Taking a Ride to the EP Dump

[Nares]

Rather than address all of espionage atm, which I hope to do over time and possibly compose a single mega-thread on the subject, I just want to discuss briefly the concept of the EP "dump."

What is the EP "dump?" I feel it is best described as "earned infiltration."

The concept is simple. Infiltration is considered overpowered by many players. Why? Because it applies a massive number of EPs against a single target, ensuring many missions at the maximum -35% EP ratio cost modifier.

EP "dumping" is attempting to hit that -35% cost modifier without infiltrating.

Again, the concept is simple. Constant passive EP application against a target AI typically results in the target AI increasing EP application against you. This is bad, as each EP they apply against you is more EP you need to generate over their score in order to hit the -35% EP ratio.

So, the concept is to dilute your EP across as many AI as possible, or at least to not apply it against your primary target(s), until you are preparing to engage in some espionage.

Once you've gotten your ninja suit on, you'll want to generate, or "dump," as much EP as possible against your target. Hopefully they've applied very few EP against you, and you can hit that -35% modifier relatively quickly.

 

[slaze]

the modifier can actually be -50% at best or +100% at worst, although these situations are unlikely as they would require a civ to have invested no espionage. The formula they use is:

(2*theirs + yours) / (theirs + 2*yours)

The best I've been able to do was in a multiplayer game where an opponent neglected espionage other than palace spending, and after two infiltrations and 4x that in slider, I got the modifier down to 55% of cost, a -45% multiplier.

Achieving these multipliers makes espionage the best price in the game, but i'm still convinced that infiltration is the quickest way to get there. in my experience a quick infiltration will get you to about 70-75% of cost or better, depending on opponent spending.

But an "EP dump" could work and has the potential to work after one turn, it just requires no spending from the opponent

 

[Nares]

the modifier can actually be -50% at best or +100% at worst, although these situations are unlikely as they would require a civ to have invested no espionage.

Yeah, I discovered these caps the other day while testing the spread culture feature.

The Holy City modifier is applied even when the target civ shares your state religion and the target city has your state religion.

With regards to infiltration, it's a pretty big boost early on in the game. Unlike bulbing, it offers 100% of its value 100% of the timer. I don't know what modifier it would need to scale alongside bulbing, but outside of aiding in specific races, it's so much more powerful than bulbing as to be overpowered.