Matrix Games Forums

Is there a way to quickly select an appropriate steal research mission?

The only way I know is not quick. I scroll through a very long list of technology research until I find one with a high success rate. It is a tedious process of seeking for an appropriate mission.

maybe would be nice to have the % chance also infront of the tech in the dropdown menu?

13% advanced engines
26% advanced point defence
89% bombers
etc

Viking67 wrote: Sun Nov 13, 2022 5:52 pm Is there a way to quickly select an appropriate steal research mission?

The only way I know is not quick. I scroll through a very long list of technology research until I find one with a high success rate. It is a tedious process of seeking for an appropriate mission.

No, there isn't a quick way. This is so tedious that I've stopped doing it (I now automate all my spies, and forget about them, despite the obvious benefits of stealing techs). I would say that this is probably the worst part of the game, in term of UI and UX design.

Lunalis wrote: Sun Nov 13, 2022 10:27 pm maybe would be nice to have the % chance also infront of the tech in the dropdown menu?

13% advanced engines
26% advanced point defence
89% bombers
etc

Yes, that would be an improvement. But for me it wouldn't be enough. Before I'd consider manually stealing techs again, the interface would have to be redesigned.

To start with, instead of having to go through each empire and pirate faction one by one to see what they have (which is UNBELIEVABLY TEDIOUS), you'd start by selecting, in a list of available techs to steal from all the empires and pirate factions, the tech you're interesting in.

You'd be able to apply some filters to the list of all available techs to steal:

• by excluding some empires and/or pirate factions, so that their techs wouldn't appear in the list

• by typing one or more letter, which would only shown the techs starting with that/those letter(s); for instance, if you're looking to steal "Enhanced Countermeasures", you'd type "Enh" and the game would show only the techs starting with "Enh" (Enhanced Construction, Enhanced Countermeasures, Enhanced Stealth, etc.).

• if you'd quit that part of the game to go do or check something elsewhere in the game, when you'd come back, the previously active filter(s) would automatically be applied.

From the list of filtered techs, you'd click on the one you're interested in. Then the game would show a list of who has that tech, and for each, what the success chance is, as Lunalis suggests. You'd then be able to click on one of those entries (tech + a specific empire), to send your spy to that empire or pirate faction to steal that tech from them.

Right on!

also it looks like the number of spys is related to number of planets. lategame i have 20 to 40 spys no matter the race i play.
they mostly as many or more spys as all other characters together.

Basically much to much.

I also stopped doing spy missions because of the tedious scrolling. I can live with that but I dislike the flood of pop-up messages and IME it takes two klicks to close some of them.

Spying needs work. It is tedious and the UI is unfriendly. IMO it is the weakest and most unfun feature in the game. There were some threads with suggestions back in the beta but there wasn't enough time to implement them I guess.

I really hope espionage gets another pass.

I agree, this UI is the worst part of the game.

I hope that the dev will take a look at this soon.

Here's a thing that "solved" spying for me. :/ I use Lucky-wolf's mod DW2-XL and started a game where everybody got 2-4 planets and thus had all Tech lvl 1. The chance for a new spy to steal Tech lvl 2 is VERY low so the AI set all my spies to counterintelligence. They never got any Xp and so far they've been 100% passive in a game that progressed to mid-tech-tiers.

I like the game better without any spying and the fact I cannot exploit spying makes it more balanced. I'm not sure the spying is disabled because of the Tech lvl 1 start and/or because of the mod.

The link https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 4&start=80