I just bought TI3 and I am in love with it. I have one question which comes up every time I am playing, and I thought I saw the rule book stating one thing but can't find it, and I have seen examples on the web stating the other so:

QUESTION: When entering a two planet system can you drop ground forces on both planets in the system on that same activation, or do you have wait until next round (or use the warfare strategy card) and reactivate the system to drop on to the 2nd planet.

And how does that work with a contested system, can you invade two enemy controlled planets, or only one at a time.

Thanks for you help.

Yes, you may drop GFs on any or all of the planets in a system in one activation - the only restriction is that you have to commit ALL your landing GFs before resolving planetary landings - none of that "well I lost the battle for Fria so maybe I'll land more guys on Abyz..." kind of thing.

And it doesn't matter whether the planets are friendly, enemy, or empty - you may start two (or even three... thanks Hacan) ground combats in one activation.

Thank you that just cleared up a lot of hardfeelings around the table.

For what it's worth, though, in the 2nd Edition of the game, the rules were slightly different: Each ship could only land it's forces on ONE planet. Thus, if you wanted to invade two planets, you had to have two carriers, and each carrier could only land it's cargo onto a single planet.

Perhaps someone saw something regarding this 2E rule and just saw that it was related to Twilight Imperium, and thought it also applied to 3rd Edition?