Ground combat strange?

[hammer58 (OP)]

First time back playing aurora 4x since major rules changes.

My main issue is ground combat.
I remember ground combat having both sides fire at each other in the report.
Even out classed you still fired and missed.
This time I have troops on a planet getting their butts kicked.
I am losing about 115 troops per combat report.
No return firing is happening.
My men are just getting slaughtered with no return fire.
I do not think this is happening from orbit.
As they only have 1 ship in orbit.
But I have no report of enemy troops on ground just damage reports coming in as the men are dying.
I am not even getting how much damage they are doing.
I get hits taken armor penetrated units lost.
I am getting about 195 hits per combat report.
Too many for a single ship I think.
My troops are set to front line defense.
Backed up by HQ with supply in support with bombardment.
Backed up with regiment HQ in Rear echelon.
None of the support or rear echelon are taking damage yet.

Why are my troops not firing back?

[nuclearslurpee]

Is the NPR marked as a hostile race?

[hammer58 (OP)]

NOPE good catch. But why are they neutral when they are shooting at my troops?

I mean to fire that General, as he just let the troops under his command get slaughtered and told his men hold your fire hold until the last man.

[Garfunkel]

There are situations when you don't want troops to attack even when under attack.

[Steve Walmsley]

NOPE good catch. But why are they neutral when they are shooting at my troops?

I mean to fire that General, as he just let the troops under his command get slaughtered and told his men hold your fire hold until the last man.

You need to set an NPR to hostile manually. There are situations where you might want to accept an NPR attack (ground or space) and not fight back. For example, if you intruded on their space and they fired but you retreat without returning fire, or accept the loss of ground troops, it will be much sooner when their diplomatic view of you returns to neutral. If you fire and cause damage, that will take a LOT longer.