Maybe an invasion bug?

from Stardock Forums
I haven't tried this with 1.03A, but I did have it happen with a 1.02 game. I was invading a heavily defended system, so I used Mass Drivers to help even up the odds. I still lost the battle, but I killed billions. The potential bug is that there was no planetary damage done. No building destroyed, nothing. I easily mopped it up with my next invasion, and had no lasting damage from what I did. So, the question is - was it a bug, or were they able to sacrifice enough people to keep my mass drivers from damaging their planet? It seems like a bug to me, but I can understand the other side of the coin as well. It can certainly be exploited if people wanted to. Anyone have any opinions on the matter?
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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Yes, I saw another thread where CariElf acknowledged the cheesiness of this tactic and that it would be fixed subsequently.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Good. I'm glad someone else reported it. I wasn't entirely sure it was a bug, as I could see the other side of the coin, and if I was able to defend my planet I wouldn't like the extra damage (although it certainly would have been deserved if I let someone invade it!) :) I thought about looking through the bug list, but searching through 600+ messages by hand was a little intimidating to me. Hopefully searching though posts in the forums will be added so I don't do this again! :)
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
The problem with this is a cheese tactic on the other side of the coin. If the Invasion Tactic Penalties were factored in even if the attacking race lost, they'd be able to send waves of near-empty transports to a planet. They'd never successfully invade, but the defending Star System would be a barren wasteland.

~SDC~
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
It would be great if the devastion of the invasion tactic could be moderated by the extent/power of the assault. So near-empty transports would have do minimal or no collateral damage.

Or disable certain powerful invasion tactics if you do not have a min pop on your transport (say half full).
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
The problem with the empty transport problem is that it is a major crunch on the economy of the group sending them - remember that EACH of these invasion attempts costs 500BC or more! That really adds up. It would probably damage the civilization that does it more than it would damage the target civilization.
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
I don't know, 500bc to potentially take out a few thousand bc worth of structures sounds like a good deal to me. Plus, factor in the time: if I've got 500 bc in my treasury, it's like tossing a penny in the fountain for me to spend that, but for the receiver, it will take them months, if not years, to rebuild what you destroyed.

It definitely has cheese tactic written all over it.
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
Good point about the value lost, especially when there are multiple planets in the same system. (I assume that the damage would affect all of the planets, as the population from all of the planets helps defend.) However, if you already have their defenses destroyed and you have several troop transports on the way, why not capture the system and use the buildings for yourself? Even if you can not hold it for long you should be able to get some use from it. (I'm not sure if there is a way to scrap buildings for resources - if not it should be added to the suggestions board!) :) Since most of the time you are trying to lower your population anyway to keep morale up this seems like the best of both worlds. The only time I would likely use the Mass Drivers is if I have only a few transports in the area and I want to take the planet before the next wave of transports show up.
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
I have to admit I use this tactic myself. I'm cheesey, what can i say :D The other side of the coin makes the empty transport mass-driver thing work more like a bomber. Lets admit here and now, we all really miss the ability to bomb and nuke planets to dust...Well at least I do! Nothing like sending a group of bombers w/ escorts to pound the backside of your hated enemy (Drengins).

Rob