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Nice!
Nope, no DLCs required. The only reason I got into this game was cause of a free-to-keep promotion, and I probably had 100 hours in before I bothered to look at DLC. Or even install mods, really. It's not like Total War DLC where the enemy factions will use all this stuff against you. It just won't be in your playthroughs. Mods adapt accordingly, somehow.
Espionage isn't in the base game. Intelligence is, in the form of tech progression, radar coverage, and the usual strategy-game elements like fog of war. If you want to send out Mata Hari to blow up supply depots, I guess you need the DLC, but I can't say for sure, since I never bothered to get it. To this day I only have Man the Guns (because I like botes) and Waking the Tiger (since it adds some really important alt-history options).
So it is peak Paradox bullshit, but I also think there's more than enough to chew on for a new player.
Speaking of which--normally I'd recommend playing some minor third-world power. WWII is too much to handle at first. Watch it unfold as you get a feel for development, recruitment and the interface. Maybe fight your Middle East or South American neighbors, in which case you'll also learn a lot about the supply system.
But if you're diving right in to Old World Blues, that kind of solves itself. The mod effectively throws quests at you, and they'll usually give you a natural route to fighting your neighbors instead of the planet. Just don't play the NCR or Caesar's Legion your first time around.
Good luck!
So there's no way to steal tech in the mod if you don't have the DLC?
Yeah, these games seem fairly complex, but I feel like a lot of the complexity is not that deep. Fiddling around with modifiers.
But I want a Fallout fix too and Todd Howard is not going to deliver, so..
Correct on all counts.
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