Planetary Invasion Races/Mods

[Grand Deceiver]

I know there are hundreds of opinions on what is the best Mod or Race out there. I am going to list what I'm looking for and maybe some of the more experienced bubbas can give me a few suggestions.

First of all I am looking for a race that will use troops to invade planets instead of glassing them every time (I know some glassing will take place just to get thru the defenses). Maybe it is the Jarhead in me but I really love to drop Troops or defend against dropped Troops. Is there a race or modification that is suited to this?

Second..how do I get races to defend more than one or two systems at a time? If I can get enough aveneus of approach into an empire all I have to do is hold my own in the few they are defending and walk in the back door.

Is there a tool out yet for modding AI's?

Last but not least..I know there is a lot of thought on SEV..but I do hope that there will be a form of tactical ground combat in the new Versions (players choice of tactical or strategic ground combat). I have some very good but simple ideas on tactical ground combat. Would love to discuss them if anyone cares to.

[Slick]

I am no modding expert, but I have seen several of the TDM AI's capture planets and a few capture ships. There may be others, but the one that comes to mind is the Space Vikings; they have pretty good ships for capturing ships. I am sure others will give you a more complete list.

Slick.

[oleg]

Planet invasions are regular occurence in Proportions mod. I did lose some planets to AI

[Aloofi]

Yeah, Proportions is the name.
Proportions have Ground combat set to 5 turns. I suggest you change that to 3 turns, 1 tenth of the 30 space combat turns.
With ground combat set to 3 turns you will have a lot of planets blockaded and with ground invasions Lasting several game turns, depending of troop tech.
I would also recommend to change the number of militia per population to 1. This is because 1 militia unit fights like 1 infantry unit, and since 1 infantry unit in Proportions is compoused of 1000 soldiers (weight 1 kt) then is impossible to assume that one militia unit is 1 million men, more accurate it would be 1000 men, and is pretty safe to accept that 1 million population (1 population unit) would supply 1000 militian soldiers for planetary defense.
Of course, this means that when you assault a Homeworld you will be facing 6000 militia units ( 6 million soldiers!) in addition to defense troops that the AI always have in Proportions.

I believe these little changes bring a new meaning to ground combat in Proportions.

[PvK]

The thing with militia though is that the game regenerates them for every battle, I think, so if you make too many, the militia will keep coming and coming.

[Phoenix-D]

It regens after every battle -if- the attackers are completely destroyed during the battle.

If enemy troops remain on-planet the militia doesn't regenerate.