Knowledge wins wars. Before you attack a colony, you want to know what is stored there, which ships are stationed and how strong the defense is. In ECON Galaxy this is the job of the Pathfinder Probe and the mission Espionage.
The Pathfinder Probe
- The Pathfinder Probe costs 1,000 crystal and needs Shipyard 3 plus the research levels Drift Drive 3 and Deep Scan 2.
- It is by far the fastest ship in the game, but it has no weapons and only a light hull.
- An espionage fleet may contain nothing but Pathfinder Probes, and it carries no cargo.
- You can only spy on foreign inhabited planets. Members of your own alliance are off limits, and so is everyone while you or the target are under new player protection.
What a scan reveals
The espionage report has five sections: resources, fleet, defense, buildings and research. You cannot choose what is scouted. When the probes arrive, each section is revealed or not by chance.
- One probe reveals resources with a 25 percent chance, fleet and defense with 20 percent each, buildings with 15 percent and research with 12 percent.
- Every additional probe adds the same chance again, up to a cap of 95 percent per section. With four probes against an unprotected target, resources are almost certain, while research is still only a coin flip.
- Revealed sections show the exact state at the moment of arrival. Hidden sections are blurred, so you can see at a glance how much you have learned. The values of hidden sections are never sent to your browser.
After the scan the probes fly home and land in your hangar again.
Counter-espionage with Signal Masking
The research Signal Masking is the defense against spies. It works in two ways:
- Each level of the target's Signal Masking lowers the chance of every section by 20 percentage points. A single probe against Signal Masking 2 learns nothing at all.
- Signal Masking can detect probes. The detection chance is 2 percent per probe and per level of Signal Masking, up to 75 percent. Against a target without Signal Masking your probes are never detected.
Detected probes still send their report, but they are destroyed right after it. Their value is deducted from your points, and the target receives a message that names you and the planet the probes came from. If your probes are not detected, the target learns nothing about the scan.
More probes, more risk
Sending more probes improves every section, but it raises the detection chance in the same way. Ten probes against Signal Masking 3 have a 60 percent chance of being detected and destroyed. Against strong counter-espionage it can be cheaper to accept a partial report than to lose a large swarm.
Tips
- Scan before every attack. Defenses and stationed ships change quickly, see Combat.
- Start with a few probes. If the report stays mostly blurred, the target probably has Signal Masking.
- Research Signal Masking yourself if your colonies are worth raiding - it both blinds spies and shoots them down.
- A detection message is a warning. A commander who scouts you may be planning an attack.