Critique My Ground Elements

[Borealis4x (OP)]

Not knowing much about the mechanics of ground combat, I just made a bunch of elements that I thought felt 'right' in my gut.

I started by making sure that all my elements could fit in a single troop compartment, be it standard (1000 tons) or large (5000 tons). I plan to make troop ships with 4 large troop bays, 1 standard bay, and 1 small bay for a total capacity of 21250 tons.

This is enough for:

4 Battalions
1 Logistics Company
1 Regimental HQ

Basically, 1 transport = 1 regiment

With that in mind, I set about making my battalions as follows:

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1x Infantry HQ
1x Infantry FFD
55x Ranger
600x Infantry
60x Anti-Personnel Team
30x Anti-Tank Team
20x Heavy Anti-Personnel Team

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Mechanized Battalion
Transport Size: 4,999 tons
Build Cost: 195 BP
1x Mechanized HQ
1x Mechanized FFD
35x Anti-Personnel IFV
20x Anti-Tank IFV
300x Infantry
20x Ranger

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Armored Division
Transport Size: 4,999 tons
Build Cost: 592.2 BP
1x Mechanized HQ
1x Mechanized FFD
50x Tank
15x Ranger

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Support Battalion
Transport Size: 4,978 tons
Build Cost: 100 BP
1x Infantry HQ
43x Heavy Artillery
26x Heavy Anti-Air

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Logistics Company
Transport Size: 1,000 tons
Build Cost: 38.8 BP
1x Company HQ
15x Logistics Convoy
20x Security
Some notes on the less explicitly-named units:

Stats are:
Racial Armor Strength: 10
Racial Weapon Strength: 15

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Infantry
Transport Size (tons) 5     Cost 0.15     Armour 10     Hit Points 12.50
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.019     Resupply Cost 1
Personal Weapons:      Shots 1      Penetration 15      Damage 15

Basic Genetic Enhancement

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Ranger
Transport Size (tons) 6     Cost 0.59     Armour 15     Hit Points 16.0
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.074     Resupply Cost 1.3
Improved Personal Weapons:      Shots 1      Penetration 19      Damage 15

Desert Warfare
Improved Genetic Enhancement
Jungle Warfare
Mountain Warfare
Rift Valley Warfare

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Tank
Transport Size (tons) 96     Cost 11.52     Armour 60     Hit Points 60
Annual Maintenance Cost 1.4     Resupply Cost 42
Heavy Anti-Vehicle:      Shots 1      Penetration 90      Damage 90
Crew-Served Anti-Personnel:      Shots 6      Penetration 15      Damage 15

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Anti-Personnel IFV
Transport Size (tons) 58     Cost 2.32     Armour 40     Hit Points 40
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.29     Resupply Cost 18
Heavy Crew-Served Anti-Personnel:      Shots 6      Penetration 22      Damage 15
Heavy Crew-Served Anti-Personnel:      Shots 6      Penetration 22      Damage 15

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Anti-Tank IFV
Transport Size (tons) 62     Cost 2.48     Armour 40     Hit Points 40
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.31     Resupply Cost 22
Medium Anti-Vehicle:      Shots 1      Penetration 60      Damage 60
Crew-Served Anti-Personnel:      Shots 6      Penetration 15      Damage 15
Some questions:

- I hear there is a maneuver stat that effects chance to hit, but I can't find it.

- Does the game count the HQ unit itself as contributing to the units size? For instance, does an independent HQ weighing 250 tons need to have 20,250 capacity if you want it to lead elements weighing a combine 20,000 tons? Or does it just need 20,000 ton capacity? 

- Is there any downside to armor other than cost?

- Do science teams and logistics units need HQs?

- There seems to be a bug where stats for units, particularly capabilities, get removed or added without you editing them. Has anyone else experienced this? It might have something to do with using SpaceMaster to instantly make units while I was playing around.

- Do Boarding Troop Compartments unload as quick as Drop Troop Compartments?

- Should take all the FFDs out of my battalions and put them in my Regimental HQ.

- Is there a downside to my support bombardment and AA weapons being static?

