Has anyone seen the effects of a Queen/Matriarch conquering a populated planet? Up until now I have just made them priority #1 for extermination whenever I found them based on the FAC's and mesons, but I decided to, let's say experiment. For transparency sake I set this up intentionally. I created an NPR (500m pop planet) in a system where I discovered a Matriarch, then watched the ensuing slaughter, and was amazed by the results. By the time I was able to bring my fleet to the system to eliminate the galactic threat she had spawned over three hundred 12,000 ton, meson-armed warships. Granted, they were much slower than the FACs that had invaded the planet, and therefore easy pickings for carrier ops, but that didn't mean the battle was bloodless. Lucky for me the planet was a col cost 0.0, so once the detrimental effects of the hive mothership (now deceased) being in orbit wore off the remaining population enjoyed blissful peace, under new management of course.
Adam.