| Phoenix: Ground Battles | |
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Ground CombatGround combat allows you to win control of other player’s positions through force of arms, without having to reducing them to debris first. It is combined with space combat on a day-to-day basis. Ground combat is not supposed to be instant and will most likely take days if not weeks of pounding before one side wins. The aim of ground combat is usually to take control of a Starbase. When a Ground Party docks with a Starbase it is able to enter ‘Short Range Combat’ for control of that Starbase. This takes a number of days, during which the attacker can slowly gain control of the Starbase. It is unlikely that control of a Starbase can be taken in one day unless it is undefended. Every vehicle or troop involved has an associated accuracy and damage (as in space combat) and their fire is directed at targets decided by their enemy lists. Ground vehicles generally do more damage that space weapons but are limited by their range and defence. Ground Parties are the easiest way to move mobile ground units but they are quite susceptible to space bombardment until they engage with a Starbase. Boarding actions are a special form of ground combat. They are a quick and bloody action to take control of a Ship or Platform. Boarding actions are fought during a turn and not during the end of day battle. It is possible to board a Ship while it is still moving or armed but this is not as easy as attacking one when it is landed, docked or disabled. Weapon RangeAll weapons have a range (specified in their Tech Manuals), and these are:
When a collection of weapons have different ranges there is a possibility that a target is picked that cannot be fired on by all of your weapons. Ground combat weapons will generally have a range less than space weapons. Position SpreadThe Spread of a position determines how weapon damage
hits vital items and how ground battles are fought for control
of the position. Only Starbases and Ground Parties have a variable
Spread. Ground Parties can alter theirs immediately
with an order. Starbases can set a target Spread but the real
Spread of the Starbase only changes when they build more
complexes (new complexes are built at target Spread so the real
Spread will tend towards the target as more complexes
Spread does several things for Ground Parties and Starbases:
All ground positions fight best at a certain Spread, if your position
is matched to your troops’ ability to control it, then
you will stand a better chance. Ground battles are only ever fought over
Starbases, Ships and Platforms and the
defending position sets the Spread for the battle. Attacking a Starbase
with your Spread set to the optimal spread for
your troops makes no difference if the target’s Spread is different.
For example, one should always use marines to board Things to consider when choosing Starbase Spread:
CasualtiesWhen a Ground Party attacks a position from a distance the attacks are dealt with in the same way as space combat. The damage caused is not very discriminatory and will be blocked by armour, shields and other defences in the normal way. It is considered the attackers are at least over the horizon for this kind of combat and hence it is difficult to pin point individual items. The attackers will also have a change of hitting nothing due to the Spread of the target. When a Ground Party closes to ‘Short Range’ the attacks are only targeted at military equipment. All attacks will hit the target and none will hit open space. There will be more collateral damage as both forces can hide behind Starbase structure. A tightly packed Starbase will take more collateral damage but both defenders and attackers will take less damage and casualties. Most troops cause no collateral damage but tanks and other vehicles can make a real mess of the Starbase’s infrastructure.
The amount of cover that a starbase gives attackers will depend on how much of the control of the starbase has been taken from the defenders.
Therefore the opening round of an attack on a disperse starbase will mean that the attackers will suffer 100% of the damage delivered by the starbase, however the defenders of the starbase will suffer 10% of the damage delivered by the attackers. It is imperative that the attackers gain 10% of the control from the defender as fast as possible as this will vastly reduce the incoming damage, especially if the starbase is open or disperse. Being docked with a Starbase
is no protection from a full ‘board
side’ from the positions ground weapons (although it
does mean it can not target you with space weapons). It is necessary
to be in ‘Short Range Combat’ with the position
before you get additional protection from the Starbase structure. Short Range CombatShort Range Combat is fought for the sole purpose of gaining control of an enemy position. It occurs when an attacker is under a position’s external defences (shields armour etc). This usually occurs when a Ship or Platform is boarded or when a Ground Party docks with a Starbase to take control of it. There are only ever two sides in a Short Range Combat, the attackers and the defenders. The group a position falls into is based on the original target of the battle. There are two aspects to Short Range Combat:
Positions in Short Range Combat
with a Starbase are considered to be Spread within that Starbase and
can no longer be
targeted by space range weapons from other Starbases, Ships or Platforms.
