Core Cracker/Obliterator Political Ramifications

I definitely support this. Although a rudamentary system exists where other empires condemn you with text only, I would love to see it expanded in the ways you have mentioned. It would certainly make someone think twice about using a Core Cracker / Obliterator because of the ramifications. Very nice idea!

Upvoted. I like almost all the ideas here except for a few points regarding the bonuses and debuffs of the victim.

"The empire whose planet was destroyed will get a very different event. A significant approval bonus will occurr as the empire's citizens become united like never before to avenge the terrible deed that ocurred."

   I agree with the sentiment that the populace becomes unified, but strongly disagree with the approval bonus. These people just lost a world with friends, family, and everyone and everything else on it. If anything the empire should receive a significant approval debuff considering that the surviving populations would be uneasy about their future and have obvious concerns that their world is the next to be destroyed.

"Additionally they will receive manpower and industry bonuses, as well as a science bonus and a reduction in the cost needed to build Core Cracker ships and specialize Behemoths into Obliterators."

    The manpower, industry and science bonuses align well with "unified people" idea from the last sentence. This is much more sensible than an approval bonus: you could reasonably expect citizens giving all they can to aid the war economy after such a drastic attack. As to the cost reduction in Core Crackers and Obliterators, that doesn't necessarily work well here either. It makes more sense to me those bonuses are applied to the research and production of defenses against world destroying weapons: The Sentinel and Planetary Shield.

    Alternatively, a contextual choice may work better here: You chose either a Militarist response centered around a message of revenge (buffs to Core Crackers and Obliterators) or an Industrailist response centered around a message of prevention of additional world destroying attacks (buffs to Sentinel and Planetary Shield). Personally I like the choice here because it fits well with ES2's political contextual choice gameplay.

"They will also receive a second, much smaller cost reduction towards Core Cracker ships (but not Obliterators). This second bonus, however, is permanent. The power of the Militarist and/or Industrialist political parties will also increase."

   This makes perfect sense. You could reasonably expect at least some of the population harbouring a deep thirst revenge. A small but permanent buff to Core Cracker production fits nicely. To go a little deeper in detail about the political parties: maybe you get a 20 turn buff to the Militarist and/or Industrial parties and a debuff to the Pacifist Party instead of the usual buff to Pacifist Party that you get for being the victim of a conventional attack. That way you have a better chance of getting (or keeping) the Militarists or Industrialists in power for the next election cycle and can use their laws to synergize with offensive and economic buffs you get from this event.

All in all I love your core idea here, and no offence is meant by this critique and I hope you find my insights helpful!

To be sure, the actual nature of the debuffs and buffs are largely placeholders. I'm not knowledgeable when it comes to balance, which is also why I didn't give much in the way of hard values. I figure that if the devs like and choose to use this idea, they will alter the values and types of buffs and/or debuffs as necessary. It's mostly the concepts behind them that I wanted to get across.

With that said, I agree that the approval bonus could be changed to a debuff, but it should probably be a small one. The point of this event is to add heavy consequences to being the first to destroy a planet; consequences that significantly harm the perpetrator and aid the victim. That and, from a lore perspective, the worry that the victim's people would feel should be somewhat mitigated by the fact that they're also angry about the titanic loss of life. The worry is there, but it's nothing compared to the horror felt by the perpetrator's people.

" Alternatively, a contextual choice may work better here: You chose either a Militarist response centered around a message of revenge (buffs to Core Crackers and Obliterators) or an Industrailist response centered around a message of prevention of additional world destroying attacks (buffs to Sentinel and Planetary Shield). "

This is a very good idea. The idea behind the buffs to Core Crackers/Obliterators was that the victim empire has entered something of an arms race to produce planet destroying weapons of their own, or if they already have them to use them to enact revenge on the ones who destroyed their world. That said, allowing the player to make an alternative choice to focus on Industrialism and defense instead would be even better. More choices rather than less is rarely a bad thing from a gameplay perspective.

Do you have any thoughts on the alternate Cravers event? Or the idea of giving a slight approval debuff and significant science/industry/manpower buffs to empires uninvolved in the planet-destroying event?