Can't capture planets

[Dr_Whoopass]

What is the secret to capturing enemy planets? I have a fleet of ships which includes a full troop transport, I order the fleet to attack the planet, and every time the colony is destroyed. I am never given the opportunity to land the troops. I have tried both ordering the fleet to move to the planet, and ordering the fleet to attack the planet. I have tried this on planets with and without enemy ships present. Always the same result. What am I missing?

[douglas]

The troop transport's design must have its strategy set to Capture Planet. You can change design strategies in the Ship Design screen (F3).

Edit: Also, if the enemy planet has weapon platforms on it, it is possible for your ships to glass the planet while trying to take out the weapon platforms. Ships will not fire on defenseless planets if a troop-carrying ship with the right strategy is present, but that check is only performed between entire volleys (not turns, just one ship). If the first shot in a volley finishes the last weapon platform, the remaining shots your ship has might be enough to destroy the colony. This is especially a problem with using missile weapons, because your ships won't stop launching until the last weapon platform is gone, so you'll almost certainly have a lot of missiles still in flight.

[Dr_Whoopass]

That's it. I used a Battle Cruiser hull so I could get the 6th engine in, and the ship strategy became "Don't get hurt". I changed it to "Capture planet" and Viola! I am capturing planets now.

Thanks!

[douglas]

Note: The hull does not affect the default strategy, only the design type and presence or absence of weapons do that. Regardless of what hull you use, if you set the design type to Troop Transport, the strategy will automatically be set to Capture Planet.