- Drop Command conquer planets progression combines tactical missions with a strategic empire layer.
- Secure facilities before attempting a full planetary annexation.
- Build capacity through warehouses, factories, spaceports, and conquered worlds.
- Use combined arms to handle turrets, vehicles, mechs, and orbital defenses.
- Prepare expansion forces before challenging rival fleets or heavily defended planets.
Drop Command conquer planets: How the System Works
Drop Command treats planetary conquest as a two-layer process. You manage an expanding faction from a strategic map, then launch real-time missions to capture facilities, defeat hostile forces, and eventually annex a planet. The strongest approach is to prepare the strategic layer before committing to a difficult battlefield.
The conquest loop usually begins with a contested facility. Capturing that location can improve planetary stability, increase support, provide salvage, or open new movement options. Once the opposing faction is weakened and popular support is favorable, an annexation mission becomes available.
Video Highlights:
- Strategic control of planets provides resources, taxation, maintenance capacity, and facilities.
- Facility missions can improve planetary stability and prepare the way for annexation.
- Tactical battles include mechs, tanks, turrets, missile systems, and orbital defenses.
- Successful conquest expands the faction’s territory and unlocks further strategic options.
The strategic map tracks several values that affect expansion. Resources are used to manufacture units and structures, while scrap is converted into resources according to manufacturing capacity. Maintenance capacity determines how much military force your empire can support. Civilian taxation can also contribute income once a planet is under your control.
| Strategic Value | Function | Expansion Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Resources | Manufacture units and buildings | Supports sustained military growth |
| Scrap | Converts into resources | Rewards successful battlefield operations |
| Maintenance capacity | Supports deployed forces | Limits how large your army can become |
| Planetary support | Measures local approval | Helps make annexation safer |
| Planetary stability | Represents local order | Improves the value of controlled facilities |
| Taxation | Generates civilian income | Becomes useful after gaining territory |
Treat each facility as part of a larger conquest plan. A successful mission is valuable not only for its immediate reward, but also for the access, stability, and logistics it creates for the next operation.
Prepare a Planet Before Annexation
A planet should not be attacked as soon as it appears on the map. First, inspect its facilities, garrison strength, combat value, available resources, and hostile factions. The objective is to identify the weakest route toward control rather than fighting every enemy formation at once.
Facility missions are useful preparation because they can provide strategic bonuses and reduce the pressure of the final annexation. A starport, for example, improves mobility and allows your faction to project force more effectively. A factory can support production and may be worth defending even before the planet is fully annexed.
The following sequence works well for an early campaign:
Inspect the Planet
Review the planet’s garrison, hostile faction, facilities, support, stability, manufacturing capacity, and nearby fleets. Look for a target with manageable defenses and a useful strategic reward.
Secure a Valuable Facility
Choose a mission that improves mobility, production, stability, or support. Starports and factories are especially useful because they help your faction sustain later operations.
Build a Small Strike Group
Add additional mechs, tanks, infantry, or support units when maintenance capacity allows. Avoid entering a difficult annexation with only one lightly equipped unit.
Check the Final Battle
Compare your combat value with the hostile force, review the mission objectives, and confirm that your available units can handle static defenses and mobile enemies.
A useful preparation target is a planet where your faction already controls one or more facilities and has favorable local support. This reduces the risk of spending resources on a battle that produces little strategic progress.
| Preparation Signal | Meaning | Recommended Response |
|---|---|---|
| High planetary support | Local resistance is more manageable | Consider annexation after securing key facilities |
| Low maintenance capacity | Your army cannot expand safely | Build warehouses or conquer additional capacity |
| Strong hostile fleet nearby | Reinforcements may challenge your position | Recruit units before pushing farther |
| Valuable factory | Production can strengthen the campaign | Prioritize defense and facility capture |
| Starport available | Better strategic mobility | Secure it before wider expansion |
| Weak garrison | Lower tactical commitment required | Use it as an early conquest target |
A planet can look weak on the strategic map while still containing turrets, missile towers, orbital weapons, or fortified objectives. Confirm the tactical threat before launching the final mission.
Tactical Combat for Planetary Conquest
Annexation missions are decided on the battlefield, so weapon range and positioning matter as much as raw combat value. Drop Command uses weapon minimum and maximum ranges. Attacking from outside maximum range prevents damage, while moving too close can also make certain weapons ineffective.
Begin each mission by powering up, checking the tactical overlay, and identifying the first objective. Static defenses should be handled before they can wear down your formation. Missile turrets, guard towers, silos, and orbital laser systems are dangerous because they continue applying pressure while you deal with mobile units.
Mechs
Strong direct combat platforms with varied armor, weapons, heat capacity, mobility, and jump capability.
Tanks
Useful for adding firepower and battlefield presence without relying entirely on a single mech.
Infantry
Expands combined-arms options when the required facility and transport capacity are available.
Mercenaries
Can assist with raids, defensive operations, or selected missions when your own force is limited.
Your opening movement should create space from the enemy. Backing away can keep hostile weapons outside their effective range while giving your own ballistic, energy, or missile systems time to work. Jump jets are useful for crossing terrain, escaping pressure, or reaching an advantageous angle.
| Threat | Battlefield Risk | Counterplay |
|---|---|---|
| Missile turret | Persistent long-range damage | Close distance carefully or destroy it from cover |
| Guard tower | Protects an objective or approach | Remove it before advancing deeper |
| Orbital laser cannon | High-value fixed defense | Identify its range and attack during safe windows |
| Mobile mech | Can reposition and pursue | Maintain spacing and target weapons first |
| Enemy vehicle | Adds pressure to open terrain | Focus fire before it reaches your formation |
| Damaged weapon system | Reduces your combat options | Protect the affected unit and adjust the loadout |
When using multiple units, issue orders deliberately. A supporting unit can follow your formation, defend an area, or attack a designated target. Do not send every unit forward without checking whether it is entering a turret’s range. A damaged companion may still be useful as a distraction, but preserving the unit is usually more valuable than trading it for minor progress.
