Ground Combat Observations and 'Rough Spots'

[liveware]

I'm setting  production cycle to 6 hours at every game start just to have less strange problems like that.

6 hour cycles are not standard? I assume you have access to source code and are able to recompile with non-standard options?

In the game settings you can change the value for production cycles - by default its 430000 or something which corresponds to 5 days in seconds. Idk why he did 6 specifically but it is almost certainly possible to reduce it to that.

If you really hate yourself you could make the production cycle 5 sec increments.

So no there is no need for decompiling the code for this - I think you misunderstood him as having 6 hour increments available as explicit increments like 3 and 8 hours.

You are right, I forgot about the production cycles setting.

[Garfunkel]

It happens quite often that the discussion gets away from the topic at hand, Malorn.

I definitely agree with you on all points. The supply system especially needs some loving.

[ExChairman]

I am having a small battle against some strange robots... 

My 2 Tank regiments are firing like maniacs, I mean a lot, probobly over 1000 shots... Very few hits and only 17 enemy units destroyed...

Cant be right?

One thing I noticed is that they (The enemy) targets officers, I meen they REALY TARGET my officers! Losses in command staffs are a lot more than any other... Between 40-50% losses in my mobile infantery units, after a few days fighting...

Are staffs supposed to b e set in (Avoid combat)

I cant se any supporting artillery fire (Set as Support) or any Orbital bombardments, some 20 CLs with lasers and Railguns...

[Black]

For orbital bombardment you need to set the ship as support for ground formation with FFD equiped unit. Then the ships will fire on enemy ground units. Give the fleet command - Provide Orbital Bombardment Support they will show in the same window as ground units.

Command formations (and supply trucks) should be set as Rear Echelon and HQ units should definitely be set as avoid combat to decrease chance of them beiing hit.

If your unit are not hitting then you may have penalties for fighting in hostile enviroment. Enemy is most likely dug in and maybe in difficult terrain like mountains or jungle.

Tech difference has also effect on how good the performance of your units is.

My setup for Corps:

[Jorgen_CAB]

If you actually want to perform serious bombardment of planets you should consider using something like this for that purpose. You could add another engine and additional armour and shields if you want to use it during the assaulting phase to get rid of enemy STO as well. But it is mainly built for supporting ground troops for as cheap a price as you can get it, this cruiser should be able to fire it's weapons for a very long time.

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Devastator class Bombardment Cruiser      20,829 tons       891 Crew       1,836.3 BP       TCS 417    TH 1,250    EM 0
3000 km/s      Armour 4-67       Shields 0-0       HTK 185      Sensors 8/8/0/0      DCR 10      PPV 230
Maint Life 2.90 Years     MSP 1,351    AFR 347%    IFR 4.8%    1YR 237    5YR 3,556    Max Repair 312.50 MSP
Captain    Control Rating 4   BRG   AUX   ENG   CIC   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Ion Drive  EP625.00 (2)    Power 1250.0    Fuel Use 52.41%    Signature 625.00    Explosion 12%
Fuel Capacity 640,000 Litres    Range 10.6 billion km (40 days at full power)

25.0cm C0.05 Infrared Laser (40)    Range 80,000km     TS: 5,000 km/s     Power 16-0.05     RM 10,000 km    ROF 1600       
20cm Railgun V10/C1 (10x4)    Range 40,000km     TS: 5,000 km/s     Power 12-1     RM 10,000 km    ROF 60       
Beam Fire Control R80-TS5000 (2)     Max Range: 80,000 km   TS: 5,000 km/s     88 75 62 50 38 25 12 0 0 0
Stellarator Fusion Reactor R6 (2)     Total Power Output 12.8    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor AS6-R1 (1)     GPS 16     Range 6.4m km    MCR 574.5k km    Resolution 1
EM Sensor EM1.0-8.0 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-8.0 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km

You also could add/replace some smaller rail-guns for engaging regular infantry, the 20cm rail-gun will have a damage of 20/40 a 10cm railgun will have damage profile of 10/20... this is AP/Damage. The lasers are more against heavier vehicles with damage profile of about 31/63.

In general I prefer my orbital bombardment cruisers to deal with static and vehicles while my troops can deal with enemy infantry more economically.

The 25cm laser only cost 2 MSP when it fails and the 20cm railgun cost 3.5 MSP when it fails, so you can shoot a long time with these. Recharge times is of no concern for bombardment purposes.

[L0ckAndL0ad]

The 25cm laser only cost 2 MSP when it fails and the 20cm railgun cost 3.5 MSP when it fails, so you can shoot a long time with these. Recharge times is of no concern for bombardment purposes.

Really sorry to hijack, but can you elaborate? Is there a different cost for space-to-ground firing failure MSP cost than the normal?

I remember building triple 20cm turrets and they failed requiring ~350 MSP to repair them, back in version...~1.5? Were there any changes on that front or something?

[Jorgen_CAB]

The 25cm laser only cost 2 MSP when it fails and the 20cm railgun cost 3.5 MSP when it fails, so you can shoot a long time with these. Recharge times is of no concern for bombardment purposes.

Really sorry to hijack, but can you elaborate? Is there a different cost for space-to-ground firing failure MSP cost than the normal?

I remember building triple 20cm turrets and they failed requiring ~350 MSP to repair them, back in version...~1.5? Were there any changes on that front or something?

This is built specifically for bombarding planets, thus being very cheap. As you don't need range or care about fire rate you can use the lowest tech possible and reduce the size to half...

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25.0cm C0.05 Infrared Laser
Damage Output 16    Rate of Fire 1600 seconds     Range Modifier 10,000
Max Range 160,000 km     Laser Size 4 HS  (200 tons)     Laser HTK 2
Power Requirement 16    Recharge Rate 0.05
Cost 2.0    Crew 12
Development Cost 825 RP

Materials Required
Duranium  0.4
Boronide  0.4
Corundium  1.2

versus say...

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25.0cm C4 Far Ultraviolet Laser
Damage Output 16    Rate of Fire 20 seconds     Range Modifier 50,000
Max Range 800,000 km     Laser Size 8 HS  (400 tons)     Laser HTK 4
Power Requirement 16    Recharge Rate 4
Cost 80    Crew 24
Development Cost 1950 RP

Materials Required
Duranium  16.0
Boronide  16.0
Corundium  48.0

Railguns are still more space efficient for the same damage but lasers damage profile is higher for the same tech level so having both can often be usable if you have both technologies. The difference in effectiveness is not huge though.