Intrigue

As covered in Actions, a player has a certain number of AP (typically 20) they spend each round, and they can spend twice their Intrigue Score plus one on Intrigue Actions. Intrigue Actions are very expensive in AP, but can be very powerful. Much like Combat’s Battle Score, Intrigue makes us of Stealth Score. Fundamentally spying is all about remaining secret while doing whatever you’re about, if your exposed the action will fail, possibly disastrously.

Intrigue – Max (II+1) AP per round
2 AP – Monitor Troop Movements: Keep track of where a player is sending their forces
1 AP – Conceal Troop Movements: Move troops covertly
2 AP – Hide Troop Destination: Keep the destination of a movement secret
2 AP – Gather Intel on Location: Gather information about a location you’ve discovered
2 AP – Gather Intel on Elector: Find out where an Elector is located
2 AP – Gather Intel on Player: Investigate a player
2 AP – Assassinate Hero: Kill a hero
4 AP – Assassinate Elector: Kill an Elector
3 AP – Find Employer: Discover who is employing a Hero
5 AP – Find Asset: Locate one random asset of a given type

Intrigue Actions are broken into three types, which determine which combination of attributes are used, (IC), (ID), and (II). Assassination requires skill at both intrigue and combat to succeed, Gathering Intel involves a lot of probing of diplomatic sources, but keeping track of where troops or going or hiding them is purely based stealth, or intrigue.

Actions that are Contested are resolved by comparing the two player’s Stealth Scores, attacker minus defender, and consulting the table for the action. Players can often boost an action, raising their stealth score, if they do this, they must add Boost into the title of the NB to the mod for the action, e.g. “MTM: Bob, boost” so the mod knows they need to look at the body of the NB to find out details. While the Mod generally will look at all NBs, the reminder on that prevents a risk of the action accidentally being resolved only on the basics, most actions resolve at the end of rounds and the Mod could easily have dozens of simple actions to process,

2 AP+: Monitor Troop Movements (MTM) – The Player targets another player, or players, for this action, by sending a NB to the Mod specifying the player names. This is a contested action, using (II) and a player may spend 1 AP to add another player to the list, and 1 AP to boost their Stealth Score by 1, against 1 players. So a player may spend 4 AP total to target 2 players with a +1 to their Stealth Score, and a player with an Intrigue Score of 3 could spend 7 AP on intrigue actions, and monitor 6 players, or monitor 3 players at +1 on the Stealth score for 6 AP. Each point used to increase Stealth Score only applies to one targeted player. A player who fails or targets a player who moved no one will see the same result, Bob: NMD or “No Movement Detected by Bob”, since players often move more than 1 legion in a round, the legion(s) detected are selected randomly. The Player discovers where the troops move from and to, homeworld is simply listed as “Bob’s Homeworld”, not by name.

Troop Movement (II)
0 or lower: No Movement Detected
+1-4: 1 Legion for each point, so +4 would see up to 4 legions move
+5 or higher: Sees all Legions
Note: Under new movement rules a player can move more Legions, at a +5 all movement is revealed, so even a player with a C of 5 moving 11 legions will, or a player receiving legions in transit from another player are revealed. Hide Destination still applies.

1 AP+: Conceal Troop Movements (CTM) – A player who wishes to move his forces covertly can raise their Stealth Score, this costs 1 AP for each legion being moved and 1 AP for each +1 to Stealth Score, but it must be used on all moving legions that round. While troop movements are normally secret, it is very hard to hide the movements of tens of thousands of soldiers and their equipment from someone who is watching for it. To move 2 legions at your normal Stealth score +1 only costs 3 AP, 1 AP to use the action and 1 AP for each legion. To make it a +2 on the Stealth Score would cost 5 AP. Again, this can’t be used piecemeal, you must pay for all legions moving and you must apply the same bonus to all of them. It is worth noting that using this action automatically prevents Mod Spying, the general background observations and spying that go into Court Gossip simply aren’t dedicated enough to track troops when someone is trying to hide them, of course another player could use a Court Gossip action if they’d seen you. Troops moving to or from Kaitain, the capital, are always at a -1 on their stealth score, it's hard to move forces around on the Imperial Capital without drawing the attention the court.

