Feeding the Sun.

You seem to mis-interpret the issue taken by others of the idea. On one level you are correct that in theory and army of units instead of Halleys can be used instead, but as things are now that isn't always a feasible endeavor due to the mess that is the current state of Interplanetary Mechanics.

But think about the Logistics of trying to throw a planet into the sun, You have to build Halleys, on an enemy controlled planet and protect not only the Halleys themselves but also the fabbers making them all the way through to the ignition of the Halleys, once the Smashing MEchanics are refined you might even have to protect them right up until the point of collision!

It's just not a feasiuble situation, or rather, by your own definition, it offers even LESS value than the "standard" Planet Smash because you have to invest so much more than just the halleys and you have to do so in an environment that makes it that much more complicated and basically makes it public knowledge making it even easier for the enemy commander to just leave the planet.

To be clear, I'm not trying to say the idea itself is bad, I'm just pointing out that in the specific context of standard PA play as we know it, it's not a compatible idea.

For example a spin off game mode,"Halley Race", where everyone starts on the same planet with ZERO combat options and the goal is to be the one to build and fire off enough Halleys to smash the planet into the sun, bonus points if you can team up(on purpose or by accident) due to the thrust being based on engine placement instead of being arbitrary.

Mike