Its kinda crazy that you have to eliminate the entire planetary population before retiring your soldiers into productive citizens (ie: taxpaying breeders). I'd like to see a planetary invasion that makes sense. Of all 4x games ive played, MoO3 had the most 'realistic' one. It was ugly as hell, but your soldiers would fight the world military, plus some militia, and some citizens would die from colateral damage based on the invasion method you picked, IIRC. Better than just 'kill 8 billion, take their homes'.
Yup. MoO2 also had specialized troops doing the invading (and defending), rather than a total mobilization of planetary populations. Which makes sense, since MoO2 also had conquered populations assimilating. Not sure how MoO3 handled things, since I have found myself unable to tolerate that alleged game long enough to learn much about it.