How do you capture a planet in Dominion Earth?

Planets in Dominion Earth are captured one ground sector at a time. Each planet has nine sectors. A carrier loads warriors at its home world, flies to an enemy planet and lands them on a sector; a captured sector becomes a ground base that fires artillery at enemy ships. The planet changes hands only when all nine sectors are held.

Where do you get warriors in Dominion Earth?

Warriors are loaded at your home world, which is the only inexhaustible source. Taking them from an ordinary held planet drains that planet's garrison and makes it easier for the enemy to retake, so the home world is almost always the right place to load.

Can any ship carry warriors?

No. Only the carriers can carry warriors in Dominion Earth — Earth's Landing Ship and the Dominion's Tankership. Each holds up to 1000. No other hull has a troop bay, so a capture map without a carrier pilot cannot be won on the ground.

How to capture a planet in Dominion Earth

4 August 2026 · Dominion Earth guides

A planet in Dominion Earth is not a health bar. It is nine ground sectors, taken one at a time by landing warriors on them, and it only changes hands when you hold all nine. This is the slowest and most decisive thing in the game.

The loop

Load at your home world. It is the only source that never runs out. Pulling warriors from an ordinary held planet drains its garrison and hands the enemy an easier target.
Get there. A carrier is the slowest hull in the game at 440, and every fighter on the map knows what it is carrying.
Land on a sector. You can choose which, or let it pick the weakest. A garrisoned sector fights back.
Hold it. A captured sector becomes a ground base firing artillery at enemy ships overhead. Your foothold defends itself, which is what makes the first sector worth so much more than it looks.

A carrier over a contested planet in Dominion Earth during a Total Occupation match. — A carrier in a Total Occupation match. The ship that decides the map is also the slowest one on it.

Do not empty the hold on one sector

A carrier holds 1000 warriors and the temptation is to put all of them on the first sector you reach. Do not. Warriors landed are warriors spent, and a run that takes one sector with everything you had is a run you have to make again. Split the load: enough to take a sector and hold it, and keep the rest for the next one on the same trip.

Escorting is a real job

A carrier alone is a delivery for the other side. If you are flying a fighter on a capture map, the highest-value thing you can do is fly with the carrier rather than hunt kills — and in an AI sector you can simply order it:

all escort me

Or split the work, which is what a squadron is actually for:

half attack the ships, half attack the planet

Bombardment

The carrier also carries the Avenger Nuke, a warhead that only works against a planet. It kills warriors in the ground sectors it lands near, which softens a defended world before you try to land on it. Launch range is 2500, like every special, so it is a close approach on the slowest ship in the game — bring friends.

What it feels like when it works

Taking a planet is not a moment, it is a campaign within the match: a first foothold under fire, artillery that starts answering for you, and a slow squeeze across nine squares while the other side tries to break the supply run. It is the reason this is a strategy game and not just a dogfighter.

How to order your wing →

← Dominion Earth weapons: guns, heat and specials

Guns fire where they point, bolts take time to arrive, and holding the trigger locks you out. Three rules that decide every fight.

Commanding your AI wing in Dominion Earth by chat or voice →

Type it or say it out loud. The orders your wing understands, and what they cannot do.

PLAY FREE NOW All guides