Nuking Planets

[corny.1234]

It would be kinda cool if each "living" planet had a health bar, and if you fought too hard over it the planet would basically die and become barren. The habitability of the planet might also be affected if the bar gets too low and it then needs time to regenerate.

Actually there is already a health bar for the ground defense, see the latest stellaris stream for that.

I would prefer the option to have 1 button so that it feels more dramatic, like "oh no, we started the process, we cannot stop it now!", and then you will have to repair the damage with terraforming.

 

[Hopejoy]

I would think something like this would be DLC in the future. It would mostly only be useful against foes with planets that are pretty much uninhabitable from your end in the first place. Or foes you are in a very hard war with and you just need to burn their resources down fast as possible to try and out produce them.

 

[fetyukov]

My guess is that we can clear a planet to make a new hyperlane (a la hitchhiker's guide) late in the game. If not now, then soon.

 

[BogMod]

Not sure the Carthaginians felt it was win-win. And the Tunisian farmers trying to make that land work today probably are still a bit miffed at the soil salting.

I admit I still enjoy when playing as the Byzantines and going for restoring Rome renaming Tunis as Carthage.

 

[Admiral Howe]

I admit I still enjoy when playing as the Byzantines and going for restoring Rome renaming Tunis as Carthage.

I tip my hat to you. I love playing the Byzantines but have never thought of that awesome piece of flavor. A goal for my next game

 

[TehJumpingJawa]

Given the timescales represented in the game, I'd like to see orbital bombardment doing long term infrastructure damage.
Think how long it took for the heavily bombed cities of WW2 to be fully rebuilt.
Magnify that by the scale and technology involved in Stellaris, it should take decades to repair!

Bombardment doing long term damage might improve the strategy of war; greater emphasis on protecting your assets from damage, rather than opposing deathballs mutually rolling across each others' planets.

Bombarding a planet should be a major event; both economically and politically.
Think of the Centauri bombardment of Narn in Babylon 5.

 

[Grunthex]

I still don't think it's ever going to happen -- in this case it's a nod to playability over realism. Paradox doesn't want you de-inhabiting systems after they're occupied -- it breaks the wargoal/peace system. If you can remove the entire population from the planet, there's no longer a need to negotiate for it at the peace table.

At least on release, we're just not going to see anything like this, and I wouldn't expect to change in the near future.

 

[pmaura]

I still don't think it's ever going to happen -- in this case it's a nod to playability over realism. Paradox doesn't want you de-inhabiting systems after they're occupied -- it breaks the wargoal/peace system. If you can remove the entire population from the planet, there's no longer a need to negotiate for it at the peace table.

At least on release, we're just not going to see anything like this, and I wouldn't expect to change in the near future.

Are we sure there arent ways to trigger supernovas to wipe out an entire system or death star type weapons? We already now we can systematicaly commit genoicde on captured planets. I dont see how this bombarding a planet into lifelessness is a stretch

 

[KonradKurze202]

I still don't think it's ever going to happen -- in this case it's a nod to playability over realism. Paradox doesn't want you de-inhabiting systems after they're occupied -- it breaks the wargoal/peace system. If you can remove the entire population from the planet, there's no longer a need to negotiate for it at the peace table.

At least on release, we're just not going to see anything like this, and I wouldn't expect to change in the near future.

Pretty much this 100%. You declare war on a huge empire (your rival), normally it would take 3-4 wars to 'eat' them, but with a system like this you can just 'raze' all of their worlds and essentially destroy their entire empire in one war.

I love the fact that Stellaris has limits like this in place, just like in EU. It means that, from the mid game on, a single war isn't completely life or death, it is just a few worlds out of a dozen that are in jeopardy. I dislike how in Endless Space and other 4x's it is one war per empire, no matter their size.

 

[KonradKurze202]

Are we sure there arent ways to trigger supernovas to wipe out an entire system or death star type weapons? We already now we can systematicaly commit genoicde on captured planets. I dont see how this bombarding a planet into lifelessness is a stretch

Yes we are sure. At best Death Stars are going to be in a future DLC.

You can only genocide on your planets. So you cannot wipe out a 20 planet empire in 1 war. You can take 4ish of their planets (exact number is unclear at this point) and wipe out their pops on those planets, but while you are at war you cannot genocide their pops on their worlds that you've sieged.

