This Topic is purely my Personal Wishlist or Dream for how Ground Forces would work.
It can be seen as a Suggestion as well.
Albeit I do actually think at this point Paradox has some idea of what they might want to do with it in the Future.
1.
I think Armies should be alot more Relevant for Warfare.
Armies should not be an Endless Produced throw away Unit. Instead being limited in some way.
Maybe each Badge of 10 Armies costing a Population. Or maybe there being a Similar Limit as with Fleets so that only a Limited number of Armies can be Sustained depending on how much Population and Industry a Player has.
2.
I think Armies should work similar to Fleets. With an Army consisting of Multiple Units which its filled with and which are Grouped together as an Army under a General.
Which can then be Rebuild with 1 Click similar to how Fleets are Build and Structured.
This would also remove the Doomstacks which are currently the most common form of Army and thus actually make it meaningful for Planets to have Defenses.
How many Troops an Army can have will be decided by the Transport Capacity of its Invasion Fleet.
The Invasion Fleets Command Points will be decided by its own Tech and will work the same way as Normal Combat Fleets. But with a much smaller Limit.
Starting on 5 Points and going to Max 80 Points.
Ships for the Invasion Fleet are Standard Ships Equipped with the Invasion Middle Section of the Ship.
This System will work Similar to Weapons Platforms. Where the Main Section of a Ship being Changed will Automaticly move it to that Category.
So if the Main Section of a Ship is Changed to a Normal Ship Section it will only be available for Normal Fleets and if its an Invasion Section it will be a Ship only available for Invasion Fleets.
the Invasion Ship Section has Special Slots which can be used for Transport Hangars of different Sizes. As well as Invasion Support Modules that will Provide additional Benefits for an Invasion like Buffs if the Invasion Fleet Stays in Orbit of a Planet after Dropping their Armies.
Its each Players Decision if he wants to use these Slots for more Capacity and thus more Units in that Army. Or if he wants to instead use Fighter Hangars, Repair Pods, Ammo Supply Storage etc etc to give Buff to an Army at the Expense of having less Units in that Army.
This would also mean if Armies were to cost Population this would allow him to put more Cost on the Ressources side instead of Pops.
Transport Hangars have different Sizes and thus Decide what Units can be Carried with them. Heavier Units like Tanks or Warforms etc would require Larger Sized Hangars.
For example A Standard Assault Army which is mostly Infantry and light Vehicles would cost 1 Point. The Starting Setup for Invasion Fleets is 5 Points. Which at start would be 5 Corvettes each with a Single Transport Hangar and thus each Ship having 1 Point to Transport.
Which means the Starting Invasion Fleet would be able to Drop 5 Assault Armies.
In later game. A Cruiser might have Improved Hangars. Thus actually being allowed to Carry up to 6 Points of Armies in his Belly. And thus also being able to for example Carry 3 Tank Units instead of 6 Standard Assault Units. Thus if you got 20 Points for the Invasion Fleet and thus have 5 Cruisers in it right now. You would then be able to have a total of 30 Points for the Army. Thus for example being able to Drop 10 Assault Armies and 10 Tank Units.
Invasion Ships go up to Battleship Size.
Advantages and disadvantages can be Set. I personally would use a System where Bigger Ships have more Capacity for Buffs but less Carrying Capacity.
For example. A Corvette Starts with 1 Hangar Slot and Costs 1 Point same as normal Corvettes. The Cruiser will have 3 Hangar Slots but same as normal Cruiser Costs 4 points.
So he actually has less Hangar Slots per Points. However he does have Bigger Weapons and has a Medium Slot for Support Modules thus providing Bigger Buffs than a Corvette.
But this can also be reversed or otherwise handled. This is just a side Suggestion on my Part.
Pls note. Invasion Fleets can Fight and can be Armed with Space Weapons on the Bow and Stern Section (if applicable) They can also be used for Bombardment before an Invasion.
However. Any Ships lost will also lose Ground Units equivalent to the Transport Capacity of the lost Ships.
Once an Invasion Starts. Invasion Ships will become Immune to the Attrition Damage of Orbital Guns as now their Damage and the Damage to Landing Forces will be decided on the Special Projects mentioned in Point 5 below.
During the Invasion. the Invasion Ffleet will move into Low Orbit to Avoid Detection and Attacks from Space Fleets which cannot enter Low Orbit to Fight them.
4.
Planets which are Bombarded should cause Attrition Damage to Fleets from Defensive Fire. (Only if they have Fortresses)
This is a Simple Mechanic that would allow for Fortified Planets to Defend themselves a little and thus it not being possible to just put a small Fleet there which will bomb it endlessly for years to avoid the planetary defenses having any effect.