2 AP+: Hide Troop Destination (HTD) - An alternative to concealing movements entirely is to conceal their destinations. A player using this action can hide 1 Legion, an each additional legion going to the same place costs 1 AP. If someone monitors this unit they will see it leaves its current location but will not find out where it went. Sending legions to a different location requires a separate use of this ability, though they can come from a different starting point. This is not a contested action.

2 AP+ Gather Intel on Location (GIL) – This is a contested action, using (ID), and may be boosted at a cost 1 AP for each point added to your Stealth Score. You must know the Location, not the Player, to use this. If successful you uncover what is at the Location (Factory, Agri Fief, etc), and possibly other things, you may not target a Homeworld with this. The preferred format on this for a NB would be “GIL: Place” or “GIL: Place, boost” or “GIL: Place, +2” if a player wanted to boost by +2 at 2 AP.

Gather Intel on Location (ID)
-2 or Lower: Your spy is captured and the owner of the location knows you made the attempt
-1: Your spy is killed and the owner of the location knows someone made the attempt
0: Your spy fails
+1: Your spy succeeds, you know who owns the Location
+2: Your spy also discovers how many legions are present
+3 or higher: Additionally discover which heroes are there, and what type of units are there
Type of units would be all details, legion name, any upgrades, whether they wer emilita, regular, or elite, etc. You would also know a hero’s traits

2 AP+: Gather Intel on Elector (GEI) – This works the same as GIL, but here a playing need to know the name of an Elector, as opposed to a location, and provides their location and possibly forces or heroes present. However the defender gets to boost their Stealth Score (ID) for each legion present by +2, and this includes militia and any legions that are present or would arrive that turn. Most Electors have their own militia, particularly powerful ones. The player can boost their Stealth Score at a cost of 1 AP for each bonus point. This is expensive to pull off, but if a player finds out an Elector Location they can attempt to assassinate the Elector or capture their Location, essentially gaining their votes at gunpoint. Once you know an Elector Location you can spy on them using the GIL action instead.

Gather Intel on Elector (ID)
-2 or Lower: Your spy is captured and the owner of the Elector knows you made the attempt
-1: Your spy is killed and the owner of the Elector knows someone made the attempt
0: Your spy fails
+1: Your spy succeeds, you know the Location and owner
+2: Your spy also discovers how many legions are present
+3 or higher: Additionally discover which heroes are there, and what type of units are there
Typically a player won’t have a very high success on this table and would want to use the GIL action once they know the location is it tends to reveal legions and heroes at a lower cost and higher success rate.

2 AP+: Gather Intel on Player (GIP) – This action allows a player to target another player and attempt to discover their Homeworld and Faction. This works exactly like the Elector version, of course generally players have a lot of troops on their homeworld and those who have low (ID) score presumably have high combat scores and big armies. It cost 1AP to boost Stealth Score by +1, each legion present provides a +2. So a player with a DI of 5 and 3 Legions on their Homeworld – and remember that newly created legions ‘arrive’ on the homeworld before this action would resolve – would have a Stealth Score of 11, and the player would need a 12 to succeed. A player with an Intrigue of 3 and Diplomacy of 3 who spent all their allowed 7 AP would have a Stealth Score of only 11, and the player would know someone had tried but not who. A player who had a used their free point for an intrigue of 4 though, could spend 9 AP on Intrigue, and have a +7 on their Stealth Score, potentially having a score of 12-14, and a player who reached an Intrigue of 5 could easily have a score of 15-17 or higher. GIP is both very hard and very rewarding.

Gather Intel on Player (ID)
-2 or Lower: Your spy is captured and the Player knows you made the attempt
-1: Your spy is killed and the Player knows someone made the attempt
0: Your spy fails
+1: Your spy succeeds, you know the Player’s Faction
+2: Your spy also discovers how many legions are present
+3 or higher: Additionally discover which heroes are there, and what type of units are there

Assassinations – Killing a Hero or Elector requires you know their location, Electors can’t move, Heroes can, neither dies quietly, when either die their death is announced in Court Gossip, and how they died (Heroes can also die in battle) is also listed. Assassinations are based on Intrigue and Combat, so (IC) is used for Stealth Score. They can not be boosted using AP, the only way to boost an Assassination attempt is to own a Master of Assassins hero, granting a +1, they may use the Master of Assassins in a direct attempt, and gain a +2, but if they fail the Master of Assassins may be slain and regardless would not grant the normal income and battle bonuses that round as they are off world to kill someone. If they are wounded in the attempt they can not be used for this purpose the next round or provide their normal bonuses while they recuperate. A Master of Assassins is never captured alive, and thus doesn’t disclose his employer if he fails. If a hero or elector is wounded they spend the next round recuperating and provide no bonuses.

