Land warfare

Version

This article has been verified for the current PC version (3.2) of the game.

War

Wars are not decided only in space. In order to capture enemy planets, entire armies will be needed, along with the preparation and battlefield awareness to properly use them. However planets may only be invaded if the system's starbase has been occupied.

Combat

Although secondary to space battles, ground warfare is a vital aspect of many wars.

Ground combat takes place between the planet owner's defense armies and the invader's assault armies. The number of armies that can be engaged in combat on either side is five plus one-fifth of the size of the planet. Armies not engaged in combat will be placed a row behind the fighting armies and replace any killed army.

Generals are leaders who command armies and give them bonuses. However Generals have a 5% chance to die whenever one of their armies is killed.

Each army has a morale value, and once morale drops low enough the army will be negatively affected with the following modifiers:

Morale	Penalty
50%	−25% Army damage
0%	−75% Army damage

Armies gain experience from combat and can rank up. Higher rank armies are more effective in combat.

An attacker can always attempt to retreat. However there is a significant chance that each retreating army is destroyed while attempting to return to space, making retreat a risky endeavour and something to do only in very poorly chosen engagements.

Planet devastation

Planet devastation is a measure of how much damage has been caused to the planet's population centers. It goes from 0 to 100% and the higher it is the more damage defensive armies take and the more likely pops are to be killed. Every 1% planetary devastation causes a 1% decrease in Housing, Amenities, Trade Value, Resources from Jobs, Upkeep from Jobs, Growth Speed and Immigration Pull.

Planet devastation is caused by orbital bombardment and assault armies. Assault armies have a Collateral Damage modifier that determines how fast they cause planetary devastation. Defense armies do not cause any.

Devastation	Damage to armies	Kills pops	FTL inhibitors functional	Tree of Life alive
0%	50%
25%	100%
50%	100%
75%	200%

Planet Devastation recovers by 0.05% daily if planet is not being invaded or bombarded.

Defense armies

Defense armies are automatically recruited by certain buildings from the species working them and can be robotic or organic. They are stationed on planets and used to defend against enemy armies. While they are stronger one-for-one than assault armies and their loss does not cause War Exhaustion, their static nature means that investment is necessary to fend off a concentrated attack. Their combat ability is also improved by certain technologies.

The type of army recruited depends on the pop working the building that spawns them. Defense armies do not incur any upkeep beyond that of the building that creates their Job. Defense armies do not cause Collateral Damage.

Army Type	Army Damage	Morale Damage	Health	Morale	Pop Species
Defense Army	2.25 - 4.50	2.25 - 4.50	250	250	Organic
Robotic Defense Army	1.50 - 3.00	1.50 - 3.00	250	immune	Robot
Drone Grid	1.65 - 3.30	1.65 - 3.30	220	immune	Machine Unit
Sentinels	6.00 - 12.00	30.00 - 60.00	1400	immune	Event

Assault armies

An empire can recruit armies of any species that is present within its borders, as long as there are members of that species living on the planet which the army is recruited from. Unlike Defense Armies, they are based in space and each recruited army will board a transport ship. Transport ships are unarmed but automatically upgraded with the latest defense components.

The amount of armies from a species an empire can have at the same time is limited to the number of pops of that species living within the empire, except for Clone Army. Armies without species like Xenomorph Army are unlimited as well.