A New Building which is Planetary Missile Silos or Defense Guns would also be added which allows for Planets to massively Increase this Attrition Damage that Enemy Fleets Suffer when Bombarding a Planet.
5.
And Finally the Invasion itself.
I would love to see the following System.
Invading a Planet works like an Archeological Dig Site. With the General being the Scientist. And the Army he has being his Power Level which is boosted by his Skill level.
The Planetary Defenses meanwhile being the Difficulty Level for that Invasion Site.
Thus the Invader constantly running up Progress for the Invasion. While the Defender will get a Special Project similar to the First Contact Event.
If a General was on the Planet he will be automaticly assigned to that Project. Otherwise the Player can afterwards assign a General to it. The Garrisson Armies and any Armies Stationed on the Planet will be the Power Level of the Defender. Buffed by Defensive Buildings and the Skill Level of the Defending General.
Both sites will get Decisions to make and Events from their respective Sites.
The Invader gaining Progress and allowing to Progress to the next Stage or Weaken the Defenses etc.
While the Defender can Reduce the Power Level of the Attacker slowing down his Progress or if he has Superior or Equal Forces even push back the Progress form the Invader ultimately forcing him to retreat from the Planet.
This would make Invasions especially for Big Planets with alot of Defenses into a quite a Big Event
And would also mean that a Fortress Planet can be a very Valid Defense.
At the same time. The Attacker of course has the Choice to Sacrifice Ships into the Attrition to Bombard Down enemy Fortress Planets if he doesnt have Sufficient Ground Power to Invade them.
If the Defender Manages to Sneak Reinforcements onto the Planet. He will get a Special Buff to his Progress with the Invader getting a Special Malus.
Afterwards the Reinforcements will be added to the Defending Power Level.
Likewise having a Fleet either from the Invader or Defender will of course Buff that sides Power level.
An Example for the Progress Stages is.
((Special Stage if the Planet has Planetary Shields and Orbital Defenses)) with Events Focused on Bypassing or Destroying the Shield to Land.
Landing, (Events Focused on Initial Losses during the Landing as well as Damages to Ships and Buffs from Ship Modules etc.)
Securing a Bridgehead. (Events Focused on First Assaults and the Struggle to Create a Safe Landing Zone to Receive Reinforcements and Supplies)
((Special Stage if the Planet has Fortresses to Defend)) with Events Focused on breaking the Resistance and Defensive Installations.
Obtaining Superiority (Events focused on the actual War to Control the Major Cities and Strategic Points of the Planet)
Final Stage of Subduing Resistance (Events signifying that Victory is Close with last Pockets of Resistance being Eradicated and the Population being bought under Control for Occupation by a Garrisson Force so that the Invasion Force can Take off from the Planet again and go for the next Mission)
The Defense is Mirroring these Stages.
((Special Stage if the Planet has Shield or Orbital Guns)) with Events Focused on preventing the Landing.
Landing (with events for causing damage to the landing Forces)
Throwing the Enemy Back into Space (with Events focused on Denying the Enemy a Bridgehead and force him off the Planet)
((Special Stage with Fortresses)) with Events were the Defender will Fortify his Positions to Fight the Enemy off from its Fortresses))
Defending the World (with Events of the actual War to Fight over Major Cities and slow down the Enemy advance)
And Final Stage (of Events trying to Resist Occupation by Guerillia Actions and Hit and Run Attacks of the last remaining Forces)
And Finally. An In between Special Stage for Reinforcements from an Defending Invasion Fleet.
This Special Stage can happen at any time in the Situation. And will contain Special Events of Invasion Fleet Ships causing Losses to each other. As well as Landing Reinforcements taking losses or launching Reargard Attacks on the Invasion Force etc.
This Stage will be Time Limited rather than bound to Progress. Which means once the Reinforcements have Landed it will go back to the Original Tug of War between the Two Sides.
Albeit with now new Forces on the Defender Site.
A Similar Special Event also is possible to happen for the Invader if he decides to Send a Second Invasion Fleet as Reinforcements.
Which means a Planet can have 5 to 7 Stages depending on how well Fortified it is. And can have Extra Stages in between if either Side manages to get Reinforcements into the Fight.
Pls note. For the Defender the Stages are reversed in Order.
Meaning if the Defender is Stronger. He can actually Progress his Stages towards the Landing and thus Force the Enemy off the Planet.
Or if the losses for the Attacker are too big. Deny the Landing entirely already at the start.
Greetz Sun.
ps
Hopefully we will one day see something
And now I wish everyone Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year.
