Bombardment..

[Barleyman]

Does it actually work properly? In my 1st game I've got everyone in federation except thoraxians, who are real bad-asses WRT ground combat. Orbital bombardment doesn't seem to do anything at all, though. There's 17k power fleet on their orbit which kills all of 500 ants per day..

Does the "25x => 2.5x" change actually work on existing saves?

[chemical_art]

Does it actually work properly? In my 1st game I've got everyone in federation except thoraxians, who are real bad-asses WRT ground combat. Orbital bombardment doesn't seem to do anything at all, though. There's 17k power fleet on their orbit which kills all of 500 ants per day..

Does the "25x => 2.5x" change actually work on existing saves?

[Assumes generic anti-bug voice from <your choice of franchise here>]

To destroy bugs you have three choices!

You make the other race who has a chance to ground pound against them their enemy, in other words allow the burlusts to invade!

OR, you bombard them eventually with the birds, so you get the peltians space superiority.

Or, you get the someone to lob superweapons against them (was the actuians? i think so. Or maybe the other isolationists, one of them)

In general, diplomatic isolation is your best best. Or, just smash their fleets, eventually your allies will come up with a plan.

[Barleyman]

Well, one problem is that Grays have about 10x more ground power than the bugs but they're shipping the troops on penny-size parcels. Also as I pointed out, bombardment doesn't do jack. Maybe bugs live underground but I'm sure they'd have trouble with surface having been turned into glass parking lot.. I have a feeling the 25x combat efficiency finds its way into the bombardment equation somewhere.

Acutians do have the planetcracker specialty but this being my 1st game and all I made them my pony from the get go.

[topper]

You might be able to buy them in using one of the other races (Andors?)

It will take some work, but you know the long term target. Check out the federation status screen for your options.

[NickAragua]

Go to "Hostile Actions". Pick "Assasinate the Hive Queen" (hire an informant first if necessary). This is super expensive (15k credits) and carries a heavy influence penalty with the bugs, but will cause them to lose the usage of their tunnels for a good while, which will allow the orbiting forces to blast them to bits.