I apologize if this has already been discussed, but I would like to see the ability to attack planets and populations directly. This is reminiscent of previous 4X games.



Attacking populations on planets: bio-weapons, radiation, nanobots, with effects ranging from approval rating decreases, population loss or FIDS loss



Attacking planets using specialized weapons: destroying improvements, reducing the max population cap, adding anomalies, change planet type (e.g. terran to desert or barren), destroying planet



Attacking star systems using specialized weapons: Changing star type (affects all planets), destroying star (make dead system), seeding star system with mines (automatic interception and/or damage to passing ships)





EDIT: These tactics should have appropriate diplomatic cost according to "good" or "evil" aligned factions (for "evil" I think it should still be massively disapproved, as it will strike fear that they will be next, hence you are a greater threat)

As for attacking populations and planets...Why? Part of the war system in Endless Space is to get the systems that your enemy has. Attacking planets with bio weapons, or destroying planets, would hurt you as much as them. Yes, they lose the tax money and FIDS, but you can't get it then either.



The same goes for attacking star systems. Although, of you suggestions, only the mine one would be possible. As far as I know, changing a star or destroying a star is impossible, even in most sci-fi settings. And if you opted to destroy the star you would lose you own fleet in the process. As for mines, well...Space is huge. You could lay them, but they would drift if not put into orbit around a planet or something. And if they aren't in a place where ships would hit them immediately on entering a system, the ship sensors would detect them and allow the crews to destroy them.



All in all, I think these just push the battles too far.

FinalStrigon wrote:
As for attacking populations and planets...Why? Part of the war system in Endless Space is to get the systems that your enemy has. Attacking planets with bio weapons, or destroying planets, would hurt you as much as them. Yes, they lose the tax money and FIDS, but you can't get it then either.



The same goes for attacking star systems. Although, of you suggestions, only the mine one would be possible. As far as I know, changing a star or destroying a star is impossible, even in most sci-fi settings. And if you opted to destroy the star you would lose you own fleet in the process. As for mines, well...Space is huge. You could lay them, but they would drift if not put into orbit around a planet or something. And if they aren't in a place where ships would hit them immediately on entering a system, the ship sensors would detect them and allow the crews to destroy them.



All in all, I think these just push the battles too far.

Why? Because I want to



Seriously, like I mentioned, this is nothing new. See the Master of Orion 2 strategy wiki, Biology tech tree (http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Master_of_Orion_II/Biology)



The rest of you reasoning seems to be based on your personal view of what is plausible in a sci-fi setting. I am not going to debate that, you have the right to you opinion. However, if you would not use these kinds of weapons, I totally would. Denying star systems to your enemy can be as important as capturing them: it is sometimes more costly to capture a system and hold it than just wiping it out. Or you want to retreat and not leave any nice systems for you enemy to stage an invasion in your home space, a "scorched earth" policy. Or bioweapons/radiation might be more effective to affect approval since it stresses the enemy empire at very low cost.



These tactics should however have a cost, and I will update my post to reflect the diplomatic impact of using them.

Enhancing invasion mechanics by also offering orbital bombardment (no matter how) has already been proposed here: /#/endless-space/forum/28-game-design/thread/12341-invasions-and-orbitals-strikes-alike-to-the-space-combat

while superweapons have already been proposed here: /#/endless-space/forum/28-game-design/thread/11786-environmental-weapons-and-major-consequences



Since your suggestion stays true to the one idea of options to mercilessly slaughter billions of aliens/people, I've just linked it to both and moved your suggestion to the archive. First time that happens, really.