Most planets are "guarded" by neutral TEC fleets, who will attack anyone that ventures near; this is especially true for the Pirate Base planets, which are settled by pirates and are heavily fortified. In the game's start-up screen, players can also choose to enable "Pirate Raids". This mechanic allows players to anonymously place "bounty" on other players, with the goal of inducing the pirates to attack that player. The more bounty is placed on another player, then the larger the attacking fleet will be if the pirates choose to attack that player; pirate raids also gain strength over time, and to deal with them, the player has to find all the pirate bases, which are the spawn points for raids in their respective star system, and wipe them out. Pirate forces are, with one exception, TEC frigates, cruisers, orbital defense platforms, and mines (and the only exception still bears a similarity to Trader ships), but they are all unshielded, have heavier armor, often have their armament switched to autocannons, and are heavily customised with spikes and stylized holographic "Jolly Rogers". "Rebellion" also has voiced responses for pirate units (which can often found in the service of TEC Rebels).