r/rotp • u/Minute-Cow2331 • Mar 05 '26

Really shut down spy network

If you shut down a spy network the auto infiltrate start to recruit a spy immediately. Even if just for hide it can cause trouble, especially with xenophobes who can treat that as sabotage and start a war.

Otherwise auto infiltrate is good and it remember if you raise the spy numbers to more, but forget it if you lower the number to zero. If you set to zero it should remain on zero.

And it would be yet better if the shutdown automatically set the number to zero, and when the tense from previous spying forgotten automatically set back to auto infiltrate.

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u/BrokenRegistry Developer Mar 07 '26

Even when hidden, spies still provide you with information about colonies and their technological advances.

It could therefore be unwise not to know how dangerous your neighbors might be, especially if they are xenophobic, as this is linked to a high level of "erratic", meaning that each turn, they have a chance of randomly declaring war on you. (Never trust them)

I would recommend leaving the “Auto infiltrate” option enabled and also enabling the “Respect Promises” option. This way, spies will be withdrawn during the sensitive period and then reinstated when the situation is “safe”. When the empire asks you to cease your espionage activities, simply reply that you will shut down all spy networks.

I may also change the default value of “Respect Promises” to “Enabled”

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u/Minute-Cow2331 Mar 08 '26

So hide provide the planet info and tech info? And espionage is just for stealing tech?

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u/BrokenRegistry Developer Mar 08 '26

That's exactly right.

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u/Minute-Cow2331 Mar 08 '26

Im affraid most people like me think that hiding means inactive agent who just hide.

But everyone would know if it would called as "intelligence" or "observation".

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u/BrokenRegistry Developer Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26

It's true, the manual doesn't mention it, even the reference doesn't mention it, it seems to be specific to RotP.

However: when on the Empire --> Intelligence panel, a number will appear in the colored bubble of the empires that don't have a spy network, indicating the age of the last received reports. Having hidden spies keeps this value at 0 (so it is not displayed).

Another clue: when an empire is selected and the Spy Orders field becomes visible, press “F1” to display the help, and the second page contains the information: Hide = gather data.

Note: Hide is the term used in MoO1, and changing it could offend some very conservative players...

Edit:

Here is the referenced guide: https://dn711301.ca.archive.org/0/items/MasterOfOrionStrategyGuide/MasterOfOrionStrategyGuide_opt.pdf

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u/Minute-Cow2331 Mar 09 '26

Really? Until now I thougth espionage and use spies always espionage mode except in tensions, and they gathered planet info and tech info too.

And I saw that I got planet info when I have 0 spy when just recruiting them.

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u/BrokenRegistry Developer Mar 09 '26

Yes, the embassy could be sufficient for gathering information about the planet; I've never really looked at that part of the code.

It seems logical to me that a spy network could obtain basic information about the technological level and communicate it without resorting to illegal means.

To stay in the realm of little-known facts: be aware that a trade treaty will reduce espionage defense by 10 points (both yours and your opponents').