Stay Healthy and Happy
It can be seen as a Suggestion as well.
Albeit I do actually think at this point Paradox has some idea of what they might want to do with it in the Future.
1.
I think Armies should be alot more Relevant for Warfare.
Armies should not be an Endless Produced throw away Unit. Instead being limited in some way.
Maybe each Badge of 10 Armies costing a Population. Or maybe there being a Similar Limit as with Fleets so that only a Limited number of Armies can be Sustained depending on how much Population and Industry a Player has.
2.
I think Armies should work similar to Fleets. With an Army consisting of Multiple Units which its filled with and which are Grouped together as an Army under a General.
Which can then be Rebuild with 1 Click similar to how Fleets are Build and Structured.
This would also remove the Doomstacks which are currently the most common form of Army and thus actually make it meaningful for Planets to have Defenses.
How many Troops an Army can have will be decided by the Transport Capacity of its Invasion Fleet.
The Invasion Fleets Command Points will be decided by its own Tech and will work the same way as Normal Combat Fleets. But with a much smaller Limit.
Starting on 5 Points and going to Max 80 Points.
Ships for the Invasion Fleet are Standard Ships Equipped with the Invasion Middle Section of the Ship.
This System will work Similar to Weapons Platforms. Where the Main Section of a Ship being Changed will Automaticly move it to that Category.
So if the Main Section of a Ship is Changed to a Normal Ship Section it will only be available for Normal Fleets and if its an Invasion Section it will be a Ship only available for Invasion Fleets.
the Invasion Ship Section has Special Slots which can be used for Transport Hangars of different Sizes. As well as Invasion Support Modules that will Provide additional Benefits for an Invasion like Buffs if the Invasion Fleet Stays in Orbit of a Planet after Dropping their Armies.
Its each Players Decision if he wants to use these Slots for more Capacity and thus more Units in that Army. Or if he wants to instead use Fighter Hangars, Repair Pods, Ammo Supply Storage etc etc to give Buff to an Army at the Expense of having less Units in that Army.
This would also mean if Armies were to cost Population this would allow him to put more Cost on the Ressources side instead of Pops.
Transport Hangars have different Sizes and thus Decide what Units can be Carried with them. Heavier Units like Tanks or Warforms etc would require Larger Sized Hangars.
For example A Standard Assault Army which is mostly Infantry and light Vehicles would cost 1 Point. The Starting Setup for Invasion Fleets is 5 Points. Which at start would be 5 Corvettes each with a Single Transport Hangar and thus each Ship having 1 Point to Transport.
Which means the Starting Invasion Fleet would be able to Drop 5 Assault Armies.
In later game. A Cruiser might have Improved Hangars. Thus actually being allowed to Carry up to 6 Points of Armies in his Belly. And thus also being able to for example Carry 3 Tank Units instead of 6 Standard Assault Units. Thus if you got 20 Points for the Invasion Fleet and thus have 5 Cruisers in it right now. You would then be able to have a total of 30 Points for the Army. Thus for example being able to Drop 10 Assault Armies and 10 Tank Units.
Invasion Ships go up to Battleship Size.
Advantages and disadvantages can be Set. I personally would use a System where Bigger Ships have more Capacity for Buffs but less Carrying Capacity.
For example. A Corvette Starts with 1 Hangar Slot and Costs 1 Point same as normal Corvettes. The Cruiser will have 3 Hangar Slots but same as normal Cruiser Costs 4 points.
So he actually has less Hangar Slots per Points. However he does have Bigger Weapons and has a Medium Slot for Support Modules thus providing Bigger Buffs than a Corvette.
But this can also be reversed or otherwise handled. This is just a side Suggestion on my Part.
Pls note. Invasion Fleets can Fight and can be Armed with Space Weapons on the Bow and Stern Section (if applicable) They can also be used for Bombardment before an Invasion.
However. Any Ships lost will also lose Ground Units equivalent to the Transport Capacity of the lost Ships.
Once an Invasion Starts. Invasion Ships will become Immune to the Attrition Damage of Orbital Guns as now their Damage and the Damage to Landing Forces will be decided on the Special Projects mentioned in Point 5 below.
During the Invasion. the Invasion Ffleet will move into Low Orbit to Avoid Detection and Attacks from Space Fleets which cannot enter Low Orbit to Fight them.
4.
Planets which are Bombarded should cause Attrition Damage to Fleets from Defensive Fire. (Only if they have Fortresses)
This is a Simple Mechanic that would allow for Fortified Planets to Defend themselves a little and thus it not being possible to just put a small Fleet there which will bomb it endlessly for years to avoid the planetary defenses having any effect.
