Does anyone know that if you end up defeating neutral units in combat, do you get anything? I reward card? influence?

The satisfaction of having killed the Neutrals? The joy of knowing your opponent can't use them against you? Perhaps the ability to qualify for an objective?

There is no direct reward for doing so; the game isn't about killing the neutrals. Sometimes doing so can help your plans, but there's no real "need" to ever kill them off, nor any real direct benefit for doing so.

Ken on Cape said:

No, you don't get anything. Unless maybe you have an objective that requires you to contol all of a particular neutral creature type and you just killed the only ones you didn't already control.

Neutral units aren't super important in this game, they're just there. They add firepower if they ally with you and the occasionally block your movement through a hex if they aren't allied with you, that's about it.

well one benifit you do gain is the ability to control the area and harvest resources from it. the main balance reason for the neutrals being there in the first place is so you dont go trampsing around the board in a fast land grab taking 4 terratories a year. (1 stratagize, 2 mobalize and 1 conquor)

i do think the cities should have a militia kind of neutral unit or something to slow down thier aquisition slightly

Klaxas said:

In fairness, this is not something you get from defeating the neutrals, this is something you get from gaining control of the hex. You get this benefit every time you gain control of a new hex (subject to harvesting, since you don't adjust your dials immediately) whether or not there were any neutrals in the hex.

Steve-O said:

And is equally beneficial regardless of whether you killed the neutrals, drove them away with a "grey" diplomacy icon, or allied with them - in all such cases, you will get the area