Burning question about Strategic combat

[Escaflowne]

I'm playing the Etaru in Enormity and the damn Romulans have just blown away or overrun half my colonies. If I let them dictate the borders, I'm dead anyway since I'll only have my home system and a nebula under my control.

If I fight I'm fighting an uphill battle both ways, in 10 feet of snow, while I'm stark naked. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

But he just sent a carrier transport into one of my systems and in one plent without defenses the fighters sat back and did nothing while the ship dropped troops and took the colony over. In another battle the fighters came in and killed the defenses, only then did the carrier bring in the troops.

My question is what kind of strategy is he using and how can I replicate that kind of sophistication so I can kick his green-blooded behind to the other side of the galaxy? I'm working under the assumption that just putting everything on 'break formation' isn't going to cut this time.

Any help would be nice. Thanks.

[ November 27, 2002, 01:09: Message edited by: Escaflowne ]

[PvK]

That is the usual behaviour for a fleet set to "Drop Troops (if carrying)". If the fleet has warships, they will fire at planets until it has no weapon platforms, and once they are gone, those warships will move away and the transports will move in and drop troops.

This will occur even if you let your ships break formation and use their own design strategies, as long as at least one troop-carrying ship has the Drop Troops primary movement order. The main requirement is that you have at least one ship with troops on it, and that ship needs to have the Drop Troops primary movement order.

The main exception I'm aware of is you also want to turn OFF the "fire at seekers" options, at least if you want to blockade a planet without attacking it, because otherwise your ships may move themselves into the range of planetary weapons just to take shots at seekers which would otherwise be out of range.

PvK

[dumbluck]

IIRC, { this thread } explains a lot about troops.

[capnq]

PvK, that is the most succinct explanation of planetary invasion strategies I've ever seen. Well done!

[Cheeze]

You also want to watch the Capture Planet or whichever strategy for the percent damage on the planet. If you set it too high, you may wipe out more than you wish. I think the default setting is about 10-20%, and even without it being checked the guns often stop once the defenses are gone.

I've watched a couple of my troopships brave heavy fire and successfully land forces. I love taking planets and still having intact weapons platforms!

[President_Elect_Shang]

Originally posted by capnq:
PvK, that is the most succinct explanation of planetary invasion strategies I've ever seen. Well done!

HA-HA-HA. I caught that one. let me go rate you a five now!

[Quikngruvn]

Originally posted by Cheeze:
[QB]You also want to watch the Capture Planet or whichever strategy for the percent damage on the planet. If you set it too high, you may wipe out more than you wish. I think the default setting is about 10-20%, and even without it being checked the guns often stop once the defenses are gone.[QB]

The default is either 80% or 100% (I can't remember which, but I know I have to drop the setting to get to 20%).

It also helps to set 'Damage targets till all weapons are destroyed' in the Capture Planet strategy. Elsewise, your gunships may keep pounding the planet and glass it before the troop transport gets there. Missile fleets also tend to glass planets more than direct-fire fleets, because of the delay between firing the missile and it doing its damage.

Quikngruvn

[capnq]

The default is either 80% or 100% (I can't remember which

IIRC, the defaults are 80% for ships, and 100% for planets, fighters, and satellites. I usually turn ships down to 70%, and planets to 50%. Note that turning on "fire until all weapons gone" overrides all the percentages.

[Cheeze]

Definitely excellent advice about missile ships. One of their major drawbacks regarding planets is the lack of control you have as a player for those weapons in strategic combat. If allowed to target a planet, every missile on every missile ship will likely launch at the target. And that makes controlling the damage difficult.

And watch out for the 'damage until all weapons gone' option as well. It is possible that the enemy weapons platform may survive until the very end, causing your ships to inflict heavy damage on a planet you were set on preserving as intact as possible.