Ground Combat Lessons

[Suicide Junkie]

#1. You cannot win if your troops do not land.

I had 9 warships and a small transport full of 230 "WobblyBob" walkers. The enemy sats were on the far side of the planet, out of range.
I moved in, and the planet launched missiles at my warships.
While they were reloading, I sent in my troop transport... and it got torn to shreds by the short range DU autocannons on the surface.
Unable to complete the mission, I had to retreat.

-Always destroy the weapon platforms first.

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#2 Know your unit's capabilities
After the loss above, I designed a Super DeathHawk. As a medium transport, I got 2x the cargo, 4 movement and more armor. This one should survive the planet's WPs long enough to drop troops.
My fleet of 13 LCs moved in, and dropped antimatter torpedoes onto the surface, wiping out the WPs, and only taking light damage to one ship.
The transport moved in, and dropped 375 WobblyBobs.
But, Oops! My 50% ground combat ability hurts, and 400 small troops are whittled down by 300 Militia.
They hold out for 4 turns, and are defeated on the 5th, having destroyed only 60% of the defenders.
They did Last long enough to report the construction of PPB platforms, though.

-[i]50% ground combat really hurts! You don't need twice the number of troops, you need quadruple! (-50% to attack and defense?)
-Always use insanely overwhelming force
-Militia don't come back every turn! They only come back when they defeat the attackers.

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Third attempt:
13LCs, and a new cruiser. One year later, and over 800 WobblyBobs amongst two Supers and one original DeathHawk.
The fleet comes in range, and the ships move in to pummel the planet with torpedoes.
2WPs are destroyed, but the planet bLasts the cruiser with PPBs. Its 150 shields are skipped, and 720 damage burns away its armor.
The cruiser retreats, and the planet fires again, bLasting through the armor of an LC, destroying the ship instantly.
Torpedoes fly, and slam the planet, turning platforms into rubble.
A few beams lash out to scratch at the armor on another LC, but a third volley of torpedoes quickly silences them.
The SuperDeathHawks deploy two attack forces, and 800 troops sweep the planet in under a month.

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