Assault Troop Transport

[minipol]

I retried:
8 Assault Transport with 1 beam weapon
8 planet busters.

Fleet orders:
- Point blank
- Drop Troops

Result:
Sometimes (1 in 5/6 times) the AT seems to drop troops while their are still Planet busters around. Most of the time though, the planet is destroyed. When they do drop troops is probably when the defences are gone. I couldn't check since it did test strategically.
But i really can't seem to make them drop troops immediately.

Labelling attack ship as troop transports didn't seem to do anything.

[oleg]

OK, I think I made it work:

ALL ships in a fleet must be Troop transports, ALL must have troops on board and weapons. This way they all fly toward planet firing weapons ! The first troop transport that reaches planet will drop troops. Even if there are still weapon platforms on the planet !

However, if ground combat fails, this ship will become "attack ship" - no troops on board ! Other troop transports will try to fly away untill the unlucky ship is destroyed. Then all of them turn back on the planet like sharks!

[minipol]

Oleg,

i knew they would drop troops if the fleet consisted of all troop transports but what i was trying to achieve was having a mixed fleet of troop transports and attack ships and having the TS drop troops while the attack ships pound the planetary defenses. I haven't succeeded in doing this.

[oleg]

I know it is not the "right" solution but it still allows you to promptly conquest a heavy defended planet with a lot of WP but few troops !

I want to try this tactics in Proportions game. It is hellishly difficult to conquer an established colony in Proportions. It may be defended by hundreds WP and planetary shields. Practically impossible to destroy them all ! If only I could manage to get a troop transport close enough...

[dogscoff]

It's still a shame that you can't send in multiple loads of troops like this. I'd like to build a fleet of assault scouts in Proportions- each one with high training and ECM to avoid enemy fire but only carry a few troops. You might lose a few but dozens more would get through, and you could end up with loads of troops on the planet.

Unfortunately, strategic combat will get one through, wait for the troops to die, send in another, wait for them to die...

[oleg]

It is possible to make veru tough troops in Proportions that will survive 10 rounds of ground combat. Few waves of suicidale troop transports and you may capture planet

[PvK]

It's very common for the ground combat to go on for many strategic turns in Proportions. The problem is that the strategic AI may not drop any reinforcements until the first wave is eliminated by the defenders. You can drop reinforcements in tactical mode - the trick is getting the AI to do the same thing, which I haven't tested much, but is sounds like dogscoff has.

PvK