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.
Hi Folks,
We continue our "Once Upon a Time..." ("Il était une fois...") journey through the anatomy of countries in Espiocracy. After exploring political changes, today we will look into unashamedly glorified spreadsheet: State Power Index (SPI)*.
To start with proper Zeitgeist, let's begin by peering behind the scenes of strategy game design.
Transcript: Score screens of Master of Orion 2, Civilization 6, and Stellaris.
Most popular 4X games score players based on:
- eliminating other players, growing population, achieving fast success (Master of Orion 2)
- building cities and other assets, researching technologies (Civilization 6)
- colonized and conquered solar systems, relative monthly income (Stellaris)
One of the earliest prototypes tested the idea of implementing Espiocracy as a 4X game - espionage-themed exploration, expansion, exploration, and extermination. Although it didn't work (that) well, it suggested a few interesting features. This is where SPI was born. Originally, it followed victory points and victory conditions, but quickly evolved from arbitrary points into the direction of simulation.
Transcript: Ledger screens of Europa Universalis 4 and Crusader Kings 2.
EU4 and CK2 sport different kind of scoring system. It takes a back seat but is also more complex, attempting to create composite score of sectors (administrative, diplomatic, military, and so on) and/or resources (prestige, piety). Usually far from gameplay, it serves as a helper, which is perhaps best visualized by famous ledgers.
Transcript: Ranking screens of Victoria Revolutions and Victoria 2.
Victoria series iterated by producing global ranking of countries. This time, it's tied to a prestige parameter, merging two of the best worlds: accessibility and depth. Moreover, it's a positive feedback loop - higher ranked nations have more agency, which places prestige among one of the strongest motivators for players, always keen to expand their decision toolbox.
With this analysis in mind, we can move to the scoring system of Espiocracy. Here, we take one step further towards simulation and integration with gameplay.
Simulation
State Power Index compares all nations in the world purely based on real indicators, such as GDP or number of modern tanks. SPI is built from weighted comparisons between ~50 indicators in ~4 layers, giving comprehensive yet approachable summary of global position in the form of a single number from 0 to 100.
SPI is inspired by modern economic indicators. Instead of naive ranking (first, second, third...), it uses distance to frontier calculation.
Transcript: The worst performing country is assigned to number 0, the best performing country to number 100, and all countries in-between are proportionally normalized to 0-100 value.
This calculation is performed separately for every indicator, which are then averaged by subsectors, sectors, and build composite SPI for the whole country.
SPI has a few desirable effects on the gameplay. It is pretty immune to two worst offenders near scoring systems: failure trap and snowballing. The best performing country can always improve - even if their score remains at 100, boosting the indicator pushes competition farther away. On the opposite end of spectrum, globally worst countries can catch up with the rest and influence other rankings by, for instance, changing particular indicator from nice-to-have to must-have over decades.
Depth
These are current sectors, subsectors, and indicators of State Power Index.
(Sector) Economy (25% weight)
- (Subsector) Size: (Indicator) GDP
- International Leverage: Companies, Reserves
- Technology: R&D Spending, Nobel Prizes, Top-Tech Non-Military Projects
- Connectivity: Exports, Imports, Investors
- Economic Diplomacy: Treaties
Military (25%)
- Defense: Spending
- Armed forces: Personnel, Readiness, Experience, Command and Control
- Weapons: Tanks, Infantry Vehicles, Ships, Submarines, Airplanes, Top-Tech Military Projects
- Signature Capabilities: Missiles, Long-Range Projection Ships, Area Denial etc
- Intelligence Capabilities: Know-how, International Reach, Personnel, Top-Tech Intelligence Projects
- Military Posture: Deployed Forces
- Nuclear Deterrence: Bombs, Range, Ground-Based Launchers, Second-Strike Submarine Launchers
Diplomatic Networks (15%)
- Regional Allies: Number times strength
- Diplomatic network: Embassies, Consulates
- Global partnerships: NATO or Warsaw Pact or Non-Aligned Countries or others times strength
Resilience (15%)
- Internal Stability: Risk of Coup, Risk of Civil War, Risk of Terrorist Attacks
- Resource Security: Access to Coal, Oil etc
- Geopolitical security: Risk of Military Invasion
Cultural Influence (15%)
- Cultural projection: Global Cultural Actors
- Migration: Diasporas
Future (5%)
- Economic: GDP Trend
- Defense: Military Spending Trend
- Resilience: Stability Trend, Security Trend
- Demography: Working-Age Population Trend
Needless to say, it will change during playtests, balancing, and - most importantly! - during the gameplay itself, where new indicators will attempt to capture some of the historical changes.
Integration
State Power Index, naturally, defines superpowers and regional powers in the game, suggests alliances and rivalries, gives a set of clear goals for many AI agents in the world. However, the most important feedback loop extends directly to the player: SPI partially defines budget available to player's intelligence community (set of intelligence services, eg. MI5, MI6, and GCHQ in the UK). It gives clear motivation to improve position of own country - and clear consequences of losing international race.
Since this is a tight motivation loop, it also defines decision scope for the game in general. Every indicator can be influenced by the player, for instance GDP improved by industrial espionage, access to resources secured in covert operations, global cultural actors supported from the shadows - and the other side of the coin, lowering position of competing countries by ruining their indicators.
Final Remarks
We will probably return to the topic of SPI (with screenshots!) in a future dev diary about in-game economy.
If you're not already wishlisting Espiocracy, consider doing it:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1670650/Espiocracy/
There is also a small community around Espiocracy:
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* - "State power" as in international relations, used in this context for instance in "Back to Basics: State Power in a Contemporary World" (2013)
Photo Credit: D Sharon Pruitt
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"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life" - Picard