Matrix Games Forums

Pic of a loaded transport. Note it can carry 4 troops.

And finally the ending economy with 1 of these 'over-powered' transport fleets:

I can easily afford a second fleet similar to this one, or to simply expand by 4 more transports.

Now then, I hope I have shown the problem. 7 troop modules meaning I only need 4 transports to have a fleet big enough to carry enough troops to invade an early state homeworld. I have enough warships to clear the defenses, and with 6-8 of these transports enough troops to make sure the invasion succeeds. A larger size transport module would mitigate this, and may be all that is needed to do so.

And then once I have that first homeworld, well my economy effectively doubles, and perpetuates the problem.

Two things would really help:

1. Increase the troop module size to 50. At game start 1-2 at most on a ship, and only on transports.
2. More AI troops on the homeplanet at the start would necessitate the transport of more invasion troops...making it harder to knock out an empire within an hour of starting the game.

great demonstration, Shark, a little aar in itself....preparation for invasion aar

To be honest the best solution is to make the AI play more like a Human does.  Find out what it is that makes AI homeworlds/colonies easy to take, see what it does different to the typical Human player, adjust accordingly.  Including, perhaps, attacking player homeworlds early on (depending on aggression of the race), that seems to be Human behaviour here anyway.  

Edit: Oops, that sounds like a direct response to Sharks posts, I'm actually just replying in general because this topic is spread over several threads, and this thread was nearest the top of the forum [:D]

Righto - I was making assumptions on your game which weren't consistent with the situation you were explaining.

Dunno - I think the "homeworld invasion too easy" question has to be approached from multiple angles. But this discussion is spread out over multiple threads involving loads of people. I think it would be more productive for a company rep to post a proposal of changes related to this problem, and let people pick it apart. Otherwise, the discussion is too scattered and chaotic for Elliot and such to make sense of.

The real problem is being able to invade at all when orbital defenses still exist. This was pointed out the first week DW came out and was to have been addressed. The idea that one can invade while orbital defenses exist is hard enough to swallow, but then to have those defenses flip control over to the invader is ludicrous. If one DOES have uncontested control of the high orbitals, then invasion ought to be "simple." Keeping the planet is another issue entirely.

ORIGINAL: solops

The real problem is being able to invade at all when orbital defenses still exist. This was pointed out the first week DW came out and was to have been addressed. The idea that one can invade while orbital defenses exist is hard enough to swallow, but then to have those defenses flip control over to the invader is ludicrous. If one DOES have uncontested control of the high orbitals, then invasion ought to be "simple." Keeping the planet is another issue entirely.

Personally I have never tried to invade until I have eliminated the defense bases and starports, so its a moot point. It's just as easy to do either way.