How do I unload troops?????????????????????????????

[dereck]

I have two assault fleets with ground troops on them. I was able to launch invasions just fine and re-load troops but now I'm having big problems.

HOW in this game do I unload troops without invading???

I've selected the troop transport but when I click on it and the planet I'm at all I get is an option to LOAD troops. I want to UNLOAD. What do I need to do??

This is the most ****-poor design interface to unloading troops I've ever seen so if ANYBODY can please help me I'd appreciate it. I've been able to unload units just once before but it seems this game doesn't want one to unload troops.

For a game where moving troops around seems integral you'd think it would be more intuitive to unload troops (like how easy it is to load and unload troops in WITP).

Thanks from a very frustrated person

[Bingeling]

With a troop carrying ship (not fleet) selected, (control?) right click on the planet and select unload (at) from the list.

It should also work of you are zoomed very far out, and control right click on the system where your unload colony is.

In general, it is easiest to give most orders when zoomed far out (move to mine, move to spaceport, repair at spaceport...). As you do not have to actually hit the object you want to target with your click when doing it from "galaxy zoom".

[Retreat1970]

Here's some reading options. Maybe they'll help.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/261470/d ... 047643809/

tm.asp?m=3364718&mpage=1&key=&#3364727

tm.asp?m=4127213

[Aeson]

Dereck, if moving troops around is causing you this much frustration, maybe it's time to take some time and think about whether or not it's actually worth your time to bother doing it.

I typically do not bother shipping around garrison forces except to colonies that I regard as being at high risk (e.g. a colony in the middle of pirate space with dozens of pirate ships visiting it regularly) or as being very valuable (e.g. Korrabia). Most of the time, I'll recruit a garrison locally and call it good enough; sure, local recruitment is very slow on very new colonies, but I find it to be good enough, especially considering that very new colonies are very rarely worth the expense of even a smallish garrison until they've had quite a bit of time to develop. Besides, if you can do it, it's better to shut down pirate raids in space than on the ground; pirate raiders are free, pirate ships are not. If it's invasions by other empires you're worried about, I'll just say that the only thing I, personally, expect out of most colony garrisons is a stumbling block to slow down an invasion force long enough for a fleet of mine to trap it on the planet and give me time to bring in a really big army to crush it. In the early to mid game, a garrison of five to ten locally-recruited units of infantry and a couple of planetary defense units is generally adequate for this, even if the locally-recruited ground units are garbage.

Shipping in reasonable quantities of high-quality troops from Naxxilian colonies or Cloning Facilities or the Fortress of Torak isn't worth the hassle for most worlds, and it's especially not worth the hassle if the rate at which I can recruit high-quality units is relatively low compared to the total number of units I'd need to provide to have an adequate garrison at all of my colonies, at least not in my opinion.

[Bingeling]

To continue on the above.

I have played a lot with AI designs, and they sometimes include troop capacity on destroyers and larger ships. In my opinion, troops does not belong on fighting ships, and unloading them is annoying. One reason I do not want them on fighting ships, is the fact that unloading them is annoying.

So I make sure that my military ships are never left on auto, and I make sure they start without automation. So that some confused, newly constructed ship won't start running around to pick up troops.

Then I have fleets of troop transport, with a non-transport leader (that can not carry troops). I use the "garrison" feature to "protect" colony garrisons, and then tell troop fleets to "load troops" to scoop up what is available, or run some automated troop transports that will scurry around to find the odd available troop here and there. The AI is good at picking up troops with automated ships, which I use on troop transports, and makes me make sure no other troop carrying ship type is ever left on automated.

As Aeson writes, there is a very low number of scenarios where I unload troops. Pirate base busting, and immediate or current colony invasions are about the only situations.

If I find myself with a fleet of cruisers accidentally having loaded troops, I hope that I am at war, in which case I can unload by dumping them on some foreign colony, I forget about it, or do the annoying task of unloading the troops one ship at a time.

[ReadeB]

To Unload troops: Select the Fleet or ship then hover over the planet at which you wish to unload troops.

The default action is unload. Just click. I have not found any other way to get that prompt.

[Aeson]

To Unload troops: Select the Fleet or ship then hover over the planet at which you wish to unload troops.

The default action is unload.

I'm pretty sure that the default action is a little more complicated than simply 'unload.' I'm not positive, but I think that the default action is:

Code: Select all

if( [fleet has available troop capacity] && [troops are available at the world] ) then [load troops]
 else if [fleet carries troops] then [unload troops]
 else [patrol]

I'm not certain that the world actually needs available troops for [load troops] to be the default action; it might only need there to be troops on the ground. I'm also not sure how well the game accounts for the difference between nominal and actual troop capacity.

[johanwanderer]

ORIGINAL: Aeson

To Unload troops: Select the Fleet or ship then hover over the planet at which you wish to unload troops.

The default action is unload.

I'm pretty sure that the default action is a little more complicated than simply 'unload.' I'm not positive, but I think that the default action is:

Code: Select all

if( [fleet has available troop capacity] && [troops are available at the world] ) then [load troops]
 else if [fleet carries troops] then [unload troops]
 else [patrol]

I'm not certain that the world actually needs available troops for [load troops] to be the default action; it might only need there to be troops on the ground. I'm also not sure how well the game accounts for the difference between nominal and actual troop capacity.

I have always used the default right-click action to unload troops from my transport fleets. Since the fleet and planet has various amount of troops, I'm pretty sure that the default action is always unload troops if your fleet carries troops. Basically, the branch

Code: Select all

if [fleet carries troops] then [unload troops]

seems to be the first check, not the second.