WPs Damaged Last in V1.08??

[dmm]

I had a situation like this in the demo. Fortunately I had just saved the game. I reloaded, and it destroyed stuff in a different order (again killing all the pop). So I reloaded again, and this time it targeted the WP first. I conclude that the program picks a target on the planet randomly and fires all weapons at it until it is gone. The only way I could successfully invade (without risking killing all the pop) was to use tactical, turn off all auto-targetting, and just run my troop transport in under weapons fire from the planet. (Note also that space combat stops immediately once the planet is invaded, so the troop transport only has to get in, not out.)