Invasion success chances

[dostillevi]

With the recent changes to AI troop recruitment levels I'm finding that I can't overrun home worlds with a small fleet and a few troop transports the way I used to.. and in the process I found that when I landed my troops they were beaten even though they were rated almost 200k better (850k vs 650k) than the defenders.

So I have a few questions about ground combat:

-Do the number of troops affect the outcome of combat? It seems as though quantity of units may be a factor, since a large number of weaker units won't waste as much damage in overkill as fewer, more powerful units will.

-Do defenders heal during combat? From what I saw the answer is yes.. and if they do, is there any way to get a reasonable sense of how much stronger this makes them?

[Starke]

I assume that you're taking into account the combat bonuses displayed across the top of the ground combat interface, which I believe are not calculated into the overall strength numbers.

I'm not sure about troops healing in combat, I've never seen it, but I've never looked closely for it. I also very much doubt overkill shots effect combat much, as even highly vetted troops only do a small fraction of a unit's HP per shot.

[mSterian]

@Starke. The Army Strength displayed in the Battle View include all bonuses.

@Dostillevi: The AI might have dropped off more troups with transports or recruited some while the battle was going on.

For me, it has NEVER happened for me to get beaten in troup fights if my Total Invading Strength was higher than the defender's Troop Strength.

[Icemania]

dostillevi, glad to hear it's harder. I haven't played the latest patch yet but was hoping the minimum on any homeworld would be at least 1000k on Extreme early game to better balance the rewards with the investment required.

[dostillevi]

Well, for what it's worth, I was playing as the Zha'til and I was invading the neighboring home world of the Tairoshan (yeah.. mods). I had basic assault units while the defenders were all the default ground troops. The defenders were far more numerous than my troops, and the percentage modifiers were the same for both of us. They may have trained more troops during the battle, but I had a fleet in orbit and nothing landed, not to mention this was their only planet. I had to withdraw or lose my entire assault force, and when the battle was over I had lost some 400k in strength while the enemy had lost maybe 50k-100k. In any case it's only a matter of time before the Tairoshan home world is mine.. I control their system and I'm researching bombardment weapons [:D]

I'm glad this is a challenge, I'm just curious of the mechanics behind it. The Tairoshan also put up a decent fight in space too, repelling my first two invasion fleets before succumbing to a third. This all happening soon after getting warp capability on normal difficulty with the AI set to restless.

[Fenrisfil]

I have noticed this happening and for me it's always been a case of the battle dragging on so long that the defenders can directly recruit more troops. It's worth taking into account that defenders will always have this option and if they have a large population then the recruitment won't take that long.

Another thing that happens occasionally is the AI sends your ships away from the planet to attack random things in the system, loosing you your "space control" bonus. This one is easy to compensate for though just by changing the ships attack stance. however occasionally I forget about that and this catches me out in combination with the defenders recruitment drives.

It's probably sensible when attacking a homeworld to make sure you are also providing your own reinforcements (via troop transport).

[dostillevi]

I've conquered the world in question, accidentally had it rebel and become a new full empire, then conquered it again definitively. I watched the combat closely and invaded with two times the combat value of the defenders the first time, and five times the strength the second time. The most striking thing I noticed was that my strength was decreasing far faster than the defender's strength, which was also being bolstered apparently by very rapid recruitment. I would lose 5 to 6 strength for every 2 strength the defenders lost, even though I had 5 times their strength. I guess I could chalk this up to my troops being so numerous killing them would be like shooting fish in a barrel, but I find that a little hard to swallow.

[Jeeves]

Troops on a planet with a fortified bunker are very hard to kill. So always send at least 20 special forces in any invasion...

Lonnie Courtney Clay