intelligence projects chances of success

[Arkcon]

couslee, consider the possibility that if intel was more powerful, then it would be too unbalancing. Whoever built the most facilities could do anything. As it stands now, more effort gives you a greater chance to succede, but the benefit of success is not enough to make or break you.

Example, Geo made this scenario called Awakening. Basically, the AI starts the game with tons of planets and tech, you start with 2 moons. Once the AI meets you, it starts bombing you with intel -- fortunately, all it gets is a few bombs off in some ships. If it was "smart", the scenario would be dull fast. If intel could achieve anything, you'd soon have nothing if you were'nt guick enough -- hence my name for this new game "Intel Wars"

There is something of a pattern emergeing in the way MM has implemented intel -- annoyances, not massive attacks.

[ January 21, 2003, 20:29: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

[couslee]

I agree if intel is overpowered that it can ruin a game by unbalancing it. That was not the jist of my rant. My complaint was after:
One: the cost of the intel attack was met, and this is not a cheap attempt.
Two: I was able to surpass any CI that the AI race had (or human, if PBW for that matter).
Three: I was lucky enough to not have the attempt fail anyway.
Having overcome those three hurdles, the attack should net some benefit for the player. otherwise, your left with the feeling of a double penalty. Now, that as opposed to the cost of the next tech level using reasearch is less than the cost of the intel attack. I feel that the intel is underbalanced. There is a happy medium. you find it in other games of the same genre' it is missing here. I doubt it would be that hard to code the intel to be more balanced than it is. I am not a programmer, but wouldn't a simple check by the game for advanced tech (in line) after the other stops are passed be a simple matter. it already look at the tech options, if the game had human eyes, it would see the greyed out tech. The game does not need human eyes to see that. and only seeing/reading available advances is not something that would have to be shown to the player either.
is that a little more clear?

Edit in:
there are already stops in place that eliminate "who ever builds the most wins". those being the multipliers for CI, and the chance of failure built into each attempt even after passing CI.

[ January 21, 2003, 20:53: Message edited by: couslee ]

[tesco samoa]

I know that was the way it was in 1.67

Perhaps this change came with the conVersion to seiv gold.

But counter intel has worked that way for quite a while

[Wanderer]

As you've discovered, never tell your intel agents to steal 'any technology' - always tell them exactly what area to go for. The random element inherent in 'any technology' is huge (and annoying), as most of the time you'll already have the techs they steal.

[couslee]

Lol Wanderer. excellent point, and well taken.

The reason I chose "any tech" was based on the possible assumption that it would have a greater chance of sucess with the "third hurdle".
I still think that could be programmed in as well, along with the sucessfull attack actually giving you something.
Sure, in my example, I would have loved to got the sensor advance, but any other advance would also have been fine. having a "sucessfull" attack net nothing is... poor.

[couslee]

something else I noticed, I wonder what impact it has, if any.

if you have combat with another race, the tech levels for the ship you fought show up on the "tech" tab when looking at that race's info. When you have a successfull "tech report" intel attack, that information is not added to the tech tab for the race. Personally, I think it should, but whatever.

[Q]

I used intel to steal technology quite frequently in my current game and if the projects were successful always got quite valuable new technology (as stellar manipulation). And I used as you the "any" option! Perhaps I was just lucky.