Enemy AI Ground Combat Q/A

[Zanac]

How can you predict which defensive tactic the enemy AI will use so you can match it with the appropriate offensive tactic as per the ground combat matrix?

If it's just a guess, why are there so many tactics to choose from??

-D

[Alex-C]

From my limited experience in Ground Combat (fighting against Grendarl Militia) it seems that the only way to predict if your selected plan stands a good chance is to look just below the list of plans and it will tell you the predicted chance of you winning (eg. it might say high, or medium, etc).

Though i have only fought on planets with similar terrain and gravity, against similar opponents, this predicted chance of success has varied, which i put down to experience and numbers. I assume it changes based on a lot of factors of the planet and forces involved. Some units will be better at plans than others i guess.

As for why there are so many tactics, i guess its because of the numbers of factors that go into determining results of the combat, such as terrain, gravity, technology, numbers, experience, etc. For example, if im numerically superior i tend to "sweep" so that i can turn the enemy flank. If numbers are more equal but im technologically advanced, "massed assault", "single line" or "pronged attack" may be better suited.

[Harry Seldon]

I have good results with certain strategies regardless of the combat prediction. I've noticed that many times if not all the time they're the same so I wonder if sometimes certain strategies compliment certain empires. I tend to sweep, echelon, or vertical envelopment when initially landing. I'll switch to attrition, defensive spread, or manuveur for the middle ground. Then I'll finish them off with a sweep, massed assault, or pronged attack. It's pretty successful for my Evon forces even against superior forces.

[Alex-C]

I thought that you were meant to be able to fight for the planet region by region? Unless i'm missing something it seems to just play out the entire planetary conflict in one turn. Then again, i havn't had huge ground battles yet, but this was mentioned when MOO3 was still under development. I guess it didn't make the cut huh?

[Mithyk]

Nope, it made it. If the AI has sufficient defenders, I've had planetary battles last 8 turns or more

[Alex-C]

My Insectoid legions must be too much for the Saurian militia then

Well, i hope that the enemy presents some juicy armies for me to get stuck into soon, i've only been fighting Grendarl and Meklar militia as of now, and its been a couple of hundred turns. Does anyone else find that enemy ground troops are lacking?

[Proteus_MST]

Originally posted by Alex-C
My Insectoid legions must be too much for the Saurian militia then

Well, i hope that the enemy presents some juicy armies for me to get stuck into soon, i've only been fighting Grendarl and Meklar militia as of now, and its been a couple of hundred turns. Does anyone else find that enemy ground troops are lacking?

Depends.
Most of the Planets are just guarded by some Militia Units,
but some Planets are really hard picks.
Had one Day even a fight where I had to use a whole army to conquer a Planet (and even then I had to fight for several turns).

Mostly those Planets which are well defended (all Ground Bases and up to 10 Orbitals) also have large Concentrations of Ground Troops (and therefore give you a good fight before they get defeated )

[Harry Seldon]

Originally posted by Alex-C
My Insectoid legions must be too much for the Saurian militia then

Well, i hope that the enemy presents some juicy armies for me to get stuck into soon, i've only been fighting Grendarl and Meklar militia as of now, and its been a couple of hundred turns. Does anyone else find that enemy ground troops are lacking?

Each race has several worlds where they focus production, pop., etc. Find those planets and try a ground assault. I've had to send armies of four thousand troops just to capture the initial region then pour armies of battloids onto the planet to hold the ground.

[Alex-C]

The last couple of Grendarl worlds (before i wiped them out, aha!) and several of the Meklar worlds i'm currently fighting over have proved to be more worthy opposition, i guess i must have been picking on frontier and undeveloped worlds for the most part. I havn't got Battleoids yet but am researching them, how do they perform? I've found that nukes have a dramatic effect when trying to break a stalemate

[Harry Seldon]

My problem was I wanted the infrastructure in place when I took the planet over. I usually use the NBCs anyways but try to keep collateral damage low.

Battleoids are strong and it's easier to overwhelm some forces. They don't appear to be good at assaulting defensive positions. I usually bring some Mobiles in with them for tough planets so I can run the Vertical Envelopment.

[Gateway103]

FYI, use of Nuclear and Chemical weapons both increase the chance of doing damage to infrastructures, this is with or without low collateral damage setting (granted, high collateral damage makes things worse)

Only Biological weapon, while it increases the chance of civilian casualties and environmental damage, do not increase chance of damage done to infrastructures.

The reason why Nuclear weapon is so much more effective than Biological or Chemical is that it gives an attack bonus of +20, while Biological and Chemical only gives +10 each. In addition, using Nuclear weapon increase you units "# of Attack" stats by 1, whereas Biological and Chemical do not. Hence, Nuclear is much more effective at breaking the stalemate, although with a relatively hihger price tag.

-Gatewy103