Is there any way to disable tech stealing in the game?

[voke]

As in the Subject line: Is there any way to disable tech stealing in the game? Thank you.

[steveh11]

Or, if we can't disable it, can we affect it via either custom setup or save-file edits?

[jwsmith26]

I'm curious, why do you guys want to disable tech stealing? 

[steveh11]

Nov 22, 2016 9:42:06 GMT -6 jwsmith26 said:

I'm curious, why do you guys want to disable tech stealing? 

Well, I'm not so much arguing to disable it so much as counter it.  If we're going to invest in spying, we ought to be able to invest in counter-spying, as well.

[jwsmith26]

OK, that makes sense. It would be kinda cool, but only if you are informed that your efforts have succeeded when you have successfully blocked an attempt to steal your technology. Otherwise, its just another effect that is invisible to the players. 

[voke]

So back to the question. Is there any way to disable tech stealing in the game, probably through modifying files? I've looked and it's not easy to find.

I just don't want countries stealing my techs. It's not that easy to just steal "blueprints" for an 18" gun and make it. You have to have the technology, the tools, the means to implement it. I could show you the blueprints for phasers and photon torpedoes. Would you be able to build them? Some tech stealing is unrealistic. It would take years, possibly a decade for the country to develop it. Some are realistic, some not. In any case, I simply don't want tech stealing in my single-player game. Thank you.

[bcoopactual]

Nov 22, 2016 17:34:20 GMT -6 voke said:

So back to the question. Is there any way to disable tech stealing in the game, probably through modifying files? I've looked and it's not easy to find.

I just don't want countries stealing my techs. It's not that easy to just steal "blueprints" for an 18" gun and make it. You have to have the technology, the tools, the means to implement it. I could show you the blueprints for phasers and photon torpedoes. Would you be able to build them? Some tech stealing is unrealistic. It would take years, possibly a decade for the country to develop it. Some are realistic, some not. In any case, I simply don't want tech stealing in my single-player game. Thank you.

To my knowledge, no.
It's one of the mechanisms the game uses to keep nations from getting too far ahead in the technology race.  

Most of the techs in the game aren't truly revolutionary, I don't need to invent anti-matter generation and containment like I would for photon torpedoes but I agree that some of the techs would need a period of time to put into operation as a practical design.  Steam turbines is one tech that comes to mind.  

Perhaps an idea for RTW2 is for espionage to have a two part mechanism.  Once the technical details are stolen, the player gets a message and then it could start a random countdown of unknown duration to the player of up to a year before the tech is actually "unlocked" for use.  The debate is whether it's worth the extra complexity to program.

None of that addresses what you want.  The developers are good about staying current on the discussions on the forum.  My understanding is they are spending most of their efforts on RTW2 right now but if there is a simple hardcoded switch that turns tech stealing on and off, they might add the choice to the player options in RTW when they finalize the most recent update.

[voke]

bcoopactual, thank you so much for your answer. Much appreciated. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

[ccip]

I don't believe so; on the other hand, I never particularly felt like it was making a serious difference on my standing.
I barely use intel funding myself, unless I'm looking for a scrap - most of the time I find it much more worth my while to keep the peace, enter tech deals, or just flat out buy ships from other nations to get myself technology.

But nowadays, I never pass up any tech that's offered for sale, especially guns (even if I don't want that caliber for myself, it prevents my scientists from working on that caliber and improves the chance of my own research coming up with the guns I actually want).

[voke]

ccip, Thanks for that advice. How do you buy ships from other countries. I've never received an offer like that. Maybe just bad luck on my part.

[galagagalaxian]

In the design screen there will be a drop down menu in the top left where you can select where the ship will be built. The benefits of building foreign when a "lesser" power can be considerable:



None of those unlocked a tech, AFAIK, but presumably they dumped a bunch of research points into each category.

[jwsmith26]

Just a word of caution about having ships built in foreign yards - those foreigners can steal your ship.

I'm not sure of the exact circumstances that will trigger this (does anyone know the exact point at which a nation will seize your ship?) but if you are going to go this route, be aware that if your relationship with the foreign country drops into the yellow category there is a very real possibility that the foreign nation will seize your ship. I've had ships that I had spent $125 million building, that were 95% done, taken over by the building nation. And let me tell you that is much more painful than losing the ship in battle, because now that shiny new ship, that you paid dearly for, is in the hands of a nation that is a potential enemy and they got it for free.

You can certainly build ships in foreign yards, and as galagagalaxian indicates the benefits can be substantial for an undeveloped country, but you really have to stay on top of your relationship with the building country. That can be difficult when it may take 30 months to produce a capital ship. A lot can change in 30 months and as a poor country you can't afford to lose even one capital ship.

[Deleted]

could be a good idea to build at your ally's.. How long does a security agreement last in-game?

[beastro]

One day soon I bet I'm going to mess with that mechanic to give enemy nations better ships to use than the ones they normally produce.

[trenton59]

Nov 24, 2016 12:50:39 GMT -6 skwabie said:

could be a good idea to build at your ally's.. How long does a security agreement last in-game?

I think it's five years, so enough time for around two generations of capital ships.