The safest attack pattern is to isolate threats, destroy fixed defenses, and advance only after the current area is secure. This keeps your force together and reduces avoidable damage during extraction.
Build the Economy Behind Expansion
Conquering a planet is only the beginning. The new territory must support your next campaign, and that requires balancing resources, production, mobility, and maintenance. A faction that expands faster than its logistics can support may gain territory but struggle to defend it.
Factories and manufacturing capacity improve the conversion of battlefield salvage into usable resources. Warehouses and other capacity facilities help support a larger military. Spaceports and dropship facilities improve access to additional unit types and allow the faction to operate across a wider area.
The best early expansion plan is usually a controlled chain:
- Capture a facility that improves mobility or production.
- Use salvage and income to recruit a second wave of units.
- Increase maintenance capacity before starting another major war.
- Strengthen the newly annexed planet’s infrastructure.
- Scout nearby rival fleets and select the next target.
| Facility or System | Primary Benefit | When to Prioritize |
|---|---|---|
| Factory | Supports manufacturing and resource conversion | Before recruiting a larger army |
| Warehouse | Increases maintenance capacity | When upkeep limits recruitment |
| Spaceport | Improves strategic movement | Before attacking distant targets |
| Infantry dropship facility | Enables infantry recruitment | When combined arms are needed |
| Hospital | Adds a support-oriented infrastructure option | When campaign sustainability matters |
| Stellar gate | Collects shipping tolls | When available on a trade route |
Pilot progression also contributes to conquest efficiency. Experience can improve firepower, firing rate, handling, armor, or other combat characteristics. A pilot with strong projectile accuracy can complement ballistic weapons, while a tougher pilot may be better suited to close-range engagements.
Loadouts should match the mission. Long-range weapons help against static defenses, ballistic systems provide consistent firepower, energy weapons avoid some ammunition concerns, and missiles can punish exposed targets. However, heat, reload timing, minimum range, and mobility all affect how well a weapon performs in practice.
Do not measure a conquest only by the territory gained. A planet is more valuable when its facilities, production, income, and maintenance contribution can support the next expansion.
Planetary Conquest Checklist and Long-Term Goals
Use this checklist before each annexation attempt. It covers the strategic and tactical requirements that most often determine whether a conquest becomes a stable expansion or an expensive setback.
Planetary Conquest Checklist:
- Inspect hostile garrisons, facilities, support, stability, and nearby fleets
- Secure a factory, starport, or other high-value facility first
- Confirm available maintenance capacity before recruiting more units
- Prepare a mixed force with suitable range and battlefield roles
- Identify turrets, missile systems, orbital weapons, and extraction routes
- Review post-conquest infrastructure and the next strategic target
A good conquest force does not need every unit type immediately. It needs enough flexibility to respond to the planet’s defenses. One capable mech can begin the campaign, but additional units provide safer target control, better damage distribution, and more options when the enemy’s defenses become stronger.
As the faction grows, monitor neighboring empires and fleets. Rival powers may control valuable planets, but their military strength can rise faster than your own if you ignore production and maintenance. Scout first, strengthen your economy, and choose battles where the strategic reward justifies the commitment.
| Campaign Stage | Main Objective | Common Mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | Capture a first facility | Expanding with a single fragile unit |
| Consolidation | Improve production and maintenance | Recruiting beyond available upkeep |
| Expansion | Annex nearby planets | Ignoring rival fleets and reinforcements |
| Consolidation II | Upgrade pilots and infrastructure | Spending all resources on one loadout |
| Late campaign | Challenge major empires | Attacking without a reserve force |
The conquest system rewards steady momentum. Capture useful infrastructure, convert salvage into resources, improve your units, and then move toward the next planet. This creates a repeatable campaign rhythm without requiring every operation to be a maximum-risk assault.
Before launching an annexation, answer three questions: Can your force win the tactical battle, can your economy support the aftermath, and can you defend the new territory?
Drop Command Planet Conquest FAQ
Q: How do you conquer planets in Drop Command?
Begin by securing important facilities, improving planetary support and stability, building enough military capacity, and then launching an annexation mission when the hostile force is manageable.
Q: What should you capture before annexing a planet?
Factories and starports are strong priorities because they improve production, resource flow, or strategic mobility. The best choice depends on the planet’s facilities and your current logistics.
Q: Which units are useful during planetary conquest?
Mechs provide flexible direct combat power, tanks add firepower, infantry expand combined-arms options, and mercenaries can assist with selected raids or defensive missions.
Q: Why does maintenance capacity matter after conquest?
Maintenance capacity limits how much military force your faction can support. If your army grows beyond that capacity, future recruitment and sustained expansion become more difficult.
For additional visual reference, see the Drop Command Episode 1 gameplay video, which demonstrates early strategic expansion, facility missions, tactical combat, and the first planetary annexation sequence.
Successful planetary conquest depends on preparation across both layers of Drop Command. Win the tactical mission, then make the captured territory productive enough to support your next war.