Something just crossed my mind, ships require a docking ring, to get on, and presumably off a planet due to the natural forces exerted on a ship. Such as the atmosphere.
Now, in the latest and longest House war (cue the Bretonians and Kusarians onto the field), how long would Leeds hold out should the Docking Ring be destroyed?
I can surmise that with the war, the Bretonians must have installed some sort of accelerator or something to boost ships back into space, but that doesn't solve the problem of getting back into the atmosphere. I can expect large ships to get into the atmosphere, or modified ones to keep a desperate attempt at supplies going, but the overall military presence for combat in space will be up to stationed battleships almost completely.
So, what would happen to Leeds or any planet that has its Docking Ring destroyed?
There's such a thing as atmospheric and low orbit shuttles in Freelancer.
I imagine you'd have to use them and such specially designed ships to transfer things from orbit to the surface.
Normal ships aren't designed for the rigors of the atmosphere, hence why we have the Docking Rings. (Which are supposedly a type of orbital elevator or something.)