How do I get my fleet to bombard a planet?

[DocRobert09]

Okay I realize this is probably quite obvious, but I cannot figure out how to use my fleet to bombard a planet before my marines invade. Right clicking on a planet just makes my fleet go near the planet (not even orbiting it) and I can't find an attack option in the context menu. To be fair, I have nothing but Corvettes and Destroyers, but I saw an equivalently teched race attacking a planet with small classed ships. I searched around and haven't found anyone else with this problem so I'm sure it's remedial. But I have to ask, how do I use my fleet to soften a planet before attacking?

 

[Gerg Zerg]

Hi! I am having precisely the same problem. I feel like maybe we're both just doing something dumb, but it's quite frustrating.

 

[Avager]

If you are at war with said empire, just go in orbit of that planet, your fleet should automatically enter bombardment mode (Light, Limited or Full, depending on your policies).

Are you trying to bomb a planet that belongs to other empire or primitives?

 

[Ashantai]

Right clicking the planet (make sure it is the correct planet in cases where there are moons etc) will bring them into orbit to try and batter the shield down.

 

[Nueva12]

It's really just right click on the planet. If you hover over the planet with the mouse cursor, you should then see the defense drop down slowly. There are buttons in your fleet window, where you can switch between light and heavy bombardment.

If the planet is a gas giant, the colonies are on the moons instead. You then need to bombard the moon. Zoom in until you can distinguish planet and moons.

 

[Gerg Zerg]

So it's actually my own planet, that is currently occupied by a (large) enemy army. Does that make a difference? My own fortifications are making it impossible for me to defeat their ground forces.

 

[Avager]

I do not think you can bombard your own planet.
Are there really that many units on the ground?

In my experience, AI quickly embarks them after conquering a planet and moves them on.
I guess you need to overpower them... Use a general and some modules for each army unit (they can have attachments).


EDIT:
Maybe fleet will start dropping bombs when you drop your troops on the ground (Support fire/bombardment). Just keep it in the orbit and drop your armies on the planet.

 

[Finnway]

So it's actually my own planet, that is currently occupied by a (large) enemy army. Does that make a difference? My own fortifications are making it impossible for me to defeat their ground forces.

My brother is having the exact same problem in our multiplayer game.

The AI took his capital. He tried reconquering it with 18 units. The AI defeated his assault with only 6 soldiers.

Planetary defenses are at 2500. According to the tool tip, this reduces the damage the enemy receives by 90%

Ofc, he cannot bombard the planet to reduce the fortification because it's his own planet. Despite that fact, the planetary defenses are increased by his POPs even though the planet is occupied.

 

[MarshalKylen]

I can confirm I am having the exact same issue. You cannot apparently bombard your own planets, even if you are fighting a land battle there at the moment.

I also tend to get duplicate notifications for retaking my own planets - ex. "You have won an invasion" and "You have lost the defense of a planet" simultaneously.

The workaround I have found is to move all of your military units to another system. Then, the AI will think it is safe to take their transports and leave, and that is when you jump them with your fleet and take the planet with no resistance.

Still, this is very wonky and abusable in multiplayer as its very very expensive to defeat a decently sized army while it is still entrenched.

 

[Edz0r]

Same issue here. Giants took over my planet and I can't bombard it. 20 military units barely do any damage. Been wasting so many years trying to reconquer it. Annoying, had such a good run before this!

 

[Czaristan]

Yeah. This needs to be addressed asap. It makes warmongering borderline unplayable. Paradox, address ASAP.

 

[rakarna]

How do i get soldier so i can invade planets. my fleet only bombard the fortificatun to 0 and when i press attack it says that i dont have any mark troops. how do i get those?

 

[Creamu]

The problem is now fixed.

 

[Nervar]

My brother is having the exact same problem in our multiplayer game.
The AI took his capital. He tried reconquering it with 18 units. The AI defeated his assault with only 6 soldiers.

Just have the same problem with last patch. Can't bombard your own planets so can't return it.

 

[knives49]

it's a bug!
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...g-planets-fortifaction-cant-be-bombed.986845/

 

[PanzerBjorn]

Feb 5, 2017 and this bug is still there. Had a colony with abandoned terraforming equipment and when I re-activated it to let it complete its process, it caused mutants to take over my world. Just 3 of them there, but I can't bombard it and even with 30 assault armies I was unable to defeat them. =/ This bug's been well-known now for nearly a year - why hasn't it been fixed?

 

[Kiwipai]

Wow this is disappointing, had some titanic life take over my planet and well, can't bombard it so no way of taking it back. I sent in 30 ground troops and they did virtually nothing, there are no reasonable ways of get it back without being able to bombard it. What surprises me is that this is apparently a bug that has been knows for around a year now.

I was persuaded to buy this game by a friend when it came out, he told me Paradox fixes stuff instantly and adds tons of content and high quality dlc to their games. Trying to play it again now and finding almost no dlc and a year old game breaking bug... Guess I'll have to correct him if he says nice stuff about paradox to someone else

 

[Emraldis]

Wow this is disappointing, had some titanic life take over my planet and well, can't bombard it so no way of taking it back. I sent in 30 ground troops and they did virtually nothing, there are no reasonable ways of get it back without being able to bombard it. What surprises me is that this is apparently a bug that has been knows for around a year now.

I was persuaded to buy this game by a friend when it came out, he told me Paradox fixes stuff instantly and adds tons of content and high quality dlc to their games. Trying to play it again now and finding almost no dlc and a year old game breaking bug... Guess I'll have to correct him if he says nice stuff about paradox to someone else

This has supposedly been fixed for the next patch. Was demonstrated in last week's stream.