Anybody using Ground Combat/Units??

Master Belisarius · #1 August 30th, 2000, 04:02 PM

The Troops are only a minor feature in SE4.
Yea, you can design your troops (and it's cool), but you can not do so much...
In fact, the SE4 ground combat (like most of 4x games in the space), it's very simple: only one stack of invader Troops against the defender's stack.
In my opinion, I believe that MM did the right decision: the core of the game is the "Galactic Conquest" not the "Planetary Conquest".

About your questions:
1) The Troops, like the Satellites, Plataforms, Mines, Fighters, etc, are placed in the Planet "Cargo Area", after you build it.
You can load them into transports if you want, and "regroup" them... but the game always group your units, depending the name that you used to create them.
If in the early game, you build light Troops with Small Rockets, you should name them "Light Rockets 1", for example. But, if later, you have new tech to design better troops, you should create a new Troop design (with a different name), using the new tech.

2)I think that MM only was keeping the same idea than SE3...

3)I'm not sure, but think not. Anyway, I'm sure that the Troops are expendable resources: you can build a lot of them, very fast.

Narlotep · #2 August 30th, 2000, 05:17 PM

Thanks.

That was the impression I was getting - another 4x game with no/poor ground combat. It's kind of like the Tactical game I suppose - MM has to pay lip service and throw something out to those of us searching for a bit more depth.

Jeb · #3 August 30th, 2000, 07:28 PM

While we're on the subject, does anyone know how ground combat works? Planets with no troops on them seem to generate one militia defender for each 20 million population, but I wish I knew how they are equipped. Do they get top-of-the-line stuff, or just small DU cannons I, or what? All I know is that more than two or three of these defenders can kick the butt of a whole transport load of high-tech troops. That's why I usually don't bother with ground combat, and just demand planets. To keep things from making the game too easy, I only do this when I've defeated a planet's defenses and have ships blockading it.

wingte · #4 August 30th, 2000, 08:48 PM

The best "ground combat" in a "space game" is IG II.

Wingte

quote:
Originally posted by Narlotep:
Thanks.

That was the impression I was getting - another 4x game with no/poor ground combat. It's kind of like the Tactical game I suppose - MM has to pay lip service and throw something out to those of us searching for a bit more depth.

Narlotep · #5 August 31st, 2000, 01:42 AM

I just started messing around with "Troops" and am not very impressed with creating them let alone using them. I had to stop short, so some of these answers may become clear when I try again tonight.

My assumption (yeah, I know) was that I could produce "units' that I could group into tactical organizations, i.e. just like we can build ships and group them into Task Forces or Fleets. However, this does not appear to be the case.

1.) How do you regroup troop "units" into actual units? I built twenty "units" with
the design name "Light" and they all plopped out together and are sitting in the planet's "Cargo" area (????). From there, they appear unmodifiable, i.e. giving the group of units a true name rather than "Light" which has inexplicably become their organizational name or regrouping into smaller organizations.

2.) Seems strange that troops require designing and my boarding parties do not. Why can't I just use those shipboard boarding parties as "troops" as well. Granted they'd be lightly armed, but with the AI's inability to defend his worlds properly, they'd be good enough.

3.) Do troops gain experience? If so, is this by "unit" or by "group of units"? Again, if there is no organization and units are just clustered into blobs o' units, then how can the player take advantage of higher experienced units that he may wish to group into elite formations?

Anyway, its early and prior to coffee, but these are some of my scattered thoughts from Last nights experimenting.

Narlotep · #6 August 31st, 2000, 01:47 AM

Wingte,

IGII Ground Combat looked good, but several reviews dinged the AI's ability to use ground units. As I'm a solo player that killed it for me.

To tell the truth, I am really going to wait on SEIV until I hear some reviews that address the AI - so far I am "underwhelmed" by its ability. However, I do realize this is only the demo Version, so I'll still give it a chance.

wingte · #7 August 31st, 2000, 05:21 AM

Well.. IG II was intended to be an Online game so the AI would have been irrelavent.

Wingte

[quote]Originally posted by Narlotep:
[b]Wingte,

IGII Ground Combat looked good, but several reviews dinged the AI's ability to use ground units. As I'm a solo player that killed it for me.

Fionn · #8 September 1st, 2000, 04:49 AM

It's just a matter of personal taste but IG2 left me rather cold, good ground combat or not.

It certainly has its strong points but it lacks the depth and versatility of SE4. IG2 seemed flat to me in some important ways and I found it hard to get interested in the prepackaged empires, especially the warrior race who can't even access the diplomatic functions. I find the "flavor" of SE4 much more involving, especially when it comes to the customization abilities.

Maybe if I was at all interested in multiplayer gaming, it'd be different, but I think I've already spent more time playing the demo Version of SE4 than I spent playing the full release Version of IG2.

I spotted a couple of copies of IG2 on the bargain wall at a shop today. It'd be a decent cheap buy but I wish I hadn't bought it at the full price!

Noble713 · #9 September 7th, 2000, 05:07 AM

No, by far the best ground combat in a 4X game can be found in SSI's Star General. Planetary invasions are fought using the Panzer General game engine (unfortunately also used for the space portion of the game), with a variety of unit types including AFVs (tanks), mobile artillery, anti-tank infantry, flying spotters, fighters, and bombers. It was great, as invasions of larger planets required several space turns (with 10 ground turns per space turn), and you usually needed to keep the planet blockaded.

quote:
Originally posted by wingte:
The best "ground combat" in a "space game" is IG II.

Wingte

General Hawkwing · #10 September 7th, 2000, 10:00 PM

One experience I had with ground combat went as follows:
I had defeated the planet's space station and had destroyed the 3 weapon platforms. (The planet's cargo showed 0 platforms.)I then brought my troop ship in and dropped them to capture the planet. When it went to the ground combat screen, the planet defenses showed the weapon platforms (still at 0) and ZAP one combat tick and all my troops were gone.
I would think that destroyed platforms whould not have counted in the combat. Is this a bug?
Please note that this all occurred within one 30 turn combat.
BTW I then used my attack ships to wipe the planet clean, that'll show 'em.