[Baron Munchausen]

WPs are different from any other unit in the game, in that they NEVER enter combat directly. They only fight from the surface of a planet, which means that a weapon which cannot target a planet cannot target a WP. The change I suggested involves DAMAGE not targetting. Sure, you can hit a planet with a standard beam weapon. What possible reason could there be that you would NOT be able to point a beam at a planet? But the weapon intended to bLast a small, hardened target like a WP is not going to be very good for wiping out thousands of square miles of landscape. A very different sort of weapon is needed for this, an "area" weapon. Planetary Napalm is supposed to be that weapon but it's really just a short range general purpose weapon with very high damage. Many people use it against WPs with devastating effect. This should not be possible. Just as the combat weapon should not work against broad targets, and "area" weapon should not work against hardened military targets. If a special weapon power were created as I described, the damage level of 'Napalm' could be dropped to a fraction of it's current level and it would still be useful against planets, AFTER the WPs were destroyed, but it would no longer be an extermination weapon against WPs. It would just be a very short ranged weapon with no more power against WPs than many beams. So, you'd be forced to design specialized ships and use them intelligently to take out a planet.