Intelligence and Espionage
Incomplete information, spy networks, counterintelligence, and sabotage.
intelligence_and_espionageInformation has levels
Other civilizations progress from Unknown to Contact, Observed, Infiltrated, and Compromised. Higher levels reveal increasingly accurate political, military, technical, economic, and order information.
Agents perform asynchronous operations
Assign an agent, choose a target and operation, pay its cost, and wait for the report. Operations can establish networks, gather intelligence, steal a portion of research, disrupt infrastructure, incite resistance, or conduct cyber intrusion.
Risk creates consequences
Every hostile operation has detection and failure risk. Counterintelligence protects the home civilization and can expose hostile networks. Espionage supplies decisions; it does not delete months of work with one button.
Observation grows later
Reconnaissance aircraft, satellites, communications, cyber commands, and planetary monitoring extend the same information system instead of replacing it.