We can destroy small bodied planets by bouncing them into each other, but once we are out of movable bodies we can no longer narrow the playing field. How about introducing a "planet drill" that has to be built on the ground. It would launch a nuke into the core on command destroying the world. This device would be powerful so it has to be hella expensive so it is limited to late game. I am thinking 5x hally expensive or more and very big so it can easily be spotted by a scout. Destroying a planet would in effect destroy the moons orbiting around it unless they have the option to "change orbit" with hallies. I think this would fit in nicely being that the name of the game is planetary annihilation. We should be able to annihilate planets, not just moons. Example of use: This could be an alternate to invasion but would still require a well defended ground presence. Imagine sneaking in on a planet with 2 commanders going at it; build a base camp on one of the poles un-noticed and proceed to placing a device on the planet that will insure both of their destruction. Or place it on your home planet as insurance, bug out and trigger the bomb if you get overrun. Or just kill some unoccupied planets so no one else can use them. Also, destroying the planet would also destroy the moons orbiting around it so it would also give you the option of killing moon bases remotely that you do not control.
So....you're saying, as a way to break a stalemate on one planet late game, you want to just drill to the center of teh planet and kill both players?? What? Why? 5-6 nukes will do the job just as well.
PREPARE THE RED MATTER. =P I don't think it's awful but it would be a VERY niche solution. You'd obviously not want to blackholify a planet your commander is stationed on, and it would be hecka difficult to sneak a fabber team onto a world so entrenched you couldn't break it by other means. For that solution to ever work you'd have to be up against someone adept enough to have pushed you offworld, but inept enough to stop paying attention afterwards.
Don't really see the point. That'd also be crazy powerful since not all planet smashes will destroy all planets in the future. 5x the cost of a Halley isn't very expensive.
I wouldn't expect this option to be used often; doubt it would ever be used in a upper level tournament. NUKE SPAM is the current solution to end every game; some people are happy with carpet bombing planets with nukes. I am bored with nukes; but still enjoy planet smashing. The main point is to narrow the playing field (removing planets from the system), if it kills your opponent then that is a huge bonus. It is crazy powerful however, 5x the cost of a halley may be too little as you pointed out. However, it only takes 1-3 halleys on most moons and nearly destroy 2 planets.
This is an interesting idea as presumably you're drilling into a planet in which the enemy resides (why would you want to destroy your own planet). Building 5 Halleys on a small planet you fully control is one thing, but building something which requires an equal amount of building power on a planet with your enemy would be much more difficult. Further planet radii should be a factor in how much the drill costs (larger radius = more drilling). I don't know how far this idea will go unfortunately as I assume they don't have an animation (or mechanism) to destroy planets without them disappearing into another planet. The destruction of a planet just won't be that believable if there isn't a lot of debris created as a result. At the same time, no one at Uber ever said that planet smashing would be the only way to 'annihilate' a planet.
Ya... I suggested something like this before... I think it is a good idea, what I really think should happen is the Metal should also increase while you are drilling the planet.
perhaps if we push all-in on the Star Trek / red matter idea - and have it drill from orbit? Would solve the debacle of having to build something so massive on a planet you can't even get a foothold on... and would actually make sense, from a planet-breaking perspective. if you wanna own a planet, you'd better have orbital, too! it would be appropriately hard to have enough SSX lasers to ward off umbrellas while it was drilling...
