Suggestions for new Additions to the Intelligence Agencey

[PresidentMike]

A few ideas to expand the capabilities of the Intelligence Agencey (IA).

1) Mount a Terrorist Campaign
You mount a terrorist campaign against a foreign nation. The campaign lasts for 20 turns, and every turn there is a chance that a building/population/improvement will be destroyed. Of course, there's also a chance that a terrorist operation will be prevented by an enemy's police/IA, or worse yet, that they will identify you as the source of the terrorist attacks (having police stations and an IA would give a civ a better chance of preventing/detecting a terrorist campaign).

2) Assassinate Enemy Leader
Your IA attempts to assassinate an enemy leader, preventing him from being used to create an army or rush build a structure/wonder.

3) Stage a Coup
If a foreign government is hostile to you (boycotting your goods, refusing to trade, military alliance with an enemy, etc.) your IA could attempt to mount a coup. If successful, the new government would have a better attitude towards you, forgetting any pass transgressions you may have made.

4) Smuggle Luxuries/Resources
If you need/want a luxury or resource from another civ, but the other civ refuses to trade, your IA could mount a smuggling operation. The op would last for 20 turns, and every turn there would be a chance that the enemy would detect and shut down the operation.

5) Additions to standard intelligence report
When you plant a spy in an enemy civ, you automatically get to see the strength of their army. Your IA should also automatically report on the treasurey of the civ, the status of their research (what they are working on now, what they've already discovered) and exactly what they're trading (at the moment you can see who they're trading with, but I don't believe you can see exactly what it is they are trading).

Does anyone have any other thoughts?

[randommushroom]

Yes, I want them to find the source of bananas that have been missing.

[Panag]

hi ,

well , those are some options , huh , by the way , for some of us , please let them go "bananas" , héhéh , include that as an option !

hmmm , the question has been asked before , not on the agency but on wonders in general , i realy wonder if Firaxis will look in to it .

hmmm , maybe someone , somewhere could "expand" the possibilities for wonders , like the placement tool , adding civ's , etc , who knows , huh , the Q should be , who can do it ?

have a nice day

[Cyclotron]

Originally posted by PresidentMike
A few ideas to expand the capabilities of the Intelligence Agencey (IA).

1) Mount a Terrorist Campaign
You mount a terrorist campaign against a foreign nation. The campaign lasts for 20 turns, and every turn there is a chance that a building/population/improvement will be destroyed. Of course, there's also a chance that a terrorist operation will be prevented by an enemy's police/IA, or worse yet, that they will identify you as the source of the terrorist attacks (having police stations and an IA would give a civ a better chance of preventing/detecting a terrorist campaign).

Sounds alright... it's probably a better idea than the concept of a terrorist "unit" that runs around causing havoc. Of course, most of the time it's not too hard to link terrorists to their source...

2) Assassinate Enemy Leader
Your IA attempts to assassinate an enemy leader, preventing him from being used to create an army or rush build a structure/wonder.

Can't do. There's no way in the game to know if the enemy has a leader, and even if you found out they might be used up. Besides, you can already use standard military units to kill a leader, and leaders are rare enough already.

3) Stage a Coup
If a foreign government is hostile to you (boycotting your goods, refusing to trade, military alliance with an enemy, etc.) your IA could attempt to mount a coup. If successful, the new government would have a better attitude towards you, forgetting any pass transgressions you may have made.

A bit too powerful, and it makes diplomacy irrelevant. Why bother keeping a good reputation if you can just erase past transgressions by toppling the regime every few turns?

Smuggle Luxuries/Resources
If you need/want a luxury or resource from another civ, but the other civ refuses to trade, your IA could mount a smuggling operation. The op would last for 20 turns, and every turn there would be a chance that the enemy would detect and shut down the operation.

Good idea, but the problem is that when you use a resource, that means the player you got it from can no longer use it. People will notice when their resources start disappearing. Besides, smuggling is usually in the form of drugs, guns, money, etc... not vast amounts of iron or coal capable of fueling an entire nation's economy.

5) Additions to standard intelligence report
When you plant a spy in an enemy civ, you automatically get to see the strength of their army. Your IA should also automatically report on the treasurey of the civ, the status of their research (what they are working on now, what they've already discovered) and exactly what they're trading (at the moment you can see who they're trading with, but I don't believe you can see exactly what it is they are trading).

