Posted by: SteveAlt
« on: September 30, 2008, 06:11:20 AM »And there's more...
Now I am fighting some ground combat I realised you can't actually shoot at ground units with spacecraft in v3.1. Therefore in v3.2 you can detect ground forces by using an active sensor with a resolution of 5 or less (or a higher resolution sensor that is close enough to pick up resolution 5 objects). This is to simulate that detecting ground units isn't that easy. The total number of ground units does not affect your detection chance (just as many small ships are no easier to detect than one small ship). Any detected ground units show up a single contact for each population with the contact strength based on the total base attack and defence strengths of the ground units assigned to that population that are not within PDCs. For example, if a population has ten mobile infantry which are 5/10 attack/defence, the contact strength would be 10 x (5+10) = 150. Ground units within PDCs cannot be detected. Once detected, ground units can be fired on like any other active sensor contact.
As ground units are effectively immobile, hitting them once you detect them is going to be fairly easy. Given their likely reaction of dispersing to avoid damage, wiping them out may be more of a problem. When a weapon hits a ground unit, be it a missile or a laser (assuming thin or no atmosphere for the latter), it reduces readiness by a random number between 1 and 10x the damage. So if a missile with a 6 point warhead struck a ground unit it would reduce readiness by 1-60%. This means that on average, an infantry unit with full readiness is going to need about 20 points of damage to destroy it. Half the base damage from the attack is applied as collateral damage against the population in which the ground units is located. However, if that ground unit is currently attacking another population then the collateral damage is applied against the population under attack. In other words, if you nuke a ground unit that is attacking your territory then it's your territory that takes the collateral damage.
Steve
Now I am fighting some ground combat I realised you can't actually shoot at ground units with spacecraft in v3.1. Therefore in v3.2 you can detect ground forces by using an active sensor with a resolution of 5 or less (or a higher resolution sensor that is close enough to pick up resolution 5 objects). This is to simulate that detecting ground units isn't that easy. The total number of ground units does not affect your detection chance (just as many small ships are no easier to detect than one small ship). Any detected ground units show up a single contact for each population with the contact strength based on the total base attack and defence strengths of the ground units assigned to that population that are not within PDCs. For example, if a population has ten mobile infantry which are 5/10 attack/defence, the contact strength would be 10 x (5+10) = 150. Ground units within PDCs cannot be detected. Once detected, ground units can be fired on like any other active sensor contact.
As ground units are effectively immobile, hitting them once you detect them is going to be fairly easy. Given their likely reaction of dispersing to avoid damage, wiping them out may be more of a problem. When a weapon hits a ground unit, be it a missile or a laser (assuming thin or no atmosphere for the latter), it reduces readiness by a random number between 1 and 10x the damage. So if a missile with a 6 point warhead struck a ground unit it would reduce readiness by 1-60%. This means that on average, an infantry unit with full readiness is going to need about 20 points of damage to destroy it. Half the base damage from the attack is applied as collateral damage against the population in which the ground units is located. However, if that ground unit is currently attacking another population then the collateral damage is applied against the population under attack. In other words, if you nuke a ground unit that is attacking your territory then it's your territory that takes the collateral damage.
Steve