Shadow Operations
Raw fleet power isn't the only path to dominance. Shadow Operations lets you plant agents inside rival empires, grow their infiltration over time, and execute intelligence missions that reveal, cripple, or manipulate from the inside. Every operation has a price, a success probability, and a detection window - and every enemy Spy Master is trying to burn your network down.
Spy Networks
A spy network is a persistent structure representing your footprint inside a target empire. You must establish one before running any operation against that player.
Establishing a network: 5-minute setup phase. Costs nothing but time.
Agent limits: You start with a cap of 3 networks. Each level of Espionage Web research adds +1 (hard cap: 20). You can assign 1–10 agents per network.
Upkeep (per agent/hour): 100 Metal · 50 Crystal · 25 Deuterium
Infiltration Level
Every active network has an infiltration level from 0 to 100. This is the main gate on which operations you can run.
| State | Effect |
|---|---|
| Establishing (0–10) | Building phase; no operations available |
| Active (10–100) | Operations unlock as infiltration climbs |
| Dormant | Decays at 0.3/tick; no new ops |
| Compromised | Decays at 0.5/tick; frozen for 2 hours |
Infiltration grows at 0.5 per 60-second tick base rate. A maxed Spy Master officer (Network Architect trait) and Espionage Web research each boost this further.
Milestone events fire at infiltration levels: 10, 20, 35, 50, 70, and 100.
Operations
Operations are available when your infiltration meets the minimum threshold. Each has a base success probability that increases with higher infiltration, a cooldown, and a resource cost.
| Operation | Min Infil. | Base Success | Cooldown | Cost (M/C/D) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scan Resources | 10 | 90% | 5 min | 500 / 300 / 200 |
| Exfiltrate Plans | 20 | 80% | 10 min | 1k / 800 / 400 |
| Scan Fleet | 25 | 75% | 10 min | 1.2k / 900 / 500 |
| Deep Scan | 35 | 70% | 15 min | 2k / 1.5k / 800 |
| Sabotage Economy | 40 | 60% | 30 min | 5k / 3k / 2k |
| Plant Evidence | 50 | 55% | 60 min | 4k / 4k / 2k |
| Steal Blueprints | 55 | 50% | 60 min | 6k / 5k / 3k |
| Disrupt Comms | 60 | 65% | 45 min | 3k / 4k / 2k |
| Steal Tech | 70 | 40% | 120 min | 10k / 8k / 5k |
| Sow Discord | 80 | 35% | 180 min | 8k / 6k / 4k |
Operation Effects
- Scan Resources / Scan Fleet / Deep Scan / Exfiltrate Plans - Intelligence gathering. The attacker receives a snapshot of the target's resources, research, fleet composition, or build queues.
- Sabotage Economy - Cuts the target planet's production by −20% for 4 hours.
- Plant Evidence - Reduces the target's reputation by −10 (stacks with menace; can push them into higher menace tiers).
- Steal Blueprints - Grants a blueprint fragment from the target's currently-active blueprint project (if any).
- Steal Tech - Grants partial research progress capped at 25% of the target tech's cost. A random researched tech is chosen.
- Disrupt Comms - Disrupts the target's SSE connection, delaying notifications for ongoing effects.
- Sow Discord - Creates friction inside the target's alliance, temporarily reducing their cohesion XP gain.
Detection & Counter-Intelligence
Every operation carries a detection chance - 10% on success, 30% on failure. If detected, the target is notified and your network accumulates compromise pressure.
CI Budget: Spend up to 10,000 Metal/hour on counter-intelligence. Each 1,000 Metal/hour gives +1% detection chance per tick, up to +25% maximum. Activating active scans doubles detection chance but costs 1.5× the budget.
Spy Technology research reduces your networks' infiltration growth by −8% per level (cap: −50%) - making it harder for enemies to build up, not just detect them.
Spy Master Synergy
Assigning a Spy Master officer to your empire unlocks full CI bonuses and operation buffs. The Network Architect rare trait gives +15% to all espionage power. The Grand Spymaster rare trait adds +18% success to every operation. Having a high-level Spy Master is the difference between a competent spy ring and a ghost network nobody can touch.