Intel: I'm Stumped

DirectorTsaarx · #1 February 28th, 2001, 09:46 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Stone Mill:
That is excatly why (if you read my original case) it smells fishy.

Check the math: 5 Crew Insurrections X 40K = 200K offensive intel points.

Well, actually, Crew Insurrections costs 50k each, so you spent a total of 250k in Intel.

quote:
Originally posted by Stone Mill:
If my PBEM opponent were to defend that, he would have to have 10K Counter Intel II projects X at least 20 turns.

We have been playing with the ability to view each other's stats, and I am not even sure he had intel for 20 turns! ...Never mind Intel II. It just does not sound likely.

Actually, you get Counter-Intel II at Applied Intelligence level 1.

See my post below for some discussion about whether there's a "bonus" applied to Counter-Intel spending.

However, it IS odd that he had 5 Counter-Intel Level II's running long enough to build up enough points to defeat your operations. Maybe the system treated all 5 as a single project, since they were all the same type? Try running multiple operations of different types against him, and see if the same thing happens...

Stone Mill · #2 February 28th, 2001, 10:21 PM

Thanks DirectorTsaarx, for checking my math. 250K makes my example all the more confounding- and again: I do not believe my opponent had the foresight to counter it. 250,000 Intel points is a serious chunk of change for someone (currently) producing 10K per turn.

I think you may be on to something about the computer treating them as one project... (FYI: I did get 5 separate failure notices) I will continue to run different projects and see if I get better results.

Alas, I will remember to ask him at debrief what he witnessed on his end during all of this.

DirectorTsaarx · #3 February 28th, 2001, 10:27 PM

All right - I'll admit I'm wrong about the levels... this is from the Q&A on the MM website:

"Intelligence Defense projects merely provide points which are used to defend against enemy projects. The higher the level, the more points you can put into the project (cost), and the better they will protect you. The specific type of the offensive intelligence activity does not matter. Defense projects defend against them all."

The best (well, only) example here is the Technological Espionage op, which costs 150,000 points. A Level I counter-op (100,000 pts.) will never have enough points to counter Tech Espionage, but a Level II counter-op (250,000 pts.) will.

Which means the only reasons you'd want the higher-level counter-intel ops are:

1) You're worried about Technological Espionage.
2) You don't have "Repeat Projects" on, in which case you want the counter-ops to run as long as possible, just in case there's nothing to trigger the operation before you spend the full amount and have the counter-op "fail", at which point you have to remember to start a new operation.
3) You realize that the longer you have a single project going, the more likely it is that you'll have enough points built up in that project to counter an intel operation. Even with Repeat Projects on, if your counter-intel op completes before your enemies' intel op does, you lose all the points you built up. And, more importantly, have to build up again - and if the enemy finishes an expensive project one turn after you've finished/re-started a counter-intel project, the intel op may succeed against you, despite the counter-intel...

Although none of this explains why my one Counter-Intel II project completed as a failure; unless it didn't have enough points built up yet, and the Counter-Intel III projects _did_... Also doesn't explain why only the "cheap" projects succeeded against me... hmmmmm....