[Shadowstar]

I know this is probably an impossible feature to add in SEIV, but perhaps it could be considered a kind of wishlist idea for SE5.

The idea is basically the above topic. In some cases (and especially in certain mods - Derek's Mod for one) ground combat can go on for a long time, years even. You have to assume the ground battles that are over in one turn are basically overwhelmings. What if this was embraced so that all ground invasions that weren't overly one-sided would Last, say a year or two? After all, you're talking about taking an entire planet - not just from the troops stationed on the surface, but also from the partisans and para-military civilians who fight after the military has been defeated.

Now, we already have this in SEIV. So what about expanding the game (possibly in SE5) so that every planet in the game has a randomly-generated (when the map is generated) planet surface, complete with continents, islands, and other surface features. Facilities/colonies/cities on the surface would be located in real physical locations across the planet (allow the player to pick where the facility is placed or have an option to have them automatically placed). A rules system could even be implemented that modified the efficency of things based on thier locations on the planet. Technology could be researched that would then modify this factor.

Each turn of ground combat would be spent fighting for territory on the planet. Think about the possibilities for this. You could also use it to coordinate space bombardments. Instead of just shooting the planet, you could decide where you wanted to hit them.

Anyway, it's something to think about. Could be fun to just dream about it, even if it never gets implemented in anything.