That's my question It occured to me especially because of the fighter ambush. Technically speaking, the fighters go off when the troops are already landed, so it shouldn't affect them if their transporting vehicle gets shot.

The landing Ground Troops are not considered to be on the planet until the DS is completely resolved.

The DS goes off once you announce the invasion and show what the invasion will consist of. The DS is then flipped over and resolved. If you overcome the negative DS then your troops complete landing and you take the planet.

Stefan said:

DS counters are technically part of Invasion of a planet, yes. That's why for "Fighter Ambush", the rules for the Domain Counter specifically tell you how to resolve it and what happens if you lose the out-of-sequence space battle,

In this case, it is a moot point because the rules specifically say that if the fighters win, the Ground Forces are discarded and the planet remains neutral.

EDIT: But that is what sigmazero13 just said. I guess that is what I get for skimming.

Okay, thanks alot, guys!