ground forces - what to build and how to organize

[joeclark77 (OP)]

Hi, I'm returning to the game after many years away, and I see that the whole ground forces system has changed.  Starting with a brand new game, I have no troops at all, and need to build them.  However, I have no sense of the quantities and types that I need.  What's a good recommendation for an initial ground force?  I'm not planning any invasions (yet) but would like enough of a start so that, once I find an opportunity to take an alien world, I'll be on my way.

[nuclearslurpee]

There's approximately a bazillion ways to do this, so I'm going to suggest a decent basic approach to get started that will work well enough.

In general, as far as quantities the answer is "more". Invading an NPR homeworld will take multiple million tons, if not tens of millions, of ground units, so you're basically going to have to build them continuously throughout the game once you have good enough techs that your units won't be obsolete two seconds after you build them.

Because of this requirement, you generally want to use fairly large formations to get the most out of your commanders. If your army is built out of 1,000-ton formations, then for a million tons of ground units you'll need 1,000 generals. That's... a lot. If you use a 10,000-ton base formation size, then you only need 100 generals per million tons - much more achievable (but keep building Academies to pump out new commanders!).

Many players prefer a 5,000-ton battalion standard, because you can make a brigade with a HQ formation + 4 line formations (or 3 line + 1 support, etc. - don't worry about getting too complicated for now, though) that totals 25,000 tons and fits into the standard troop transport bay sizes. However, 5,000 tons is a bit small and can add some extra micromanagement, so I'm going to propose a standard based on 12,500-ton regiments or brigades organized into divisions or 3 line formations + 1 HQ/support formation. This will make it a bit easier for you to get the hang of managing formations, getting enough commanders, etc. and still fits well into a pair of 25,000-ton troop transport bays for easier spaceborne logistics.

(If I wrote a tonnage wrong, just adjust the numbers of other units to get close to/under 12,500 tons total - the precise numbers are not important.)

Infantry Brigade
2,085x Rifleman (INF + PW) = 10,425 tons
100x Machine Gun Team (INF + CAP) = 1200 tons
50x Anti-Tank Team (INF + LAV) = 800 tons
1x Brigade HQ (STA, 1 armor + HQ-12500, Non-Combat) = 75 tons

This is your basic, cheap line formation that is idea for garrison duties. Because they are very cheap, build more of these if you have too many ground commanders and not enough formations for them to command. Usually set to Front Line Defense stance.

Armored Brigade
160x Medium Tank (VEH, 4 armor + MAV + CAP) = 9,920 tons
55x Anti-Infantry Tank (VEH, 4 armor + 2x CAP) = 2,310 tons
1x Brigade Command Tank (VEH, 4 armor + HQ-12500 + CAP, Non-Combat) = 93 tons

This is your expensive, powerful offensive formation for the first wave of an invasion or counterattack. Because they are more expensive, these are ideal to build when you have fewer ground commanders and too many formations for them to command - more expensive formations take longer to build, so your commander generation rate can catch up while you build pricier units. Usually set to Front Line Attack stance.

Division HQ
112x Howitzer (STA, 1 armor + MB) = 5,824 tons
20x Construction Vehicle (VEH, 2 armor + 2x CON, Non-Combat) = 6,360 tons
1x Division HQ (STA, 1 armor + HQ-50000, Non-Combat) = 262 tons

This is a useful general-purpose headquarters formation. The artillery provides heavy fire support to one of your line brigades while the construction vehicles improve the fortification of the artillery and any infantry brigades attached to the HQ formation. Usually set to Support stance, with 3x line brigades (infantry or armored) attached as subordinates in the hierarchy.

Corps HQ
197x Supply Vehicles (LVH + LOG, Non-Combat) = 12,214 tons
1x Corps HQ (STA, 1 armor + HQ-200,000, Non-Combat) = 262 tons

A higher-level formation primarily responsible for resupply (and of course providing a high-level commander bonus to subordinate formations). Usually set to Rear Echelon stance. Attach 3 Division HQs to this formation and optionally a few other line or specialized formations (whenever you get around to building such things), and the Supply Vehicles will resupply any units below this formation in the command hierarchy.

