will]

CI III does not block three operations... once one operation is attempted, it dies, I've observed this a few times in my current game. Only other explanation would be that the AI is doing three ops at a time, completing at the same time...

[Baron Munchausen]

Counter-intelligence operations are expensive because it is YOUR spending against the ATTACKER's spending. If the counter-intelligence operation costs less than the attacking operation, it cannot neutralize it. That's why the "Puppet Political Parties" operation is so hard to counter. You need counter-intel level three and the points to match the attackers spending.

[DirectorTsaarx]

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Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
Counter-intelligence operations are expensive because it is YOUR spending against the ATTACKER's spending. If the counter-intelligence operation costs less than the attacking operation, it cannot neutralize it.

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Very good; a concise explanation that is completely correct.

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That's why the "Puppet Political Parties" operation is so hard to counter. You need counter-intel level three and the points to match the attackers spending.

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Well, actually, PPP costs 100,000 Intel points. Counter-Intelligence level I costs... 100,000 Intel points. So level 1 could (if you spend more points per turn on it than the opponent, and the CI doesn't block another Intel op in the meantime) block a PPP attack. Especially if the "Counter-Intel Bonus" setting in Settings.txt is working. The benefit to using a higher-level CI project is that you're more likely to have a high amount of CI points built up when an attack comes through.

As I said earlier, the only project that costs MORE than a level 1 CI project is Technological Espionage, at 150,000 points.

[PsychoTechFreak]

My observations to CI:

-CI points don't stack/accumulate every turn, this is not like an Intel project or research project

-so the maximum possible CI value is the same as the Intel-points you produce every turn

-I have checked this: Empire A has a CI-level III project, 25000 points, which means it can counter intel for this amount every turn (see above),
Empire B ran 4 small intel projects (5000 to 15000 points), all four projects completed in the same turn and all projects failed due to the one CI project of Empire A

I have tested this with two empires against one CI-level 3 project also, with same results, so don't waste your Intel-slots, one huge CI-level 3 project will do it, unless you produce more than 500000 points each turn, then you should divide projects. This makes sense to me.

[This message has been edited by PsychoTechFreak (edited 13 April 2001).]

[DirectorTsaarx]

PsychoTechFreak: your testing appears to be the opposite of what Malfador has stated about Counter-Intel.

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From the Malfador website Q&A:
Defense intelligence projects will have their points depleted (the points you are paying in to complete them) as they defend against attacks. Once a defensive project expires, you will have to start it again to continue your protection. The more projects you have going, the better your protection will be. However, if you have a defensive intelligence project, and you are not spending any points towards it, it will not provide any protection.

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[DirectorTsaarx]

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Originally posted by PsychoTechFreak:
My observations to CI:

-CI points don't stack/accumulate every turn, this is not like an Intel project or research project

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This has not been my experience at all. I've had up to 12 CI operations running at one time, with about 4k points per turn for each operation, and still been able to block enemy intel ops. There aren't many Intel ops that only cost 4k points...