SPYING & THE SPY NOVEL GENERATOR

[ AQUIRED FROM A CHAT SESSION: ]

Spying
Alan talked to us about the "Spy Grid".

Basically, this is a cross-reference between mission type (Subversion, SIG (think internal security), Blunt Instrument, and Sharp Instrument (and there are others, I believe)) and target circle. This is the part that is previously unexplained, I think. There are two types of circles in this list:

1. Primary Circles -- These areas are where an AI Leader's 'job' is defined. Examples are Military, Social, Scientific [and, extrapolation on my part: Economic, Political]. Every leader will have [I think a single] primary circle. This is the type of target.
2. Secondary Circles -- These are what Alan likened to hobbies. A leader may have one of these; I don't think more than one. Examples were Outlaw, Sports, and Vices [sounds like there are lots more too]. Also, if the leader is "active" in their ethos, that would count as a secondary circle. This is an 'area' where the target might be 'acquired', though I think the primary circle is valid as well.

So, given the circle, and the mission type, the spy now has a potential target list. For example, if the choices were subversion, military, and sports, your spy might work his way into a Sporting event where a likely military officer is also frequently contactable. I'm not sure if the spy can be assigned to a primary area or not -- ie, work his way into the military, THEN try to subvert members of the military.

The spy then goes through the "Spy Novel Generator" to decide the outcome -- i.e. good or bad with some levels of detail. If it was a 'happy' outcome, the prize is chosen from a lottery based on the assignment. The above example would be an Army or Navy Officer, a Supply or Reserver - oriented leader, perhaps, or some other Military-oriented leader.

The details of the "novel" will be viewable through the 'files of the intelligence office' -- I believe at no cost to your IFP, but I didn't confirm that.

Hopefully, Alan will fill in details and fix errors on my part.

Next, we talked about

Battle
Specifically, I clarified for my own mind what you get from battles that you don't participate in. If it's your own battle and you didn't spend an IFP, you get an after-action report from one of the present Leaders. Whether this is the highest ranking officer that survives, or what, I don't know. Depending on this leader's ability, you'll get more or less information, and more or less analysis (which is more or less accurate, whee!!). So, if it's a good leader, you might get some information along the lines of "We need better missiles" or "We aren't hitting them hard enough".

If there's an ally or an espionage source at a battle in which you're not directly involved, you'll get something along the same lines, report-wise.

For your battles, If the leader is good enough, and there's enough information, your empire may get one (or more?) "I Need" reports, which leads me into the next topic.

Leaders
Specifically, we talked about how ... well, progress ... in your empire is driven by these "I Need" requests. In the above battle example, if the leader said "We need better missiles", this "I Need Better Missiles" request from the military might go into several "in baskets" -- the Spymaster, the R & D people, even the diplomatic people. Each leader getting such requests responds to these based on their ability and their possible responses. So, your spies might work on stealing better missiles, your research people might work on inventing better ones, and your diplomats may make discreet inquries into trading for better ones.

This "I Need" request/response model is across the board, not just for battles. Planetary Governors might cry out for better terraforming technology, or better crowd control, [or maybe more food or more industrial development??]. I suppose your diplomats might even ask for spare ships to trade in exchange for technology or somethinge else? I don't know the whole story, but I suspect that might be the case -- needs in one area might spawn needs in another, and so on. It'll be interesting to see.

And finally, addressing leaders directly, Alan answered some of my clarification questions on good and bad leaders. You can spend X (maybe just one, but I was being general) IFPs to show your opinion of a leader...what Alan called casting "The Imperial Eye" on that leader's career. You choose whether you want to help or hinder that leader's career, based on your personal pique of course. He added that your Big Leader can do this as well; of course, if he's a moron, that means you'll be spending IFP cleaning up after his ineptitude rather than improving elsewhere. But if he's rewarding and punishing the way you would, you'll be hot to trot.

I didn't get an answer (yet, hopefully) on whether or not this affects the nature and tendancies of the leaders you get over time, or whether this is purely based on other factors (what ethoi and government your empire currently has, etc). I assume the range on leadership abilities (to both ends of the spectrum) will always be randomized.

That's the feast, everyone dig in ;)

Here's a brief glimpse into the Spy Novel Generator that Alan's working on (acquired through an informative chat)

Outline:

Each spy has a Cloak (defensive, d10 roll), a Dagger (offensive, d10 roll), a Luck (5d10 roll), and a loyalty rating (determine by the recruitment policy, i.e. how wide a net to cast for recruitment)

Spys can also have Special Abilities (Deep Cover and Persuasive are two).  These abilities helps the Spy in carrying out his/her mission, but the method in which he/she acquire them is currently unconfirmed.

