Integrate Land and Space combat

[Coconut_Cookie]

To clarify I don't mean delete the transport ships, but instead give them more uses. The land combat has had some changes over the various versions but I find it still quite boring. So why not make your land forces compliment your space forces?

1. Perhaps give dead planets a bigger role by making it possible to make temporal bases with an army stationed there. Perhaps giant ground to space canons, supply bases for foreign campaigns, ftl inhibitors on multiple planets. Hidden production sites for smaller ships like corvettes/destroyers, hidden bases for fighters and bombers to protect a system. Secret research labs that give a tiny bonus to specific fields of research like: computing, voidcraft, biology.
2. Boarding pods fired from your troop/support ships which can take over enemy ships.
3. I don't know if the calculation in the background is the same as the visible representation but if battles are resolved in lines like some other paradox games, why not add artillery or special units?
4. Maybe the experience level of your units/ships could be more dynamic. For example if you have a lot of army academies/fleet academies could give you a higher experience base level. If you have regular exercises the, fight in wars regularly experience could increase. On the other hand the experience level could slowly drop to the base level after long times of peace simulating people retiring from your forces.

These are just some ideas, but I think by giving land armies a bigger support role would make them more interesting to use. I do think for this to work battles must be a bit slower and less deadly for it to work so you have time to reinforce.

 

[3ishop]

1. Don't see it really working. Guns already are on space stations if you want to defend the system. We don't have an army supply system at all, not sure why we'd need a planet to do so rather than a space port. There's the issue with control of the star base/outpost puts control on all the assets other than a colonised world.
2. Boarding has been a common request, currently not sure how to do it and be worth while without being OP or UP.
3. Not really, seems luck of the die where the army lands in the list. Doesn't make sense to add artillery as they already exists as part of an army.
4. Could be interesting and make having active fleets worth while. However am I the only one to find the exp is generally not noticeable?

 

[Coconut_Cookie]

1. Don't see it really working. Guns already are on space stations if you want to defend the system. We don't have an army supply system at all, not sure why we'd need a planet to do so rather than a space port. There's the issue with control of the star base/outpost puts control on all the assets other than a colonised world.
2. Boarding has been a common request, currently not sure how to do it and be worth while without being OP or UP.
3. Not really, seems luck of the die where the army lands in the list. Doesn't make sense to add artillery as they already exists as part of an army.
4. Could be interesting and make having active fleets worth while. However am I the only one to find the exp is generally not noticeable?

Calm down it is merely a suggestion to make them have more diverse roles and therefore give them a reason to exist.
1. It is different from stations because it would force you to always have support with you and would give defending armies the possibility to fight back. As for supply it could be a small bonus to combat effectiveness in the current version of the game. But it is just a suggestion, I'd like to see a simple supply system in the future because sending ships to the other side of the galaxy just after having invented FTL is a bit ridiculous. Ground forces would work as a support role, a fleet cannot bombard everything effectively at the same time. Defence of a system wouldn't have to solely rely on a space station and armies could serve a purpose in defending fringe systems rather than waiting to reconquer something.

2. Again it is just a suggestion to give transport ships some other purpose because as it stands now it would be easier to make offensive armies just a module.

3. I suggest this because it would add some more depth to what is happening. When building an invasion force the only thing you need to really worry about is the size the rest is inconsequential. If some of the values would be tweaked to support this, armies could be designed like ships but with different batalions like in HOI this would remove some of the clutter in the planet screen and lets you design armies for specific purposes.

4. On the highest levels it makes an enormous difference for ships it is: +40% damage, +10% evasion, +10% hull points. For armies it is: +40% damage, +40% morale, +20% health. It's not noticable because most armies/ships get destroyed before they ever get there. But making levels something that is permanent once achieved is too simple in my opinion.

 

[3ishop]

I am calm, I'm just responding with issues I see with what you said.

1. But it doesn't and it wont be. The idea is that if you want to defend against ships you upgrade the star base and maybe build some defence platforms. Building ground based defence wont make a difference, just avoid orbiting an empty world and the fleet is fine. It might shoot down a transport or two when they drop to assault but they are rather cheap. Also this would seem to require us building defence armies again which was removed due to being a pain.

I'm not against a supply system, just not seeing the value or point of putting it on a barren world.

2. As I say common request, still needs a lot of number crunching to work. Having invasion forces work rather like Endless space would be good for the AI however I do see the games strategic value of separate forces.

3. Problem is the stat tweaks would be minuscule and make no difference over all in game and make sense. Why the current choice is on their other values such as collateral damage, health and so forth. Unlike HoI we aren't playing on a single world. It'd be fine if we only had one world but the micro would end up insane.