[xenoscepter]

The HQ itself is counted. So a 250-Ton HQ needs 20,250 Tons of HQ to command 20,000 Tons of units under it.
No units actually need an HQ, the HQ just allows the assignment of a Ground Forces Commander. Science and Logistics certainly benefit from Commanders with the appropriate skills though.
I think Logistics Formations have some funny quirks w/ regards to Commanders and HQs, but I don't quite remember. I believe it had something to do with Resupplying between formations.
Other than cost and weight, armor has no downsides, although these are pretty significant downsides in and of themselves.

 - Those units look solid enough and the formations look sensible if a little small. I find the Rangers questionable, if only because they're such a small presence in the formations. Here's an example of a formation with units similar to your Rangers. My formations tend to be very small. This is at Armor 8/Weapon 10, w/ Heavy Power Armor. I like to clump together my special terrain troops, not sure if it is more or less effective than mixing them, this is just what I do.

Assault Platoon:

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Assault Platoon
Transport Size: 1,000 tons
Build Cost: 394.9 BP
1x Assault Infantry, Platoon Leader
2x Assault Infantry, Squad Leader
1x Powered Infantry, Unit Supply Module (Assault Platoon)
2x Powered Infantry, Squad Supply Module (Assault Platoon)
27x Assault Infantry, PAC
18x Assault Infantry, Mortar

Elements of Note:

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Assault Infantry, PAC
Transport Size (tons) 20     Cost 8.1     Armour 16     Hit Points 10.00
Annual Maintenance Cost 1     Resupply Cost 9
Heavy Crew-Served Anti-Personnel:      Shots 6      Penetration 15      Damage 10

Basic Genetic Enhancement
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
High Gravity Combat
Low Gravity Combat


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Assault Infantry, Mortar
Transport Size (tons) 20     Cost 8.1     Armour 16     Hit Points 10.00
Annual Maintenance Cost 1     Resupply Cost 6
Light Bombardment:      Shots 3      Penetration 10      Damage 20

Basic Genetic Enhancement
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
High Gravity Combat
Low Gravity Combat


[Borealis4x (OP)]

Other than cost and weight, armor has no downsides, although these are pretty significant downsides in and of themselves.

I don't think armor has a weight cost tho, which is very strange.

I was debating whether to have Rangers or just train all infantry to fight on special planetary terrain. It added a year or so to training, which is fine with me, but I decided against it since Rangers are A) pretty cool from an RP standpoint and B) Do a good job of 'rounding out' units when heavier troops would put you overweight but more infantry wouldn't add a lot.

What I'm debating now is whether vehicles should get any special capabilities.

[xenoscepter]

Armor as in vehicle has a weight, Armor as in Power Armor doesn't. Vehicles weigh more than Infantry and cost more to make, but otherwise have no real "disadvantages" There are Infantry only specializations, but vehicles are very powerful for breakthroughs and generally are just stronger overall.

Power Armor has no disadvantages either, other than increased cost and not being a vehicle.

I wasn't sure which way you meant it, but I know you can't add armor to a Ground Unit like you can to a Ship.

[Borealis4x (OP)]

Assault Platoon:

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Assault Platoon
Transport Size: 1,000 tons
Build Cost: 394.9 BP
1x Assault Infantry, Platoon Leader
2x Assault Infantry, Squad Leader
1x Powered Infantry, Unit Supply Module (Assault Platoon)
2x Powered Infantry, Squad Supply Module (Assault Platoon)
27x Assault Infantry, PAC
18x Assault Infantry, Mortar

Elements of Note:

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Assault Infantry, PAC
Transport Size (tons) 20     Cost 8.1     Armour 16     Hit Points 10.00
Annual Maintenance Cost 1     Resupply Cost 9
Heavy Crew-Served Anti-Personnel:      Shots 6      Penetration 15      Damage 10

Basic Genetic Enhancement
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
High Gravity Combat
Low Gravity Combat


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Assault Infantry, Mortar
Transport Size (tons) 20     Cost 8.1     Armour 16     Hit Points 10.00
Annual Maintenance Cost 1     Resupply Cost 6
Light Bombardment:      Shots 3      Penetration 10      Damage 20

Basic Genetic Enhancement
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
High Gravity Combat
Low Gravity Combat


These look like my Marine companies albeit smaller and with less Genetic Enhancement. I don't know about mixing front-line units and bombardment units; I think units should specialize in one role or the other. Same with adding in logistics.

