There's a flaw in the use of troops that I've just recently recognized. Since troops are CARGO they get destroyed in bombardment. So you hardly ever get troops vs. troops combat. It's always troops vs. militia. Why couldn't troops be hidden well enough to be as hard to kill as population? Apparently the Serbs in Kosovo faked NATO out pretty effectively with wooden mockups. They hardly got any real tanks. It must be far harder to identify small vehicles from orbit. Somehow, troops need to be harder to kill than WPs so there is a real reason to build defensive troops. Then we can have some really classic ground battles!
This would complement the other desperately needed change: The change to the 'damage to kill population' ratio. Right now, it's too easy for standard weapons to wipe out the surface of a planet. We need to set this ratio very high. 50 to 1 or better. Then "planetary weapons" need the special ability to cancel this ratio. That way, you would really need a special ship to bombard a planet once the WPs were destroyed. Or, you would have to resort to troops!
[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 05 August 2001).]
Re: Ground Combat Lessons
Threaded Mode