A New Building which is Planetary Missile Silos or Defense Guns would also be added which allows for Planets to massively Increase this Attrition Damage that Enemy Fleets Suffer when Bombarding a Planet.
5.
And Finally the Invasion itself.
I would love to see the following System.
Invading a Planet works like an Archeological Dig Site. With the General being the Scientist. And the Army he has being his Power Level which is boosted by his Skill level.
The Planetary Defenses meanwhile being the Difficulty Level for that Invasion Site.
Thus the Invader constantly running up Progress for the Invasion. While the Defender will get a Special Project similar to the First Contact Event.
If a General was on the Planet he will be automaticly assigned to that Project. Otherwise the Player can afterwards assign a General to it. The Garrisson Armies and any Armies Stationed on the Planet will be the Power Level of the Defender. Buffed by Defensive Buildings and the Skill Level of the Defending General.
Both sites will get Decisions to make and Events from their respective Sites.
The Invader gaining Progress and allowing to Progress to the next Stage or Weaken the Defenses etc.
While the Defender can Reduce the Power Level of the Attacker slowing down his Progress or if he has Superior or Equal Forces even push back the Progress form the Invader ultimately forcing him to retreat from the Planet.
This would make Invasions especially for Big Planets with alot of Defenses into a quite a Big Event
And would also mean that a Fortress Planet can be a very Valid Defense.
At the same time. The Attacker of course has the Choice to Sacrifice Ships into the Attrition to Bombard Down enemy Fortress Planets if he doesnt have Sufficient Ground Power to Invade them.
If the Defender Manages to Sneak Reinforcements onto the Planet. He will get a Special Buff to his Progress with the Invader getting a Special Malus.
Afterwards the Reinforcements will be added to the Defending Power Level.
Likewise having a Fleet either from the Invader or Defender will of course Buff that sides Power level.
An Example for the Progress Stages is.
((Special Stage if the Planet has Planetary Shields and Orbital Defenses)) with Events Focused on Bypassing or Destroying the Shield to Land.
Landing, (Events Focused on Initial Losses during the Landing as well as Damages to Ships and Buffs from Ship Modules etc.)
Securing a Bridgehead. (Events Focused on First Assaults and the Struggle to Create a Safe Landing Zone to Receive Reinforcements and Supplies)
((Special Stage if the Planet has Fortresses to Defend)) with Events Focused on breaking the Resistance and Defensive Installations.
Obtaining Superiority (Events focused on the actual War to Control the Major Cities and Strategic Points of the Planet)
Final Stage of Subduing Resistance (Events signifying that Victory is Close with last Pockets of Resistance being Eradicated and the Population being bought under Control for Occupation by a Garrisson Force so that the Invasion Force can Take off from the Planet again and go for the next Mission)
The Defense is Mirroring these Stages.
((Special Stage if the Planet has Shield or Orbital Guns)) with Events Focused on preventing the Landing.
Landing (with events for causing damage to the landing Forces)
Throwing the Enemy Back into Space (with Events focused on Denying the Enemy a Bridgehead and force him off the Planet)
((Special Stage with Fortresses)) with Events were the Defender will Fortify his Positions to Fight the Enemy off from its Fortresses))
Defending the World (with Events of the actual War to Fight over Major Cities and slow down the Enemy advance)
And Final Stage (of Events trying to Resist Occupation by Guerillia Actions and Hit and Run Attacks of the last remaining Forces)
And Finally. An In between Special Stage for Reinforcements from an Defending Invasion Fleet.
This Special Stage can happen at any time in the Situation. And will contain Special Events of Invasion Fleet Ships causing Losses to each other. As well as Landing Reinforcements taking losses or launching Reargard Attacks on the Invasion Force etc.
This Stage will be Time Limited rather than bound to Progress. Which means once the Reinforcements have Landed it will go back to the Original Tug of War between the Two Sides.
Albeit with now new Forces on the Defender Site.
A Similar Special Event also is possible to happen for the Invader if he decides to Send a Second Invasion Fleet as Reinforcements.
Which means a Planet can have 5 to 7 Stages depending on how well Fortified it is. And can have Extra Stages in between if either Side manages to get Reinforcements into the Fight.
Pls note. For the Defender the Stages are reversed in Order.
Meaning if the Defender is Stronger. He can actually Progress his Stages towards the Landing and thus Force the Enemy off the Planet.
Or if the losses for the Attacker are too big. Deny the Landing entirely already at the start.
Greetz Sun.
ps
Hopefully we will one day see something
And now I wish everyone Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year.
Stay Healthy and Happy
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