With such small unit sizes, I think you should be specializing as much as you can. Or use bigger units cause I'd imagine managing formations modeled to the Platoon level is like herding mountain lions.

[xenoscepter]

The Logistics is less than 10% of the units overall mass, and the GSP requirement is 351 so those Logistics are only good for about 2 rounds of extra combat.

The Bombardment is definitely sub-optimal, but less so in this specific case as I intend to use these both stand alone and as direct support to a higher formation. So they're intended to flex between Frontline Combat and Support Position.

I happen to like herding Mountain Lions... it's just so relaxing man...

[Borealis4x (OP)]

The Bombardment is definitely sub-optimal, but less so in this specific case as I intend to use these both stand alone and as direct support to a higher formation. So they're intended to flex between Frontline Combat and Support Position.

If you like it you like it, but I don't see why you wouldn't make a dedicated front-line platoon and then a dedicated mortar platoon. You're already micro'ing platoons, I doubt adding in a second element to the mix will disrupt things too much.

Also, for curiosity, how do Squad Leaders differ from regular assault infantry?

[xenoscepter]

Squad Leaders are a 500 HQ

[Father Tim]

Some questions:

- I hear there is a maneuver stat that effects chance to hit, but I can't find it.

That's because there isn't.  There's an evasion stat (mainly for vehicles) that effects chance to be hit, and a stat often called maneuver that effects chance to perform a breakthrough (i.e. get an extra round of attacks).

- Does the game count the HQ unit itself as contributing to the units size? For instance, does an independent HQ weighing 250 tons need to have 20,250 capacity if you want it to lead elements weighing a combine 20,000 tons? Or does it just need 20,000 ton capacity? 

Yes, the HQ element's size is counted by the command rating.  No, you don't need extra capacity, as command bonuses drop off linearly after going over the rating.  A 20,000 command rating unit with 20,250 tons receives 98.7654321% of the C.O.'s bonus.

- Is there any downside to armor other than cost?

You mean, to using a more advanced technology (such as High Density Duranium instead of regular Duranium armour) to determine the strength of a ground unit element's armour stat?  No.

- Do science teams and logistics units need HQs?

Need?  No.  Benefit from?  Yes (in the usual way).

- There seems to be a bug where stats for units, particularly capabilities, get removed or added without you editing them. Has anyone else experienced this? It might have something to do with using SpaceMaster to instantly make units while I was playing around.

Nope, never seen that.  Are the capabilities actually being removed, or are they instead not being displayed (perhaps due to lack of space)?  And if you were "playing around" are you sure they were being added or removed without user input?  Did you (for example) make arctic warfare infantry, then try to make an arctic warfare vehicle expecting the "arctic warfare" aspect to remain selected?  In my experience when you switch to a new element no such 'options' are carried over.

- Do Boarding Troop Compartments unload as quick as Drop Troop Compartments?

Quicker, most likely.  Boarding Troop Compartments appear to unload 'instantly' -- at least for the roll.  Then 30 seconds per box of armour they need to destroy to get inside, then 60 seconds per round of boarding combat.  Drop Troop Compartments take much longer to land ground units on colonies.

- Should take all the FFDs out of my battalions and put them in my Regimental HQ.

Probably not, but if your overall commander has the best Orbital Bombardment Support bonus then yes.  Otherwise you probably want them in a specialist FFD unit with your best OBS commander.

- Is there a downside to my support bombardment and AA weapons being static?

Yes; they won't be able to perform breakthroughs.  There are many more upsides, however.

[serger]

Probably not, but if your overall commander has the best Orbital Bombardment Support bonus then yes.  Otherwise you probably want them in a specialist FFD unit with your best OBS commander.

Sorry, what is Orbital Bombardment Support bonus of Ground Force officer? I see no such thing in the drop-list of ground commanders, that seems to be Naval Commanders' bonus, and there is no way to assign Naval Officer to FFD-capable ground formation.

[Father Tim]

Probably not, but if your overall commander has the best Orbital Bombardment Support bonus then yes.  Otherwise you probably want them in a specialist FFD unit with your best OBS commander.

