Ground forces

Ground troops can be dropped on enemy colonies and take them over. They also provide a reduction in unrest (by, we must assume, shooting dissenters). In addition, Engineer brigades allow you to exploit Alien Ruins, provide industrial capacity and can assemble PDC elements.

All ground units are built at a Ground Force Training Facility. They require some minerals, but no supply. They cost a modest amount of wealth for upkeep.

Organisation

Up to four ground unit battalions can be organized in a brigade, and up to four brigades in a division. Similar to Naval Organisation and civilian Sector Commands, higher echelon HQs radiate so much wisdom that their subordinate units get a bonus of one quarter of the HQ commanders' skills. This affects ground combat and training. It is possible (but untested) that the commanding officer in a brigade or division HQ should have a higher rank than his subordinates to be effective.

 Division HQ
     - Brigade HQ
         - Battalion
         - Battalion
         - Battalion
         - Battalion
     - Brigade HQ
         - Battalion
         - Battalion
         - Battalion
         - Battalion
     - Brigade HQ
         ...
     - Brigade HQ
         ...

Note that an Engineer Brigade is five times larger than a battalion, but can be subordinated to a Brigade HQ like a battalion.

Combat

see ground combat.

Summary.

Unit types

Listed bellow are the various ground units in Aurora. Research into Logistics and Ground Combat might be necessary before you can gain access to all types. Note, that all Attack and Defend stats are base values.

Pre-Transnewtonian Era

Low Tech Infantry Division	Attack 1.2, Defend 2.5, Cost 60, Size 50
Low Tech Armor Division	Attack 3, Defend 3, Cost 90, Size 50

Standard ground units of the pre-Transnewtonian era. They are low-tech, large and of low combat strength, useful only in that they are your only option. If you aren't playing in a conventional start you won't need to worry about using them. With advance of technology, a low tech unit can be converted into a cadre, preserving the officer corp to reduce the training costs for a more advanced Transnewtonian unit.

Basic Combat Brigades

Assault Infantry Battalion	Attack 10, Defend 5, Cost 100, Size 5
Mobile Infantry Battalion	Attack 5, Defend 10, Cost 100, Size 5
Heavy Assault Battalion	Attack 12, Defend 12, Cost 180, Size 5
Garrison Battalion	Attack 0, Defend 10, Cost 60, Size 5

These are the "basic" Combat Brigades. They are one tenth the size of their low-tech conventional predecessors, while their attack and defence values are much higher (except for the Garrison Battalion's attack stat).

Depending on your budget and you expectations of whether you're going to be on offence or defence, you'll want to pick and choose your ground units from these four options, generally. RP-wise, I tend to throw a pair of Garrison Battalions onto each colony as a peacekeeping gendarmerie. It keeps the rabble in line.

Special Operations units

Marine Battalion	Attack 10, Defend 10, Cost 180, Size 5
Marine Company	Attack 2, Defend 2, Cost 36, Size 1
Combat Engineers	Attack 10, Defend 10, Cost 180, Size 5

Heavily armed, specially trained and equipped units. Can be utilized in general operations but offer the best offensive\defensive capabilities when employed in the respective areas of expertise.

Marines specialize in boarding and defending ships, double their attack and defense stats when they are in combat aboard a ship, that is when conducting or defending against a boarding action. Combat Engineers specialize in combat defending or assaulting a Planetary Defence Center (PDC), double their attack and defense stats.

The Marines have a company sized formation to accommodate the tighter space on board ships, as compared to on A PDC or in the open on a planet's surface. A Small Troop Transport Bay, a Combat Drop Module - Company, or a Combat Drop Module (Cryo) - Company can hold a ground unit no larger than size 1, which is to say only a Marine Company.

When you expect to be conducting operations in the respective areas of expertise of these units, the appropriate unit for the job is better (per unit cost) than the more general purpose Heavy Assault Battalion. On the other hand, when out in the open on a planetary battlefield, a HA Battalion is noticably better than a Marine Battalion, even though both cost the same.

RP-wise, I provide accommodations for Combat Engineers in all my PDCs, and in my largest warships I like to include a security detail Marine Battalion, even if needing to defend against boarding combat is unlikely.

