Ground combat

[Icebird (OP)]

I want to conquer a NPR homeplanet. My ships detect a strength 590 ground forces.
So I come with several dropships, and unload tons of heavy assault troops. I have 4 complete brigades, and 8 additional battalions , for a total of 1300 strength.

The problem is... I'm getting my ass wiped!
Each 5 days, I suffer heavy readiness losses, while the enemy lose very little.
My strength is already down under 1000, while enemy strength is at 555. I'm forced to pull back before I start losing troops...

What the hell is going on? How am I supposed to win this fight?

An additional note: Multiple replacement battalion don't work well: only one battalion will lose readiness at a time. Normal?

[Beersatron]

They probably have better Ground Tech than you, there is currently only the one research item for that and for the life of me I can not remember what it is called.

[Steve Walmsley]

Each 5-day you should get an event which tells you the combat ratio and the chance of attacker loss. What does that event say?

BTW, the detection strength for enemy ground forces is not the same as their combat strength. You can only find out the latter when you engage in combat.

Detection strength of a ground unit is equal to the Attack Strength plus the Defence Strength of an unmodified unit of that battalion type. For example, a heavy assault battalion has a detection strength of 24. A mobile infantry or assault battalion has a detection strength of 15 and a marine battalion has a detection strength of 20, regardless of the owning race's ground unit strength tech, the morale of the unit or the skill of its commander.

Steve

[Icebird (OP)]

Ok, thx, I understand now. I knew that detection added attack and defense, but I thought it included their technology. So 590 ground force is actually a huge number of units.
And its confirmed by the logs, with a combat ratio under 1. They have a defense of about 1500.

I guess I need a LOT more troops to beat them.

[Steve Walmsley]

Ok, thx, I understand now. I knew that detection added attack and defense, but I thought it included their technology.

Detection of ground units follows a similar principle to detection of ships. You can tell how large a ship is but not how effective its weapons are, or the skill or its commander and crew.

Steve

[Erik L]

Are we still able to bombard populations from orbit with missiles?

[Icebird (OP)]

Are we still able to bombard populations from orbit with missiles?

Yeah, its possible, I tried it. But since I want to minimize population and infrastructure losses, I want to conquer it without bombardment.

[Erik L]

Yeah, its possible, I tried it. But since I want to minimize population and infrastructure losses, I want to conquer it without bombardment.

Population in question is not on a habitable planet for me, so minimizing losses is not a concern

[Starkiller]

Advantage is almost always with the defender. I have conquered 5 NPR homeworlds and had to
use a combo of Heavy Assault forces combat dropped on the surface, and occasional selective
nuke strikes from orbit. I kept those to an absolute minimum, however, as they can do lasting
damage. Having some sort of beam weapon that can strike from orbit, with pinpoint accuracy,
would be nice. Nukes are kinda like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly.

Eric
 

[voknaar]

Advantage is almost always with the defender. I have conquered 5 NPR homeworlds and had to
use a combo of Heavy Assault forces combat dropped on the surface, and occasional selective
nuke strikes from orbit. I kept those to an absolute minimum, however, as they can do lasting
damage. Having some sort of beam weapon that can strike from orbit, with pinpoint accuracy,
would be nice. Nukes are kinda like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly.

Eric
 

Probably a post for the suggestion thread. But i do agree  infact its given me an idea to put forward.

[Starkiller]

Maybe a kinetic strike weapon. I do know they used those as
surface bombardment weapons in the later years of the 4th
Interstellar War in the Starfire 3rd edition timeline. Called the
system KISS for Kinetic Interdiction Satalite System, or something
like that. It's pinpoint, and doesn't have the major disadvantages
of nuke strikes, no dust or radiation. Just give the enemy a KISS.

Eric

[ExChairman]

Thor's Hammer from Footfall, David Niven(?)
Small stones with some guidance and a rocket, shoots down from heaven...

[ZimRathbone]

Thor's Hammer from Footfall, David Niven(?)
Small stones with some guidance and a rocket, shoots down from heaven...

Larry Niven.

A book I quite enjoyed until that deliberate telegraphed  joke at the dénouement

(David Niven was an English actor - Philleas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days & the jewel thief in The Pink Panther)

[sloanjh]

Thor's Hammer from Footfall, David Niven(?)
Small stones with some guidance and a rocket, shoots down from heaven...

And you might be thinking of Lucifer's Hammer by (Larry) Niven and Jerry Pournelle for a title, where a big comet ("The Hammer") hits the Earth.  Lucifer's Hammer came first; the idea for Footfall (aliens dropping rocks) spawned the idea of "what happens if a big rock (or hot fudge sundae) hits the Earth" so they wrote Lucifer's Hammer without aliens.  Later they came back and wrote Footfall (which was also by both authors).

John

[MattyD]

There was a weapon in Footfall that was referred to as guided spanners from space - lumps of tungsten dropped from orbit on to tanks. I think these might have been called 'Thor' but its been so long since I read this book

Hang on,

   "Project Thor was recommended by a strategy analysis group back in the eighties," Curtis said. "flying crowbars." He sketched rapidly. "You take a big iron bar. Give it a rudimentary sensor, and a steerable vane for guidance. Put bundles of them in orbit. To use it, call it down from orbit, aimed at the area you're working on. It has a simple brain, just smart enough to recognize what a tank looks like from overhead. When it sees a tank silhouette, it steers toward it. Drop ten or twenty thousand of those over an armored division, and what happens?"

Ahh, in this at least my memory was correct, now if I could just find my dried frog pill prescription....