Army	Cost	Time	Upkeep	Damage	Morale Damage	Collateral Damage	Health	Morale	War Exhaustion	Requirements	Species
Assault Army	100	90	1	1.50 - 3.00	1.50 - 3.00	100%	200	200	100%		Biological
Slave Army	50	60	0.5	1.50 - 3.00	1.12 - 2.25	150%	200	150	50%	Slave Processing Facility	Biological (enslaved)
Clone Army	75	30	0.75	1.50 - 3.00	1.50 - 3.00	125%	200	200	50%	Gene Banks	Biological
Robotic Assault Army	150	90	1.5	1.50 - 3.00	1.50 - 3.00	150%	400	immune	50%	Droids tech Robotic Workers Allowed	Robot
Psionic Army	250	120	2.5	3.00 - 6.00	4.50 - 9.00	50%	350	500	300%	Telepathy	Biological (psionic if Utopia is installed)
Xenomorph Army	200	100	2	3.00 - 6.00	6.00 - 12.00	500%	400	immune	25%	Morphogenetic Field Mastery	None
Gene Warrior Army	300	150	3	3.00 - 6.00	3.00 - 6.00	75%	500	500	300%	Gene Seed Purification	Biological
Undead Army	100	60	0.75	1.50 - 3.00	2.40 - 4.80	125%	200	immune	50%	Necromancer jobs	Biological
Hunter-Killer Army	100	90	1	1.50 - 3.00	1.50 - 3.00	200%	200	immune	50%	Machine Intelligence	Robot
Battle Frame Army	200	120	2	2.25 - 4.50	3.00 - 6.00	200%	500	immune	100%	Machine Intelligence Adaptive Combat Algorithms	Robot
Mega-Warform	800	500	8	6.00 - 12.00	9.00 - 18.00	400%	1200	immune	400%	Machine Intelligence Biomechanics	None
Cybrex Warform	250	500	8	7.50 - 15.00	15.00 - 30.00	500%	1400	immune	400%	Cybrex War Forge relic Can only be recruited on the capital	None
Titanic Beast	300	90	1	4.50 - 9.00	9.00 - 18.00	300%	1000	600	200%	Titanic Lifeforms event chain Only 3 can be recruited	None
Azizian Army	250 50	90	1	4.50 - 9.00	9.00 - 18.00	100%	1000	400	100%	Ice Alien event chain Only 3 can be recruited	None
Imperial Legion	300	150	3	3.75 - 7.50	3.75 - 7.50	75%	600	600	300%	Galactic Emperor Imperial Legions resolution Only 12 can be recruited	None
Psionic Avatar	event only		none	7.50 - 15.00	15.00 - 30.00	100%	1400	immune	500%	Shroud event	None
Nanite Warform	event only		none	15.00 - 30.00	90.00 - 180.00	500%	3600	immune	400%	A Quiet Stroll event	None

Army rank

As armies fight battles they will increase in rank, improving their stats based on their experience points. Armies get +2 experience points each time they deal damage and +1 when they take damage.

Rank	Exp Points	Effects
Regular	0 - 100	None
Experienced	100 - 1000	+10% Damage +10% Morale
Veteran	1000 - 10000	+20% Damage +20% Morale +10% Health
Elite	≥ 10000	+40% Damage +40% Morale +20% Health

Army starting experience can be increased by +100 by each of the following:

Military Academy planet building
Dread Encampment planet building
Strength of Legions civic
Private Military Companies
Mercenary Liaison Office Corporate Building

Orbital bombardment

Orbital bombardment occurs when a fleet is in orbit around a hostile planet, and is generally a precursor to invasion. Genocidal empires can even opt to skip the invasion entirely and simply exterminate all life on the surface. Orbital bombardment causes damage to any defensive army but also Devastation. Effectiveness is based on the Fleet Size of the fleet in orbit, where maximum effectiveness is reached at 200 Fleet Size.

Stance	Planet damage	Army damage	Pop kill chance	Other effects	Requirements
Selective	50%	100%	25%	Does not kill the last 21 Pops Does not bomb planets with no armies on it	None
Indiscriminate	100%	150%	50%	Does not kill the last 11 Pops	Pacifist
Armageddon	150%	200%	100%	If the last pop is killed, the planet becomes a Tomb World	One must be true: Fanatic Purifiers Determined Exterminator Become the Crisis
Javorian Pox	20%	150%	150%	Does not kill Mechanical Pops If the last pop is killed, the planet becomes a Tomb World	Javorian Pox Sample relic activation Pacifist
Raiding	100%	50%	100%	Abducts pops instead of killing them Species with Displacement, Neutering or Extermination species rights will still be killed Does not cause Terror Bombing opinion if successfully abducted Does not kill or abduct the last Pop	One must be true: Barbaric Despoilers Nihilistic Acquisition

Orbital Bombardment Damage dealt to enemy planets can be increased by the following:

Source	Damage
Overwhelming Force tradition	+20%
Orbital Trash Disperser component	+25%
Munitions Plant juggernaut aura	+30%
Death from above, lvl crisis stage	+20%

Orbital Bombardment Damage taken from enemy fleets can be reduced by the following:

Source	Damage
Planetary Shield Generator building	-50%
Survival of the Fittest tradition	-25%
Fortress World designation	-10%
Fortress Station designation	-10%