Land Battle

## Description

Land battles are fought for control of a planet's surface. An attacker needs to successfully eliminate all victory relevant defenders in order to win, whilst the defenders must eliminate all attackers on the battlefield. This page will first cover points that are relevant to both sides, before going into specifics for attacks, stealth raids, and defence.

[this page is still under construction. Please bear with us.]

## General Principles of Land Battles

The tactical battle page includes some principles that are relevant to both space and land battles, which may be worth reading in addition to the section below.

### The Battlefield

Battlefields vary dramatically, and different features can shape the course of the fighting:

* **Chokepoints and open terrain**. Open areas allow units to spread out and potentially outflank the enemy, whilst chokepoints allow force to be concentrated without the enemy being able to move past it.
* **Impassable regions and water**. Many battlefields feature impassable regions which only aircraft can fly over. Water is also impassable for most units, but is accessible for repulsorlift vehicles. Many areas are also only accessible to certain units, such as infantry only zones. Being able to cross terrain that the enemy cannot allows units to outmanoeuvre them and attack where they are weakest.
* **Forests, Cover, and damaging terrain**. Some terrain provides cover bonuses to infantry within it, such as forests, whilst battlefields often feature defensive walls which will block movement and some incoming fire until they are destroyed. In some niche cases, areas of terrain can damage infantry, as a result of acidic pools or aggressive plant life.
* **Weather and Planet specific effects**. Many planets feature local effects which will alter the course of the fighting. For example, repulsorlift vehicles are much less manoeuvrable on Jabiim.
* **Bunkers and Build pads**. These form the majority of defensive positions, and so their locations can define the battlefield. Large build pads in particular can prove very important.
* **Turbolaser, shield and generator placements**. If the defender has chosen to invest in these defensive structures, their locations will prove highly important as in the case above. Power generators are particularly important, as exposed generators allow attackers to disable the shields and turbolasers which rely on them without having to fight their way through them.
* **Local wildlife and active civilian involvement**. Local forces sometimes join one side in a battle, whilst wlildlife is hostile to all sides if present. These factors can make a big difference. Allowing wildlife to eliminate an opponent saves the need to lose units in doing it yourself, whilst local people can sometimes make the difference between victory and defeat. The infoboxes on the planet pages provide information on which side, if any, the local people will take in a battle there.
* **Capturable structures**. Battlefields often feature structures which provide benefits to a capturing force. It is often worth deploying fast units to take these positions before an enemy does, particularly since some are destroyed once captured or used. The possible structures which might be encountered are abandoned sensor arrays, turbolaser towers, mining facilities, droid factories or republic factories, and mercenary outfitters.

### Losses

Note that as in the base game, a unit will be considered to be lost in battle if over 50% of it has been killed.

## Attacking

Once the decision has been made to commence a ground assault, there are several factors which should be considered. Winning a ground attack usually is not difficult, but the key is to win without taking excessive losses.

One brief note: whenever possible, ensure that you have ships in orbit which are capable of providing support in the form of bombing runs and orbital bombardments. Bombs save lives! (of your own troops, obviously, especially since friendly fire isn't a thing in game).

### Army Composition

There is no one right way to build an army, and its possible to win without using any given element. In fact, given the huge range of options available, the best we can suggest is to plan your force based around its ability to deal with any given problem. We strongly recommend that you familiarise yourself with different units using the wiki's unit pages and potentially testing them out in a less important battle or skirmish. A strong army is one which can efficiently deal with:

* **Enemy aircraft.** If you could down an X wing without it destroying any units first, then you've probably got this covered. Ideally you'd achieve this with dedicated AA or using strong fighters of your own.
* **Enemy Anti-Aircraft.** Ideally, your army should be able to cope if its air support is suddenly grounded or destroyed, and bombing runs are unavailable.
* Strong static defences. Are you able to eliminate a turbolaser tower which is backed up by a couple of anti-infantry turrets and is sitting behind a base shield? It's usually possible to find a way around this situation without hitting it head on, but worst case scenario this is something you might have to be able to deal with. The best way do so is probably an all out assault led by a force user.
* **Enemy Infantry**. These tend to be extremely numerous and can cause significant problems, particularly elite squads or force users.
* **Enemy Anti-infantry.** Obviously, if the enemy has a lot of this and your force is entirely infantry, you're in trouble.
* **Enemy Vehicles**. Can you deal with 15 AT-STs? How about 3 AT-AT walkers? These problems can and will come up whilst attacking.
* **Enemy Anti-Vehicle.** The AI knows how to use rocket infantry and other such devices which can melt vehicles, up to and including AT-ATs. Simply spamming AT-ATs is a terrible idea because not only is this prohibitively expensive, but these dudes with rockets will take them down.
* **Enemy Artillery**. Not normally a huge threat, but it can be quite irritating.
* **A combination of many of the above**. If your entire strategy to defeat AT-ATs is dependent on using Airspeeders with tow cables, you might run into severe problems if they've built a flak turret.

Having said all this, do not fear if you've started a campaign and you don't have anywhere near a ground force that can deal with all of this. Early on, you're unlikely to encounter some of these problems, and even later into the game, you know that if you're fighting Black Sun pirates, then AT-ATs aren't going to be a problem.

It is absolutely possible to deal with different problems using good tactics rather than hard counters, and its very satisfying to bring down an AT-AT using only a Secforce Anti-Armour Platoon. However, it is best to use tactics to fill the gaps in your preparations, rather than in place of said preparations. The gaps might well be unavoidable, especially early on, but efforts should made on the galactic level to gradually close them.

