Does raiding bombardment Serve that Much purpose?

[enricofermi2]

It seems cool to me, but the issue is that if you can bombard a planet, you can probally just take it.

If anything it just saves influence from needing to make claims.

[Helios]

You stil need to claim the system you cant just take it.

[Sero]

You also need influence to resettle pops.
Maybe you can empty the planet for free if you enslave the entire race and take away their jobs. The slave processing center might move them all offworld.

Anyway, I think the purpose of raiding is to fill your planet with pops but if you conquer the planet you just get another that needs to be filled.
Could also be it's just a mechanic to abuse the empire wide growth brake.
You steal their pops and leave them the planet so they can put more pops on it for you to plunder later.

[enricofermi2]

Even then it seems like it's pretty niche, considering it takes a civic, or ascension slot.

Just to save some influence.

Seems like it would make more sense if it just generated a pop, and made the bombarded planet unhappy or something.

[pete3great]

Some people swear by it, some people say there are more efficient ways. I'm the latter, but don't take the people who scream you're having fun wrong if you do use it.

[CrUsHeR]

You can use it in a humiliation war against rivals, which doesn't cost anything to declare and instead gives influence if you win. You can even use it in defensive wars. And if you take the Barbaric Despoiler civic, you get a "Plunder" CB which gives you 250 energy and minerals for every planet owned by the defender.

I think it got more popular with the pop growth nerfs since Nemesis.

[Fenris]

It's situational for me. Ever tried to fill a ringworld with just natural pop growth? And yeah, you'd then have to refill the planet you emptied, but if I'm stealing pops I'm probably going to blow the planet up later anyway.

I get to the point in some games where I have tons of worlds, habitats, etc and just don't feel like managing more so I just steal pops to fill up my current ones and destroy or abandon the one I just took over.

[adobo]

If you're fighting an entire federation, you can just go in deep and start taking pops from everyone involved.

[Spirit]

raiding bombing is good for driven assimilators and slaving despots , there is even a civic that support this playstyle
i usually use it as a rogue servitor , i abduct them for a better future (oh god that sound like a slogan of a company)

[Aethrys]

It's good because pop growth slows down when population is high. If you raid an empire down to minimal pops they'll have max pop growth and regrow new ones to fill the void fairly quickly. You can then raid them again, and again.

With this gameplay your neighbors become pop farms which you periodically harvest, as they'll grow pops much faster than you will. It actually allows you to create a completely broken super densely populated empire despite what paradox tried to limit.

[enricofermi2]

After using it I have to say it feels useless. It's so slow and it pops up an acknowledgment for every pop. It would only help if you had a big fleet laying around, with nothing else to do, and an easy enough target.

[Heimdall313]

The notification spam is horrible but you can use it to cause serious economic damage. Works best with gene ascend and slavery, turn them into genetically enhanced scab labor.
Claiming and repairing an AI world is a chore - scooping pops to fill the mines is easy peasy. Use your neighbors like the US / NATO use Africa: a hatchery to "replenish" your low class labor pools that can't fill your ever expanding labor demand with ever decreasing birthrates, and if Barbaric Despoiler you can even plunder Energy/Minerals at the end of the war.

It does cost either an Ascension Perk or Barbaric Despoilers though.

[Terijian]

I would say it used to be useless, but with how pop growth has changed it can actually be really powerful if used right