From the IGN preview: "In terms of ground forces, barracks can be built on worlds and will pump out up to 10 military divisions for use in planet invasions."
This was the most interesting thing I saw in any of the previews. Does this mean that invasions will no longer be performed by hordes of citizens (presumably civilians) dumped onto transports, but instead by actual military? What about the defensive side - are planets still going to be defended by billions of (also presumably civilian) residents, or do we now have to create military units as defenders too?
If we get military attackers and defenders, it would clear up one of the weirder elements of GalCiv2 - the genocides that are necessary every time an invasion takes place. Military attackers and defenders could simply do battle without having to wipe out the population of a planet. At the same time, it would be rediculous to allow an invasion to succeed simply because a planet didn't have any military defenders available. Perhaps a certain percentage of a planet's population could be included in the defense (as guerrilla troops, local resistance, etc.) with that percentage increased through the research of new techs. For those feeling more genocidal, successful invaders could have the option of wiping out a planet's population (perhaps with some loss of improvements or PQ). Any thoughts?