The point being made here is that the further you go through a campaign, the higher the chance of encountering a set of defences which your otherwise undefeated army can't penetrate without heavy losses. It is far cheaper to invest in an AT-AA on week 10 so that you are ready for enemy aircraft, than to replace your entire ground force on week 20 because they were obliterated by the six ground x-wings that the rebels inexplicably decided to post on Onderon ahead of your assault.

One final point on army composition. Some units aren't direct counters to enemies and so they haven't been mentioned so far, but they are great ways to minimise your casualties. Its never a bad thing to have medics, mechanics, missile jammers, scouts and commanders within your forces, for fairly obvious reasons. Keeping your troops alive is more important than killing those of the enemy. Likewise, some units offer unique options for navigating the battlefield, or have impressive speed, which are also incredibly useful traits. No need to take out that turbolaser tower if your gunships have flanked the defences and then dropped shock troops next to the power generator. Early on in the battle, its best to reach that abandoned factory before your enemy does.

If you're still confused about what makes a good army, consider checking out the player tactics page. They aren't official recommendations and might not work, but they've been tested by someone.

### Tactics

Rule 1 of ground assaults is to have patience. Fundamentally, the enemy force is finite. They only have so many units, so every soldier you kill is progress made. There is more than one way to win, and you can do things quickly (see 'Option 2. Blitzkrieg' below), but remember that selecting all your units and running them around the battlefield in one big clump is a recipe for unnecessary casualties. With the guide below, you can learn how to win even large battles with relatively small armies and minimal casualties.

#### **Rapid First Moves**

The only stage of a battle where speed is almost always essential is at the beginning. Most of the time, the first units that should be landed are fast moving troops that can capture build pads and structures. Dedicated scout units are naturally best at this, but in their absence deploy the next best thing, even if that's just some expendable infantry. You should then pause and take a look at the battlefield, before calling in the rest of your assault force and ordering your initial troops to immediately take any positions of importance. This includes abandoned factories, mines, mercenary outfitters, bunkers, and nearby large build pads.

Bunkers will remain under your control until an enemy infantry unit moves right next to it, which means that the AI will often destroy such a bunker even if its unoccupied, This means that a scout can rush to the centre of the map, capture a bunker on the edge of the enemy defensive line and then leave. Its unlikely that your troops will be able to use that bunker, but you have just denied it to the enemy.

Abandoned sensor nodes work on similar logic, in that an enemy might simply shoot one that you control rather than capture it for themselves. In this case however, this is much more of a problem, since sensor nodes are incredibly valuable given that they reveal the entire map to the controlling faction. With that in mind, it is only recommended to capture a node if you think you can remain in control of it. (Side note, that local wildlife will not attack a sensor node regardless of the faction it belongs to. This can be made use of if you're imaginative on the right map).

Having sent out your scouts, the next step after your troops have landed is to deploy them into defensive positions around your landing zone. In some cases, if the map is favourable or enemy forces are weak, it might be worth pushing out these defensive positions quite far, perhaps even halfway across the map. This allows you to take advantage of useful chokepoints, hold on to sensor nodes, and to use build pads yourself before your enemy can get their hands on them.

If you're a new player, you might be wondering how you're supposed to know where the key positions are on a map you've never seen before. Unfortunately, this is a topic where more experienced players simply have an advantage. We would like to include this information on this wiki one day for each planet, but that is a lot of work that might never happen. In the meantime, you will have to scout things out yourself the hard way. This is fun though, never know what you're going to find.

#### **Build pads**

Option 1. The Slow Advance / Creeping Defence

Option 2. Blitzkrieg

Reality - may want to combine the two.

conclusions?

## Stealth Raids

Any ground unit with a stealth ability has the option to commence a stealth raid on any planet. Stealth allows units to bypass space defence forces and immediately attack the surface of a planet. This is can be extremely useful. Any number of units may participate in a single stealth raid, but ALL units must have the stealth ability to do so. If the stealth units are accompanied by a non-stealth unit, they will be deployed in orbit instead.

Note that unlike the base game, stealth raids are intended to be used for tactical or galactic advantage rather than an alternative means of conquest. Stealth raids are usually hit-and-run attacks, with the raid being used to destroy a specific building or take a badly defended planet before retreating. Most raid objectives fall into the following categories:

* Destroying a single key structure before retreating. This is often a Hypervelocity Cannon or Ion Cannon.
* Taking over a badly defended economic world far behind enemy lines, and then leaving before response forces arrive. Mines, palaces or supply depots are good targets, both for this and the option above.
* Completely taking over an isolated system and holding it. This is possible if the enemy will be unable to send a response force before defences can be set up.
* Successfully taking a nearby world which is badly defended on the ground but well defended in space, thereby allowing a friendly fleet to overpower the space defences and reinforce the planet as the space station at the core of their defences has now been removed.

While stealth raids have the potential to be devastating, it is important to note that the units involved in stealth raids, for the most part, are not suited for front line combat. When attacking, It is highly advisable to avoid heavily defended worlds, as the raid will not succeed without extremely high casualties. Since raiding forces are usually weak, it can be particularly beneficial to bring heroes and to pick planets with favourable battlefields. Scouting out targets beforehand is essential.

If the player is defending against a stealth raid, the best option is to fortify with turrets and let the attackers come to you. Since there are no vehicles with stealth abilities, anti-infantry weapons are key. On the Galactic Conquest level, the more fortified a planet is, the less likely it is to be hit by a stealth raid. This doesn't refer to just buildings, either; if enough units are present, the AI will avoid the planet. Creating dedicated economic planets without sufficient defences is asking for trouble.

## Defending

[This page is incomplete. You can help by adding information that is missing.]