Divine_Moments_of_Truth wrote:
Not only it would be awesome but lore-friendly aswell in my opinion. They seem to be circling their own spaceships in space after all.

I am almost certain that most of their ships are just surf boards with an FTL drive!

I picture the Amoeba invasion force to be, actually, a droid army, much like the one in Star Wars. I think it would be easier for a galactic civilization like the amoebas to build an automated army then to try and create exosuits or something like that to invade a planet.

With the amoebas ability to temporarily enter computers with their mind, they might even be able to control drones from range.



I can see them doing both, being in exosuits on the battlefield and using droids.

quick question, is there a lore page? All this talk of what is and what isn't the possibility of the races makes me wonder if we should not make a thread devoted to the lore of each race.

Like all advanced warfare, planetary invasions are probably extremely complex and involve a lot of combined arms tactics. Starships use orbital bombardment to clear out an LZ for the more vulnerable troop ships, as well as eliminating serious threats from orbit (surface-to-orbit missile installations, large concentrations of enemy troops, strategic industrial targets, etc). Ground troops pacify population centers through occupation and co-opting existing governmental organizations, or installing their own local rulers.



Cyberwarfare would come into play, as defenders try to use jamming and camouflage to protect themselves from orbital bombardment and attack by enemy ground forces, while attackers try to overcome the defender's ECM, as well as attempt to locate enemy forces. If either side is using automated warfare tech (which seems likely), such as UAVs, UGVs, troops with tactical AI advisors, and the like, the cyberwarfare element can also be used to take partial or full control of enemy units.



There might be some use of chemical and biological warfare agents; a solar system is a big place to conquer and subdue, so an invader might release lethal viruses or chemical weapons to kill or weaken large parts of the population. A less-lethal version might be to release mind control drugs or anesthetics into a planetary atmosphere to prevent the defenders from mounting a coordinated defense.



In that vein, there's probably also a lot of psy-ops that goes on when you're trying to subdue a solar system with a population of billions of sapients. Lots of broadcasting to the people that you control the skies and they have no hope of resisting, they'd better just surrender, etc.



And then you get to Dust. At very high tech levels, the factions have much better control of nanotechnological tools like Dust, which can do all kinds of scary stuff. Dump a bunch of Dust into the atmosphere of a planet and program it correctly, and it will handle both the physical fighting and the cyberwarfare elements; the Dust can self-organize into larger conglomerations and build robotic war machines, or infiltrate into enemy computer systems and corrupt or co-opt them.

Anu92 wrote:
quick question, is there a lore page? All this talk of what is and what isn't the possibility of the races makes me wonder if we should not make a thread devoted to the lore of each race.

This is what we have for lore: /#/endless-space/forum/29-archives/thread/13132-the-universe



While I am sure there is more, tucked away safely in the flash drives and data mines of Amplitude Studios, it's all we have for now. Other than that, for what you all are trying to figure out, I'd say go with what saint242 said. It's very likely an extremely complex affair. And some races, lore-wise, likely would never be invading a planet. The Amoeba, for instance, more likely than not have no interest in expanding their territory, as with as long as they've been around they probably already have all they need. They would probably simply have huge defensive forces.



The Sowers would probably simply start terraforming. They don't need to care about the people on the planet. Resistance can be met with orbital bombardments, and they can fix any planetary damage later.



I doubt the Sophons would have much in terms of invasion forces as well. They would likely seek more of co-existence and co-habitation, living alongside others instead of taking planets for their own. They, also, would likely have primarily a defensive force. I'd tentatively lump the Pilgrims in here as well. They aren't a faction looking so much for taking over the planets of other, as much as simply seeing what they can do to get access to Endless temples for research and study. So, again, diplomacy, not war. I would say they have defensive and offensive capabilities, but the offense is simply to beat back people who have attacked them, and force a cease fire on their terms.



The Horatio, UE, Hissho, and Cravers are the only ones that I would see with actual strong, substantial invasion plans and forces.

Here is hoping such lore does truly exist, I am a bit of a fan of stories and facts myself so I would love all the information they could impart.



As for these peaceful races not having striking forces, it is said that wise men fear the anger of a gentle man, and I believe the same is true for the more scientific/diplomatic races.

I think the Amoeba or Sophon would definitely strike back if they were ripped from a home planet, and with vicious war techniques from minds who before thought of only possibilities and are now inspired to bloody action.

The warlike races of the Horatio, UE and Hissho would have by now learned of the cost of war and would probably be the best candidates for invasion (Baring the Cravers who seem to all live in space suits), i believe than when provoked into conflict especially when holding or taking back land the Pilgrims and Sophons would be just as rehearsed into the art of war (Being that that most of the pilgrims are humans after all).



I think sowers would see the need to attack the local population before terraform as a safety procedure for more delicate terraforming operations, they would attack like reapers, and would burn the earth (you reap what you sow).



However the scary one would be the amoeba, un-aquanted and innocent to war and some more barbaric ways of winning they would be likely to unleash weapons that even the cravers would think twice about, plagues, asteroids, the one that burns peoples skin you name it.





Peace through power.

Igncom1 wrote:
Also i had a weird thought the other day, what if cravers don't use shuttles to get down to planets, but instead just 'jump' off of their ships and use jet-packs to slow down!



How awesome would that be?

Not only it would be awesome but lore-friendly aswell in my opinion. They seem to be circling their own spaceships in space after all.

So a sort of leech harpoon? That sounds awesome!



I can see Amoebas using it on enemy tanks and power-lines in-order to charge shields and heavy weapons!

