Erik Rutins
Posts: 37503
Joined: 3/28/2000
From: Vermont, USA
Status: offline
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Hi Ashbery76,
quote:
ORIGINAL: ASHBERY76
How is the actual battle simulated.Do you control units.Does the army land in random spot intervals on the planet grid or in a formation.What makes the A.I decide to choose which targets.How long is does a standard invasion last ingame time.Does planetary defence effectively become obsolete with special forces.
It's similar to space combat in Distant Worlds. You don't fly individual ships and you don't tell individual troops what to do, but you setup the force you want and send it into combat. Ground combat in DW was originally extremely simplified. Every unit on each side shot at one unit on the opposite side and the last side with units remaining won. There was only one troop type.
There are now multiple troop types. Each have differences in terms of attack vs. defense, transport size and maintenance and how they target. Generals now also have skills and bonuses related to specific troop types, so you may have a "Patton" type general who is great with Armor and build a specialized army around him, or another who is better with Special Forces, or Planetary Defense. In addition, there are bonuses related to superiority in certain categories, for example having much more armor than your opponent can give you an armored breakthrough which increases the effectiveness of your entire force, similarly unopposed special forces, overwhelming numbers of infantry or control of local space around the planet can all influence combat. Trying to land on a planet without taking out the space defenses and planetary defenses ia also much more difficult now, your force will get hammered during the landing phase.
If you see an enemy force with lots of armor, be sure to bring some of your own. Similarly if you see Planetary Defenses or Special Forces, bring some Special Forces of your own. There's no "one size fits all" solution, you need the right force for each battle if you want the best chance of success, just as you have to counter advantages in ship design and technology in your planning and execution of space combat.
The tech tree lets you decide where to focus. The ground combat tree is pretty large, though there are branches that don't directly boost each troop type, they give you other advantages. Each troop type does have a branch so if you want to have the best infantry, or the best srmor, you can do that. Being the best at all areas of ground combat requires a very significant commitment, but it can make taking enemy worlds intact much easier.
The value of an intact world is much, much greater than that of a damaged, "bombed back to the stone age" planet, but bombardment tech is also less expensive to pursue (and also doesn't help you with your own defense against planetary invasion) so choose carefully which route you take.
One other thing you'll notice in Shadows is that the total number of troops is about half what it was in previous versions of Distant Worlds. Troops are much more interesting and important, but also more expensive. The number of troops you have to manage will be closer to the number of ships rather than the vast numbers they could at times reach before. There is one branch, improved logistics, that can significantly decrease troop maintenance for those who believe in mass quantities.
Special forces do not make Planetary Defenses obsolete, but an invasion against Planetary Defenses is definitely easier if you bring along some Special Forces. The best counter to them is to have some Special Forces of your own, but any units on the planet will try to defend your facilities and planetary defense units against attacks by enemy Special Forces. They make your success against Planetary Defenses more likely, but they do not completely neutralize them.
quote:
Why are Sluken infantry fighting in the ocean
The water's nice, come on in. 
Regards,
- Erik
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RE: Distant Worlds: Shadows - 
.... how does the sphere of influence and prate empires interact? Do prate factions also have their own sphere of influence (here there be pirates! Argh!)?
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