Newbie question on neutering

[ebondream]

Hey all, sorry if this has been answered somewhere but I've not been able to find it, or maybe I'm just being dense...

What precisely is the point of neutering a planet you don't intend to fully conquer? I understand it decreases the amount of reinforcements that planet gets, but as I understand it reinforcements just hang around the planet to defend it, while the ships attacking you in the waves are calculated separately? So if I don't want to conquer that planet, why should I care whether it gets reinforcements?

Or is the idea to reduce the amount of threat that could come from that planet in the event of a CPA?

[Orelius]

It's never really a good idea to let AI ships sit idly on planets surrounding you.  Basically, when the AI senses weakness, it may send those ships and attack you where you're undefended.  If your fleet is dealing with something else while a lot of ships are parked around your worlds, it can get ugly fast.

[Coppermantis]

CPA is a big reason, yes. It also reduces the forces that could potentially be freed if you ever need to move a fleet through that area.

[Kahuna]

It's also easier and safer to move trough the planet when it's neutered.

[alocritani]

Just to know: do you also destroy wormhole guard posts while neutering?
I usually leave them alive because of the huge health they have, but are they considered in reinforcement formula?

[Kahuna]

[...] wormhole guard posts [...] are they considered in reinforcement formula?

Yes.

[junker154]

I'm still wondering how neutering is useful, in my experience destroying the command post was easier. I tried understanding the concept but I don't really know if it's really that effective. Basically if you leave command posts alive, the AI will reinforce these points but with such a small amount of ships that it's insignificant. Those ships are then "wasted" and not used for other purposes? Also that without the guard posts the amount of reinforcements are minimal. I don't know if this is correct.

[Kahuna]

Only neuter planets that will be on alert and you might want to capture in the future or planets you will go trough over an over again ("highway planet"). Though if you use Assault Transports (they're invisible) you don't need to care about neutering. Just destroy the Tachyon Guardians.

Basically..
..which is worse:
This?


Or this?


Another example:

I've marked "TachyonGuardianNeutered" planets as P0.