If your going to add orbital bombardment then you better add orbital defences. Back in the day, Ascendency greeted its players with the capability of building orbital missile launchers that you could fire at any enemy ships that lay in range of your planet. This, combined with planetary defences that boosted the advantage of the defender, made invasions have four objectives:
1) Eliminate enemy fleet.
2) Eliminate orbital defences.
3) Soften planetary infrastructure for invasion; hopefully by nuking some planetary defences from orbit.
4) Invade.
Combined with the present choices that Stardock has included with Gal Civ II, orbital defences and orbital bombardment could enhance the tactical aspects of this game without ruining the tradition and strategic nature of it.
And, with regard to planetary invasions, I also have a couple of recommendations. The tech tree should be enhanced with the ability to add Mechanized Infantry, Heavy Armor, Orbital Artillery Support, and Orbital Logistical Support.
My point is simple, after you invade your first planet a screen comes up that describes what a huge undertaking it is. Well, I want to feel like I am involved in such a huge undertaking. IMO the weapons that we have to research for combat in space should also be taken into consideration when we invade other planets. Since the effects of firing a photon torpedo at a tank would be astronomical, planetary invasions should have their own independent tech branches as well.
