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Espionage as a substitute for science?

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 12:17 pm
by Tvrelnec
Hi,
I wonder whether I can utilise espionage as a way to expedite science.
I read some posts that implicate that and of course intel reports usually tell you your agents stole x-terraquads of data if you make them target science.
I searched for more information on this but couldn't find much. There are awesome posts about intel but they explain how intel is calculated and so on.
So, could I just order my intelligence service to commit espionage on the Dominion's science e.g. and would have a reasonable success if my agents aren't found by their internal security?
What is your experience with this?
How much intel would I need? This also means: would it be efficient? Or does this mean greater efforts than researching on my own?
Which targets should I choose for my agents? Those which probably have a lot if research? Would this also work if I target enemies of a lower tech level than mine (I thought terraquad is terraquad)?
Thank you for your help.

Re: Espionage as a substitute for science?

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 1:47 pm
by Tvrelnec
Should I have posted this in Strategy Guides?

Re: Espionage as a substitute for science?

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 2:04 pm
by thunderchero
Tvrelnec wrote:Should I have posted this in Strategy Guides?
here was fine, just this has not been tested and doubt if collecting research though intel would ever be worth the effort.

Tethys might have considered something like this during his work on Galaxy mod for Borg. but never produced any use-able results.

So this would be something you would need to test and report results.

Re: Espionage as a substitute for science?

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 3:21 pm
by Tvrelnec
Then I'll try that when it's not crucial.
I had reports saying something like "agents stole 15 terraquad of weapon research data". And you can check how much science points (terraquad?) you need for the next step. So I guess you could steal all ypu need.
Later on you'll need more but I also had reports saying I gatheree 4500 terraquad.
I'll try it out, albeit I assume doing research on your own is quicker and more reliable.

I asked because I thought some of you might know how to do this. Probably the scientific activity of the AI empires also effects how much you can steal. But that are just my guesses.

Thanks anyway!

Re: Espionage as a substitute for science?

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 3:09 pm
by Ovarwa
My own experience is that the amount of science stolen is very low.

Stealing money, otoh, is very lucrative.