Glass
From SEWiki
To Glass a planet is to bombard it from orbit until all trace of the enemy's presence (ie, all population, all facilities and all cargo) has been utterly destroyed. You are then free to re-colonise the planet for yourself, or maybe remote-mine it.
It's not very nice but hey, you can't make an omelette without vapourising a few billion people in a thermonuclear holocaust.
The term originates from the act of fire-bombing or nuking in desert regions, where the sand is raised to such a temperature that it melts and is formed into glass
There are alternatives to glassing if you want to take control of an enemy planet, prevent it from aiding its empire, or simply remove it. The options available will vary according to the version of Space Empires you are playing.
- Ground combat
- Plague
- Puppet Political Parties and other intelligence operations
- Trade
- Destroying Planets
- Smart bombs
