Console:Land warfare

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This article is for the console version of Stellaris only.

War

Warfare

Space warfare

Land warfare

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 half 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, particularly at lower levels, may die during the fighting.

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 and Growth Speed.

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.

Planet Devastation	Damage to armies	Kills pops	FTL inhibitors functional
0%	50%
25%	100%
50%	100%
75%	200%

Planet Devastation is reduced monthly by 0.5% as long as the planet is no longer bombarded or invaded.

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, their static nature means that investment is necessary to fend off a concentrated attack. Their combat ability is also improved by certain technologies.

Job	Defense Armies	Notes
Colonist	1
Enforcer	2
Soldier	3
Patrol Drone	2
Warrior Drone	3
Slave Overseer	2	Only available on planets with the Thrall World Specialization
Protector	3	Only available to biological Fallen Empires
Xeno-Keeper	2	Only available to the Enigmatic Observers Fallen Empire
Guardian	3	Only available to the Ancient Caretakers Fallen Empire

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

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 an empire can build from a species is limited to the number of pops of that species living within the empire. Titanic beasts are limited to three per empire and lost armies cannot be replaced.

Army Type	Cost	Time	Army Damage	Morale Damage	Collateral Damage	Health	Morale	Maintenance	Requirements	Description
Assault Army	100	90	1.50 - 3.00	1.50 - 3.00	100%	200	200	1.00	Starter	Assault armies come with their own transports and can invade other planets.
Slave Army	50	60	1.50 - 3.00	1.12 - 2.25	150%	200	150	0.50	Neural Implants	Slave soldiers who serve their masters on the battlefield. Most are conscripted by force, but many slaves volunteer in a desperate attempt to increase their food rations or escape from grueling labor.
Clone Army	75	30	1.50 - 3.00	1.50 - 3.00	125%	200	200	0.75	Gene Banks	Vat-grown clones that reach adulthood in a matter of months. With a natural lifespan of less than a decade, their lack of personal initiative is deemed an acceptable trade-off for their total obedience to officers.
Robotic Assault Army	150	90	1.50 - 3.00	1.50 - 3.00	150%	400	immune	1.50	Droids tech Allowed Robotic Workers Policy	Cold and heartless killing-machines designed only for war. They pursue their objectives relentlessly, and are impervious to the shattering effects of poor morale that so often plague organic combat units.
Psionic Army	250	120	3.00 - 6.00	4.50 - 9.00	50%	350	500	2.50	Telepathy	Soldiers gifted with psionic abilities. Their focus on destructive psionic powers has led to drastically different tactics and strategies on the battlefield – their first objective is always to remove the enemy's willingness to fight.
Xenomorph Army	200	100	3.00 - 6.00	6.00 - 12.00	500%	400	immune	2.00	Morphogenetic Field Mastery	Ravenous hordes of bio-engineered horrors made up of little more than teeth, claws, and an instinctive urge to kill. A cadre of scientists monitor and supervise the raging swarms as best they can from hardened bunkers behind the front.
Gene Warrior Army	300	150	3.00 - 6.00	3.00 - 6.00	75%	500	500	3.00	Gene Seed Purification	Genetically enhanced super soldiers. Recruits are typically chosen from the elite of the conventional military forces. These then undergo extensive gene therapy, and are made larger, stronger, and faster than their peers.
Hunter-Killer Army	100	90	1.50 - 3.00	1.50 - 3.00	200%	200	immune	1.00	Machine Intelligence	Mass-produced tracked war machines designed to seek out and destroy everything that has been designated as an enemy.
Battle Frame Army	200	120	2.25 - 4.50	3.00 - 6.00	200%	500	immune	2.00	Machine Intelligence Adaptive Combat Algorithms	Large, bipedal warbots that are surprisingly fast and mobile given the heavy armaments they carry. They are quite intelligent and renowned for the insidious tactics they often employ.
Mega-Warform	800	500	6.00 - 12.00	9.00 - 18.00	400%	1200	immune	8.00	Machine Intelligence Biomechanics	This single colossal warform towers over the battlefield and its massed firepower exceeds that of most armies. Bringing one of these behemoths down is extremely difficult.
Titanic Beast	300	90	4.50 - 9.00	9.00 - 18.00	300%	1000	600	1.00	Titanic Lifeforms event chain Only up to 3 can be recruited	Research breakthroughs have enabled us to train Titanic Lifeforms into military units, but due to the rarity of suitable subjects we will be able to only field a limited number of these Armies at a time.
Psionic Avatar	event	event	7.50 - 15.00	15.00 - 30.00	100%	1400	immune	none	Shroud event	A colossal warrior from the Shroud that has been forged out of pure psionic energy.

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 it. Armies recruited on planets with a Military Academy, Mercenary Liaison Office or War factory are granted 100 experience points and therefore start out as experienced.

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

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 Planetary Devastation. Effectiveness is based on the Fleet Size of fleet in orbit. At least 10 Fleet Size is required to perform orbital bombardment at all, and maximum effectiveness is reached at 100 Fleet Size. Orbital bombardment damage is reduced by 50% if the world has a Planetary Shield Generator, which also cannot be destroyed by it.

Stance	Planet damage	Army damage	Pop kill chance	Other effects	Requirements	Description
Selective	50%	100%	25% (20 min)	Will not bomb undefended planets	None	Selective Bombardment targets only identified military sites, taking care to avoid needless civilian casualties.
Indiscriminate	100%	150%	50% (10 min)		Not Pacifist	Indiscriminate Bombardment targets military and planetary infrastructure with no regard to civilian casualties.
Armageddon	150%	200%	100%	If last pop is killed, planet becomes a Tomb World	Fanatic Purifiers or Determined Exterminator	Armageddon Bombardment blankets the planet in heavy ordnance with the explicit aim of maximizing civilian casualties.

Terror bombing

Each pop killed by Orbital Bombardment lowers the opinion of every non Militarist empire, particularly Pacifist ones. Fallen Empires also ignore it, with the exception of the Benevolent Interventionists.

References

Game concepts