Personally, I think the problem is less with the rate than with the arithmetic progression of spy power. A simple summing of power works fine with troops, as everyone instinctively understands that 200 soldiers are roughly twice as good as 100. However, for spying, such really isn't the case. The marginal benefit of the nth+1 spy should be less than the nth, for a number of reasons. First, more spies should be more chances for being seen. Second, having more people on a task like downloading data does not seem perhaps truly efficent, while the 2nd one can cover the door while the first one hacks the computer etc what does the 70th do?
2nd, it makes sense from a game balance perspective. It's important to realize that no matter the spy power one has, he gets exactly the same benefit from a particular mission with perfect success: Perfect data on one person. However, to accomplish this task requires more risk at higher levels as the proportion one needs to send on a spy mission is the same (since you still need to overcome the whole of your opponent's spy force, which presumably increases proportionately to yours). At the same time, however, sending the whole of your force becomes more and more dangerous as losing one mission will drop you farther. So, the more spies people have, the smaller proportion of them they are likely to use on a mission, while the enemy still uses the whole of his or her force. Thus it is not surprising that none can spy at high levels.
Thus, I propose that the smaller the number of spies on a mission, the more effective each should be, and this gradiant should be steep, possibly even to the point that after a certain number, no improvement is made. However, this is for balance and for realism. Of course, there must be a balance that encourages people to send more than one, as well, so perhaps a larger group of spies has a greater chance of surviving a failed mission (since they would possibly be able to fight it off), while the sole to'kra spy or whatever should still be able to operate undetected for months.
justbegladnow
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Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 146
Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 2:52 pm Post subject:
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ok - everybody has convinced me.
I'll make a higher success rate, based on <not decided yet> for RECON only...
sabotage still needs the full force
give me a day to think on it... or suggest (or vote for others') ideas...