noob questions

[dogscoff]

Ground combat too easy
...
I think some of the mods address this. But as I am a plain vanilla guy I can’t really answer.

For this I would recommend Proportions. Ground combat is everything in Proportions because (a) troops are really hard to wipe out from orbit (b) developped planets are far too valuable to glass and (c) there are loads more troop options - infantry units are available from the start and things like troop shields and weapon choices make a real difference to the outcome of combat. The variety of pricings for these choices mean that you will find yourself designing and building a whole array of different types of troop to be deployed together.

Oh, and (d) Proportions is brilliant.