Vermin Removal???

[ool]

Had a planet go over to the pirates. Invaded and re took the planet. In the planet summary it shows the planet as having a hidden pirate base & fortress plus a criminal network. I would've thought that retaking the planet those would have been destroyed. Especially as I came back with over a million troops.

How do you stop these pirate installations in the first place?

How do I get rid of them now that I have retaken the planet?

Thanks in advance for any and all answers.

[Aeson]

How do you stop these pirate installations in the first place?

Prevent the pirates from building up influence at the planet. Pirates gain influence over a planet passively by having ships in orbit over the planet (freighters count, but provide very little influence; having more ships in the area increases the rate of influence gain) and by successfully raiding a planet. The size of the planetary population determines the rate at which pirate influence is removed; any planet with a population in excess of 3 billion or so is essentially immune to pirate influence without heavy raiding.

Thus, you want the pirate ships to be unable to remain around your planets for any significant length of time, and you want their raids to be unsuccessful. Garrison armies of about 3 to 5 infantry units can generally prevent light raiding forces from being successful, garrison fleets of about 3 to 5 size-300 early-game warships (you might be able to get away with Pulse Blasters or Seeker Missiles, but I'd suggest going for at least basic Maxos Blaster level components) can usually handle the pirate ships involved in light to moderate raiding, and a space port or a defensive base or two can usually drive off most raiding ships. Planetary Shield Generators prevent raiders from landing.

Destroying nearby pirate bases, particularly those which are over a fuel source, is also helpful in keeping an area free of pirate facilities.

How do I get rid of them now that I have retaken the planet?

Open the colony details menu, go to the facilities tab, select the pirate facility, and click the Attack button that should appear in the lower right area of the menu. Be aware that if you're attacking a Hidden Pirate Base, you should probably have a force equivalent to at least 5 reasonably strong infantry units; if you're using troops any weaker than unupgraded Human infantry, you should probably be looking at something more like 10 infantry units. Hidden Pirate Fortresses should probably only be attacked if you have a force equivalent to at least 10 reasonably strong infantry units. Be warned that all the standard bonuses and penalties can come into play, and be aware that it's been reported that defensive facilities like Fortified Bunkers give their bonuses to the pirates rather than to your forces (whether or not this is the case, I don't know; I rarely bother building defensive facilities other than planetary shield generators at a stage of the game where I'm concerned about pirates).