Sorry, what is Orbital Bombardment Support bonus of Ground Force officer? I see no such thing in the drop-list of ground commanders, that seems to be Naval Commanders' bonus, and there is no way to assign Naval Officer to FFD-capable ground formation.

You're right; OBS is naval commander only.  It does not appear that any ground commander bonuses affect FFD firing, so you probably want them under the best defender.

The general point stands -- mixing direct fire, artillery (indirect), and AA elements in a ground unit means losing out on commander bonuses, whereas keeping them separate units makes it easier to get the best commanders for the jobs.

[serger]

I also use FFD modules as secondary for my command vehicles, because I think it's awfull idea to combine command vehicle with heavy artillery or AA (though Aurora does not penalize for this - shots are not attracting enemy fire), and there is no other sensible option - you cannot select HQ module as secondary one, and construction modules are too heavy, that's substationally increasing both cost and transport size / chances of being destroyed.

[SpikeTheHobbitMage]

- There seems to be a bug where stats for units, particularly capabilities, get removed or added without you editing them. Has anyone else experienced this? It might have something to do with using SpaceMaster to instantly make units while I was playing around.

Nope, never seen that.  Are the capabilities actually being removed, or are they instead not being displayed (perhaps due to lack of space)?  And if you were "playing around" are you sure they were being added or removed without user input?  Did you (for example) make arctic warfare infantry, then try to make an arctic warfare vehicle expecting the "arctic warfare" aspect to remain selected?  In my experience when you switch to a new element no such 'options' are carried over.

There are several posts in the 1.11.0 bugs thread about the infantry genetic enhancement upgrade causing problems with units randomly not matching their design specs.

[Droll]

- There seems to be a bug where stats for units, particularly capabilities, get removed or added without you editing them. Has anyone else experienced this? It might have something to do with using SpaceMaster to instantly make units while I was playing around.

Nope, never seen that.  Are the capabilities actually being removed, or are they instead not being displayed (perhaps due to lack of space)?  And if you were "playing around" are you sure they were being added or removed without user input?  Did you (for example) make arctic warfare infantry, then try to make an arctic warfare vehicle expecting the "arctic warfare" aspect to remain selected?  In my experience when you switch to a new element no such 'options' are carried over.

There are several posts in the 1.11.0 bugs thread about the infantry genetic enhancement upgrade causing problems with units randomly not matching their design specs.

Im one of the reporters, its not just the genetic enchancement, all infantry capabilities are broken atm. In order to get the correct capabilities that you designed your infantry, design your infantry like you usually would, save, quit aurora, reopen and load your save. If between designing and reopening aurora you select any other capabilities, on reload your infantry will have the last selected capabilities - not the ones you designed it with.

[Droll]

Other than cost and weight, armor has no downsides, although these are pretty significant downsides in and of themselves.

I was debating whether to have Rangers or just train all infantry to fight on special planetary terrain. It added a year or so to training, which is fine with me, but I decided against it since Rangers are A) pretty cool from an RP standpoint and B) Do a good job of 'rounding out' units when heavier troops would put you overweight but more infantry wouldn't add a lot.

What I'm debating now is whether vehicles should get any special capabilities.

I have several tiers of infantry:
Militiamen - no capabilities, light armor - specialist soldiers such as AT,AA,LMG get power armor
Troopers - all planetary capabilities (extreme pressure, high gravity etc.), no terrain training, power armour - specialist soldiers such as AT,AA,LMG get heavy power armor, they use LMGs (CAP) and normal PW
Stormtroopers - in addition to what troopers get, these guys also have improved genetic enhancement and jungle fighting, all soldiers get heavy power armor instead of CAP, they use MMGs (HCAP)
Rangers - these guys get everything save boarding, all planetary and terrain training as well as advanced genetic enchancement, as well as everyone having heavy power armor,  they use HCAP and PWI
Marines - they have advanced genetics, boarding and low gravity training and are all in heavy power armor. There are no AT and AA variants etc. and use CAP not HCAP

Stormtroopers have jungle training because as well as jungle, you can have jungle Mountain and jungle Rift Valley terrain types.
Rangers are basically spec ops - there aren't many of them because they are expensive AF