Removing population from a planet.

[Fyron]

They only damage populations though. Troops are vehicles, not people. They can go onto hostile alien planets and not suffer at all because they have self-contained atmospheres, so neutron radiation wouldn't harm them.

[DirectorTsaarx]

Originally posted by Taera:
from what i know neutron bombs are the special weapon type, like plague or smart bombs, meaning they skip all means of protection, excluding planetary shield. They do though damage troops AFAIK.

I have to agree with Fyron on this one; I've used neutron bombs, and they left units & facilities completely intact (IIRC). I can also confirm Geo's observation that, once you reduce a population to 0, the combat engine doesn't recognize the colony. In fact, if you use neutron bombs to kill of the population, you'll get an error message if you try to drop troops during that combat; and combat will end anyway, so you'd have to try dropping troops during the same phase that you dropped the Last bomb. Fortunately, you can try attacking the sector again (if/when you have movement points available), and you can drop troops manually (again, as Geo points out, in Tactical combat; Strategic doesn't recognize the planet as a colony & troops will not be dropped). The really good news about all this is that you can use cheap troops to capture a 0-pop planet. I like using riot control troops (small troop, with only a troop cockpit for components). Depending on the size of the colonies you're invading this way, you can use fairly small ships; one cargo component for the riot-control troops, plus enough neutron bombs to wipe out the population, and enough shields/armor to withstand weapon platform fire...