I apologize in advance for the length of this post. At least, I apologize to my fellow dial-up Users.
Let's finally get to the bottom of this counter-intel mystery. Obviously, higher levels are better because they have a higher storage capacity. However, the perennial question about varying effectiveness of each level of CI still remains with us.
Digging into the IntelProjects.txt file (Gold), I found the following entries:
Now, does the effect amount actually affect the CI operation? Or is it just there to help the AI decide which one to use?
In addition, does the Effect Amount actually affect operations like Ship-Lose Movement, Crew Insurrection, Ship-Cargo Damage, Ship-Orders Change, Ship-Concentrations, Ship-Construction Info, Ship Blueprints, Planet-Population Rebel, Planet-Cargo Damage, Planet-Facility Damage, Planet-Info, Planet-Locations, Research-Steal, Research-Delete Project, Intel-Delete Project, Politics-Disrupt Trade, Politics-Intercept Messages, Politics-Fake Messages, Politics-Treaty Info, Politics-Prevent Messages, System-Info, Empire-Info, Unit Designs-Steal, and Tech Level-Info? (Those are all of the projects that have an Effect Amount of 1.)
*Checks air tank to see how long before he runs out of breath*
While I'm at it, does anyone know what Politics-Disrupt Trade does? Or why you would use Economic Disruption instead of Resource Procurement. ED throws away 10000 of each resource of the target, and costs 20000 pts. RP takes 10000 of each resource from the target and gives them to you--
and costs 5000 pts less than ED.
*Air tank running dangerously low*
Anyone have any clues to these questions? Has anyone even tested the IntelProjects file? Or do I just need to do some testing of my own?