At what point do you fail recons?

[~Insider Trader~]

So there I am spying random accounts. I usually fill out the # of agents box with 999999999999 or 4444444444444 etc so all get sent.

I put down 555555 and clicked recon too quickly and immediately thought that I'm in for some losses.

My power per agent is 84,640 giving me covert power of 47,022,175,200 for this recon. My multiplyer was 92.15%

The account I spied had covert power of 12,100,000,000,000 which is 257 times the power i accidently sent.

I did not fail and managed to get this:

Undeveloped Planets ???

Dark ???
Intelligence ???
Military 0 ??? ???
Military Systems 0 ??? ???

Total Capacities
Offensive Potential: ???
Defensive Potential ???
Covert Capacity: ???
Assassin Capacity: ???
Influence Power: ???
Cosmic Exploration Fleets: 256,300

Ascended Enhancements
Assult: ???
Defence: ???
Intelligence ???
Assassination ???
Production ???

So the obvious question is at what point do you lose spies?

Oh and a quick congrats to fremen for getting a charisma level starting with a 9. The billion a day obviously isn't far off

[fremen]

Thank you. Things are coming along nicely in that department.

I believe a failed recon occurs when you send less then 10% of the opponents covert power. Something really low, since you can't see much about anybody unless you have significantly more covert power then they do, just to see the dmu.

If you have some excess turns then pick one of your friends and send progressively lower amounts of units until you fail.

I have seen a few failed recons in my day, so I know that it is possible.