Control Factors and DamageGround combat units have both control factors and damage values to represent how they perform in ground combat. The control factors represent the ability of a ground unit to take a fortified location, without necessarily destroying anything. All ground units have a preferred Spread. When the targets Spread is different to this then the item will have less effective control factors. For each step away from their preferred Spread an item loses half its control factors. For example, marines have 8 control factors at their preferred Spread, which is packed. If they are used in a battle for a Starbase with ‘Close Spread’ then they will only have 4 factors each but they will do the same damage. The total control factors of a position are the sum of all the individual ground units, modified for the Spread of the target position. The damage represents how effective a ground unit is at destroying the enemy. The damage done is unaffected by the preferred Spread of the units firing but it is affected by the Spread of the target. All damage in Short Range Combat either hits the enemy units or is collateral damage to the starbases structure. If your side has superior control factors to the enemy you will push them back and gain control of a portion of the position you are fighting over. The more control factors your side has the quicker control of the target position will fall to you. The odds of the battle are shown on the report each round, as is the likelihood of gaining control of the position. It should be noted that there is a random factor in the amount of control factors that an attacker can bring to bear during each round of the battle and if the control factor odds are even then the defender will eventually win. In this way battles do favour the defender, but only slightly and only when the forces are similar. Ground Combat TacticThere are several settings for ground combat tactic. It determines how you act in Short Range Combat. These are:
The first six combat tactics can be set using the ‘Ground Combat Tactic’ order for Starbases and ground parties. The boarding tactic is used when you board a Ship or Platform. Loss of controlAt the start of any ground battle the defender has 100% control of his position. Each round of the ground battle is possible to lose or gain a percentage of this control to or from the attacker. The actual control gained per round depends on the control factors of the attackers compared to the defenders. If the battle is in favour of the attackers they will gain control of sections of the Starbase. While the defender still holds at least 75% control of the position it is very difficult for the attacker to gain ground. The maximum control gained per combat round is mus of the
attackers compared the mus of the Starbases complexes or defending mass
multiplied by 10, whichever is lower (expressed as a percentage). So 1000mus of attacker vs. a 20 complex Starbase (20000mus) and 4,000mu defence can only gain 5% (1000/20000) control of the Starbase per round. It is never possible to take more than 10% control per round and the actual amount gained will depend of the number of control factors each side has. Example: Having only 2:1 odds will mean that only approximately 1.1% (10% x 11%) can be gained in a round where the defender controls more than 75% even if your force is much larger in terms of mu's, i.e. composed largely of vehicles but few actual troops. The table below shows the odds the attackers have in their favour
vs. how much of the maximum control can be taken
of the position per combat round.
For example, if the attackers can gain potentially 6% control in a round and the odds of the battle are 2:1 in favour of the attacker then they are likely to take 2% actual control of that position. While you control a Starbase you can still produce items and run complexes even though you are under attack. Your efficiency will be reduced due to combat and how much control you have left over the Starbase. The attacker does not gain production capacity until he takes full control of the installation. The more control an attacker takes from the defenders (on the contested position) they can exploit the defensive value of the starbases structure better, until finally they have the same benefits as the defender.
|
| Current Control Level | Base Chance of Losing Position |
| 90% | 0.1% |
| 80% | 0.8% |
| 70% | 2.7% |
| 60% | 6.4% |
| 50% | 12.5% |
| 40% | 21.6% |
| 30% | 34.3% |
| 20% | 51.2% |
| 10% | 72.9% |
| 0% | 100% |
The chance of losing the starbase (except when you have completely lost control at 0%) can be reduced by up to a factor of four for a very secure or large Starbase. The chance of losing other positions (Ship and Platforms) is not modified.
When control of the position is lost the following happens:
The battle continues, with the retreating forces attacking the new defenders at the Starbase the next day.
When there are no forces in a position you will gain control of it quickly providing you have sufficient troops and control factors to take control. It is not possible to take control of an installation without control factors. The speed of the take over will depend on the size of the installation compared to the control factors you have available. For example 100 marines should be able to take a 50 complex outpost in a day but 1 marine will take a week or so (50 complexes is a big place to search and secure).
Boarding is used to capture Ships and Platforms. Boarding is done in the orders part of a turn and not in standard combat. You can have multiple boarding in a day. There are two types of boarding:
When you board a position the forces sent to do the job are defined by your boarding party report. If there are no boarding party items set then you will not be able to board en emy positions (this is especially important for Starbases).
Boarding parties are defined on your position showing what forces will be sent to board. This does not effect how you defend yourself against attack, only what you send against others. Being able to select a boarding party will prevent incidents where you wipe out all your crew or your ground forces by sending everything against a very hard target.
Boarding parties are set-up by using the ‘Set Boarding Party’ Order. This allows you to select an item and how much of that item you wish to send on boarding actions. You can specify boarding parties with items that you do not currently have in your position. This means you do not have to resize your boarding party when you get low on one item or receive reinforcements. When the boarding occurs you will only send items available at the time. Only certain items can take part in boarding a position due to the limited space involved. Generally only 1 mu items and troops are allowed to board positions. This is not always the case and exceptions to the rule will be explained in individual tech manuals. If you cannot use an item to board positions then the ‘Set boarding Party’ order will tell you.
