Ground combat can be conducted across the surface of a planet.
If you have an entire affiliation on your ground enemy list, should a battle be triggered, you will send in ordnance across the entire planet, including missiles (this is not the first time we have commented on planet/sector/short range ordnance).
So if you own a starbase and have all DNA on your ground enemy list and there is a DNA starbase on the same planet, if a battle is triggered you will have a dig. The starbase targeted will obviously retaliate (round 2). Any other starbases on the world prepared to defend your starbase will then open fire on the DNA as well (round 3) and any position defending the DNA will open up on you (round 3).
The morale of the story - If you don't want everything to go up in smoke, don't add entire affiliations to your space/ground enemy lists.
Message to the CIA Agents - who needs to remove positions from enemy lists if you can do this using thier own lists against them!
Would it be possible to do a "Double-Check" of the lists - for instance, if a combat is triggered because of the enemy lists, the program checks to make sure that the position that triggered the battle isn't on the DEFEND or SUPPORT lists as well. If it is, then the battle is aborted, if not - then...
This would allow the SMS to have ALL DNA on their Ground Enemy lists, yet put individual DNA positions on the DEFEND list (like the starbase they share a planet with) to avoid firing at it. Additionally, this would allow the FET to have all IND on their Space Enemy lists while selectively removing those IND's that have proven themselves "trustworthy" to the FET.
Just my 2p
Rich Fanning
aka
Lord Lawrence Scrimm
CIA Intelligence Director
Surely it should just be support and defend?
| QUOTE (MasterTrader @ Oct 20 2003, 05:51 PM) |
| If it is a space battle that is triggered, should _ground_ enemy lists really be checked? Surely it should just be support and defend? |
If a battle is triggered, it is considered that each and every position in the location goes to full alert and does a check of everything. "Yes we were aware of the bloody great enemy ground party outside the starbase, but we only fired on the yacht in orbit?" An enemy is an enemy is an enemy. If you are not hostile to them, do not put them on the enemy list.
If you get attacked by a position on your "Do not fire at" list then you can assume that its come as a complete surprise and they have a day of free attacks due to that.
| QUOTE (Duckworth-Lewis @ Oct 21 2003, 09:16 AM) |
| Would it be possible to add a seperate ground enemy list for Docked positions only? - one that if triggered, would not affect the support/defend lists of other starbases? |
Let's get this right, are you saying that you want a list that will prevent other starbases from using their lists?
I could agree that a specific dock enemy list might be handy if, for example, you wish to board all vessels that dock in your starport while at the same time you don't want to engage in other ground battles on the planetary surface. But a boarding battle in the starport would still check all lists on the planet. If you do attack an enemy position you better be prepared for the consequences.
I therefore believe the 'Ground' list we have now is redundant and it should be removed. As far as I understand it, adding a GP to the Enemy list will accomplish the same thing as adding it to the Ground list.
I can also see where Duckworth-Lewis is coming from: In BSE, colonies had their starports where they ruled. When landing at a starport you were on your own, without support from friendly ships in orbit or friendly colonies on the same planet.
It should be the same in Phoenix.
I therefore suggest the current Ground Enemy list is scrapped and included in the general Enemy list.
Instead, include a 'Docked' Enemy list for close encounters.
Now whilst I can see the view above - that if a Hive ship landing at a starbase is attacked by a base it should be supported by Hive friendly positions, it seems to me that it is the ship not the starbase that is at fault for trying to land somewhere it didn't have prior permission to.
The way it looks to me at the moment is that I could try to dock at a Confederate base in Yank in the hope that they have IMP on their ground enemy list, they attack me and the Kastorians retaliate in defence of the IMP ship. That doesn't seem right to me - and it doesn't seem right that the CNF would have no say as to whether I could dock with their base or not.
What if it was 50 IMP troop transports docking with a smallish CNF starbasebase?
Once docked, if the IMP ships tried to board the starbase (or whatever the correct terminology would be), would the starbase not be a bit annoyed that they couldn't call for support?
I don't yet have any strong opinions on the matter, but didn't play in the BSE era and was wondering how this situation would be delt with in the above scenario regarding IMP /CNF/KAS.