Dec 23, 2023
Espiocracy - Rafal Grochala
What's happening / TLDR: Developer diaries introduce details of Espiocracy - Cold War strategy game in which you play as an intelligence agency. You can catch up with the most important dev diary (The Vision) and find out more on Steam page.
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Today we return to the tradition of Christmas Eve with micro-AAR (after action reports) from casual Espiocracy gameplay. Welcome to the second installment!
We play as Argentinian SIDE, starting on March 6th 1946.
Unlike many countries at the start of the game, Argentina was not directly affected by WW2. Instead, the nation underwent an essentially bloodless coup which ended the reign of Ramon Castillo and paved the way to presidency of Juan Peron. (In this run, pre-game simulation already resolved the election which historically happened in June 1946).
Our starting position, however, suffers from other disadvantages. For instance, Argentina has only a few scientific and technological paradigms mastered. Out of useful new paradigms, SIDE suggests government subsidizing development of penicillin and rocket engines. For now, electronic dreams, not to mention participation in the nuclear race, are far beyond our reach.
We will tackle the problem head-on: by prioritizing electrification and industrialization in the state budget.
Intelligence-wise, we are in relatively remote place but thankfully we our operatives speak Spanish which makes expansion into many countries much easier.
Chile is our first direction of expansion, an almost obvious choice, given rocky history of relations between Chile and Argentina, active diplomatic disputes, and very long border which gives plenty of opportunities to covertly infiltrate the second country. In addition to expanding in Chile, we will slowly get a hold over domestic power centers, starting with local catholic church.
Let's check for a moment what happens on the other side of the world...
Civil wars spreading in Iran, China, and Indonesia!
On the home front, we conduct more operations against domestic actors. Here, we will recruit a family member of an Argentinian writer in exchange for employing said person at an influential organization.
In the meanwhile, civil wars spread to Mongolia.
And mainland China is overrun by communist forces in 1947, rather early.
A few months (and domestic operations) later, we may be ready for more offensive operations on Chilean ground. The first, pretty tame venture is discovered by local DINA just three days after the launch:
A series of other failed operations and increased external pressure on our counterintelligence apparatus lowered trust of local government in our capabilities - which is directly translated into available funds - from initial 47% to 40%.
However, Peron consolidates his power and establishes de facto dictatorship which cynically increases the need, bringing funding almost to the starting level.
While we carry out further operations and Spanish-themed expansion (such as a station in Lima), our neighbor undergoes a coup.
This event contributes to tensions in the region and Chile becomes our diplomatic adversary. New tools, "border build-up" and "invasion", become available.
In Peru, Belaunde becomes the president. The name rings some bells... as it turns out, in earlier days of Lima station, we acquired an opportunity to subvert him!
Although we don't have practical ability (or motivation) to execute such operation, we can sell it for pretty high price on the black market:
Disabled because I was too excited and sold it before taking the screenshot
We could launder illicit funds but it's more efficient to just steer them into another wallet, here through establishing cooperation with a Peruvian political leader.
Slow and reasonable expansion in our part of the world brings first results: solid increase of State Power Index.
Electronic and nuclear future is a tad closer.
---
---
Today we return to the tradition of Christmas Eve with micro-AAR (after action reports) from casual Espiocracy gameplay. Welcome to the second installment!
We play as Argentinian SIDE, starting on March 6th 1946.
Unlike many countries at the start of the game, Argentina was not directly affected by WW2. Instead, the nation underwent an essentially bloodless coup which ended the reign of Ramon Castillo and paved the way to presidency of Juan Peron. (In this run, pre-game simulation already resolved the election which historically happened in June 1946).
Our starting position, however, suffers from other disadvantages. For instance, Argentina has only a few scientific and technological paradigms mastered. Out of useful new paradigms, SIDE suggests government subsidizing development of penicillin and rocket engines. For now, electronic dreams, not to mention participation in the nuclear race, are far beyond our reach.
We will tackle the problem head-on: by prioritizing electrification and industrialization in the state budget.
Intelligence-wise, we are in relatively remote place but thankfully we our operatives speak Spanish which makes expansion into many countries much easier.
Chile is our first direction of expansion, an almost obvious choice, given rocky history of relations between Chile and Argentina, active diplomatic disputes, and very long border which gives plenty of opportunities to covertly infiltrate the second country. In addition to expanding in Chile, we will slowly get a hold over domestic power centers, starting with local catholic church.
Let's check for a moment what happens on the other side of the world...
Civil wars spreading in Iran, China, and Indonesia!
On the home front, we conduct more operations against domestic actors. Here, we will recruit a family member of an Argentinian writer in exchange for employing said person at an influential organization.
In the meanwhile, civil wars spread to Mongolia.
And mainland China is overrun by communist forces in 1947, rather early.
A few months (and domestic operations) later, we may be ready for more offensive operations on Chilean ground. The first, pretty tame venture is discovered by local DINA just three days after the launch:
A series of other failed operations and increased external pressure on our counterintelligence apparatus lowered trust of local government in our capabilities - which is directly translated into available funds - from initial 47% to 40%.
However, Peron consolidates his power and establishes de facto dictatorship which cynically increases the need, bringing funding almost to the starting level.
While we carry out further operations and Spanish-themed expansion (such as a station in Lima), our neighbor undergoes a coup.
This event contributes to tensions in the region and Chile becomes our diplomatic adversary. New tools, "border build-up" and "invasion", become available.
In Peru, Belaunde becomes the president. The name rings some bells... as it turns out, in earlier days of Lima station, we acquired an opportunity to subvert him!
Although we don't have practical ability (or motivation) to execute such operation, we can sell it for pretty high price on the black market:
Disabled because I was too excited and sold it before taking the screenshot
We could launder illicit funds but it's more efficient to just steer them into another wallet, here through establishing cooperation with a Peruvian political leader.
Slow and reasonable expansion in our part of the world brings first results: solid increase of State Power Index.
Electronic and nuclear future is a tad closer.
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