Help with intelligence agents.

[Bebop Cola]

With Shadows, the Pirates really seem to go to town with Intelligence Agents. I have bases blowing up periodically, and I'd like to know what's the best way to address that with my own Agents.

I have them on counter-intelligence, but I'm wondering if they only protect the location they're at. Do I need to transfer an agent to one of my remote bases to protect it, or do they extend their protection to the whole empire from the homeworld?

[Mad Igor]

select specific faction to counter.
that should probably help.

[Erik Rutins]

Do your agents on defense actually have ocunter-intelligence bonuses? I tend to use my agents pretty actively initially, which also helps them build up their skills, then park the best one or two that have a counter-intelligence bonus on defense. Unless you are one of the faction specialized in intelligence, it's hard to shut down enemy activity entirely, but if you build up your agents' skills and match their specialization to the mission, you can stop at least half of them and capture some agents, which definitely slows things down.

Pirates are quite good at these missions by design, so it's definitely an angle you need to try to defend against.

[Bingeling]

Does an agent with no counter intelligence bonus help on the defensive at all?

[Bebop Cola]

For testing, I started a game with an agent that has 100% in counter-intelligence. I occasionally get a notification that an enemy spy was detected after having failed to steal my territory map or something, but those are pretty rare. Mostly I get no notices about enemy spy activity at all, which is probably reasonable.

That said, I have bases(occasionally starports) explode and the only notice is that enemy involvement is strongly suspected. I can't say it's all that common so I don't think I'd say there is a problem per se, but I would expect to see a lot more detection of enemy activity and enemy spy captures with the super-agent I created. Then again, spies aren't exactly a dime a dozen so I don't imagine there are that many active espionage attempts occurring throughout the galaxy at any given moment.

From a mechanics perspective, how does an empire's counter-espionage rating get assessed and how does it impact AI espionage chances? Is it a single value calculated from one's characters and race bonus? Does having two spies with a high counter-espionage improve defense, or does only the one with the highest rating matter?

[Bebop Cola]

Anyone have any insight to the last question?

If, for example, I have three spies with counter-intelligence skill, do their ratings all add together to determine my empire's counter-intelligence rating, or does only the spy with the highest rating matter?

If they add together, is there an upper limit such that devoting any additional spies to counter-intelligence is just a waste?

How do bonuses from leaders and diplomats with espionage/counter-espionage skills influence both my empire's counter-intelligence rating and my intelligence agent's chances for the missions I task them with?

Do diplomats with espionage/counter-espionage skill ratings assigned to foreign empires boost my agent's changes in activities against that empire or are those ratings wasted on diplomats assigned to foreign worlds?

[Bebop Cola]

Erik or Elliot, can either of you clarify this for me, please?

[Bebop Cola]

What does an emperor have to do to get their intelligence agents to pick up new skills?

I've got a new spy with the espionage skill. I repeatedly send him on sabotage missions, but he will not pick up sabotage or any other skill. I assume there is some sort of random chance involved of picking up a new skill, but the game seems pretty stingy with it. It's not like I can pick up very many skills per agent anyway, so I'm not sure I understand why it's got to be such a slog.

[invaderzim]

ORIGINAL: Mad Igor

select specific faction to counter.
that should probably help.

Is it really necessary to target a specific faction for counter-intelligence missions? I thought those missions defended you from all empires.

If, for example, I have three spies with counter-intelligence skill, do their ratings all add together to determine my empire's counter-intelligence rating, or does only the spy with the highest rating matter?

I'm also curious about this and Bebop's other questions.

[FerretStyle]

ORIGINAL: Bebop Cola

What does an emperor have to do to get their intelligence agents to pick up new skills?

I've got a new spy with the espionage skill. I repeatedly send him on sabotage missions, but he will not pick up sabotage or any other skill. I assume there is some sort of random chance involved of picking up a new skill, but the game seems pretty stingy with it. It's not like I can pick up very many skills per agent anyway, so I'm not sure I understand why it's got to be such a slog.

Based on my experience, agents never gain new skills. EVER! (Or if they do, it's so rare that you may as well not try)

They do develop new traits, though.