That's true. I miss being albe to know the amount of units, etc. everybody has, and seeing casualty reports. Trades would be useful things to know as well.

[Fitz]

Originally posted by PresidentMike
3) Stage a Coup
If a foreign government is hostile to you (boycotting your goods, refusing to trade, military alliance with an enemy, etc.) your IA could attempt to mount a coup. If successful, the new government would have a better attitude towards you, forgetting any pass transgressions you may have made.

Wouldn't staging a coup just through the government into anarchy until a new government can form. Maybe if it forced a random govt type as a result, or picked based on current govt at the point the coup was initiated and those available to the civ. For example:

Democracy --> Communist or Despotism
Communist --> Democracy or Despotism
Republic, Monarcy or Despotism --> Any avialable except the original

[PresidentMike]

Originally posted by cyclotron7
Can't do. There's no way in the game to know if the enemy has a leader, and even if you found out they might be used up. Besides, you can already use standard military units to kill a leader, and leaders are rare enough already.

Oh contrare. I've seen intelligence reports that show that another civ has a leader. Also, the military may not be an option to eliminate an enemy leader. He may be to far behind the lines, or you may be at peace with a civilization but are racing them to build a wonder. That sort of thing.

Good idea, but the problem is that when you use a resource, that means the player you got it from can no longer use it. People will notice when their resources start disappearing. Besides, smuggling is usually in the form of drugs, guns, money, etc... not vast amounts of iron or coal capable of fueling an entire nation's economy.

Can't resist pointing out that the Iraqis smuggle a great deal of oil, either overland through Turkey/Iran, or past our naval blockade in the Persian Gulf. So similiar things to this do happen. Still, you make a good point: in the game's logic it would be a stretch to do this sort of thing.

[asleepathewheel]

instead of assasinating a leader, since they are both pretty rare and likely to be used before you realize they have one, what about an "assasinate city governor" option. (which I guess may not be a bad thing) but it would paralyze the citiy for a few turns until he gets replaced.

[Cyclotron]

Originally posted by PresidentMike
Oh contrare. I've seen intelligence reports that show that another civ has a leader. Also, the military may not be an option to eliminate an enemy leader. He may be to far behind the lines, or you may be at peace with a civilization but are racing them to build a wonder. That sort of thing.

Ok, but even if you could assasinate leaders, it would be unbalancing if you consider the game at present. Leaders are so rare that you would probably never see one after Nationalism if you could assasinate them (by the time I'm in the industrial age, I've got so much money that the cost of espionage is hardly an issue).

Can't resist pointing out that the Iraqis smuggle a great deal of oil, either overland through Turkey/Iran, or past our naval blockade in the Persian Gulf. So similiar things to this do happen. Still, you make a good point: in the game's logic it would be a stretch to do this sort of thing.

The most important thing here is that the Iraquis smuggle out their own oil. You are talking about smuggling oil form another civ on the order of millions of barrels for years on end. Even the guy who cleans the warehouse is gonna know something's up.

[PresidentMike]

Originally posted by cyclotron7
The most important thing here is that the Iraquis smuggle out their own oil. You are talking about smuggling oil form another civ on the order of millions of barrels for years on end. Even the guy who cleans the warehouse is gonna know something's up.

Change the logic then. Officially, you've joined another civ in an embargo against a 3rd nation, but you would like to trade with that 3rd nation anyway. The IA handles the under the table negotations.

Or go one step further: your IA sets up dummy corporations that purchase a great deal of iron/oil/uranium/dye/etc for you, but make it look like they're actually buying it for a 3rd party.

And finally, it all depends on when the guys in the warehouse noticed it was missing. Israel managed, by roundabout means, to purchase/steal enriched uranium from U.S. reactors for their nuclear program. By the time anyone noticed, it was to late: Israel had nukes.

But anyway, it's just a suggestion that will probably never be implemented. Kindof like debating the prospects of time travel: you can talk about it, but you'll (probably) never be able to do it.

[Grrr]

I like the concept but it will through the game further off balance.

[Zoid]

Originally posted by PresidentMike
A few ideas to expand the capabilities of the Intelligence Agencey (IA). [...]

Wow, that would really make the diplomacy more exciting. It is in fact material for a whole new game/expansion. CIV3 - Spy Game