Probes are small
space computers used to spy on other people's kingdoms, rob
them, kidnap from them, and harm them in other way than by
just killing military. They are produced at Probe Factories,
at a rate of 0,5 to 1 probe/factory every hour, so someone
with 500 factories will get 250 to 500 probes by every hour
change. To use them, you need probing attempts, which you
gain a new one every hour, and can have as most 10 saved of.
Having many probes does not only
make it easier for you to be successful when probing people.
Other people will also have a harder time probing you (unless
they have even more probes).
To get a strong probe
defense, there are usually four good guidelines to follow:
•Build up your probe defense so that you never get a
bad probe ratio. During the first days, you can just attack
inactives, and usually won't have to probe people at all.
If you start losing probes, you end up in an evil loop, where
you fail because you have a bad probe ratio, which makes your
probe ratio become even worse, so that you fail even more.
•Have many probe factories. Most persons have factories
on 15-20% of their land at the beginning and 5-10% later on.
•Never probe a person if you know that you will fail.
Failed probings make you lose a lot of probes, and since they
are unsuccessful, they don't give anything at all.
•Shield the probes. It only takes a couple of hundred
extra powerplants to be able to shield the probes. When doing
so, you will not lose many probes at all, even if the probing
fails, and you are also a lot more likely to be successful.
If you have power which you can spare, always spend it on
probe shields.
The different probings
Spy on Kingdom(SoK) - gets Kingdom
stats of a kingdom, showing his total army, resources, and
many other interesting things. You usually get those stats
if you want to see if a target has power, or if he is a good
bank. If the kingdom is inactive, you should only get those
stats instead of a SoM.
Spy on Military(SoM) - Shows detailed
information about the kingdom's army, how much military he
has out, and when it will be returning. This is usually the
only stats you actually need to attack someone.
Spy on Buildings(SoB) - Shows information
about the kingdom's different buildings, and what he is constructing
for the moment.
Spy on Research(SoR) - Shows information
about the kingdom's research.
Spy on Shields(SoS) - Shows information
about the kingdom's shields. Military shields (max 10%) gives
a decrease to the offense of kingdoms trying to attack him.
Missile shields (max 50%) shields the kingdom against missiles
fired at him, and Probe shields (max 30%) which makes people
who probe the kingdom fail more often.
Spy on Sector News (SoN) - Shows the
sectornews, with all the attacks which the kingdoms have made
recently. If you make a SoN probing, you should do it on a
small kingdom in the sector, since they usually have less
probes and therefore are easier to break.
Rob Banks - The probes steal a maximum of 1/10 of the
kingdom's money, or 10 money/returning probe, whichever is
the least, and returns that money to you. You can use the
spreadsheet in the menu to the left to find possible banks
in an easy way.
Arson - Destroys a maximum of 5% of
the kingdom's residences, or as most 1 residence/1000 probes.
Sabotage Powerplants - Destroys a maximum
of 5% of the kingdom's powerplants, or as most 1 powerplant/1000
probes.
Kidnappings - Makes a kingdom lose
as most 5% of his population, and returns 1/4 of that amount
to your kingdom.
Suicide Attack - All the probes which
you send will die, but they will destroy 2 power each, if
successful, which means that probe suicides might be a good
way to get a target powerless very fast in wars. At all other
occasions, it shouldn't be used unless you are about to hit
someone which has almost no power at all saved up (some people
use almost all their power for shields, and leave an excess
of maybe 500-1k power, since they know that they will get
new one the next hour).
Probe losses when sending shielded
probes on a successful probing mission are either 0.275% or
0.55% of what you send (decided randomly). A successful unshielded
probing gives 1.1% to 2.2% losses. If you fail, you lose far
more probes than this, so it is better to send a bit too many
probes and make sure to be successful. The Probe Armour research
also decreases all probe losses with 50%.
Robbing
The difference between an average-sized player and a big player
is usually decided by how well they can find good banks. Many
good players rob more money every hour on average than their
hourly income, which makes it possible for them to grow far
faster than most other kingdoms do. To find a bank, you just
compare kingdom stats, or entire sectors, before an hour change,
and after the hour has changed + the sector has been updated.
Kingdoms gaining a very little NW and no land are usually
good banks.
There are only two things which you
have to think about when robbing people. First of all, it
is good to spread the probings a bit. If you rob someone ten
times in five minutes and fail the last time, he will realize
that all those probings are made by you, and probably be quite
angry when he logs on.
Secondly, kingdoms might have Frequency Decryption Center
researched, which makes it possible for them to find out who
probed them, even if that person didn't fail. Desert Wasteland
kingdoms always have this bonus maxed (on 25%), so watch out
when probing those.
If you rob money from a kingdom,
you will gain less money the next time you do so. The robbing
calculator below will help you to determine how many probes
you should send the next time, to gain as much money as possible
and still not have to send too much. Just enter how much money
you gained for the last robbing, if you will send the probes
shielded or unshielded (by checking the box), if you have
Probe Armour researched, and press the big button, and the
perfect amount of probes to send will be calculated for you.
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