Command and Support Brigades

Brigade Headquarters	Attack 0, Defend 2, Cost 150, Size 5
Divisional Headquarters	Attack 0, Defend 3, Cost 250, Size 5
Replacement Battalion	Attack 0, Defend 0.5, Cost 40, Size 5

Headquarter(HQ) include command staff and various support assets. They have no offensive capability, but provide combat bonus to supported Brigades, and affect their training

Replacement Battalion allows to replenish TN units that suffered combat losses. If one of your ground units takes readiness (i.e. hit point) damage, the Replacements sacrifice their readiness to replenish the combatant unit's casualties. If you're going to lose a unit, it might as well be the one that costs one third as much as a HA Battalion, right?

Civilian Units

Construction Brigade	Attack 0, Defend 5, Cost 150, Size 25
Forced Labour Unit	Attack 0, Defend 1, Cost 40*, Size 100

These units have little military use, however, they serve an important function. They expanding construction capacity of worlds, and does not suffer due to production or unrest modifiers. In effect they function as Construction Factories without the need to provide the population (and potentially infrastructure) you would normally need to establish a manufacturing sector on given colony. This is useful, for instance, they are only way to establish colonies on low gravity worlds, or to assemble a prefabricated PDC on an unpopulated world. Additionally, Construction Brigades have an additional use: recovering installations and technology from alien ruins.

Forced Labour Units(FLU) functions as a Construction Brigades (CB) but with the following differences:

1. It can only be built at populations that have an occupation requirement (currently Conquered, Occupied and Subjugated).
2. Building one of these units consume 10,000 population and raises unrest by 2%
3. FLU do not count toward occupation strength and do not reduce unrest. Their defence strength (equal to 1/10th of a Garrison Unit) is used in ground combat defence only.

While it can be moved to other worlds (or the dilithium mines on Rura Penthe), the transport requirement is considerable. Of course, there is also the consideration of whether your Empire is one that would create forced labour camps.

Unit Statistics

Base unit stats depends on the type of unit and various modifiers. Each Unit has three main stats: Attack Strength, Defence Strength and Morale. The first two are based on the Racial Ground Combat Strength (RGCS) while the latter is based on experience and training. The RGCS, which starts at 10, can be increased through research, increasig all unit Attack and Defence stats, but the base proportions will all remain the same.

• Attack(AtK) - Units Offensive strength. Determined by the type and adjusted by the RGCS modifier.
• Defence(Def) - Units base Defensive strength. Determined by the type and adjusted by the RGCS modifier.
• Morale - Transferring unit to a new HQ will result in morale drops by half; and the morale of units placed in non cryo combat drop pods will start to fall. Morale is regained over time, and may increase above 100% based on the Ground Forces Training Rating of their brigade and division commanders.
• Size - Unit size in terms of manpower and equipment, larger units require more ship transport capacity to move. A common TN era battalion, size 5, has 500 personnel.
• Readiness(Read) - Units max "hit points", reduced when taking casualties in combat.

Unit Name	Type	Atk	Def	Size	TP	Special
Low Tech Infantry Division	LIT	1.25	2.5	50	50	Maybe be converted into Infantry Cadres
Low Tech Armor Division	LTA	3	3	50	90	Maybe be converted into Armor Cadres
Assault Infantry Battalion	AST	10	5	5	100
Mobile Infantry Battalion	INF	5	10	5	100
Heavy Assault Battalion	HVA	12	12	5	180
Garrision Battalion	GAR	0	10	5	60
Marine Battalion	MAR	10	10	5	180	Double strength when attacking or defending ships
Marine Company	MRC	2	2	1	36	Double strength when attacking or defending ships
Combat Engineer Battalion	CEB	10	10	5	180	Double strength when attacking or defending a PDC
Brigade Headquarters	BHQ	0	2	5	150	May command up to four battalions forming a brigade.
Divisional Headquarters	DHQ	0	3	5	250	May command up to four brigades at a time.
Replacement Battalion	REP	0	0.5	5	40	may be used to replenish other units
Infantry Cadre	ICD	0.1	0.1	5		may be used to reduce the cost of training a new unit
Armor Cadre	ACD	0.1	0.1	5		may be used to reduce the cost of training a new unit
Construction Brigade	CB	0	5	25	150	act as a construction factory while on a planet

Stats for Ground Units

• Type, The type of unit. Different types, AST, BHQ, DHQ, ENG, GAR, HVA, LTA, LTI, MAR, MRC, INF, REP, ICD, ACD,, and more. Base attack and def stats are determined by the type, and Racial Ground Combat Strength (RGCS). Morale is based on the experience and training of the unit.
• Atk, Attack
• Def, Defense
• Read., Readiness
• Morale, Morale
• GCB, Ground Combat Bonus, given by commanding officers

To train different ground units, they need to be placed under the command of a headquarter. Training will then start and morale will increase, if the HQ has a suitable leader assigned.