Spys' success in any action (insertion/attempting mission/escaping capture/etc) are determine by various rolls and modified by the spys' rating, the Oppressometer setting, relative spy tech level, and lots others.

For the detail transcript of the chat, please read on.

this operative, let's call it "Deep Armpit," has a "Cloak" (defensive) rating of [Rolls d10]: 9.  And a "Dagger" (offensive) rating of [Rolls d10]: 2.  Its Luck is... [Rolls 5d10]: 34
We're recruting from a pretty close circle in the empire.  Just the Home System... So its loyalty is 85.

Deep Armpit has the following Spy Specials:
  Deep Cover
  and Persuasive

Now, let's see... what else do we need to know?
Oh, the "CompCivSpyMod" variable...
That's where we compare your Spymaster to my Head of the Secret Police...
and add in the spy technology differences we have, etc.
Let's say that gives you an edge of -5 when spying and +5 when hunting spies.

Okay, my Foreign Agents Oppressometer is set to 7.
And I'm a Corporate Government (making me good at such oppression -- just ask your boss about that one).

Now, we're ready to insert you Operative, "Deep Armpit."
[Rools d120] 119
Okay, 119 gets modified as follows...
You have a -5 penalty when spying
(sorry, I though that was an edge, turns out its a penalty; that's from the CompCivSpyMod)
but you get +15 for Deep Cover
You get 2x your Cloak rating (which is what again?) 9
Okay, so add +18.
Then subtract 4x my Oppressometer, which is -28.
What's the sum?
No, 119 - 5 + 15 + 18 - 28 = 119
Right, it's back to 119

Here's the result:
116+ The Operative is not only cleared through but establishes himself so quickly and easily that he can also attempt to perform a Mission this turn.  Roll on the appropriate Begin Mission Table.
Well, lucky you!

Okay, now we'll see if you're caught in a Secret Police roundup before attempting you mission.
[Rools d120] 50
Uh oh... low is bad.
Let's look at the DRMs (die roll modifiers)...
-5 for CompCivSpyMod
2x your spie's Cloak Rating of 9 was it?  so that's +18
+ 1/2 of your Spy's intelligence Services's Op Points (lets say that was 7, so it round down to 3), so that's a +3 to help you.
Hmmm... your Activity Level in my civilization is "Average," so no modifier there.
subtract 4x my Oppressometer, which was 7, so -28 again.
Deep cover doesn't help you here, I'm afraid.
(Hmmm... might have to rethink that)
Neither does Persuasive
So, it's 50 - 5 + 18 + 3 - 28
So the final count is 38?

Okay, here's the result...
31 - 45   The operative is spotted.  Make a Saving Roll; if passed, nothing comes of it, the operative will attempt to perfom its mission this turn; if failed, rool on Fingered Table.

Okay, Deep Armpit needs to make a Saving Roll.
Add his Luck (which was?)
Okay, then add Cloak + Dagger and / 2
So that's + 5, now we're at 34 + 5 = 39
He doesn't have a Ring Leader to help him, so no help there...
This operative is not "old school" or "charming/charismatic."
And my oppressometer will knock off 7, so we're at 32 for your saving roll...
here goes.
[Rolls d100] 28
you made it!  But, for the sake of this example, let's say you didn't
So now, you've been "fingered."
Fingered as in "probably identified to some degree"
It comes from "pointing someone out."

Oh, we roll the Fingered Table, of course
[Rolls d120] 66
Okay... after all the modifies are said and done (to save time), let's say the result is...
51-115   The Spy is identified by eyewitnesses only who give sketchy accounts.  Fingerted Value +1.  The Spy is successfully inserted/extracted/or advances in its mission.
Okay, that Fingered Value dogs that spy as long as its working in that civilization.
It's like a permanent -1 to all the spy table rools it makes.

Yeah, there's lots of tables.
And there will be more.
I've got insertion, extraction, secret police, "papers,"
fingered, evasion, captured, squeezed, imprisone and escape done.
Now, I'm off to do the mission tables. :-)
(Assuming your spies survive all those other ones.)
And that's the "spy novel generator" system.

Loyalty is determinative.
The narrower the circle you recruit spys from, the more loyal they are.
Of course, spies in prison might "bleed" loyalty.
The trade off is the wider the net you cast, the more spies you can make faster.
Loyalty matters a great deal when Morale Checks are made and spies are Squeezed.
Also, whether they go through with their missions or not.
It's all in there.