So, I were sitting and doing the dangerous activity of thinking a while ago, and thought of a suggestion I wanted to make.

I'm not sure if this been covered already, but I couldn't find anything about it.



Anyway, when invading a system we have a bar that slowly ticks down and we then get the system 'as is'. Which is all well and good, but shouldn't a civ capable of space travel have quite nifty bombs?



Let me clarify; I am not talking about creating a planet-killer.



This is how I picture it:

New research avenue for Orbital Bombardment.
Bombs, if equipped to the ship +invasion.
Depending on bomb type, you 'terraform' planets at the end of bombardment phase (if you chose to equip that type of bomb)
The planets would terraform to either "barren", "arid" or "lava" - representing that you literally bombed the planet to oblivion.
Chosing to use these kinds of bombs would have a diplomatic impact and could possibly give the planet a negative anomaly.
It would also mean the system would be open for colonization, as enemy population would disappear - letting you bypass the negative happiness.
System allows for other possabilities such as using biological weapons.

Again note, that the bombs would only be (perhaps a hefty) +invasion - not an instant system nuke - and play out it's role mainly and the end of the invasion phase.



Just an idea. ^^



EDIT: Fiddlesticks. I just saw I posted it in the wrong forum.

I agree this is a good idea. I had suggested something similar here, along with links to even older posts:

/#/endless-space/forum/29-archives/thread/13319-suggestion-achievable-ground-combat

I think both of us probably remember this from MOO2. It seems that the useful bomb types are biological (kills farms/food exploit), kinetic (kills structures), neutron (kills pop), and "transformational" (nuclear winter or lava, or for highest tech, converts to asteroids). Where should these go into the tech tree? Should they be available to all races, or just some?



(EDIT: redirected discussion from this related thread:

/#/endless-space/forum/29-archives/thread/13477-suggestion-more-options-when-attacking-a-system)

More detail on optimizing current builds from this thread:

/#/endless-space/forum/27-general/thread/7994-synergy-on-ground-combat-weapons)

I would like to see the card system used, with as mentioned above choices like nuclear (damage all), biological (damage population) and so on.



Would be nice if population had militia, that way it would make sense to bombard civilian infrastructure, otherwise no point (except extermination).

Bombing could also just get you the system faster, or allow for raids (run a fleet in, bomb, run away before enemy responds). Also, I think captured systems should lose a few improvements to go along with the control malus (though it is nice to capture fully working systems...)

I would love to use a kinetic strike to decimate a planet and turn it barren, and I think that it would suit well with the Craver tactics. Biological attacks could have a split chance of creating the anomaly Hostile Fauna or Mutated Flora, and the list could go on....





Of course, you'd have to quick-build an orbital bombardment station first, or be carrying some very specific tools in your fleet to pull it off.

It will be great! Like a planet invasion in Galactic Civilization!

I like it. it's true that invasion is currently dull and could use some alternatives.

There has been several times in which I have taken a system which I knew I could not hold and thought....if only I had a way of detonating a bomb or something at the core of this system's planets and erasing it from the galaxy, or turn all the planets into asteroid fields.

I very much agree Hrothgarr and would love bombardement in the vein of MoO2 like Davaea describes it! Planetbusters ftw!

Orbital bombardment is a logical method of attack for taking control of a planet, however to add a bit of fun and tactics to the game, perhaps we should also look at the risks of having ships with these warheads in our fleet.



If a bombardment equipped ship is destroyed in space combat, there would be a % chance that its stored warheads would explode and damage surrounding ships. The % chance and range of the blast would be linear to the number of warheads on the ship.

grahamni wrote:
Orbital bombardment is a logical method of attack for taking control of a planet, however to add a bit of fun and tactics to the game, perhaps we should also look at the risks of having ships with these warheads in our fleet.



If a bombardment equipped ship is destroyed in space combat, there would be a % chance that its stored warheads would explode and damage surrounding ships. The % chance and range of the blast would be linear to the number of warheads on the ship.

Indeed it would only be fair if the ship carrying the warhead caused the rest of the fleet some damage when it's destroyed since, after all, a person wanting to see the big fireworks has to be prepared to carry the associated risks!



Also, while I don't want to appear coldhearted, would it not be so much more satisfying if you could subject the homeworld of an enemy who proved particularly difficult and tiring to defeat to a really intensive orbital bombing?

Sorry for my incredibly late reply to my own thread, but it's been quite a week of work.



I agree that the ship carrying such a bomb exploding in your fleet is a suitable drawback from using it. If we could get that combined with some kind of priority or target system during ship combat it'd open up new avenues of tactics.



Again, it's important to note that what I/we (if I may be presumptious) are asking for isn't a instant win planetkiller but rather a tactical option that could speed up the invasion of a planet and even terraform it to a certain degree.



Another usage for bombs is that if you use them, or perhaps an effect of specific bombs, improvements on the planter are lost at random with each strike. This would make bombs a bit of a double edges sword if you plan on conquering the system (meaning you have to rebuild improvements you bombed away) and it'd mean that even if you get interrupted while bombing it'll still have a negative effect on the system and your enemy.