Capture Planet Strategy Forces All Attack Ships to Retreat Leaving Disasterous Results for the Dropships |
I've noticed in my invasions of the Xi'Chung that my entire frigate force retreated while my unprotected drop ships got beat up delivering their troops.
I had a single fleet, two task forces.
Fleet: Xi'Chung Liberation Fleet
Task Force 1: Maximum range
Task Force 2: Capture planet
So I send in the fleet, and task force 1 just retreats leaving my poor drop ships in task force 2 to face the enemy's weapons platforms alone as it dropped troops. I lost 2 of my 5 drop ships as a result. In a scene reminiscent of Starship Troopers, the first drop ship only managed to drop a third of its troops before it was smacked down, and the second ship was hammered as it was the turned to avoid another ship, and once its engines were gone, it didn't make it out alive. All my other ships dropped their troops fine and fled the scene in a mad dash for the outer sector as the main attack fleet of Task Force 1 played ring-around-the-rosie at the edge of the sector, completely avoiding any and all combat whatsoever and abdicating themselves of any responsibility for the limping remnants of task force 2.
What added insult to injury is that the fighters I attached to escort Task Force 2 also retreated. I could only imagine how my troops on board the drop ships felt as they saw the navy fly away from them.
All I want is for Task Force 1 to attack the planet and occupy their attention long enough for the Task Force 2 to drop their troops and make it out alive.
Surely there must be a way to order ship to protect another ship from its attacker, and subsequently a way to order a task force to protect another task force from its attacker (in this case, the weapon platforms on the planet are the attackers).
Now I did try setting the whole team up as one task force, and it fared a little better for the drop ships, but with more disastrous results for attack ships:
Drop ships as core
Attack ships as escort
Fighters as picket
The formation kept mostly intact on its way to the planet, but the escorts and pickets just held their position without firing back as the drop ships dropped their troops. It was sad watching two of my prized role playing firgates get wiped out by weapons platform fire without them firing a single shot, nor their comrades coming to assist.
There must be a better fleet ordering solution than to watch a mockery of combat tactics played out in pure chaos on the combat replay. I know my fleet admirals are trained better than this. Any suggestions?
Re: Capture Planet Strategy Forces All Attack Ships to Retreat L
From what I know, if a ship with even a single troop (or fighter) on board is on a capture planet strategy, more or less all the other ships are going to avoid the planet like the plague.
Heck, I have heard if you put a carrier on capture planet, it will go to deliver its fighters to the planet... although, since most strategies auto-launch, since it decided to land all of its fighters, as it was launching all of its fighters on the way to the planet, arriving and attempting to land nothing...
If there are no other valid targets around other than the planet, then all non-troop carrying ships will likely just 'run away' from the planet.
I would suggest to just send in a fleet ahead of time to soften up the planet and then send in the fleet with the troop transports, but that probably wouldn't work well either.
Damage to planets is messed up, since it bases 'damage' on population, so sending in a fleet first is pointless because...
There is no '%' damage to a planet.
If 4000m/4000m looses 1000m, it then looks at it as 3000m/3000m, and still with '0%' damage...
The best option is to make sure your troop transports have max engines, some PD, some cargo, ECM, and as much armor and shields as you can cram on them (especially one of each armor that gives defense bonuses, if applicable), stealth totem, whatever else you have that can absorb damage or lessen the chances of the ship being hit.
Go with the biggest fastest ship you can get (Cruisers in stock), with a focus on speed and defense, with some PD to deal with enemy seekers/units.
This makes sure they get in as fast as possible, unload troops (and fighters if they are carried and not launched), and then get away as fast as possible.
It's not much, but it can possibly reduce losses.
On a finale note...
War is war, planetary invasions are not supposed to be cake walks, they are supposed to be messy affairs with hefty losses... SE 5 just makes it where the invader looses more than they should...
Re: Capture Planet Strategy Forces All Attack Ships to Retreat L
The way I send an invasion fleet after a well defended planet is to devote a full task force for each drop ship. Lead ship is the transport, with at least three frigates or destroyers that have heavy armor and PD. Task force formation is "Barricade", which puts the FF/DD escorts out in front of the transport where they can either shoot down missiles from the planet, or they can absorb fire to give the transport a chance of getting in close enough to drop the troops.
Drop ship needs to be as fast as possible, as do the escorts; escorts should be at least as fast, preferably a little faster than, the transport ship. This will ensure that they are out in front where they can protect/absorb incoming fire.
Finally, the strategy needs to make certain that the ships stay in formation, to keep the escorts positioned in front of the transport.
As for myself, I consider such a task force to be disposable. Not all ships that need to get close enough to drop troops are going to survive against a fortress world.
I use multiple task forces of these types, combined into a fleet whose formation is set to "wall". This enables all transports to arrive at the planet at approximately the same time, increasing the odds of getting more troops dropped and for more ships to be able to escape...if 25 ships arrive simultaneously, the planetary WPs can only get a number of them before they escape. If the transports arrive piecemeal, more of them will get shot down.
Re: Capture Planet Strategy Forces All Attack Ships to Retreat L
One piece of advice I read elsewhere was to keep troop ships out of the fleet that performs the initial attack on the planet, since the presence of a Capture Planet ship prevents the rest of the fleet from engaging the colony itself. Like this, the first fleet of attack ships can be set to neutralise the enemy weapon platforms, and then a second fleet with troops arrive and initiate ground combat without challenge. The orders can still be arranged so that both attacks occur on the same simultaneous turn.
Re: Capture Planet Strategy Forces All Attack Ships to Retreat L
I usually equipt the first taskforce with faster engines than the second. That gives taskforce one a headstart in the invasion, and the transport ships arrive slightly later becasue of their lower engine speeds.
But that's how I plan it out...
~Myrath
Re: Capture Planet Strategy Forces All Attack Ships to Retreat L
I put everything together and handle the tactical manually. Once the planet is beatened down I withdraw the combat fleet and bring up the invasion fleet (which was hanging back). All the juggling is a pain but it works.
As for PBW, I haven't found a good way to reduce the defenses without killing everything so I just glass the planet and re-colonize from scratch. If you're in a PBW with me take note! >:)
Re: Capture Planet Strategy Forces All Attack Ships to Retreat L
Also, if one can order a cargo frigate to load mines, drop mines, and repeat in such easy simplicity, surely one can order a fleet to do something as simple as defend a particular group of ships.
Any suggestions on how to do this?
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