Note: This is a simultaneous move game, so I had to reconstruct the events from the log an the turn after.
After securing all of the other Norak planets in the system, I prepared to take on the Norakian rebel's planet.
This planet was so powerful, that the rebellion not only rejected a surrender demand, but vaporized (taking no damage) my brother's large task force of baseships which were sent to secure the planet after the expected surrender!
Needless to say, I was building up a significant force for this assault.
The core of the fleet was a BattleMoon hull, designed to carry 7000 troops into battle, protected by 29,000 hitpoints worth of biocrystal armor.
Arrayed around the BattleMoon were four fleets of 45 Warships. A scattering of Cruiser and BattleShip hulls, with biocrystal armor and long-range shard cannons.
In each fleet were an additional 10 "Assimilator" class Dreadnaught-sized Troop Transports, and 5 to 8 supply tanker/generators and/or minesweeper ships.
I began the assault, attacking simultaneously with all four fleets.
The troop transports followed their "capture planet" strategy, and retreated while waiting for the warships to clear the defenses.
but one troop transport retreated towards the map corner on the far side of the planet.(That is already stupid, but just wait)
As it passed the planet, the troop transport
decided to drop its troops! (That doesn't seem so bad, but hang on)
The ground combat was naturally a stalemate, and now that I had troops on the surface,
my warships stopped firing at the planet!
Oh, but they didn't retreat either! They just milled around randomly while the troop transports reversed course and started dropping troops.
All of my warships, just floating around, while the planet's weapon platforms pour 13,500 damage per turn into my poor fleet!
After only one game turn, my fleet was down to a mere 23 ships, including only two troop transports, the battlemoon, and the remainder a handful of supply ships and minesweepers.
The BattleMoon was the only ship with an offensive weapon to survive the encounter.
The only good part of the whole thing was that it was not a complete loss on my part.
Almost 10,000 troops died in space, but 25,000 managed to reach the surface.
This is a huge homeworld class planet, with a significant troop presence of its own, so I expect to know the end result of my effort within 20 turns.