Do Ground Forces Stack?

[Kralizec!]

Does anyone know if the support troops stack (aka when you get Commandos, you can stop using Hackers and PsyOps)? In my current game, as soon as I got Commandos, 'Roy stopped building Hackers (PsyOps was not in my tech tree). However, as soon as I captured PsyOps from an enemy, 'Roy builds heaps of the bloody things (both PsyOps and Commandos).

[Beamup]

Since they each have the same bonus (up to 30% more effective, according to the tech descriptions) it would seem that they are independent. Also, autobuild uses a mix of them, again indicating they are independent.

What you saw was probably simply due to "hey, I don't have ANY commandos - gee, guess I need to build them more than the hackers I already have around."

Of course, it's entirely possible that the tech descriptions bear no resemblance to reality and autobuild is being stupid. It's certainly happened often enough, and with ground combat being so complicated, yet its workings totally hidden from the player, it's impossible to be sure.

[Llama8]

If you look at the GroundCombat.txt file (and assuming that what it says is correct), the various support units get/give different bonuses:
PsyOps +10 Initiative, +1 rout on enemy morale check
Commandos +10 Attack Strength
Hackers +10 Initiative, +10 Accuracy
But this wouldn't be the first time that information in a file isn't accurate/used by the game.

[Kralizec!]

Llama8 wrote:
If you look at the GroundCombat.txt file (and assuming that what it says is correct), the various support units get/give different bonuses:
PsyOps +10 Initiative, +1 rout on enemy morale check
Commandos +10 Attack Strength
Hackers +10 Initiative, +10 Accuracy

Thanks for the nifty info! Do you know if Magazines provide any bonuses?

[rhyssana]

Originally posted by Kralizec!
Thanks for the nifty info! Do you know if Magazines provide any bonuses?
also from GroundCombat.txt:
Magazine Allows isloated troops to fight at full effectiveness

whatever that means. they do have a rally value as high as a command center - the only other one with non-0 rally value is commando and it's not quite as high (-20%). their morale is also the same as command center, with a corresponding drop (-20%) for commandos (but militia and psyops have a tiny bit of morale). other than that, they don't attack but they have a pretty good evade, armor and hits so they aren't sacrificial troops.

-rhyssan

[lel]

I have searched for this info but perhaps have used the wrong combo words.

What does isolated troops actually mean (where a Magazine could help)? I can understand this in the case of defending troops on a blockaded planet but for invading troops with ten TF's with over 100 ships surrounding the planet I don't see why this should be needed.

'Roy seems to see the need as he always includes both Mag's and Command Centers in Armys meant to be transported. Is this just an AI bug or do they provide something important in an invasion attempt.

[QSI Programming]

I spoke to the ground combat expert and here is a summary of what he said:

Support units of the same type do not stack. The only advantage to having multiple Commandos is that you still have one if the first one is killed.

Magazines have no effect when not blockaded, except to attract enemy fire.

Since support units are cheaper than late game combat units and do not count against the combat unit limit, there is no real penalty for maxing them out, and they are additional targets which need to be killed by the enemy.

[Babylon4]

I really appreciate it when we get official clarification on a simple issue like this. Thanks!

[Czaroc]

Best advice is to add one of each if you have room. They are cheap as heck to build and almost never die, so after a bit, you can stop building them and just reuse the old.

Psyop's screw with the enemy's heads

Command Center - Negate's/Counters Psyop's while giving a few bonuses as well

Commando's - Dunno, but I add one for each army.

Magazine - Allow seperated troops to fight more effectively. You will not see this happening, but it goes on all the time depending on your/the enemies tactics.

Hackers - Screw's with communications - also countered by Command center to some extent.

My advice is one command center for each army, then one of each of the others if you have room. I BELIEVE duplicates do not stack.
Heck, there is room in the army for them and they do add offensive force to your army even without the added abilities. So always fill out your army to it's/your transports fullest.

[Zeraan]

I spoke to the ground combat expert and here is a summary of what he said:

Support units of the same type do not stack. The only advantage to having multiple Commandos is that you still have one if the first one is killed.

Magazines have no effect when not blockaded, except to attract enemy fire.



So if I have a lot of magazines in a planet that's being bombarded, will they absorb the bombs? Or from the enemy ground troops?

[Tjodleik]

So if I have a lot of magazines in a planet that's being bombarded, will they absorb the bombs? Or from the enemy ground troops?

Nope.
As far as I know, magazines does nothing except allowing ground troops to fight without penalties on blockaded planets, so it was probably just a figure of speech hinting that they're nothing but big and very visible targets :p

[danib]

bhruic wrote an explanation on how bombardment works in the patcher tread

the sort ver is
neerDMG blows building depending on the tags
0.3*neerDMG kill pop
neerDMG do damage to army. the formula will never kill the army and the army gets back to full health by next turn so you mast attach at the same turn you bombard to kill the bombardment damaged army

[Shadowchaser]

So if I have a lot of magazines in a planet that's being bombarded, will they absorb the bombs? Or from the enemy ground troops?


As I understand it, what that actually meant was that when the enemy shoots at you, they target randomly chosen parts of your force, and thus having a bunch of extra magazines in a battle on a non-blockaded planet can save your actual army from dying, becauyse every shot that's "wasted" on a Magazine ISN'T being fired at your combat-capables.