ground battle updade

YES Please... 

As I recently commented on another idea mentioned, which I had posted on in Steam Forums, about Building Orbital Starbasse... I also commented on Ground Battle Improvements for ES2 aswell... it's just... TOO VAGUE!!

Granted... we ARE playing a Space War game, and the MOST common battles in a space war game, are those Space War Battles... Massive Ships fighting Massive Ships among space with lasers and beams tearing through Hulls and blocked by stronger shields, and Missiles and Projectilels seen tearing apart the Hull plating on the outside of the ships, while passing through space, stars, nebulas, etc... 

...BUT... unless you are destroying a target planet with the Core Cracker weapon, THE MOST important battles, are those on the surfaces of PLANETS!! And the battles are yet, vague and NON strategic! 

SO? How to make Ground Combat more Interesting?? I shall share my ideas how, and see what you think!!

Referring to a similar POST on Steam, someone else started the post, I recently started commenting on. So I will share the post, pointing out MY comments vs the others. And than follow up with more Ideas. 

ANOTHER PLAYER COMMENTS.

More interesting Ground war.

I have to say that i l0ve the space battles in this game. They are just great when you can see your own armadas of space ships fighting other factions ships and stuff. Slugs flying, lasers roasting and plasmas mauling.

Space battles are great, but the Ground wars are lacking in cool factor and enjoyability. We could use different kind of battle grounds for different planets and their effects on the war. On cold planets the fighting is slower and on deserts the armies get tired faster. Also for cold planets we could use snowy battlegrounds and deserts for desert planes of course.

New units for ground wars. Heavy infantry unit that carries a short range weapon that is incredible powerful vs enemy infantry. For the best faction that is the UE, the Heavy infantry would be a trooper carrying a heavier armor / Hazmat type suit. This Hazmat units weapon would be a flamethrower and he would carry a big tank of fuel on his / her back. For Sophon the heavy unit would carry a battery type backpack and it's weapon would fire stream of deadly lightning. For Lumeris the troop would have cool looking mask and heavy exo-skeleton and this troops weapon would look like a Gatling gun. Of course these units would have their own firing, walking and dieing animations.

I feel like these thing would make the ground wars little bit more interesting and the devs could release more tanks and planes as well. At least i hope that at some point the devs are going to improve the ground wars.

FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER PLAYERS COMMENTS

I too would like some refinement for ground battles, but separating the unit types any further is just going to complicate things.

What I would like is there to be a parallel line of ground battle strategies similar to fleet tactics that can be implemented on a passive level. Instead of choosing a single tactic against another while passives play out post-battle, ground armies have one main combat ‘Doctrine’ shared across Empire with up to three or four supporting Doctrines.

For example, the Blitzkrieg main combat doctrine relies on an air/armor heavy army and tries to attack hard and fast while taking increased damage themselves. You can support it with the Hearts and Minds support doctrine, making your army avoid infrastructure and pop destruction during battle in exchange for better resistance against a Conscription support doctrine and better system approval if you take it over.

Unlocking these ground combat doctrines could be similar to how some tactics are unlocked on the tech tree, but it could also come from government laws or emerging ideologies.

My ideas are VERY  Detailed, if anyone has not seen my ideas yet. 

MY COMMENTS on Steam thread.

YES>... I have suggested this before. When they were DESIGNING this game, on a ES 1 thread. Unfortunately... they didn't seem to notice...

I read a little about what you suggested...

I WOULD LIKE to see... the same style pre combat engineering we do for Space ships, we could do for ground units. Slots for Suit modules that you choose what your infantry suits have!!
Customizing your Armor units with a few MORE module slots? Same thing with Surface Squad units (aircraft). Both sides have same options too custom for their own ground forces. Upon all three categories of Ground, allow to custom light infantry and heavy infantry, Light Armor, and Heavy Armor, and Light air and Heavy air. What you choose depends on CP (command point) size, just like SHIPS. You can only FIT so much CP on your transport vessels. More research in tech tree allows more efficient transports, which you also build your self as well... and thus You have more custom Ground Force armies to fight with...

THAN... designing the Ground Combat engine to work the same as the space combat does... allowing us to PRE choose our battle card, and choose WHAT ground units go on WHAT Flotilla/Battle front on the surface.

Invading armies defend Campsite tents, while the defending armies protecting system defend surface bases. Invading armies can have extra combat boosts from Orbital ships providing siege support, while... defending Armies provide combat boost from Defensive structures built as defenses prior to combat.

Most Ground combat warfares will take place over multiple turns. Reinforcements will continue to support the battle from both sides. Both will have 1 main objective in the fight. Destroy the other's base. Attacking Camp vs Defending Base. Both having HP that continue between battles. Maybe both can gain a slight HP boost between phases. Specific Seige units must be involved capable of dishing damage to either camp/base. Once either side's Camp/Base HP reach zero, and is destroyed, that side loses... If the invading army loses it's campsite, than it lost it's ability to invade, and either the ground units are exiled? Or imprisoned. If the Defending base loses, the planet is taken. If System has multiple planets than each planet should be individually defended against. So during the Initial Siege/Invasion, the attacking force decides which planet to invade first, and could base on stats, or random.

