[bearclaw]

I'd think that keeping troops in would be good. That way, you've still got the option to capture. A better idea IMO, would be to make it much harder to take a world. Say, increase militia hit points and number of militia per population.

Another idea. Is there a way to make specific Neutrals have something special, like a unique tech that they would be willing to "sell" or trade with an ally that would make it worth while? Perhaps Uber efficient cargo bays that are 5x as good as regular ones? Or even some sort of advanced armor/shield techs? Obviously, being an AI only tech, the trade off would have to be pretty good since once a play had it, they wouldn't be able to do any future upgrades. Just an idea.