thing is, that was what i did. I even tried the reverse. shield troops first in, Last in, it didn't seem to matter. I only lost units with weapons. Even when the shield troops were the first displayed in the ground combat screen, the second box (weapons dudes) numbers dropped only.
bah
but not that it matters, one or two lost per planet is a small sacrifice for a brand new load of facilities and everything. and in one turn the new planet could build them back and more!