 

[llib]

Well if you can kill your own planets, it means you can still emulate wiping out separatists
Like bombing of Istvan in Jerry Pournelle's universe...
Or hoof-and-mouth disease remedy from the same...
Really isn't that genocide enough to give you some peace of mind?
You can think of it as that while in war, you can't spend the resources to find hidden underground shelters or have some time spent on R&D on how to biowarfare some planet into oblivion most efficiently...

 

[Balkri]

In a game with complex diplomacy (or at least paradox kind of diplomacy) where you can create vassals, protectorates, and other kinds of subjugated relations i don't see the utility of "destroying a planet"... you are in war with that thing in the other side of the galaxy? force them to be you pets and fight for you. The only reason to really destroy a planet is just for flavor in a game with this diplomatic possibilities. And if this action remains just being a "flavor" stuff... i prefer the implementation of more useful things first

 

[llib]

Well arguably it's useful for hit-and-run tactics, in areas you can't expect to keep hold of. (like US Marine Recon officer in Iraq, seeing some random car - but very good and new one - they were passing by in the initial campaign, emptying whole magazine into it, some of his men - which did not had particularly high opinion of this particular commander - asking him "What are you doing sir?" "Denying the enemy".
Please don't read above as my suggestion that planet killing be allowed. I think it could be hurtful to the game (especially multiplayer), except maybe as an option that can be disabled (like razing cities in civilization). I could imagine if there would be some supreme council of stars there could be some option to make binding agreement not to raze planets/solar systems, so it could be somewhat regulated, but still, it could be too much of a tempting to make run for the planet destroying, employ it en masse and hit the "win" button...

 

[ikki]

Not sure the Carthaginians felt it was win-win. And the Tunisian farmers trying to make that land work today probably are still a bit miffed at the soil salting.

it was never salted, salt was way too expensive for something like that. Now as a ceremonial action of reducing the judges of Carthage to single acre and then salting that one... well.. far more credible.

 

[[Q]uik]

in regards to the "Why would you do this" argument; Everytime you fight, you may not want to conquer, but rather to punish - thus, screwing up their stuff is a good way to go ^^

 

[Mitchz95]

Planet killing isn't really practical, I agree, but the most common examples in fiction aren't exactly done for practical reasons, either. Why did Grand Moff Tarkin blow up Alderaan in Star Wars? As a show of force, to strike fear into the hearts of the Empire's citizens. It worked for some people, and for others it just provided more incentive to fight.

And that is how you can tie it into the web of diplomacy that Stellaris emulates. Such an act would definitely upset the empires around you, but depending on their size, proximity, ethos, and relative power, they may either surrender to you, ally with you, or be further incensed to unite against you. Add the possibility of an arms race -- multiple empires creating Death Stars of their own to counter yours -- and you end up in a space Cold War. Lots of potential in there.

 

[Balkri]

And that is how you can tie it into the web of diplomacy that Stellaris emulates. Such an act would definitely upset the empires around you, but depending on their size, proximity, ethos, and relative power, they may either surrender to you, ally with you, or be further incensed to unite against you. Add the possibility of an arms race -- multiple empires creating Death Stars of their own to counter yours -- and you end up in a space Cold War. Lots of potential in there.

I think that sound better as a Big Crisis for late game, like if someone decide to blow up a planet full of rebels, or a highly defended world of a stubborn race of "honor bound" warriors with a super weapon to enforce their surrender, 3 to 5 years later everyone start building their own super weapons in and constant escalation of armed race and ideological tension until they awaken the precursors that decen on the galaxy and kick everyone in the a** for using "forbidden" tech

 

[Jolly Reaper]

What about sustained bombardment (especially if unlimited) creating tile blockers like "Ruined City" or "Heavy Fallout"? There could also be weapons more likely to do such damage, quite fitting for raiders. Now, at such late stage of development, new features with new bugs and balance issues shouldn't be added, but that doesn't sound difficult to implement later on.

 

[Cdawg00]

Considering Paradox gave us games where mass infanticide was a viable strategy *cough* CK2 *cough* and generally promotes amoral jerkiness to success, glassing planets should have been a core feature

 

[LDRevolution]

Some people here might find it down-right dumb to do such things as render planets inhospitable by nuking them but I would seriously like to nuke a rebel world every once in a while. Say this planet keeps rebelling over and over again and my ruler is kind of a ruthless tyrant, I would like to 'Screw this guys, lets nuke 'em.' and of course it would either make other rebels/factions think twice about rebelling or just fueling their desire for independence.