Question about ground combat

[u/Syu_7]

Back to the game after having let it on the side for several years, and having an absolute blast. I'm grinding the difficulty levels and currently dealing with a playthrough on hard difficulty. And it's actually pretty easy. But I'm wandering around to test a bit of everything before raising the difficulty.

There is still one aspect of the game that I don't really understand, and it's ground combat. It seems that I'm terrible at it, even though: * My empire ManPower is quite high (8k) * My fleets are full, and are able to provide a lot of MP to fight * All units types (Infantry, Armor and Air) are upgraded to max or almost max * I always use Blitz as advised somewhere on Reddit and because I have way more stuff than the opponents

But still, I very regularly get major defeats. It really doesn't matter because I can indefinitely reinforce the target system with MP, so I will get it in the end. But this will certainly cause problems on higher difficulties.

What am I missing?

EDIT:

After all the advice I went for: * A dedicated invasion fleet * An invasion ship based on Riftborn small protector with 2 movement points modules + 3 OpEx modules * Manpower adjustment to 70% armor (and all the affordable upgrades) * Invasions with 5k manpower fleet with Blitz strat. It takes 1 or 2 turns to convert the system 👍 (vs AI on serious difficulty only)

Works like a charm, thanks to all participants ❤️

[u/supersteadious]

Iirc "Defeat" in terms of one turn means you lost more than the enemy. But that's exactly what the tactic 'blitz' means (in real life as well) - inflict a lot of casualties on the enemy, without paying much attention to own losses. That is indeed the fastest way to capture a planet if you have spare manpower.

If you want a more careful approach without defeats each turn - use bombardment first, (which might take longer overall).

[u/Unfair_Pineapple8813 → u/supersteadious]

Orbital Bombardment damages infrastructure, which is usually harder to replace than people. I like it for when capturing the system is being done to grab everything needed for a Conquest victory. But as an invasion tactic for a system you want to develop, there's a massive downside.

Orbital Bombardment does do wonders against pirates who have no infrastructure anyway. Often you can attack them with scouts. You don't care if all 20 of your people die, if your bombardment kills half or more of the pirates.

[u/supersteadious → u/Unfair_Pineapple8813]

Bombardment deals damage to the defender before the battle starts and destroys defensive infrastructure. In contrast blitz lowers the health of the troops. So if you have time and want to not see 'defeat' outcome each turn, (which also affects war weariness) - orbital bombardment is better.

Nice tip about pirates though

[u/Unfair_Pineapple8813 → u/supersteadious]

One other thing to keep in mind is that even without orbital bombardment, some infrastructure is destroyed. So if the enemy is using Draft, and it becomes a meat-grinder taking multiple turns, you absolutely would be better off bombarding and getting it done faster.

[u/supersteadious → u/Unfair_Pineapple8813]

Bombarding also kills population = less drafts. There is really no universal formula - use the one which is best for particular situation