I feel like the Sophons and the Horatio would both use SPARTAN's for their elite infantry, UE use space marines, The Cravers all ware space suits anyway, the Pilgrims use the 'alien' movies exo-suit and the Hissho are bad-ass in their samurai armor.

I liked that Igncom1 now give us proper ground combat

Nomas wrote:
I liked that Igncom1 now give us proper ground combat

I'll try!

Well since there are buildings that increase invasion resistance based on pop we could picture it like this:





The Invasion begins, the attacking force beginss with orbital strikes against concentrated Military presence and the local power grid and of course any sort of threatening weapon emplacement (planetary defence centers etc).

Then they will launc hthe invasion with groundforces (your usualy mix here, air support, artillery, mechanized&armored formations etc.) that will take control of population centers.





The defenders are forced into small scale tactics because any big formation will get smacked from the high heavens - their struggle so to spek is not really to fend of the invasion, thats impossible. Their role is to keep fighting until help arrives, to keep the population from just bending over. They have to keep the attackers engaged, keep the population from coming to terms with the new administration. But that can also go on for so long, at some point their support will vanish and their numbers dwindle. Especially fast when the occupying force is acting decently towards the population.



Once their support is used up and no help to break the invasion arrived, the last bit of their color disappears from the invasion ring and the system hand over to the new owner.



^^







now as to why anyone would not be up in arms if the cravers land their hungry asses on your turf, i don't know.



oh yes, cravers airdrop with jet pack...



i can picture it....



They jump from the dropships at high altitude and the only thing the people down below hear is the ear shattering chorus of cravers voices:



"FOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yo6UXJOX2Q

Just for fun I thought I would brainstorm some ways that the races in endless space fight on the ground.



Methods of warfare:



Kbots/Drones/Droids/Robots/Thinking Machines/Replicators

Cyborgs/Super-soldiers/Bio-weapons/Clones/Physics

Exoskeletons/Power-armor/Personal Shields

Mechs/Battlesuits/Gundams/ACUs

MBTs/Mobile Artillery/Mobile AAA/Titans/Fighters/Bombers/Gunships/Hovercrafts/Walking MBTs.



I think that about covers it, from deploying off of drop ships, to fabricating an army at the target destination.



But if i were to assign some of these to the races in endless space i would see it like this:



Aomeba: Kbots/Drones/Droids/Robots/Thinking Machines/Psychics/Personal Shields/Mechs/Battlesuits/Gundams/ACUs/Mobile Artillery/Mobile AAA/Titans/Fighters/Bombers/Gunships/Walking MBTs.



Horatio: Kbots/Cyborgs/Super-soldiers/Clones/Exoskeletons/Personal Shields/Mechs/Battlesuits/ACUs/MBTs/Mobile Artillery/Mobile AAA/Fighters/Bombers/Gunships/Hovercrafts.



Sowers: Drones/Droids/Robots/Thinking Machines/Replicators/Titans.



Hissiho: Cyborgs/Super-soldiers/Psychics/Exoskeletons/Power-armor/Personal Shields/Mechs/Battlesuits/ACUs

MBTs/Mobile Artillery/Mobile AAA/Fighters/Bombers/Gunships/Hovercrafts.



Sophon: Kbots/Drones/Droids/Robots/Thinking Machines/Replicators/Bio-weapons/Psychics/Power-armor/Personal Shields/Mechs/Battlesuits/Gundams/ACUs/Titans.



Craver: Drones/Cyborgs/Super-soldiers/Bio-weapons/Clones(or just more cravers, i can never tell)/Exoskeletons/Personal Shields/Mechs/Battlesuits/MBTs/Mobile Artillery/Mobile AAA/Fighters/Bombers/Gunships/Hovercrafts/Walking MBTs.



Pilgrim: Robots/Super-soldiers/Psychics/Exoskeletons/Personal Shields/Mechs/Battlesuits/ACUs/Fighters/Bombers/Gunships/Hovercrafts/Walking MBTs.



UE: Cyborgs/Super-soldiers/Exoskeletons/Power-armor/Personal Shields/Mechs/MBTs/Mobile Artillery/Mobile AAA/Titans/Fighters/Bombers/Gunships/Hovercrafts.



(this is me just having some fun, )

I've always had this image of the Horatio using absurd amounts of troops in any conflict and just drowning out the planets defenses through the sheer power of numerical advantage. I mean they would also lose tons of troops, but it's all for the glory of Horatio so I'm sure they wouldn't mind.

Faustuous wrote:
I've always had this image of the Horatio using absurd amounts of troops in any conflict and just drowning out the planets defenses through the sheer power of numerical advantage. I mean they would also lose tons of troops, but it's all for the glory of Horatio so I'm sure they wouldn't mind.

Your imagination is quite accurate then lol by the lore, Horatio simply clone drop troops in mass and, as you said overrun the planet. I kinda wish this was more visualized in game though (although I dont know how.)



In fact, I wish more lore could be visualized in game instead of just reading it.

Anu92 wrote:
Amoebas would technically keep growing until death, depending on longevity, they might actually get to be fairly large...

And that could be true too

Well, drawing on how other space conquests have been seen in other games and how history reflects on us, most likely ground forces would take over political/military structures to quell resistance.



And no, there would not always be genocide, in the worst cases the native population is enslaved and mistreated, in the best case they would be absorbed into the growing empire.

Well not to be downer here....but most of the time when a invader takes a opponents land, the local populace can expect a lot of problems ranging from abuse to being completely wiped out.