Valience wrote:
. . . . I never understood how a planet could have ARMOR that had to be destroyed... it just doesn't make sense. . . .
Actually, it does make perfect sense. The planet doesn't have armor. The armor is on the BASE that must be defeated in order to conquer the planet, probably the bases defense fortifications, specifically.
A minor point to be sure, but hey, when you're writing stories it might be useful to understand the "planetary" armor concept clearly.