There was a thread a few weeks ago about ground combat which inspired me to think about how invading planets could be made more interesting. The gist of this idea is that there should be multiple stages in trying to take a planet, depending on how many resources you want to commit to the occupation, and what your goals are in doing so. Under this model, there would be 4 different levels for occupying each planet, and defensive armies can be allocated to three different "levels" planetside, depending on what you want to defend.
1) Blockade: Once you occupy the starbase, and have enough ships in orbit (some function of fleet power vs planet population), a planet is under blockade. The planet's owner stops gaining energy, food, minerals, alloys, consumer goods and strategic resources from that planet, but continues to gain research and unity. Instead, the planet's production is shifted to a "local reserve". If the planet doesn't produce enough food or consumer goods, populations will begin to decline/become unhappy. The blockader has the option to "allow humanitarian shipments", which will stop pop loss due to lack of food, or "negotiate with local authorities to allow food shipments" in exchange for some proportion of the planet's other production. Planets can continue to build structures, but this will come out of the local reserve (i.e. if you want to start cranking out fortresses, it will have to be with local resources)
2) Military Strongpoints: These represent the planetside FTL inhibitors. Defenders can allocate units to defend here, and attackers will want to take these, so that their fleets can move forward.
3) Urban areas: If taken, the invaders will gain the alloys, consumer goods, and strategic resource production from the planet, as well as have the option of abducting/devouring pops. Planet owner will stop being able to build buildings once the urban areas are taken. Defenders will gain an advantage in defending here vs the strongpoints.
4) Rural areas: If taken, the invaders will fully occupy the planet and gain all of its resources. Defenders will gain a further advantage in defending here, representing the difficulty of rooting out troops hiding on every nook and cranny of a planet.
The defenders won't simply be progressively pushed back, however. They will retain the option of building strongholds/fortresses as long as they control the urban areas, and can counterattack, if the invaders do not maintain enough occupation forces on the planet. If the urban areas are taken, the defenders have the option to raise "resistance units", based on the number of civilian pops, to try to throw the invaders back into space.
In terms of strategy, defensive armies can be allocated to any of the three levels. There is the choice to defend forward (i.e. put as many troops on the strongpoints as possible) to block enemy fleets from moving forward, but that will mean that they are less effective at defending, and if the enemy breaks through, they will have an easier time enforcing a fuller occupation. Alternatively, you can have your troops scatter into the rural areas or the urban areas, which makes it much more difficult to root them out, at the cost of letting the invader occupy parts of the planet (though you can retake it if they pull out their invasion forces).
1) Blockade: Once you occupy the starbase, and have enough ships in orbit (some function of fleet power vs planet population), a planet is under blockade. The planet's owner stops gaining energy, food, minerals, alloys, consumer goods and strategic resources from that planet, but continues to gain research and unity. Instead, the planet's production is shifted to a "local reserve". If the planet doesn't produce enough food or consumer goods, populations will begin to decline/become unhappy. The blockader has the option to "allow humanitarian shipments", which will stop pop loss due to lack of food, or "negotiate with local authorities to allow food shipments" in exchange for some proportion of the planet's other production. Planets can continue to build structures, but this will come out of the local reserve (i.e. if you want to start cranking out fortresses, it will have to be with local resources)
2) Military Strongpoints: These represent the planetside FTL inhibitors. Defenders can allocate units to defend here, and attackers will want to take these, so that their fleets can move forward.
3) Urban areas: If taken, the invaders will gain the alloys, consumer goods, and strategic resource production from the planet, as well as have the option of abducting/devouring pops. Planet owner will stop being able to build buildings once the urban areas are taken. Defenders will gain an advantage in defending here vs the strongpoints.
4) Rural areas: If taken, the invaders will fully occupy the planet and gain all of its resources. Defenders will gain a further advantage in defending here, representing the difficulty of rooting out troops hiding on every nook and cranny of a planet.
The defenders won't simply be progressively pushed back, however. They will retain the option of building strongholds/fortresses as long as they control the urban areas, and can counterattack, if the invaders do not maintain enough occupation forces on the planet. If the urban areas are taken, the defenders have the option to raise "resistance units", based on the number of civilian pops, to try to throw the invaders back into space.
In terms of strategy, defensive armies can be allocated to any of the three levels. There is the choice to defend forward (i.e. put as many troops on the strongpoints as possible) to block enemy fleets from moving forward, but that will mean that they are less effective at defending, and if the enemy breaks through, they will have an easier time enforcing a fuller occupation. Alternatively, you can have your troops scatter into the rural areas or the urban areas, which makes it much more difficult to root them out, at the cost of letting the invader occupy parts of the planet (though you can retake it if they pull out their invasion forces).
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