Troops and capturing plannets.

[se5a]

what is the best way to do this?
what stratiergies should my ships and fleets be set to, and what desighns should I use?
at the moment I am capturing plannets with a heavy shileded ship, but the satalites then destroy the plannet...

[Randallw]

Um well you say your ARE capturing planets so you might know what strategies youe need but I'll explain because I had the same problem when I started.

First your transport carrying the troops must have a strategy to drop troops. This is a standard strategy called Capture Planet. This is just for the individual troop ship so the system knows, this is a ship that is built to drop troops it will then use the troops on board to drop on the planet.
That troop ship must be part of a fleet that also has the strategy to capture planets. So the same strategy, Capture Planet, for individual troop ship and fleet. You say satellites destroy the planet once you capture it. Are you using a fleet with warships to destroy the planets defenses?. If the fleet has the order to capture planet, the warships will shoot the planet and defenses until the planet is helpless, then they will stop if you have the troop ship set to capture the planet. The Troop ship has been staying clear of the fighting until now. As the defenses are destroyed the troop ship will then fly over to the defenceless planet and drop the troops. Whether they succeed or not is up to size of planet population, their physical toughness and the size of your troop contingent and toughness. I can say that the troop ship waits for the weapon platforms to die. I am sorry but I can't guarantee that it waits for the satellites to die as well, I just don't know about that bit. Try it and find out.

Edit. As for designs, use PD and guns to kill satellites. You can still use shielded transports if you want to capture the defenses along with the planet. I assume if the ship has shields it will risk the defenses.

[ March 06, 2004, 09:52: Message edited by: Randallw ]

[Desert Fox]

Hey great information and it is all logical makes sense. I did it one time and I did not know what I did to make it happen. I was playing with the strategies when I did do it, but totally by accident.

Do you mind if I post this at my website? Not that I get many visitors just excellent information. I intend to make my site a depository for all information regarding Modding, Game Stratgies and all SEIV information.

Let me know if you would rather I did not Quote your message here. Otherwise I will place it in the strategy section. Thanks.

Here is the post: CDG SEIV Website Post - RE: Strategy for Capturing Planets.

[ March 06, 2004, 10:48: Message edited by: Desert Fox ]

[Intimidator]

Hi,

Give your troop carrier some weapons, and PDC. And they go with the rest off the fleet straight to the planet, instead of waiting out of harms way until the defenses are down.

I know it's a risk but you avoid the possibility that you run out of time (turns) after the defenses are down.

Inti,

[PvK]

They do? Was this in 1.91? I thought we'd decided it was impossible to get the AI to do that in 1.84.

PvK

[oogs]

usually I have 2 fleets - one designed to glass the planet, one full of construction ships & transports. all I have to do is lower the pop to the point where my troops vastly outnumber theirs (i like having a 2:1 ratio usually) then i can capture it. If i loose a significant amount of troops, I use the construction ships to rebuild the troops. This works well against the AI, i have yet to test this out in PBW.

[Paul1980au]

Heres the strategy -

You want a fleet to do this

Couple of escorts that can bLast any defending ships
A larger ships with point defense cannons to bLast any missile sats or WPs.

Anothe ship with beam weapons to take out sats - dont drop youre troop ship until all planetary satelite platforms are bLasted. If you have a troop ship with shilds that can move quickly you can drop them on small planets with WP - make sure you have at least 100 troops on board to do the job remember the planet gets 1 unit for every 20 pop they have so for a 4000 pop planet they will have 200 basic armed units - so you will need at Last 300 to do the job.

[Grandpa Kim]

From the Newbie FAQ

7.2.19 Q: How do I set up my fleet to capture a planet:
A(Geoshmo): a. Make sure the troop transport has a ship strategy of capture planet.
b. Make sure the fleet has a strategy of capture planet.
c. Make sure the troop transport has troops onboard.
d. The target planet must have a population greater than 0. For some reason, the troop transport won't attempt to capture an enemy planet with 0 population.
As long as you do these four things then your fleet will attempt to capture the enemy planet. If the enemy has weapons platforms the attack ships will engage it till the weapons plats are gone or your ships are. The troop transport will run for the corner while this happens. Once the platforms are gone the troop transport will make for the planet. Your attack ships will then concentrate on taking out any ships/bases/fighter/sats/drones left. The troops will drop if your transport can get there before the combat round is over. If your troops are defeated your fleet will then turn back and attempt to glass the planet. If your troops are successful and the enemy has any bases or sats left they will open fire on the planet. Sometimes, not too often in the unmodded game, the combat round will end with your troops and the enemy at a stalemate. If this happens combat will resume during your opponents next turn. If it Lasts long enough to get back to your turn you can even try dropping reinforcements on the planet. In the unmodded game though this rarely happens.
7.2.20 Q: When you defend a planet this time, are mines, fighters and satellites stored in the planet cargo automatically launched to join the combat, or are they given to the enemy?
A(Arkcon): Units in storage of a captured planet or ship become yours. You can never capture units in space.
7.2.21 What if you have all troop transports and no attack ships? Will they try to take the planet anyway, even if there are weapons platforms? Sometimes I want to send in a heavily shielded/ armored transport to take the weapons platforms intact.
A(Geoschmo):Yes, if there are only troop transports and no attack ships they will rush the planet straight away. The same occurs if during combat all your attack ships get destroyed or disabled. Your troop ship(s) will rush the planet, even if there are still active weapons platforms left defending it.
7.2.22 Q: Which units will a planet automatically launch during combat?
A: Fighters & Drones only. Weapon Platforms and Troops cannot be launched obviously. Satellites and Mines are NOT automatically launched.
7.2.23 Race's characteristic - physical strength do affect troops but not militia. (Foreman)
7.2.24 Bear in mind weapons on a troop transport will not fire, even when in range. Unless you change the strategy [from "Capture Planet"], and then they won't drop troops. Point defense is ok though I believe. Will help if the planet is shooting missles at you. (Geoschmo)
7.2.25 I'm sure most of you know this, but in Tactical, if the multiple planets are adjacent to each other (sometimes they aren't and there's a row of empty sectors between them), you can drop troops on one planet, conquer it, then select the conquered planet and order it to drop troops on an adjacent planet. (Erax)

I can confirm this info is deadly accurate with the following provisos:

I have successfully captured planets where the troop ship was set to capture planet but the fleet was NOT!

I have successfully captured planets with unconnected Groups of fleets/ships with only the troop ship set to capture planets!

BUT... being a suspenders and belt man, I do not make a habit of this. I may have just been lucky but it has worked and the combat replay looked just like a properly ordered capture planet fleet.

[Fyron]

If any ship with Capture Planet type strategy is on your side AND it has troops on it, the warships will stop firing as soon as all weapon platforms are gone from the planet, waiting for the troop ship do drop troops on it. You do not really need one fleet, or the fleet to have a strategy with Drop Troops orders.

[geoschmo]

IIRC some of that FAQ info was develobed before 1.84 when I believe the fleet strategy was of critical import. With 1.84 there was a change that a ships individual strategy would override the fleet strategy, so some of that is no longer correct.