Lowering quality through invasion. Is effect permanent?

[TeeWee]

I've managed to purge the evil xeno from two worlds. In the process, the quality of the planets dropped significantly, even when I was really attempting to keep it intact, using mainly scouting plus some invades to vary the tactics a bit.

I've recolonized two of these planets, but both times the quality was so low it got sold to independants immediately.

My question: is the ending quality rating before purging a new hard upper bound for a colony roll? Tapping a purged star just gives the initial die range and will not show the damage done to the planet throug the invasion.

If the effect is permanent and the new upper bound is hard, is recolonizing a purged olanet eveer worth it except as a 'gas station'? I mean, for example, you start with a 2-20 planet, xeno colonize roll is quality 12. Even if you manage to purge without hitting quality once, the actual planet quality is now 2-12, and then, you get to roll again when you colonize! That will almost never result in a decent planet. Is my understanding of the mechanics involved correct? Are there any better ways to purge xeno without hitting quality?

Mind you, I do understand the value of a gas station. I just want to be able to recolonize a high potential planet that the xeno beat me to in the settling phase sometimes.

[phantombudgie]

The quality left at the end of the invasion before you colonise is the number you will get when you colonise.

I think showing the range stats of the system after this first colonisation is actually a bug.

If you are interested in taking a planet over, I find the best way is to use Scout only, with upgraded transports with high captain training for invasion and upgrades for invasion.

Check the planet stats when your invasion ship is first in orbit and decide if it is worth having. I found a quality 3 planet and just made it dead, anything over quality 9 I will usually capture intact.

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[pendell]

"My question: is the ending quality rating before purging a new hard upper bound for a colony roll?"

There's no roll -- the quality the planet ended with when you purged it will be retained when you colonize it. There is no way to increase quality. Quality, once lost, is lost FOREVER AND PERMANENTLY.

If the effect is permanent and the new upper bound is hard, is recolonizing a purged olanet eveer worth it except as a 'gas station'?

Yes. 'Scout' threatens Xeno population but does not threaten quality. However , it also takes a lot longer to reduce population. So you're either going to need a second wave of transports or a wave of refueling carriers to keep the first wave fighting. If the radiation on the planet is at all high, you're going to knock down about 3-4 xeno per turn. Since the xeno regain 1 pop every turn, this means you're going to need somewhere around 7 invasion turns to completely purge the world with quality intact. On normal difficulty. Lower radiation (<6) means you'll be able to hit 2 xeno pop per transport instead of only 1, and you'll cause xeno casualties more often, so it's more doable.

It's expensive, and I've only done this on 'normal' difficulty, but I will only raze a planet if it's already quality 4 or below or so. I am absolutely determined to add any quality 20 world to my own empire. The problem is that you already need a pretty incredible economy to support such an invasion force. If 1 invasion transport and 1 carrier costs $100 in maintenance, you're going to need per-turn +$1200 just to break even fielding 8 transports and 4 carriers , to say nothing of escorts or the rest of your fleet.

Which means you're going to need to colonize a LOT of planets and really push the planetary construction tree, bringing in money through every conceivable trick and dodge. Trade, mining, idle cp, you name it. Expand the Empire while beating off the aliens and managing faction conflicts, limiting alien expansion while taking as much of the map unopposed as you can. Then, when the money if flowing in, build a LARGE invasion force and take the alien planets intact, one at a time.

Another thing that's different about ST from any other game of its type I play: Because the maintenance cost is so high, I deliberately build my ships as cheaply as possible provided they get the job done. I've never once built a battlecruiser -- I can do well enough with cruisers without spending nearly the maintenance, construction time, or research. I never put on a reactor 9 when a reactor 8 will do, never put on armor if I don't actually need it, never add an upgrade if it isn't mission critical. Because cruisers can't be repaired in flight, I deliberately emphasize torpedoes so they don't have to get in close to aliens and get their paint scratched. It's better to have cheap ships that cost $45 maintenance per turn and can be replaced in 3 or 4 turns than it is to have a few super-powerful ships that are slowly but steadily overwhelmed by aliens. I never send a battlecruiser to do a cruiser's job, nor a cruiser to do a fighter's job.

At least, that's MY playstyle. My greatest enemy is not the xenos but my own maintenance rate and the ever-quarrelsome factions. So I deliberately build the smallest fleet with the lowest maintenance rate that will still be able to get the job done, deliberately sacrificing a certain amount of combat effectiveness in return for a green bank balance.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[neveryours]

Actually that pretty much reflects the military forces in the real world.

[TeeWee]

I think I've had Scout rolls take away a point of quality, but now I'm not so sure. I usually mix things up a little to increase the effectiveness of the assault as a whole (in my current game, I have 5 transports, doing somewhere between 3-5 scouts a turn, with the rest Invading, with a very occasional Bombardement).

With the length of time taken to purge the world, it's bound to result in a very low quality planet Ah well, a strategically placed gas station surrounded by lifeless lumps of rock it is

[Officer Genious]

pendell, your posts are always worth reading. Well-thought out and well-written! I'm attempting to build a fleet myself and I've noticed that maintenance and political wars (spy wars and solar wars especially) are my worst enemy. The worst is that the map I'm on has very (and I mean like 2 or 3!) Few good quality worlds, so I can either lose money on crap worlds and build a fleet to take some Xeno worlds. Reading your analysis of invasions via scouting, I may wait until my treasury is crazy deep.

[phantombudgie]

Jul 16, 2014 9:29:35 GMT -5 Officer Genious said:

pendell, your posts are always worth reading. Well-thought out and well-written! I'm attempting to build a fleet myself and I've noticed that maintenance and political wars (spy wars and solar wars especially) are my worst enemy. The worst is that the map I'm on has very (and I mean like 2 or 3!) Few good quality worlds, so I can either lose money on crap worlds and build a fleet to take some Xeno worlds. Reading your analysis of invasions via scouting, I may wait until my treasury is crazy deep.

I agree with waiting until you have massive savings. Being able to cope with -2k per turn for a year (actually longer than that, I have taken my time with thi one!) will see me through this game until I get the last Xeno planet cleared. Next time I will follow the advice of pendell and focus more on keeping ship maintenance costs down.

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