To quote a spehhsss mahrin, it's about time
World Cracker: Shatters a planet, leaving behind a broken debris field that can be mined for resources. Available to non-Pacifists.
Noice
Global Pacifier: Encases the planet in an impenetrable shield, permanently cutting it off from the rest of the galaxy. A research station can be built to study the planet afterwards.
haha this one is hilarious. DOMES 4 UUUU
Neutron Sweep: Destroys most higher forms of life on the planet but leaves the infrastructure intact for colonization. Available to non-Spiritualist, non-Pacifist empires.
I kinda liked having the Unbidden being the only faction capable of doing this, since it made it special when the Unbidden left whole sectors full of ghost worlds where the cities remain but the people are all gone. Nevertheless, cool
God Ray: Converts all organic Pops on the planet to spiritualist and destroys all machine/synthetic pops, as well as massively increasing spiritualist ethics attraction on the planet for a time. Available to Spiritualist empires.
What seems not all that spectacular at first is made funnier at just how powerful this one can be. Without destroying the enemy's planet, you can force convert all the states in the galaxy into spiritualists. With a little modding you could make it so that this can be used by any ethos, so individualists have a freedom ray and so on. Shame they don't get a more destructive planet exploder though, but with spiritualist-pacifists this would make for a viable way to permanently cripple warlike states.
Nanobot Dispersal: Assimilates all Pops on the planet, causing it to defect to your empire with its newly cyborgized population. Only available to Driven Assimilators (and thus requires Synthetic Dawn as well).
Now it's just a shame that hive minds aren't allowed their own swarm assimilation
Also the apocalyptic auths like purifiers & exterminators don't get their own stuff, nor militiarists?
And why the hell would I wipe out a planet when I can take it and use it?
Sometimes you can't afford to hold a planet, but don't want an enemy to have it either. This way you can do both.
Sometimes you don't want anyone living on the planet, and want to carve out a dead space between your state and the rest of the galaxy, thus avoiding friction and allowing for maximum isolation as you become a fallen empire. Also this could be useful if you want to blow up planets to make way for ringworlds. And sometimes you just want to get rid of enemies wholsesale