Creating brigades, regiments, divisions etc

[undercovergeek (OP)]

Is the creation of army style groupings an RPG thing where HQs can be created correctly

I ask only because in another post a players has mentioned creating construction units of up to 200k in size - I’m assuming the game doesn’t automatically break this unit into the relevant military units

Is there a detriment to just building a unit that size

[Andrew]

You can build a unit as a single 200,000 formation. Good luck in moving it, you will need 200,000 tons of troop transport bays on one ship, thats probably going to end up as a 4-500,000 ton merchant ship which will be hard to build
Most people typically build formations of 10-25,000 tons and then assemble them as larger formations under larger HQ's. For instance my Legion is 220,000 tons total(approx some units are slightly smaller than notional)
consisting of 20,000 ton Legion HQ with a 220,000 ton hq. 10 Cohorts each ofa notional 20,000 tons with a 20,000 ton HQ . I then have a consular HQ of 1000,000 tons capacity commanding 4 Legions and support assets, that HQ is also 20,000 tons as a unit.
My troop transports are 100,000 tons like most of my commercial shipping and each lifts 40,000 tons of troops, typically grouped in formations of 6 ships lifting a legion and a supply cohort.

[undercovergeek (OP)]

You can build a unit as a single 200,000 formation. Good luck in moving it, you will need 200,000 tons of troop transport bays on one ship, thats probably going to end up as a 4-500,000 ton merchant ship which will be hard to build
Most people typically build formations of 10-25,000 tons and then assemble them as larger formations under larger HQ's. For instance my Legion is 220,000 tons total(approx some units are slightly smaller than notional)
consisting of 20,000 ton Legion HQ with a 220,000 ton hq. 10 Cohorts each ofa notional 20,000 tons with a 20,000 ton HQ . I then have a consular HQ of 1000,000 tons capacity commanding 4 Legions and support assets, that HQ is also 20,000 tons as a unit.
My troop transports are 100,000 tons like most of my commercial shipping and each lifts 40,000 tons of troops, typically grouped in formations of 6 ships lifting a legion and a supply cohort.

Wow - I have so much to learn

So 10 20000 units are just as effective as 1 200000

[Andrew]

Pretty much yes.
There are people who understand ground combat mechanics better than me. I understan when you get down to small units signifigantly less than 10,000 there are some issues with them being less capable than larger units. Also you need slightly moreHQ units for lots of smaller units but thats not signifigant.
Smalle units mean that lightly armoured artillery units, and spare supply units can be placed in formations in the reserve or rear areas and so be protected from direct attack.
Also of course except for defense of a world with ground force construction you effectively cannot have 200,000 ton units as a single block as you will never be able to transfer them.
Some people do favour very large STO units to cut down management but they do that by building smaller units and then merging them to a larger unit on the planet they will be deployed on. You could do that with engineers or any other unit but its not worth it

[captainwolfer]

Wow - I have so much to learn

So 10 20000 units are just as effective as 1 200000

Essentially, the advantage of smaller formations is that it is easier to form them into large hierarchies in order to stack bonuses from ground unit commanders. However, if your frontline ground formations are significantly smaller than the enemy formations, I find that seems to result in worse performance. I think that anywhere from 10,000 tons to 25,000 tons is a good size for your frontline units

Personally, what I do is arrange my formations as follows, from top to bottom:
- 1 Corps (25,000 ton formation with 425,000 ton HQ capacity, 1.5 construction, and 300k logistics, Rear Echelon)
-- Each Corps commands 4 Divisions (25,000 ton formation with 100,000 ton HQ capacity, 1.5 construction, and 300k logistics, Rear Echelon)
--- Each Division commands 3 Brigades (5,000 ton formation with 25,000 ton HQ capacity, some artillery, and 50k logistics, Support)
---- Each Brigade commands 2 Battalions (10,000 ton formation, Frontline)

This way, every formation can be transported in a Very Large Troop transport bay. An entire Corps has 240,000 tons of frontline units, with plenty of supplies to keep them operating at full capacity.

[Garfunkel]

What you name your formations and how many levels you have in your Ground OOB is entirely up to you. Most people use the standard military nomenclature to make things easier for them but Aurora lets you RP your armies any way you want.

What sizes to use is also absolutely free but many - if not most - players use the Troop Transport bays as a guideline, especially at the bottom rungs, so that your lowest level formation is either 5,000 tons or 25,000 tons. Going under 5,000 is detrimental against spoilers and NPRs as it means that the enemy will get more than usual number of breakthrough attacks due to wiping out an entire formation. I and few others tested this back when C# came out but this effect is really noticeable only when the difference in formation size gets towards the extreme end of the spectrum. Commander bonuses and especially tech level differences are easily more important than formation size.

But another thing to keep in mind is that if your smallest formation is 5,000 tons, you are going to need a ton of commanders to lead all those formations and their parent formations and so on. Unless you invest heavily in academies, you won't have enough commanders to go around, especially good commanders, which negates the mechanical reason to use an intricate command structure - multiplying commander bonuses from level to level.

Remember that individual units, entire elements and whole formations can be drag & dropped in the OOB window so modifying your OOB is very much possible and relatively simple too. It's not something to get too worried about. It's generally best to start from the bottom and build up as your armies, capacity and knowledge increases. For example:

Offensive Group - 25,000 tons - vehicles with a lot of CAP, HCAP and some MAV and LAC
Defensive Group - 25,000 tons - infantry and static units, roughly similar composition
Command Group - 25,000 tons - vehicles and static, has MB, CON (the latter especially can take a lot of space, don't skimp on them) and LOG

Make sure both OG and DG have a HQ capable of commanding 25,000 tons and CG has a HQ capable of 125,000 tons. Then build two OG, two DG and one CG. Once they are built, drag the OG and DG over the CG to form a 2-layer OOB. Build a troop transport that can move 125,000 tons. Now you have an expeditionary force that can both attack and defend depending on enemy numbers, can entrench itself thanks to the CON units and has enough supplies in the LOG units to keep fighting for at least a month.

Now, this isn't an optimised build by any means but it will suffice you for fighting certain spoilers and NPR outposts and such.

[Pedroig]

All my military ships carry at least 100 marines, with a boarding shuttle for every 500 marines aboard, this is mainly RP, but has proven to be effective with a fast enough shuttle.  No HQ element

I typically use 5000 as STO and Garrison/Police force number, and then have them in a "block" of 4:1 for any populated colony.  They all use the same HQ element.

After that, 50000 is my standard maneuver element, which is typically a 3:1 ratio of Defensive to Offensive, with a weird bit of structure so the Element HQ is supporting the Offensive and then there is a sub-element supporting the Defensive.  HQ elements are wonky, but the total weight ends up being between 45-50k, construction units are sprinkled throughout the Defensive elements and sub-elements.

It is rare for me to build any commercial ship smaller than 75k, with tugs, stabilization ships, and tramp freighters being the only exceptions that come to mind, so two of the 25k Transport Modules fit easily into my standard small "Liberty" style commercial hull bridge design.