Conquering planets.

[Suicide Junkie]

Yeah, its way too easy to glass planets IMO.

However, capturing a planet is worthwhile...
Especially if you can identify the resupply depot / spaceport beforehand, and capture that to help your fleets keep rolling.
Plus you get the population for breathing other atmospheres, and a spaceport makes the recolonization productivity jump.

If you are against an enemy with racial techs, you could even capture a psychic training facility, or a religious shrine, and bask in its benefits.

[Abdiel]

Originally posted by Ragnarok-X:
drops troops does nothing, its not used. About your other question, i dont think thats possible.

Load a Transport up with 50 troops, send it to any square immediately adjacent to the enemy planet, Order Drop Troops, and hey presto the planet is yours

SJ is right, it's really good to take over their planets instead of glassing them. You don't have to build them up from the ground again (and you have to build colonizers!), the planet doesn't suffer losses in production possibility, and they act as staging points to further your fleet's assault. Win-win for me, lose-lose for them

Be careful though, satellites and any other units in space are not captured, and -will- fire on your newly captured planet immediately, possibily losing you some nice facilities.

Abd.

[Timstone]

So Drop Troops is usable? Hmm...
Does this also work when a planet still has his planetary shields up? Hope not, because that really is a bit dumb.

[Raging Deadstar]

Originally posted by Timstone:
So Drop Troops is usable? Hmm...
Does this also work when a planet still has his planetary shields up? Hope not, because that really is a bit dumb.

I can see the Planetary sheilds with windscreen wipers slowly moving back and forth wiping grunts off the shield like flies

[Timstone]

Hahaha... LOL!!!!!
RD, you da greatest. LOL!!!

What colour would the rain have? There must be some tiny hole in that shield.

[ June 26, 2004, 14:44: Message edited by: Timstone ]

[Abdiel]

Nope, planetary shields (even massive) don't do zilch against troop invasion. That's why you can take any planet that's not a homeworld really easily.

Besides, no one ever builds them. If they're preparing for an invasion, they're building ships. If they're defending against one, they're building ships.

Abdiel

PS. Anyone can answer my question on the StarWars-ii thread?

[Randallw]

When you say Homeworlds can't be taken easily do you mean Hw's have a bonus or is it just becuase they and any other heavily populated world have Billions of people to get lots of Militia from.
I just captured a HW with 4.8 Billion people intact and it took 2 turns because, I am assuming, it took that long to destroy 240 Militia.

Ps. Good thing too since another empire has started to invade my space and I now have to fight them off.