Espionage

[Lemmy]

hmm, too integrate that idea into my suggestion, you could add a computer attribute to the spies, and a virus workshop, where you can create viruses with spies, by sending them on a create virus mission. The effectiveness of the virus would depend on the skill of the spy who made it.
Then you "send" any of your spies on a mission to infect the faction with a virus of your choice. The succes chance of the mission then depends on the computer skill of the spy.

[Sandman]

I don't really see viruses as being something that should be made by a single spy. After all, soldiers aren't expected to make their own guns and ammunition.

[Lemmy]

I don't really see viruses as being something that should be made by a single spy.

I suppose they could be made by more then one spy, the computer skill used to determine the effectiveness of the virus, should then be based some sort of total of the computer skills of all the spies involved. I don't think it should be the absolute total, but have some sort of diminishing returns, for example the first spy counts for 100%, the next for 90%, the next for 81%, eg. decrease the effectiveness by 10% for the next spy.
For example:
4 spies are send on a mission.
Their skills are 70, 40, 50 and 80. The avg of that is 60.
The total skill for the mission would then be 60+60*0.9+60*0.81+60*0.729=206.
However stealth should decrease if more spies are send, more spies are easier detected. Then again, an "infect with virus" mission can always be undetectable.

After all, soldiers aren't expected to make their own guns and ammunition.

Well, given the loose parts, they do have to know how to assemble it i think. So if a spy is given a computer and some software, he should be able to program a virus, or at least only those spies with a certain computer skill.

[Disparat]

I think the virus idea is good, but Lemmy's latest suggestion seems a bit complicated. I think your first one is better. The success of the virus would depend largely on the individual spy's computer ability. I agree that the spies don't make the viruses themselves so just separate the virus workshop from the spy implementation. That's pretty simple. Maybe a virus could be something developed by a base with the number of turns it takes to completion dependent upon its complexity. After it's finished, put it in a pool of available viruses and have a spy put it in.

I haven't seen any responses to my proposal on planting an informer in the government to listen in on conversations. Do you think it's a bad idea or what? I'm interested in what you think.

[Lemmy]

I haven't seen any responses to my proposal on planting an informer in the government to listen in on conversations. Do you think it's a bad idea or what? I'm interested in what you think.

Good idea, had nothing bad to say about it so i didn't bother to say anything at all

While with the multiple spies it may be difficult to understand the formulas at once, but when playing the game, you'll just see the ratings change when you add a new spy for the mission.