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IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0014497The Last FederationGameplay IdeaMay 5, 2014 11:44 am
ReporterNichG Assigned ToChris_McElligottPark  
Severityminor 
Status consideringResolutionopen 
Product Version1.004 (x64 Linux Build) 
Summary0014497: Idea - Enemy agents
DescriptionRight now, the main way that planetary governments seem to interact with eachother is that they'll send ships to attack eachother or they'll follow your instructions to perform some specific aid mission. What if, once an enemy alliance forms, they can periodically train an operative who has methodologies similar to the player's?

Specifically, a second token 'enemy agent present' is added to the mapmode. That enemy agent will go to various worlds and do things like steal tech to give it to their alliance, induce bad RCI trends, sabotage buildings and fleets, etc. Perhaps detection can only take place either if you're at the same world as the enemy agent, or if you pay credit at the black market in order to locate them at their current position.

If you track down the enemy agent, you could try to assassinate them. If you have the psionics/etc technologies though, you could brainwash them and turn them into a double agent, which enables you to spend credit whenever you're at the same location they are in order to get them to take on specific missions on your behalf (probably a very limited subset, things like tech theft). Another benefit of a double agent might be that you can get that agent to take the blame for some of your actions, thereby being able to do things like sabotage buildings without hurting your influence with that race. The downside is that the double agent basically gets used up if you do this since its pretty obvious to their bosses that they got turned.
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SuperCactus

Apr 24, 2014 12:41 pm

reporter   ~0036671

Last edited: Apr 24, 2014 12:44 pm

It could be interesting. I'd like to see this before alliances form, like every race has a secret service, maybe it is not that realistic to have like a Thoraxian inflitrating Skylaxians, he would have a hard time conceiling his insect nature, but they could hire local agents just like the player resulting in the same possible hostile actions.

EDIT: Actually I'm not really into your token stuff, just having races able to go for the hostile actions would be great.

Prokofiev

Apr 24, 2014 12:50 pm

reporter   ~0036674

I like all this, though I suspect it's material for an add-on due to its scope, rather than for the game as it is.

Ajnin

Apr 24, 2014 1:54 pm

reporter   ~0036680

not to mention counter spies and moles

Prokofiev

Apr 24, 2014 2:07 pm

reporter   ~0036685

The Evucks would be a natural for all this.

pepboy

Apr 24, 2014 2:41 pm

reporter   ~0036693

Last edited: Apr 24, 2014 2:44 pm

I really like the idea of an enemy agent similar to the player. Batman had the Joker, so having one strong, stealthy enemy ship running around raising issues might be kind of fun. Maybe sometimes he announces his presence but usually running in stealth mode. Sometimes he appears in the middle of a combat, if he was nearby.

Kill him and he just comes back after a while (aka Arkham Asylum).

I'm not as sure about enemy spies, etc. Because they would naturally be hidden / behind the scenes, it takes simulation transparency away. It could be really neat but probably take a few iterations.

NichG

Apr 24, 2014 5:26 pm

reporter   ~0036729

For transparency, you'd certainly want to tell the player when the enemy spy has actually completed their hostile action, because that's how you'd communicate 'this is going on and its important to stop it'.

Actually hunting down where the spy currently is would probably be okay as a semi-hidden thing, since thats more of a gameplay element of interacting with a spy rather than an issue that you can't see what's driving the simulation (as soon as the spy actually causes a change to any in-game numbers, you get to see it - from that point of view it'd be like a random event)

SuperCactus

Apr 24, 2014 6:03 pm

reporter   ~0036734

I still think the spy as a player-like entity would not mix well with the game, races should handle those operations which would be reported as events, I like the idea to allow races to be able to undertake (right word?) hostile acts.

If you go down this path I'd more likely think about multiplayer. It would be a duel or a cooperation depending on what players do, each of the players would try to form his own federation (or work on building the same alliance if they want to) and have it be the last standing in the solar system. Game would speed up when both players are on a dispatch mission and pause while one is fighting or doing nothing(or you force auto-resolve for fights not involving both players).

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Apr 23, 2014 12:45 pm NichG New Issue
Apr 24, 2014 12:41 pm SuperCactus Note Added: 0036671
Apr 24, 2014 12:44 pm SuperCactus Note Edited: 0036671
Apr 24, 2014 12:50 pm Prokofiev Note Added: 0036674
Apr 24, 2014 1:54 pm Ajnin Note Added: 0036680
Apr 24, 2014 2:07 pm Prokofiev Note Added: 0036685
Apr 24, 2014 2:41 pm pepboy Note Added: 0036693
Apr 24, 2014 2:42 pm pepboy Note Edited: 0036693
Apr 24, 2014 2:44 pm pepboy Note Edited: 0036693
Apr 24, 2014 5:26 pm NichG Note Added: 0036729
Apr 24, 2014 6:03 pm SuperCactus Note Added: 0036734
May 5, 2014 11:44 am Chris_McElligottPark Assigned To => Chris_McElligottPark
May 5, 2014 11:44 am Chris_McElligottPark Status new => considering