quote:
Originally posted by Spoo:
Is it really realistic that a light cruiser armed with a few uranium cannons could kill the entire population of a planet? Perhaps a fleet of Dreadnaughts with planetary napalm could, but with the exception of such large scale weapons, it should require an actual invasion with troops to conquer a planet. I think that only certain weapons should be able to kill population, but that the damage dealt by these weapons should be increased.
Yes, this issue has been raised in the beta forums. As I suggested there, and in a thread here now scrolled away, you could solve this problem by making a weapon power/damage type that cancels the "damage points to kill population" ratio and then cranking the ratio up. Then only weapons with the special power could do much damage to population and facilities. Then you'd have to have special ships just for reducing planets, much as in real life you need special ships to make an amphibious assault or bombard a beach in preparation for an assault. This would go a long way towards solving the problems with the AI being too easy to conquer in the early game, too... IF the AI itself could deal with the change and learn to build & use "planetary bombardment ships".