You don't need more than 3 levels in your command hierarchy, mechanically, until you start messing around with more advanced units and capabilities - even then, I'm not sure I've ever had a need for more than 5 levels in the hierarchy. Because of this, I usually call my highest rank "NO COMMANDER" and my second-highest rank "---------------------" or something similar, and use that "high" rank to flag formations that shouldn't have a commander assigned - as long as no formation ever uses the second-highest rank, the auto-promotion system will never promote a commander to the highest rank, so in this way you can avoid assigning commanders to formations where their talents are wasted, e.g., supply dumps or replenishment units that are just meant to be shipped to an area of operations to reinforce your combat formations.

Recommended topics for further study:

• Make sure you under stand how to use click+drag in the Ground Forces window to set up the hierarchy and assign artillery support.
• Look into the Unit Series mechanic, which is essential for automated reinforcement and replenishment of your combat units after (or even during) a battle, as well as for resupply with infantry-based (instead of vehicular) logistics.
• Eventually you'll need to use specialized formations like construction, ground survey, xenoarcheology, decontamination, or surface-to-orbit (STO) brigades.
• Ground Force Organizations are a new feature and very helpful for building and managing large command hierarchies.

P.S. You might wonder why I do not use any AA units in the above formations. This is because the NPRs do not use ground attack fighters, so there is no purpose for AA when fighting the NPRs. If you have multiple player races and wish to venture into the thorny woods of ground attack fighter mechanics (and micromanagement), then AA can be useful.

[Andrew]

Also remember to build troop transports and keep building them, Landing 1 million tons in one wave is a lot more effective than in 5 waves seperated by a month as each wave will be wiped out before reinforcements arrive
My current game I started with enough lift to land a 220'000 ton legion enought to defeat most spoiler garrisons , however with an NPR homeworld 3 jumps from Earth I need more faster

[nakorkren]

Personally I tend to use 25k ton as the base size of my combat formations (infantry and armor), to reduce micro and demand for officers. As a consequence of that I use troop transports that can handle multiples of 25k tons.

One tip is to focus early on building logistics troops which everyone needs lots of, and construction troops if you're planning to use lots of those. This is because your armor and weapon damage of ground combat units will go up over time, so troops built early are mostly just bullet sponges tech-wise within one or two decades at most, but logistics and construction troops don't get less effective as tech goes on. The same is true for Xeno and Geo units, although you won't need very many of those. I'm not saying to ONLY built logistics/construction troops, only to build more of them than your force balance suggests early, and less later.

Also, I'll second the recommendation to built LOTS of troop transports. If you're lucky and NPC homeworlds are of favorable terrain (plains, deserts, etc which can't be heavily fortified), you can probably count of destroying their STOs from orbit and landing unopposed using normal troop transport modules. If your enemy has a mountainous forested planet, your orbital weapons will wear out before you kill all the enemy STOs, and/or you'll flatten the entire population and installations trying to do so. Hence, I recommend building dropships (troop drop modules, heavy armor, decent speed) and shooting to build sufficient ships to land 1 to 2 million troops in the first wave.

[joeclark77 (OP)]

What's a "STO"?

[Louella]

What's a "STO"?

"Surface To Orbit"

It's a ground unit, a bunker really, that has an anti-ship weapon, that can shoot at enemy ships that approach a planet.

despite the name, they can attack ships that haven't entered orbit too. You can build STOs on the Moon that can shoot ships approaching Earth, for example.

[joeclark77 (OP)]

Do you design them in the ground forces interface or in the ship design interface?

[Louella]

Do you design them in the ground forces interface or in the ship design interface?