A typical boarding party report is shown below. It shows how many units you have available to fill the boarding party roster and the maximum (MAX) units you would like to send. It also lists the damage and control factors you have for a boarding.
|-Boarding Party Report--------------------------------------------------------|
| QTY | UNITS | MAX | DMG | FACTORS |
| 10 | Human Crew (505) | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 100 | Human Marine (506) | 1000 | 200 | 800 |
| 11 | Human Veteran Marine (512) | 1000 | 44 | 176 |
Active boarding occurs when you try to board a position that is capable of either fighting back or running away. Active boarding is initiated during your positions turn, and is done as soon as you have the TUs available to perform it. If there are other positions that support or defend your target at the same location (when you issue the board order) then a fullblown space battle will be initiated and your boarding will be performed the next day (if you survive).
If the position you are boarding can move then you need the following to attempt a boarding action:
If the position cannot move,
is landed or docked then you can always attempt to board it.
If you are able to board a position then you need to approach it and
during this approach the target can attempt to
destroy you. If the target is landed or docked then it does not have
any time to react to your approach and cannot target
you with space weapons.
If a target is able to fire on you it is allowed four round of space combat with all its weapons against you, while you do nothing but close the range to the target. In this space combat the entire volley of enemy weapons will hit and the damage done by each weapon is doubled (as you are approaching to a range where the enemy can spot weak points on you position). If you survive you will proceed to board the position. Generally it is best only to board crippled targets as heavy armed Platforms reduce incoming boarders to atoms.
When a Ship lands in a hostile Starbase it can either be automatically boarded or blasted with the full ground force of the Starbase (or both) depending on how the Starbase governor sets his options. The options for boarding are set through the ‘Boarding Options’ order and are displayed on the ‘Boarding Party Report’ for a Starbase. The default for a Starbase is to attempt to board a Ship that lands and then blow it up if the boarding fails. A large Starbase should have enough tanks etc. to completely destroy a landed Ship and the Ship will not be able to respond with space weapons due to the close range.
Note: Until a boarding party is set all Starbases will board Ships but it will fail. The ship will then be blasted in ground combat. Also boarding parties should be large (1000 marines will most likely capture a Ship with 100 marines) but making them too large will open the Starbase to massive losses. For instance Ships landing with a 1000 soldiers will be very difficult to board and it may be better to lose a small force and then leave it rather than boarding with a large number which are all destroyed.
The short-range part of ground combat for boarding is similar to normal combat, except:
The rules for ‘Loss of Control’ are the same but there are no modifiers for positions size etc.
Successful boarding action counts as combat for the purposes of setting the 'can leave combat' flag. This means that on the very next day after the boarding action both the boarding ship and the boarded ship can leave without being subject to the standard pinning mechanics. This only lasts for the very next day.
In both boarding and standard short range combat the number of troops promoted from the surviving troops is 10%- 30% of the casualties. Veterans are essentially bought with the blood of normal troops, this makes their effective cost ~ 50 stellars (as you have to lose 5 troops at 10 stellars each to obtain one). Their advantage is that they are roughly twice as effective as a basic troop of the same type and so after a year they pay for themselves.
Before entering into Ground Combat you may want to scout a position to find out what kind of forces it has. The ‘Scout Location’ Order gives you information on the position at your current location. The accuracy of the information depends on how many scout factors you have on your position (all troops have 1 scout factor but scouts have 4). Below is an example of a scout order
Scout Accuracy: +-24% (156 Scout Factors)
Scouting IND STARBASE Salamander (XXXX):
Spread: Packed
Control Factors: 69378 Damage: 110254
XLight Vehicles: 4551 Light Vehicles: 12144
Medium Vehicles: 536 Heavy Vehicles: 738
Turrets: 140
Troops: 60 Basics
199 Crew
4290 Marines
1253 Soldiers
123 Startroopers
Control factors account for the Spread of the position and hence do not always reflect its offensive capability. The report gives you indications of the number of troops, turrets (anything that can fire but not move) and vehicles. The vehicles are grouped as follows:
Type Mass (mus)
Xlight 1
Light 2-25
Medium 26-50
Heavy 50+
Before a Ground Party can dock with a Starbase to enter Short Range Combat it has to enter the Starbase’s ground sector and this will initiate a full space and ground battle if the Starbase is hostile. To avoid complete destruction the ground party will need to be set to a ‘Disperse Spread’ (default for a new ground party), this will reduce the damage done by the hostile Starbase. The small items (such as troops) will soak incoming damage when the Spread is set to disperse, as each weapon will only take out 1 or 2 items and the rest of it’s damage will be wasted.
Ground Combat Related Orders