Planetarion Forums - A new cov-op

SpookyVince · 29 Jun 2007, 08:27

I had an idea about a new cov op that could be created.

The idea is fairly simple. It happens that sometimes you have someone cov-opping you a lot, like every tick or so, and you have no means to counter it.

Of course you'd like to know who is doing it... This would be it: a cov op that you would do on yourself, that would have a limited percentage of chance of discovering the coords of the last cov op that was succesful on yourself.

Numbers would have to be discussed, but I'd imagine something along the lines of this:
Min agents: 20
Chance to find coords: (agents/4)% of success, with the thing that makes a cov op fail if stealth goes under the alert level (or about that)

Thoughts?

Kargool · 29 Jun 2007, 08:37

A cov-op on yourself to find out who was the last one to cov-op you?

Sure, nothing else is realistic in this game anyways.

SpookyVince · 29 Jun 2007, 08:48

In RL it's called an investigation. I don't see why this is unrealistic at all to be honest.

[Edited this:]
Actually, this op could be done only in a limited time after that hostile cov op on yourself, like max 8 or 12 ticks after that operation for instance.

Mzyxptlk · 29 Jun 2007, 09:32

Indeed. "Infiltration: send your agents undercover with unpatriottic elements on our planet and investigate their plans". I kind of like it, because I think that the fact that cov oppers can technically remain hidden all round is fairly shit.

*support*

Makhil · 30 Jun 2007, 00:35

Great idea, every state in the world does 'contre espionnage' before even spying others.
While we're at suggesting new cov ops i was thinking of another one:

- assassination: would target the elite people on a planet and reduce its XP

zebra · 30 Jun 2007, 18:01

or kidnap to steal XP. But I think messing with XP is something PATeam will never do.

Mzyxptlk · 30 Jun 2007, 18:25

It defeats the purpose of XP a bit.

SpookyVince · 1 Jul 2007, 02:41

I've just been having another idea of a cov op... (I'm thinking way too much

)

This would be called something along the lines of "subversion" or "propaganda". The idea is that atm 100 points of population are assigned to tasks (research, mining, etc.). Having agents disturbing the government and/or the economy is not unrealistic.

Something like:
min agents needed: 10
effect:[nr of agents / (a certain value determined by the alertness of the target)]% of reduction in population effectiveness
That could be a formula of the sort of the one used for bravery factor for XP, but linked to alertness instead of score & value.

I don't have a precise idea of the numbers to put there, but that shouldn't be too much of a hassle... I don't know something that would allow like a max of 20% reduction (80 pop points instead of 100). Also, it would be necessary to have the population effectiveness growing again to 100 gradually (over 4 or 6 ticks for instance?, or linked to the population growth rate?)

I'm just throwing in an idea, don't flame bcs it's so vague... When it's another time (not 3.30am that is) I'm ready to discuss numbers & effectiveness if anyone is interested in this idea

Mzyxptlk · 1 Jul 2007, 03:25

Genuine question: what is it you want to achieve by this new cov op?

Ultimate Newbie · 1 Jul 2007, 13:44

It might be handy to reduce player's ability to assign population at critical times, to things like production or security etc. Its effect on production is particularly scary - not sure if your target built out of his incs? - Propaganda him 10 sec before the tick, thus almost certainly delaying his production if he has any pop on that.

Mzyxptlk · 1 Jul 2007, 14:53

Yeah, I got that, I meant at a more abstract level.

Ultimate Newbie · 1 Jul 2007, 15:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mzyxptlk

Yeah, I got that, I meant at a more abstract level.

Generally i'm reasonably good at abstract thought, however i'm not following here. Would you be so kind as to elaborate, so i/we can a) understand you and b) explore what you bring up?

Mzyxptlk · 1 Jul 2007, 15:28

The immediate goal of adding this new cov op that Spooky is suggesting is clear; disrupt the ability of a planet to use its population to make certain areas more productive than others. But what I'm wondering about is how this adds anything to the game. How is Spooky trying to change the game? Where is he taking us? In short, what is the vision behind the suggestion, if there is one?

NitinA · 1 Jul 2007, 18:55

New covert ops, a lot of them execellent suggestions, have been suggested over and over for rounds and rounds on these forums. Good luck getting anyone to hear you.