2 AP: Assassinate Hero – To use this a player needs to know the Heroes Location and Name, if the Hero has moved when the assassin arrives the points are expended and the assassin retreats. The owner of the Hero gains a +1 to their score for each of the following which is true: Is a Warmaster, is a Mentat, is a Reverend Mother, is located on the player’s Homeworld, and if there are legions present the player owns (not militia). Note that a Master of Assassins on their Homeworld with troops present would be at +4 (Mentat, Warmaster, Troops, Homeworld) and this tends to be where they are, they are very hard to assassinate, compared to a normal leader not on a homeworld, who probably just has a +1 from troops. The number of troops doesn’t matter, so long as they aren’t militia, it just indicates the hero is surrounded by a lot of decent troops, who tend to get in the way of even the best assassin or come running to the hero’s aid when that attack starts.

Assassinate Hero Results (IC)
-2 or Lower: The Assassin fails and is captured, revealing his employer
-1: The assassin fails and is badly wounded
0: The Assassin wounds his target
+1: The Hero is slain

4 AP: Assassinate Elector – Much like assassinating a Hero, you must know their Name and Location, but Electors can never move. Unlike heroes, militia do benefit an Elector, they are his personal House Guard, and each unit of militia and each legion present grant a +1, some Electors may have a +1 bonus themselves, being paranoid, good in a fight, etc. Remember that fundamentally an Elector is the leader of powerful faction in their own right, usually the ruler of an entire planet and surrounded by many skilled bodyguards.

Assassinate Elector Results (IC)
-2 or Lower: The Assassin fails and is captured, revealing his employer
-1: The assassin fails and is badly wounded
0: The Assassin wounds his target
+1: The Elector is slain

Find Employer – For 3 AP a player may select a hero and find out who owns them. This is contested, with SS being based of DI scores, if the attacker’s SS exceeds the owner’s, the Hero’s owner is revealed, player’s may boost their SS score by 1 for each Intrigue AP they spend. There is no defense against this action besides DI, this does not reveal Location, only the player who controls them.

Find Asset – This is not a contested action, a player spends 5 AP and selects one type of standard asset or selects planet. They will then be given one randomly selected Location of such an item from all those in play. Specifying ‘Ore Mine’ would give the Location of one Random Ore Mine. Essentially your agents are able to track ore shipments and find out many come from ‘Denab IX ’. Although expensive, this is a good way for would be conquerors to find something to attack… it also has a strong chance if used for ‘Planet’ of revealing a faction is in play. On round 1, a player will rarely get a result that is not a Homeworld. They would not know who owned it, how much it was worth, or how heavily defended the item they find is, but they would know the Location for that item, and could either risk an attack or using Gather Intel on Location to further study it the next round.

Information Brokering
Players need to play to their Strengths, if someone has a very high Intrigue they are probably weak in Diplomacy or Combat, or fairly average in both. They can probably benefit from selling information directly to other players or attacking someone simply by letting their information be known, or sending that player a blackmail threat using a SecCom action and a Numbered Account and demanding money on threat of exposing their Elector’s Location, or assassinating them,

Example: NB – SecCom: Bob… “I know Count Girard lives on Deneb, I know he has only 1 legion of militia guarding him, I’d be willing to keep this a secret and leave him alone for 5000 MS, please transfer the funds to my secret accountant, number 57, and have a nice day” or “I noticed a couple of your legions moved to Centauri IV last round, and that you don’t control that world, I bet its owner would like to know who raided them and would pay for that info, I’ll keep my mouth shut for 3000 MS, my account is #57, cheers”

So there are some examples of how Intrigue Actions can be rather profitable, of course it has its risks and pitfalls as well. Bob might have an Intrigue of 1, but that means his diplomacy and Combat are 3 or 4, or CD of 7, the attribute controlling a House Raid, for which you only need to know the Player’s name, if he finds out you’ve been blackmailing him or assassinating his Heroes and Electors or selling info on him he might stop by your Palace for a visit… with 3 or 4 Legions of elite troops.