How do I abandon colonies?

[Quizer]

I took over some planets from my evil war enemy, but they are only size 16, so I don't want 'em. Is there a way to un-colonize a planet and remove all pops from it and stop owning it? Abandon colony, or something? I swear that used to be in the game, but I can't seem to find it.

[XistenZ]

Resettle all pops to other planets will do the trick, issue is if you don't have any room elsewhere.

[Meewec]

what's wrong with size 16 planets? turn it into something productive to further power your war machine

[Jagothegamer]

If you've started down the domination path, you can realease it as a vassal, otherwise, what they said above.

[Danny]

Originally posted by XistenZ:

Resettle all pops to other planets will do the trick, issue is if you don't have any room elsewhere.

Well you might be able to purge species not from your own.
Or make your planet not very pleasant to live on and use migration treaties to have everyone move to other empires... XD

[Quizer]

Originally posted by Meewec:

what's wrong with size 16 planets? turn it into something productive to further power your war machine

I want to keep my research penalty small by using only large planets with room for lots of research laboratories.

Anyway, resettling / purging / disassembling does the trick. I'm happy to see that resettling costs energy credits these days, rather than influence.

[Nemund]

Boy won't you love the next update, where it's a penalty based on districts, not planet count, so small planets are still valuable (to a point)

[Xgpmcnp]

You'd have to "remove" all pops by displacement or purge. As an alternative, you can totally make the planet become your vassal, which would remove it from your control but give you a valuable ally.

[_ALuX_]

You can't unless you purge pops, create a vassal, have it removed via FE war goal, or remove the planet entirely with a Colossus.

[Jagothegamer]

Originally posted by _ALuX_:

You can't unless you purge pops, create a vassal, have it removed via FE war goal, or remove the planet entirely with a Colossus.

I don't think you can blow up your own planet if it has colonists on it, unless your using mods.

[Nemund]

Originally posted by Jagothegamer:

Originally posted by _ALuX_:

You can't unless you purge pops, create a vassal, have it removed via FE war goal, or remove the planet entirely with a Colossus.

I don't think you can blow up your own planet if it has colonists on it, unless your using mods.

Make vassal. Insult them till they try for independence. Neutron Sweep them?