In the ground forces interface. Select a static base unit type, then you'll see the option for "surface-to-orbit weapon", select that then you'll see on the right, a list of the available ship weapons to use as a STO. You can only use certain beam weapons for STO, and you need to have researched & designed the appropriate weapons first.

[skoormit]

What's a "STO"?

Surface to Orbit weapon type for ground units. Details here.

[Xkill]

I use the VB6 structure as a basis. There are three levels of organization: one tactical, one operational, one strategic. Basic formation size is 5k tons for ease of transportation. Four battalions join under a 25k ton division, four of which are commanded by a 125k ton corps. The additional 25k tons are for the inclusion of support formations such as artillery or engineers directly on the corps level. Formations themselves are similar to units from Advance Wars: homogeneous and specialized for a specific role. Larger organizations are customized according to operational needs by adding or removing these modular formations.

I like to standardize logistical commercial ship sizes to around 40k tons which is the most common basic freighter size that I use. A 40k ton transport can move a 25k ton division by itself. Very good for transporting garrisons economically. Five transports move a single corps. I see most people try for at least 50k ton transport capacity which often results in ships massing over 100k tons. I dislike this approach, but it can work.

It is very important to have lots of lift capacity. Transporting garrisons and especially performing planetary assaults will heavily tax your capabilities. It is always better to have more lift than you need. Also, train new troops constantly. Homeworld assaults are absolutely massive endeavours and you will most likely always underestimate how large a force you need.

[joeclark77 (OP)]

How do you fire the dang STOs?  I had an alien right in orbit of my colony on Ganymede and they wouldn't shoot.

[Louella]

How do you fire the dang STOs?  I had an alien right in orbit of my colony on Ganymede and they wouldn't shoot.

The alien race has to be set hostile, via the "Intelligence and foreign relations" window (the one with the alien face icon)

then in the "Ground Forces" window, you go to the "STO Targeting" tab, select the STO that's on Ganymede, and set its firing orders via the pulldown menu. You probably want to set "Target Easiest Ship".

[joeclark77 (OP)]

How does resupply and replenishment work?  I see a checkbox "use for replacements".  Would you just send along extra formations with the same kinds of elements and check that box to use them to replenish the main divisions? 
I also noted you (nuclearslurpee) included supply vehicles in your corps HQ.  What effect  do those have, and how do you know how many you need?

[nuclearslurpee]

How does resupply and replenishment work?

Two ways:

• INF with the LOG-S module will resupply any element in their own formation. They are somewhat cheaper than using LVH+LOG, and can be automated by using the Replacements mechanic.
• LVH with the LOG module will resupply any element in their own formation OR any formation which is beneath their own formation in the command hierarchy. They are a bit more expensive, but more tonnage-efficient and so better for dedicated offensive forces.

I see a checkbox "use for replacements".  Would you just send along extra formations with the same kinds of elements and check that box to use them to replenish the main divisions? 

Yes, that is basically how it works. It does require you to set up the Unit Series tab, which catches some people by surprise.

I also noted you (nuclearslurpee) included supply vehicles in your corps HQ.  What effect  do those have, and how do you know how many you need?

I already described what they do. Knowing how many you need is an art, not a science, but you can consider that the amount of supplies/GSP a unit carries is enough for 10 8-hour rounds of combat, or 3 1/3 days. Probably the best way to handle it is to estimate how long you expect a combat encounter to go and then add enough supplies to remain in good shape for that long. Anecdotally, I will say that in my experience a small combat encounter where you can comfortably outnumber the enemy might take about 15-20 rounds. A large combat like a homeworld invasion, where you will have a numerical advantage but not by so great of a margin, might take a couple of weeks up to a month, depending on terrain.

[joeclark77 (OP)]

So, GSP means something like "ground supply points" I gather.  My supply trucks (LVH+LOG) have 1000 GSP.  Does that mean they replenish that amount periodically, or they replenish that amount and then they're all used up?  Do I need to manufacture GSP somehow, to keep my armies fighting?