Super Spy

The Birdmen special mission is to spy on enemy (or allied) planets. Using small teams of spies, they can gather valuable information and intel on their enemies. Next to spying around, Birdmen spies can also change a planet's friendly code.

Super Spy Deluxe (change Friendly Code)
The Birdmen Super Spy mission has two parts. The Super Spy Deluxe part of the mission goes before movement, and attempts to change the friendly code of the planet the ship is orbiting. The Birdman starship will remain cloaked while performing this mission if it has a cloaking device and enough fuel to cloak. The cloaking device may fail, damage or being inside an Ion storm might prevent cloaking.

Starships on a Super Spy mission each have a 20% chance of changing the planet's friendly code to match the friendly code of the Bird Man starship. This effect is cumulative and five starships can effectively control a planet's code.

To disable the Superspy Deluxe part (not try to change a planet's friendly code) and only use the "normal" Superspy mission, have the starship(s) friendly code(s) start with an x or X. This will not change the planet's friendly code and will take away the risk of an Ion pulse, but will still give the Birdmen information about the planet.

Birdmen starships on a Super Spy mission are immune to the surrendering functions of starbases as long as they have at least one unit of fuel. If the Birdman ship switches to a mission other then super spy it will surrender to a starbase if it's friendly code matches the planet's and the base is set to "force a surrender"

Both cloaking and non-cloaking Birdmen ships, with or without weapons, can perform this mission. Ofcourse non-cloaking ships won't cloak when superspying.

When successfully changing a planet's friendly code, the Birdmen receive a message:

The planet that is the victim of the superspy also sends out a message to it's owner:

As with any mission, Superspy requires the ship to have fuel onboard. Superspying itself does not cost fuel, although the cloaking that often comes with it does require the normal amount of fuel (not on the Resolute and Darkwing ofcourse).

Ion Pulse
If a planet detects that it is a victim of a super spy deluxe mission and it has more than 30 defense outposts, it can burn 10 of the defense outposts to emit an ionic pulse that will uncloak all cloaked ships in orbit. A planet has a 20% chance of pulling this off when it is the victim of a super spy mission. If the Birdmen attempt to change a planet's friendly code into a universal minefield friendly code of "mfX" (where X can be anything) the planet will always emit an ionic pulse, if it has more than 30 defenseposts.

When a planet emits an Ion Pulse, it's owner will be notified by a message:

The Birdmen are also warned by a message:

"Normal" Superspy
Next to their Super Spy Deluxe the Birdmen have their normal Superspy. This mission gives them extended information about the planet they are orbiting. A typical Superspy message comes in two messages: one normal exploration message which is always sent, regardless of the mission, and a superspy message. They look like this:

This part of the superspy mission, which comes after movement, does NOT trigger a possible Ion discharge from the planet . The same 20% chance of the spies being discovered applies however. When the spies are discovered the owner of the superspied planet will receive a message:

Ships with a cloaking device on a Superspy mission will cloak if they have enough fuel to cloak (Resolute and Darkwing don't need fuel, although they need at least one unit of fuel to initiate the cloak and stay cloaked) as long as cloaking is not prevented by damage, a Loki or an Ion storm. Like any mission, to superspy a ship needs to have fuel onboard. Superspying itself does not cost fuel although the cloaking that often goes with it usually costs fuel.