If a System of 3 Planets is being sieged, when attacking army has taken the first planet, the OTHER 2 planets are still under control of the original owner, but under state of Duress! Loss of efficiency of all SIDS and no Influence from rest of system. If 2 Planets have been taken, the system is now in control of the invading army, except the 3rd planet. Whoever has the minority planet only has possesion of, not Control of, until either side gains complete control of system. So with 2 planets now invaded and lost to the invading army, 3rd planet still owned by original owner, but no longer control of. Can still defend. Also, can try and counter attack, and Retake the other planets, with reinforcments.

SO... as one can see... Ground combat would last a little longer. Systems would exchange control/ownership of systems back and forth, until one side declares it theirs entirely, also depending on how strong invading forces are compared to defending forces. They already have the game set up for this idea, they just need to improve the coding and improve the game engine for this set up.

What's everyone think??

MY COMMENTS again.

So to clarify what i said detailing ground forces. Light Infantry could cost 1 cp each, with 2x (or 3x) slots for modules. Heavy infantry? Maybe 3 CP with 4-5 slots for modules. Light Armor could cost 3 CP with 4x slots, and Heavy armor would cost 6 CP with with 6 slots. Same with Air units, Light air would be 3 CP with 4 slots (with unique weapon slot options, maybe the Laser or Missile modules take up 2 slots, the Kinetic or Beam modules only use one), and the Heavy Air would be 6 CP with 6 slots, with same Weapon options.

Various weapon, defense, and support modulels can be used on any of the units listed above, and all improved through research similarly like Space Ships modules. THIS makes every possible ground invasion battle very unique from the last one!! This... would change the TACTICs and strategies of the game...

THIS would make the game that much funner! Strategic. Challenging. Worth playing!!

So following up...

I basically suggesting the same mechanic and custom designing used for Space combat and Space ships... but with a ground Combat Twist. 

Obviously, in space, the planes are equal, balanced, for the battlefield itself. Space ships vs space ships among space! I also recently Suggested Orbital Starbases can be built orbiting specific planets. To counter the strategic Defense of having Starbases, I also suggested introducing Siege Weapon modules on ships which ONLY target Starbases, as well as Planet systems, with priority on those Starbases first. However, a Ground combat is not Mutually Balanced, theoretically! We can make it balanced for the fight, with out changing the aspect of either view of a Ground Combat. 

In a ground combat, you have either the Defenders, trying to defend their Home, so they Have Military Bases, and ground combat Turrets, and airbase wings, and Bunker Holds. With this structured idea, also intruduce Walls, surface traps, and defense turrets. In game now, all of this is IMPLIED as you build the RED improvements on systems, and just adds a buffer to the count of Defense which it considers when it does it's 30 second ground combat, before giving you a summary of fight read out. What I'm suggesting, if they introduce an all out strategic battle plan ground combat battle view, the Defense Turrets can be built on Each planet individually. Maybe from the player screen, on system, he selects planet, and it zooms into ONLY that planet, where he can select planet specific builds like the specialty, or the terraforming, or the anomoly reducer, etc... have another option for Build Defenses which allows a drop tab. So the Various Defefnsive structures which can be added, I mentioned, become available and improved upon through Research. So From that planet list, over time, you choose to build; Barrier level (upto Level 5 per say, each opening with different techs in tree, Barb Wire, Trench Moat, Brick Wall, Fortified wall, Shield Wall [picturing a forcefield barrier replacing the fortified wall]) with each level having improved defense against attackers, or some having focus defense against specific attacker category, Deffense Turrets (non mobile, auto fire), Bunkers, air Fields (maybe different level airfields can hold more air defense units), all... take up specific Module like slots for the Planet Surface, all Only available per slots allowed on planet surface. So with Planet Level (game now allows you to build planets upto Level 4) the same idea as system level, planets should have levels as well. Except, planets level should depend on few things, growing automatically, reflecting how long (how many turns) the Planet been colonised, how much Pop their is, and the Approval level of that planet (or system). All three considered, the planet gains and loses it's "Planet Level" automatically. Each level allows More Planetary Defensive Modules, and more Troops to defend it per level. 

