Skills are Weird

[Emperor0Akim]

My Emperor

has the skill of corruption reduction at -1 and I thought amazing, that guy will actually rake in money for my empire
once he starts getting good.

it is now 2767, my Homeworld is at Max Population and 36% corruption.

my Gorvernment has a 20% corruption reduction bonus.
the Homeworld has
113% of Development
Never been Raided
19% Tax
The population Happy as Pigs in the Mud ( 27 )
Planetary Admin Center

and that guy has not leveled ONCE.
He has four traits, and three other skills that level regulary, but this one skill for which I kept him so far does nothing.

Interesting enough he also has the Espionage Skill +17 and my guys are rocking it.

Did you ever notice, that Espionage Skills are added into one Bonus and Shown as an Location Bonus ?
Why ? Is this required for missions ?

At least I level my General by Recruiting and Dismissing Troops.
Maybe I can counter corruption by getting him to save on Maintenance.

[Teyren]

Same problem I have with counter-intelligence officers, if they have any skill which isn't counter-intelligence they're essentially useless for that role. Even if the only task they've been doing for 50 years is counter-intelligence, they'll never level-up the relevant skill, and only focus on leveling espionage and concealment instead. Seems the only way to ensure you invest experience into the appropriate skill is if you have that as the sole skill they can invest in, which is purely up to the draw of RNG.

[Emperor0Akim]

I forgot about that. Right.

That's why I am not using my spies for counter anymore.

[OrnluWolfjarl]

Same problem I have with counter-intelligence officers, if they have any skill which isn't counter-intelligence they're essentially useless for that role. Even if the only task they've been doing for 50 years is counter-intelligence, they'll never level-up the relevant skill, and only focus on leveling espionage and concealment instead. Seems the only way to ensure you invest experience into the appropriate skill is if you have that as the sole skill they can invest in, which is purely up to the draw of RNG.

That's because they'll only level up if they are doing something with the related skill. Being on a counter-intelligence mission doesn't count. You HAVE TO catch a foreign spy, or detect the attempt in order to count as "doing counter-intelligence and therefore gaining XP", which is really rare.

The other skills are also mostly useless, because you'll never use those missions they relate to. Why would I assassinate a character when I don't know their stats (only worth for scientists), and the chance of success is low anyway? Why would I risk sabotaging a base, when all I'll do is damage it a bit and the chance of success is so low? Why would I try inciting a rebellion, when there's basically no chance of success or significant impact on the enemy. Why would I go into Deep Cover, when the game tells me there's only 1% chance it will work? Espionage doesn't need balancing. It needs a complete overhaul.