Unofficial wiki for Endless Space, created by French independent developer Amplitude Studios. Chronicles of the Lost, the seventh Add-On for Endless Space: Disharmony, is now available! Game Fixes: Endless Space: Gold v1.1.58 [MULTI7] Fixed Files; Endless Space: Disharmony v1.1.1 [MULTI6] Fixed Update; Endless Space: Disharmony v1.0 [MULTI6] Fixed Files.
Well, some people may fully understand the Bombing/Troop Invasion system in Endless Space, but in case anybody else is as hopelessly lost as I was this week, I finally got far enough in the game to set up some experiments and figure stuff out. I discovered several features which I have not seen mentioned anywhere else online, as well as confirmed some points which I found conflicting sources on. The game is confusing enough as it is, and the wiki pages on this topic aren't quite clear.
(All of this was tested in Endless Space - Disharmony version 1.1.39) I wanted to understand just how the Bombing/Siege/Troop Invasion system worked, so I built multiple ships that had only one of each type of module. I had a fleet of ships that only had Elite Troop modules, one with only Invasion-type Fighter plane modules, one with only AP Bomb Modules, and one with only standard Siege Artillery modules. I also had some ships that had a combination of 2 different modules. This way I could try sending in different combinations of modules to the system and see what the effects were.
Of course, there are still a bunch of things I don't fully understand, and I very well could be misunderstanding some of what I did, so please let me know of any errors here!
After much trial & error, the full explanation is below (but contains many things that I'm sure are already well understood, as I got a bit carried away for completeness sake). First though, here are a few of the more surprising things I learned:
Any captured enemy system always gets +10 to its Outpost => Colony waiting time, reverting to an Outpost if already a Colony.
To Bombard a system, you need: A) at least 1 'Bomb' Support Module (more than 1 has no effect) B) Sufficient combined Land Invasion Strength in all fleets, by using either Bomber or Fighter aircraft.
For every Native Population of a system that survives a Troop/Immediate Invasion (More Troops = more survivors), you get + ~10% Ownership of that system from the start.
You can request an enemy to give you all of their remaining systems through Diplomacy (if you already control their Homeworld) as part of a Cease-Fire. This defeats that enemy at the start of the next turn.
This is the 'standard Invasion,' where you just park some ships in orbit and wait for the Invasion Counter to reach 0. For the 'Invade System' command to be usable, you need at least one module that provides Invasion Strength in orbit over the system. This Invasion Strength is shown as a circle with 3 arrows pointing into it and can come from 3 possible sources: Invasion (or Balanced) type Fighter or Bomber Special modules, any type of Troop Special module, or 'Siege' type Support modules. In order to successfully conquer a system, the total combined Invasion Strength of all ships/fleets in orbit over the system must be greater than the System Defense value of the system. Otherwise, your Siege will always take '999' turns to complete.
So long as the total combined Invasion Strength is high enough, the enemy system's Control value will decrease by a certain percentage each turn. Once the Control reaches 0%, you will own the system.
The amount of Control subtracted each turn is equal to the combined Invasion Strength of your invading fleets, divided by the total System Defense of the system. So if a system has 1000 System Defense, each turn you will subtract -1.5% if you have 1500 Invasion Strength, or -8% if you have 8000 Invasion Strength. However, the amount of Control you can subtract per turn is capped at ~13%, meaning a Siege can be as high as 999 turns or as low as 8 turns, normally.
Once captured via a Siege, your new system will have a Control value of 0%. Your Control will increase each turn by 2% + any listed bonuses from special Improvements in the system (+ X% Control Recovery), until it reaches 100%. The only purpose of **Control **is how easy it is for the system to be conquered by an enemy via **Siege **(Possibly also via Troop Invasion? Untested.). E.G. if you conquer a system, so it's at 0% Control, then leave it undefended and some enemy fleet (even the same enemy you took it from) comes in and initiates a Siege (with greater Invasion Strength than the System Defense), it can reconquer your system in a single turn.
If captured via a Siege, your new system will also have an Ownership value of 0%. The lower the Ownership % of a system, the bigger a % reduction of its effective Approval will be (haven't worked out the exact formula, but it is over -90% of your current Approval at ~26% Ownership, and around -65% of your current Approval at 50% Ownership). Ownership increases by 4% per turn; the only way to change this rate is by having certain Faction traits such as Rebellion, which doubles it to 8% per turn for you, and reduces it to 1% per turn when an opponent captures your system.
Once captured, 10 turns will be added to the system's Colony timer, (I believe capped at 25 turns). This means that if it was an Outpost, and still had 5 turns to become a Colony for the enemy, it will now take 15 turns to become a Colony for you. If it was already a Colony, it will now become an Outpost, and the Colony timer will be set to 10 turns.
