A lot of issues have been raised and I'm trying to sort out if some of them are mindset on the old wave /amp issue or otherwise.
Agents dying has to go, especially for scans. "scans" can be instantaneous; you just run the risk of having less chance of getting a succesful scan.
Your stealth rate is always dependant on the number of agents you send; there's no base stealth rate at your planet.
To change the stealth rate of someone else's planet, you have to send in agents to take out their agents. To change the alert rate, you kill their security guards. I had a random factor (it changed 100 to 90-120) but that's looking a bit big, so it might have to be adjusted.
I'm not sure I can ditch the time delay - I know it's unpopular, and after speaking to pople it's obviously unhappy as they want a "guarenteed" scan, but it's possible to think of it as scanning a few ticks in advanced as the equilivent of having more "amps".
It's the only way I can think of to create a difference in scanning levels (the random factor aside) without amps. I know that people have issues with this:
They're amps and distorters and waves, they work fine. The PA Team are obviously out of touch and trying to fix something that isn't broken!
No. Firstly it'll make distorter whoring harder but still possible, and a more balanced tactic - it'll cost you more in terms of loosing production/research/production times, and more resources. In general, scanning will become easier for everyone, but time will still need to be spent researching and gathering agents, and some won't want to spend resources on scans.
It will be possible to be (practically) "immune" from covert ops without spending any time building constructions, but immunity from scans will be harder.
The formulae
Security rating (Alert):
# of security agents/number of roids * 100 (capped at 100)
vs
"scans"
(# of security agents *1.15)/number of roids * 100 (capped at 115)
vs
"covert ops"
Stealth
Stealth for a mission:
Base stealth (dependant on number of agents): 100 - integer(x^3 /4),
where x is the number of agents.
Stealth on a mission: int [ rand (90,120) / 100 * base stealth ]
^^ probably needs to be modified slightly.
Security Guards will take 4 ticks and 3k of each resource to train.
Agents will take 8 ticks and 15k of each resource to train.
(you can get discounts depending on your personality)
I had a tech tree that had three forks (something like
this), and even tried to allocate figures in terms of difficulty and time to research (difficulty = X) as shown below:
Primary Intelligence Gathering
Takes: 10-12 ticks
Prerequisits: none
Gives: Nothing (combined with Primary Espionage gives ability to train more agents and security guards)
Basic Observation
Takes: 15-16 (?) ticks
Prerequists: Primary Intelligence Gathering
Gives: "Planet Summary" (X=1) :=
Planetname Rulername Race
Metal Resources Crystal Resources Eonium Resources
Metal Roids Crystal Roids Eonium Roids
Total completed researches Total completed constructions Total units.
Primary Explosives
Takes: 10-12 ticks
Prerequisits: none
Gives: Nothing (combined with Primary Espionage gives ability to train more agents and security guards)
Basic Plastique Usage
Takes: 15-16 ticks
Prerequisit: Primary explosives
Gives:"Basic asteroid destruction" (X = 3)
Advanced Planet Stealth I
Takes: 20-24 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: Basic Plastique Usage, Basic Observation
Gives: "Complete Research Discovery" X = 3
APS II
Takes: 30 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: APS I
Gives: "Complete Construction Discovery" X = 3
APS III
Takes: 35-36 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: APS II
Gives: "Current Construction/Research Progress" X = 4
APS IV
Takes: 45 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: APS III
Gives: "Delay Construction/Research Progress" X = 6
APS V
Takes: 55 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: APS V
Gives: Resource stealing X = 6
APS VI
Takes: 60 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: APS V
Gives: "Destroy a construction" X = 8
APS VII
Takes: 70-72 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: APS VI
Gives: "Destroy a research" X = 8
========================================
Advanced Atmospheric Exploration I
Takes: 20-24 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: Basic Plastique Usage, Basic Observation
Gives: "Unit Scan" X = 3
AAE II
Takes: 30 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: AAE I
Gives: "Advanced Asteroid Destruction" X = 4
AAE III
Takes: 35-36 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: AAE II
Gives: "News Scan" X = 3
AAE IV
Takes: 45-48 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: AAE III
Gives: "Production Scan" X = 4
AAE V
Takes: 55-60 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: AAE IV
Gives: "Destroy units at base" X = 6
AAE VI
Takes: 70-72 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: AAE V
Gives: "Destroy ships in production" X = 8
AAE VI
Takes: 70-72 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: AAE VI
Gives: "Wipe Planet News" X = 10
==============================================
Advanced Outerspace Techniques I
Takes: 20-24 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: Basic Plastique Usage, Basic Observation
Gives: "Scan ships out of base" X = 4
AOT II
Takes: 30 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: AOT I
Gives: "Scan to find launching time of fleets" X = 5
AOT III
Takes: 35-36 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: AOT II
Gives: "Jumpgate Scan " X = 5
AOT IV
Takes: 45-48 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: AOT III
Gives: "Destroy ships in flight (less effective than ships at base)" X = 6
AOT V
Takes: 55-60 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: AOT IV
Gives: "Fleet scan (as of last few rounds)" X = 8
AOT VI
Takes: 70-72 ticks (?)
Prerequisits: AOT V
Gives: "Military scan (doesn't show eta or target co-ords)" X = 8
The scans need costs, but I'm not sure exactly what they should be - probably 500 of each resource up to 10k of each resource, or so (or maybe something like X*500, or X*1000).
The times, if anything, probably need shortening by 20% or so.
For the single player, the middle tree is probably the best, but alliances would prefer players with the last tech tree, and the first is quite powerful.
I know this disadvantages the single player slightly - we could move the JGP into the middle section. I was trying to think of "on planet / around planet / away from planet" mentality.
XP gained = 0.5*number of agents*X*10*min(2,target_value/your_value)