Invading a planet

[Xlr8]

Hi everyone. Quick question...

I have a fleet that is sitting in orbit around an enemy planet and every turn it asks me if I want to attack. I always say "yes, attack planet" and I always win with 0% allied loss. I have several troop transports in this same fleet and AFAIK they are stocked with marines and infantry (cuz i created the ground forces and then tasked the troop transports with the mission parameters.)

However, after winning the battle I dont get the option to invade. Does anyone know why this is happening? I have been successful in taking a planet before doing the same thing, but this time it is different... also, when I click on the enemy planet and look at it's status the population keeps increasing...?

My task forces are a lot of LR light cruisers, a few Hawk attackers, and many troop transports.

Please dont flame me, this is my first game and I *did* read the manual and I *do* read these forums and I know there are undocumented things left to discover.

Thanks in advance,

Xlr8

[yeem]

I was playing around last night with just that question. What I found was that if I ceeded control of the attack phase then I never actually saw the bombard phase (but I suspect it was also bombarding because the population of the planet I was attacking was decreasing??).

Well, if I instead chose to control the combat phase when it was done I was then given the choice to control the bombard phase. And again, if I chose to comtrol the bombard phase, once the bombarding is done then I got to control the landing of my troops (who all got slaughtered in short order, oops).

Yeem

[Xlr8]

Ok... now that you mention that... I'm not getting the option to bombard.... I'd forgotten about that. Can you think of a reason why I'm not getting that option?

[Xlr8]

bump

[PloreOSU]

The reason is, its a bug. If you select "AI Control" or "Watch", then you can't bombard the planet. Its been talked about quite a bit over on the IGMOO forums. Possibly its been talked about here as well, but I haven't seen it so I don't have a link.

The fix is to select "Control". If there are no enemy ships, you just automatically get the Victory sign and then you'll get the option to bombard after you select next phase.

[Xlr8]

Ah I see. I'll try this soon.

How do I get my marines off a planet I just captured and back into transport ships for the "forward conquest"?

[Harry Seldon]

The transports are destroyed when they drop to the planet surface. You can't organize a group task force without the Mobilization Center. Hope you sent some reserves in behind the main fleet, cause those puppies ain't goin anywhere for a long time.

[GodKing]

First, enter the planet screen, then hit the military tab.
Once there, click on ground forces. All those marines you just dropped should be there (those that survived anyways). Click on disband. This will send them back to your reserves so you can re-use them in some future task force. However, you should at least replace them with a new force to defend the planet and help suppress unhappyness. I often replace my armor detachments with older marine units of smaller size to do this.

Problem is, you have to go back to one of your plannets with a mobilization center (in a couple of turns if you want the same army) and make a new troop transport fleet. The actual transports are destroyed with the landing, and any escort ships are sent back to your reserves (I think).

[Harry Seldon]

Sometimes my escorts are lost and sometimes they're not. I find they stick around more consistently if I form the transports as a separate fleet and create a new task force to travel with them.

[Xlr8]

Got it. Thanks, yall!