Invasion Inoculation

[Bman]

Do you know how to get your troop transports to do this in strategic combat? My transports always run to the corner until my other ships have destroyed all the planetary defenses. I'd actually like it if they would zoom in and take the planet without waiting for this sometimes...

quote:

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Originally posted by capnq:
Only if the attacker is patient. With a "heavily-enough" armored/shielded/PDC'd transport, one can get troops dirtside without completely suppressing the defenses.

I know I've seen ground combats with defending troops and militia, and I've even captured at least one planet that still had functional weapons platforms on it.

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[Phoenix-D]

send the transports in alone and hope.

Phoenix-D

[Baron Munchausen]

quote:

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Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
send the transports in alone and hope.

Phoenix-D

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No, the 'capture planet' strategy will not work unless the planet has had its weapons removed by other forces. The transport will just run away. I suppose you could build a very heavily armored/shielded transport and put ONE weapon in it to make it attack the planet with the other ships. Would it drop the troops before the planet's weapons were gone even if it were close enough? Dunno... better give it a short range weapon. But if you give it a planetary weapon I think it will be a priority target for the defenses.

If this does work, then a whole new method of attacking planets might open up. Build whole fleets of planet capturing ships that are a mix of weapons and cargo bays and send them all in. If even one survives then some troops get dropped on the planet. If the numbers dropped by a single ship are enough to survive the 10 rounds of ground combat then they can build up as other ships get close enough to drop theirs.

[TerranC]

Well, BM, I kinda use that strategy all the time At least in AI games.

What I do is get a large transport, fill the cargo with only necessary space, At least 4 crystaline/organic armor and 4 shiled generators, One EMC, Solar Sail, and one or two point defense for those missle worlds.

And scream Geronimo.

The Solar Sails are a big help as with it's bonus combat speed, it can speed down to the planet fast with taking about two shots from the weapons platforms.

Although this usually succeeds, not all the time; I found out in simulations that Wave motion guns and Graviton Hellbores do a good job of killing my Heavy Armoured transports before they get in.

Also, the transports failed two times after I let the strategic combat let it run into the homeworld Guess what happened. The second time, I commandered the ship, but didn't see the massive drones coming in and died.

But still effective.

Edit: sorry, can't spell.

Another Edit: Don't be fooled that that kind of transport can survive Homeworlds or Heavy Defended Military worlds: for those worlds, I have sent 4-5 Warship escorts with the transport to take down or capture bases and ships and also to distract the Weapon platforms.

[ 30 April 2002: Message edited by: TerranC ]

[ 30 April 2002: Message edited by: TerranC ]

[geoschmo]

What I have found is that if the planet has weapons my transport will hide in the corner, until all my offensive ships are destroyed and then it will rush the planet, usually to disasterous results. So I don't see why a single transport with no weapons or escort wouldn't go stratight for the planet. But it would have to be really fast and really tough to survive, unless it's a small colony.

Two other thigs to remember if you try this tactic. 1. Mines, 2. Sattelites. If the planet has sattelites, even if you succed in capturing it the sats will then turn on it and fire. I have lost a lot of captured worlds this way.

Geo