Invincible AI Planet

from GalCiv3 Forums

In order to help populate a gigantic map, I created a few custom races. One of them was the "Type 14," a synthetic species with fortification as its #2 AI priority. Now this has come back to bite me as the Type 14 AI has managed to produce a planet with more than 100% defense, meaning it is completely invulnerable to ground invasion.

Here's a screenshot:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=448815602

If I try attacking, I do no damage at all to the planet. Choosing planetary bombardment or conventional warfare makes no difference. As an aside, the invasion report will claim that I lost all 24 pop worth of attackers in the invasion, but in reality I will only lose at most one transport (= 6 pop) per attempt, so that's at least one bug.

I input the "god" command to take a look at what the AI had on this planet. Maybe it's one of those precursor shields like in the campaign?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=448815647

No, it's just an Elerium defense shield. This looks like good use of adjacency bonuses by the AI, until you notice the Thulium archive all alone on an island.

I managed to invade the planet by destroying the shield while in god mode, but I am still wondering if this is a bug or not. Is there some way that I could have cracked this planet playing within the rules? Surely this isn't WAD?

8,845 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Well Paul said you could make a planet damn near invincible when people bitched  commented  :blush: about how easy invasion was.  Guess he was right.

Did you try going all the up the invasion tree (e.g i see you do not have core detonation) .  As long as you can eventually grind them down with either enough technolgy of troups i would not think this to be a bug.  Just another challenge, if too tough it may need re-balancing .

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I used the console to unlock the whole tech tree (which I just found out is possible) because I'm not anywhere close to core detonation. Detonation works to capture the planet, in fact, ANY type of warfare works except for conventional or planetary bombardment. Considering I can trade for one of the other invasion types I wouldn't say there's a balance issue here. Now if only I had thought of that sooner...

Oh well I'm still learning how the invasion system works. Thanks for the help.

Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Bombardment wouldn't work because its a planetary defence shield it projects a defensive barrier around the planet so you wouldn't be able to bomb it. 

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

If that's really how it works then there should be some sort of indication on the planetary invasion interface. Also even if the bombardment failed I would still expect to do some damage by landing troops on the planet, but all 24 of them couldn't kill even 0.1 defenders.

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting SuperCoolProgrammer, reply 4

If that's really how it works then there should be some sort of indication on the planetary invasion interface. Also even if the bombardment failed I would still expect to do some damage by landing troops on the planet, but all 24 of them couldn't kill even 0.1 defenders.
End of SuperCoolProgrammer's quote

There is, you just didn't realize what it was telling you. Planetary Defense kills a % of your troops before they even manage to get into the atmosphere. You can see this as "Neutralized By Defense". Once you land, it's Resistance that determines how hard the defenders actually fight. 

This planet has 100% Planetary Defense, so it is killing every single soldier before they even get close enough to open fire.

Planetary Bombardment isn't working because it reduces resistance, not defense. You'd need to use Biological Warfare to reduce Defense. I kind of understand what another poster was saying about how Bombardment should reduce Defense, and Bio Warfare should reduce Resistance, but that's not how it works right now.

Reply #6 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting Vidszhite, reply 5

There is, you just didn't realize what it was telling you. Planetary Defense kills a % of your troops before they even manage to get into the atmosphere. You can see this as "Neutralized By Defense". Once you land, it's Resistance that determines how hard the defenders actually fight.

This planet has 100% Planetary Defense, so it is killing every single soldier before they even get close enough to open fire.
End of Vidszhite's quote


Alright, but I maintain that the interface is misleading. It seems to suggest that the 100% "Neutralized by Defense" is countered by the 55% soldiering bonus because (1) they're listed in the same column and (2) 55% - 100% = -45% and 24 - 45% = 13.2, the listed "Invader Power." In addition, the interface claims that I will suffer "Low" casualties and the defenders will suffer "Very High" casualties, which is not true.

Quoting Vidszhite, reply 5

Planetary Bombardment isn't working because it reduces resistance, not defense. You'd need to use Biological Warfare to reduce Defense. I kind of understand what another poster was saying about how Bombardment should reduce Defense, and Bio Warfare should reduce Resistance, but that's not how it works right now.
End of Vidszhite's quote


Now I know. By the way, was this indicated somewhere in game but I missed it? I wish all strategy games would rip off the idea of the Civilopedia, it's very convenient in cases like this.