Take note of a small bug: On the turn you capture a system by Siege, make sure to unset your Fleets there from Intercept / Blockade (and reset if desired). For some reason the game considers your new system as 'blockaded' by your own fleets until you do this :P
Endless Space
In order to Bomb a system, at least one Bomb-type Support module (Not the 'Bomber' airplane, despite the confusing name) is necessary somewhere in orbit above the system. These come in either Anti-Personnel (AP) or Anti-Building (regular) varieties. This creates the possibilty of the Bomb command above the normal Siege command being used. It doesn't matter which ship has the Support-type Bomb module, or even which fleet it's in, only that it is in orbit over the system.
You can only Bomb a given system once each turn, and Bombing a system prevent you from attempting a Troop/Immediate Invasion.
You only need a single module of the type of bomb you wish to use somewhere in orbit; so far as I can tell, having 1 ship with 1 AP Bomb module yields the exact same result as having 10 fleets of 10 ships each, all with AP Bomb Modules.
However, to actually use the Bomb command, the total Land Invasion Strength of all of the ships in orbit must be able to overcome the system's Anti-Air Defenses.Land Invasion Strength only comes from 2 possible sources: Invasion (or Balanced) type Fighter or Bomber Special modules. Again, it doesn't matter which ships or fleets have the needed Land Invasion Strength, all that matters is the total combination of all fleets in orbit over that system.
Unlike with a Siege where a greater Invasion value makes it faster, once the total combined Land Invasion Strength of all your fleets in orbit over the system is higher than the Anti-Air Defense, adding more Land Invasion Strength does not appear to provide any benefit.
The benefits of Bombing are that it can reduce the time needed to complete a Siege (capped at 8 turns minimum), and possibly make a Troop Invasion more likely to succeed (haven't confirmed yet). I haven't figured out the exact mechanics of how it does this, but it definitely works and can make a big difference.
A drawback is the damage done to the system, since you're damaging what will hopefully be your own system soon. I know that Improvements destroyed by Anti-Building Bombs are gone for good.
However, in my tests the Anti-Personnel Bombs left the entire population alive upon capturing it. Additionally, the post-bombing window always displayed inaccurate information about how many Population were destroyed by bombing, and even the total Population of the system, so I dunno what's going on there. I know they didn't just repopulate because I also test doing a Troop Invasion right away. If anyone else can make better sense of Population Bombing, please let me know.
In order to Troop/Immediately Invade a system, at least one Troop-type Special module is necessary somewhere in orbit above the system, with at least 1 Troop Population. Again, it doesn't matter which ship has this module.
Attempting a Troop/Immediately Invade command consumes all movement points of any & all ships & fleets in orbit of the same system, and prevents most other actions for those fleets.
Troop-type Special modules are automatically filled with the Population they consume upon construction, and can be depleted depending on how a Troop Invasion goes. Once empty, they can be refilled over a system you own, or slowly via Repair Modules that list + X Module Regeneration.
I haven't confirmed the exact mechanics, but believe that the % chance for success increases with additional Troop modules or additional Land Invasion Strength from other modules.
Unconfirmed, but so far I have a pattern of always losing exactly 1 Troop Population per colonized planet in the system being Invaded, no matter what.
Aside from changing the % chance to succeed, the only way to influence the result is to add additional Troop Populations. I don't know the formula, but having more Troops in your fleet will allow more of the native Population to survive the Invasion. Adding more Troops does not seem to affect how many of your own Troops will die in the Invasion, however.
In my case, using a total of 3, 6, or 9 Elite Troop Modules in the fleet when invading a single-planet 7 Population system resulted in 4, 1, or 0 of the native Population being killed. In every case I lost 1 Troop, 0 aircraft, and destroyed 0 Buildings.Keeping more of the native Population alive is extremely advantageous, aside from the obvious benefit of having more Population in your new system. In general, it seems that for every Native Population that survives the Troop Invasion (Not counting 1 Population per planet, which can never be killed), you start with a +10% Ownership Bonus. In my above example using different amounts of Troops to Invade, my new system started with 20%, 50% and 60% Ownership, because I had 2, 5, and 6 of the Native Population survive (Not counting 1 Population on the planet, which can't be killed).
Successfully Troop Invading a system always starts it at 100% Control, instead of 0% as with a Siege. The Outpost => Colony timer still gets +10, though (although this is hidden by the Ownership % in the System view until you have 100% Ownership).
Endless Space Disharmony Torrent
Technically a type of system-conquering, I noticed that the only time I seemed to be able to trade for enemy systems in the Diplomacy menu was when offering a Cease-Fire while at war (and winning :P).
Enemy systems traded to you in this way start with 100% Control & 100% Ownership, and keep their Colony Status (No +10 to Colony timer), so this is a very attractive option.
Oddly, it seems possible for you to request an enemy give you all of its remaining systems as part of a ceasefire, thus causing that faction to be eliminated upon the following turn. In my case, I already owned their 'Home System,' and they had at least one space fleet flying around, but I still essentially used the Diplomacy trade window to get a complete surrender.