Ground Unit Types (6.00)

Unit Name	Type	Atk	Def	Size	TP
Assault Infantry Battalion	AST	100%	50%	5	100
Brigade Headquarters	BHQ	0%	20%	5	150	†
Divisional Headquarters	DHQ	0%	30%	5	250	†
Construction Brigade	CB	0%	50%	25	150	††
Combat Engineer Battalion	CEB	100%	100%	5	180	†††
Garrision Battalion	GAR	0%	100%	5	60
Heavy Assault Battalion	HVA	120%	120%	5	180
Low Tech Armor Division	LTA	30%	30%	50	90	*
Low Tech Infantry Division	LIT	12.5%	25%	50	50	*
Infantry Cadre	ICD	1%	1%	5		**
Armor Cadre	ACD	1%	1%	5		**
Marine Battalion	MAR	100%	100%	5	180	‡
Marine Company	MRC	20%	20%	1	36	‡
Mobile Infantry Battalion	INF	50%	100%	5	100
Replacement Battalion	REP	0%	5%	5	40	‡‡

†: Brigade Headquarters may command up to four battalions forming a brigade. A Divisional Headquarters may command up to four brigades at a time.
††: Construction Brigades act as a construction factory while on a planet. They are also required to recover abandoned faculties from alien ruins. Construction Brigades are five times bigger than battalions and cannot be split up.
†††: Combat Engineer Battalions fight at double strength when attacking or defending a PDC.
‡: Marines fight at double their listed strength when performing boarding actions against ships and PDCs.
*: Low Tech Infantry and Armor Divisions maybe be converted into Infantry and Armor Cadres respectively.
**: Infantry and Armor Cadres may be used to reduce the cost of training a new unit. Infantry Cadres reduce the price by 40 and Armor by 60.
‡‡: Replacement Battalions will help wounded ground units on the same planet recover to full strength at a cost to their own health.

See also: Ground Forces: Transportation, New units, Boarding Combat

Training & Maintenance

Recruiting Ground Forces requires a colony with Ground Force Training Facility to recruit in, and some minerals. Each colony with GFTF can recruit one unit at a time, though multiple units can be queued up. Set on the 'GU training' tab on the Economic window.

The base cost and production time of a unit depends on its type:

• Base cost, all units require an amount of Duranium equal to one quarter their training cost and an amount of Neutronium equal to three quarters of their training cost.
• Production time. Can be increased with additional GFTF facilities and effected by the colonial governor modifiers;

Units cost a modest amount of wealth for upkeep. ...

Deployment

There are two ship components that allow you to deploy troops. Ships equipped with Troop Transport Bays can be used to transport ground forces from planet to planet and carry them into combat zones, while Combat Drop Modules are used to deploy your forces to the surface of a planet/ship quickly.

Troop Transport Bays

Troop Transport Bays are primarily used to transport ground forces across the empire. Simply, bring a ship over to a planet or another ship with troop transport bays. Select the ship you want to load from and select Load GU into Troop Transport. You select the Ground units you want to add from the selection box that fits into the screen one by one. Note ground units come in different sizes, make sure your ships have sufficient Troop Transport capacity. Ground units may only be moved from a ship to a planet, or vice versa, if the ship is in orbit.

Troop Transport can also be used to land forces from orbit into combat, however, transport bays use the same rules for loading and unloading apply as cargo holds, i.e. without a spaceport or cargo handling system, it might take your brigade two weeks to disembark on a hostile planet. That might do if the planet is not defended, but you'd better research combat drop technology if it is.

Combat Drop Modules

Combat Drop Modules are assault transports that are primarily used for quick orbital insertion during planetary assaults where achieving tactical surprise is often an important factor. Ground units loaded into drop pods can be combat dropped, which doesn't require any unloading time for them to hit the ground and begin fighting. There are battalion-sized and company-sized drop modules (for Marines), which have to be researched first.

You don't need troop bays, but troops held in drop modules will lose morale over time. So you'll want to move them around in troop bays and only transfer them to drop modules when you need to. Don't forget to include Cargo Handling Systems on the transports because troops begin to lose morale as soon as the transfer to drop modules begins. Note that a battalion-sized drop module fits nicely in a FAC.

Cryogenic Combat Drop Modules are drop pods which do not result in a morale loss if troops are kept in them. You cannot mix cryogenic and non-cryogenic drop modules.