[h1]9. Aliens & Warfare[/h1]


[b]Aliens[/b]
There are two kinds of aliens, Xeno and Civilized. A good Xeno alien is a dead alien, for Civilized alien, it depends. All civilized races are in permanent total war with Xeno races, those Xenos try to eat civilized aliens and should be eradicated from the galaxy by any means possible. Civilized aliens are humanoids and can be at peace or war with each other. They can also conduct trade.


[b]Basics of Warfare[/b]
If you want to conquer a planet, click a planet and then "Claim the planet". Then go to Diplomacy and declare a war (some races, the Xeno ones, are at war already with you). And that's it, the initial setup and position of imperial fleets will allow admirals to eventually carry on your order.

In addition, you should:
1) Before conquest, build starbase in proximity of planets you want to conquer (preferably if those target get the "blue" full operational range marker.
2) Go to Military/squadrons and design a new squadron (always using maximum tonnage capacity, some technologies will allow you to extend max tonnage, grab those).
3) Go to Industry tab and check your minerals' availability, if it's too low consider investing in Minerals refineries (investment) or get techs which boost refining technology (or colonize planets which are mineral rich).
4) If the conquests progresses slowly, consider moving another fleet to this border and set their focus on "Attack", this will give your admirals more squadrons to work with.
5) Invest in various combat technologies.
6) Provide enough skilled crew for ships (Space Academy upgrade) or invest in technologies and upgrades which reduce the number of crew needed (and therefore increase the average quality of crew since fewer are needed and therefore best can be selected to serve on imperial ships).


[b]How conquest works:[/b]
1) First Admiral of a fleet has to decide to react to the Conquest order, which might take a long time of many other Conquest orders are "waiting".
2) Fleet Admiral then allocates forces (drawing strategic reserves if needed, which might be denied if there are not enough reserves). The number of forces allocated depends on the power difference % (which you can select on a planet view).
3) Space forces arrive at the planet, and they start fighting enemy space forces.
4) When the attacker has at least 50% of space forces of the defender (quantity only) on orbit, invasion ground troops start to be dropped.
5) When all space forces are eliminated, the attacker "controls orbit", which increases the pace at which invading ground forces are dropped.
6) When the attacker has more ground troops power than the defender AND controls orbit, the planet is taken over.


[b]Ships manufacturing[/b]
Industry provides manufacturing capacity, which determines how many new ships are manufactured each turn. Manufacturing of ships is done automatically (those are manufactured in "packs" called Squadrons), so you don't need to do anything (other than redesigning the Squadron design from time to time). Only one, the newest, squadron design is being produced. A new squadron design enters production after each audience.


[b]Squadrons command and control[/b]
Squadrons being built is not enough. Those need to be commanded and controlled. This is provided by noble houses and some imperial agencies. Excess squadrons for which there is no spare C&C capacity are stored in reserve and activated as needed (due to combat casualties, typically).