Not unless you're dealing with a swarm/plague style enemy that must be wiped out at all costs, but in general, you're right. Even tactical nukes would be a better option in most cases, although something to leave local infrastructure in place would be even better. Why build your own cities when the locals already have them?
-Twi
Like, if dealing with the homeworld of the aliens from the derelict ship on LV426, it would be more wise to just destroy the entire planet rather than attempt to merely nuke the surface as Cainan's people did in Outlander. But for most cases, such as if one wanted to kill life on Earth, since Earth has a lot of water, use enough nukes or antimatter to vaporize the oceans and steam cook everything on land. Once it cools down, you still have a planet that's able to be inhabited upon later.
