Bombard Planets??

Yes and no. You can use invasion tactics to soften up the enemy as your troops go in but you can't just blow up a colony. If you could then the game would come down to who has the biggest blob of ships which would tour the galaxy annihilating worlds and not bothering to take them over.

what if I don't want to invade a planet b/c it is a small planet with a rating 2-3 but I dont want my enemy to have it, I have to invade it then self destruct my colony after I have taken the planet over.What do you mean by invasion tactics?

when he says tactics hes refering to the list of choices you are given when you invade a planet. bombardmeant is one of them. it give you a certain advantage bonus at the risk of destroying planetary improvenmeants your enemy has built on the planet. usually the bigger the advantage a tatic has the more improvemeants could be destroyied.if you just wanna annihlate a colony choose the tatic with the biggest adavantage then do what you were talking about. destroy the colony after taking it over. only good choice that comes to mind right now.

That raises a good point. Why are we forced to colonize a planet upon takeover? What if you don't want it, but you want to remove your enemy from it? Is there a way to "abandon" it so that your taxes and approval won't suffer from a low-rating planet?

That raises a good point. Why are we forced to colonize a planet upon takeover? What if you don't want it, but you want to remove your enemy from it? Is there a way to "abandon" it so that your taxes and approval won't suffer from a low-rating planet?

That raises a good point. Why are we forced to colonize a planet upon takeover? What if you don't want it, but you want to remove your enemy from it? Is there a way to "abandon" it so that your taxes and approval won't suffer from a low-rating planet?

Well, in the detail window of the planet management screen, you have the option to destroy a colony. The only problem would be to have evacuated the people to use them on another invasion.

Well, in the detail window of the planet management screen, you have the option to destroy a colony. The only problem would be to have evacuated the people to use them on another invasion.

That's a good point, you could always put your spare transports (if any) into orbit once you have conquered the planet then re-launch them carrying full loads of troops. If your strategy is to destroy rather than conquer you could build and launch nearly empty transport ships from your shipyard worlds to carry off the population of a planet before you destroy it.

You seem to be missing an important point. If you invade an enemy colony and then destroy it, that planet WILL be recolonized by one of your competitors. Every habitable piece of rock you control is one your enemies do not. You should look at colonies with low ratings as strategic military outposts. Letting an opponent have them gives them a place to refuel and spread influence.

You seem to be missing an important point. If you invade an enemy colony and then destroy it, that planet WILL be recolonized by one of your competitors. Every habitable piece of rock you control is one your enemies do not. You should look at colonies with low ratings as strategic military outposts. Letting an opponent have them gives them a place to refuel and spread influence.

Sure. But the ennemy needs to recolonize it and rebuild it before it can be useful. And the first step is to have a colony ship

Well, in GCI there were Death Stars to destroy systems. But I don't know if they will be available in GCII

GC with out Terror Stars is like an army with out guns. Just dosen't make sense.

Could use nano tech, or bio/chem weapons, or mindburn effect, maybe play with the sun a little bit to make it go BANG

Terror Stars are listed in the early betas. I haven't had a game go that far up the tech tree in Beta5 to build one yet, but I don't see why StarDock would take them out. As has been pointed out, it wouldn't be GC without being able to blow up your opponent's holdings.