SO... with all this considered. You have a planet suddenly being invaded. Keep in mind, as I mentioned in my initial idea discussed on Steam, each planet gets invaded, defended, individually, and taking any one planet does not mean the invader has control of system, as it's a stepping stone process to take entire system, one planet at a time. When the enemy shows up, they obviously must defeat the Defending fleet of star ships, and the Starbase of THAT planet (if my starbase idea is considered which includes the fact that each planet CAN have upto, and ONLY one Starbase Orbitting), if it's orbitting target planet at time the Enemy chooses to Invade the planet. Once all that is cleared out, the Enemy fleet chooses "Invade a Planet" over system, they can choose which planet to invade first. Defending, you have no idea which planet the attacker may choose, forcing you to choose all your forces on one planet if more important, or balancing them to defend each planet equally... all part of the strategy! So as the defending planet owner, you get notice of Ground combat, an enemy faction is preparing to land on your planets, as a Precombat screen... you have a Prefight setup screen. Just like in Space combat. However, in the Ground Combat, as the Defender, you are told "Planet is currently Level 3, you have ### so much Planet Modules to place, and so much alloted troops to defend, and this is where you choose which modules to be used." Remember, you have purchased, or built, many modules on each planet prior to this point. So you have so many Turrets, Barriers, Bunkers, Airstrips to use, but becuase planet levels will often change, your planetary defenses are never the same. So after place so many of these planetary Modules, and decide your Troops involved, youo also Choose a Battle plan. 

Same idea as ES2 already has for the battle plan cards, except adding A LOT more options! Battle cards that allow "Troops hold Bunkers, Armor Flank battle field" or "Armor Blitz middle, troops fall behind" or "Troops take High ground, Armor stay back" etc... many different scenario options for defending player to use. ALSO... and this suggestion goes for BOTH SPACE BATTLES AND GROUND COMBAT.... Go back to ES1 3x card Space Battle play, allowing player to choose a battle card for three subsequent phases of combat, of one combat. The Ground battle can be the same. On the Prebattle setup page, as player is setting up his Planetary Modules, deciding his troop count, he is also decided his three phases of his battle plan, defending. 

However, defending the Planet Base is NOT the only thing the planet defender has in task... He also attacks the Invaders Campsite. So from the Invader point of view, his Pre invasion combat setup, he is setting up his Campsite. Maybe invaders campsite have levels, depending on how many transport ships are involved. Depending on level of Campsite, invader sets up some Invasion Modules on his campsite, sort of like the Beachhand point of view. After choosing the Invading Campsite Modules, he chooses the ground forces he's using according to whats allowed from the transport ships that he brought, and than he chooses his Battle Cards for all three phases. 

Once both sides are set up, just like space battles, they both green light the ground combat, and it's underway. Depending on forces of both sides, ground combats ought to, and lilkely will, and SHOULD, take multiple turns. As I mentioned above, in my initial idea mentioned, Both sides have a base they are defending. Make it like an equal battlefield with battle torn and combat tomrented terrain. One side of the battle map is the base of the Defending Army of planet. The other side of the map is the Campsite of the Invading Army! How ever long the Battle takes, how many turns it takes, to accomplish the ultimate goal, both sides have to destroy the other's base, The defending Planet Base, or the invading Army Campsite. Both Bases have large amount of HP's and act as a Building to Target toward the back of their combat map facing eachother. Each turn the fight goes on, it's a NEW battle. Each new battle, is 3 phases with new chance to choose new Battle Cards. No matter the Troop Count per turn, per battle, the only objective is bringing the other side's Base HP to Zero, even if their no troops left. So if attacking army got in too deep, and LOSE all their troops trying to invade, and the Defending army has some left, they have easier job of attacking, destroying the Attacking campsite base. Once it's destroyed, the battle for that planet is over, the side who LOST their base, lost the fight, and lost the planet. Vis a Versa. If the defending army of planet lost all troops, and the Base still alive, the Battle Still continues every turn, til the Base HP are zero, at which time the Invading Army has Destroyed the Defending Base, and taken the Planet. 

THIS WAY... This allows Reinforcements to continue to come in, and try defending either sides' own Base on the combat surface of planet. After fight starts, the planet may have more reinfforcements on other side of planet who join next few turns, while the Invading side has more Reinforcements could join from the Starships in space. Maybe few turns in fight, Both sides still have sizeable forces fighting each other, however the situation has changed in space. Maybe the owner of the planet, defending, finally arrives with MORE ships to defend, new space battlles taking place in Orbit, the Ground Combat still continues every turn. Maybe with new arrival of defending Fleets ships, the attacking fleet loses all it's ships in orbit, or flees, to avoid the loss... As long as no more enemy ships in orbit, the Defending Race fleet can bring more Reinforcements on the ships to help continue defending the Planet Base, and counterstrike the Invading Campsite... til destroyed...

SO... the idea behind this way of Ground Combat... so it's NOT so easy taking systems. It's not so easy to invade planets. More strategy has to go into it. Just like the strategy going into Space combat. One chooses Troops, with custome Modules As I suggested above, and chooses modules to be used on ground combat scene, and chooses battle cards, all toward the goal of Destroying the HP of the other sides "Base" in order to Take/Keep the planet. 

No matter how many Planets their are in system, system is taken ONE planet at a time. Once ALL planets are taken, than the invading fleet has Total control of System. Until than, its' only Limited possesion for either side. This takes away the Easy drop ships fleet of army on system, and have it in few turns strategy that ES2 has now. 

What's anyone think?

Questions? Comments? I know, i may have made it sound complicating!