quote:
Originally posted by Taqwus:
Oh, a tidbit that may interest folks: your ground troops *do* capture weapons platforms that were intact at the time of the assault, and said WPs probably don't defend during the assault, since they're not even shown in the ground combat anymore. Handy.
This raid, incidentally, was against my former allies the Ukra-Tal; I got annoyed when they were stockpiling DN-size warships (fleet of 15, plus 10 on the way) on one of my worlds while Murderous, while at war with another of my allies (the Phong), and when they were repeatedly lying through their teeth saying that orders had been given to withdraw them (yes, I *do* see your cloaked fleets... and my scanners say they're NOT non-combat vessels... and there's nobody in that area to attack BUT me).
Said fleets were removed from the universe with liberal application of APB XII, PPB V, and NSP V. An additional 14 warships were destroyed on another front, an Ukra-Tal world invaded... and they broke down and asked for a trade treaty (granted); they also made peace with the my ally Phong (*again*, hopefully it Lasts). Might have something to do with the fact that I revealed the presence of a high-tech armada that's got more (and far-better trained) ships than they have, total, and can reach any system from any system in one turn...
Question: If shields are dropped by boarding attack, are shields dropped by troop landings? Did your troop transports have shields at all? If you get the chance, please put some shields on one of these and see if they get dropped when the troops go down. I'm really curious if this happens as it does for boarding. If it does not, I wonder if it ought to.
Now, as for "revealing" the presence of a fleet -- I don't think this makes any difference. It OUGHT to but I'm fairly certain the AI uses your score (even if scores are not formally made available to other player on the score window) to assess your strength relative to itself. Hiding fleets doesn't make any difference. This is too bad, because it erodes an important element of realism that you get with human opponents. Your PERCEIVED strength vs. your actual strength is an important factor in diplomatic relations. You may want to hide your strength, or you may want to create a false impression of strength. I think both of these are impossible against the AI.