I see some comments here trying to justify the fee as being helpful in some capacity, but each reason boils down to preventing settling to some degree.
Paying 10m and settling is not inherently act of aggression but it seems a portion of the community views it as such… Why? Because a player paying 10m to settle would take 3 months at 100k/day to earn just that fee back (forget paying for the base, permit, & maint.). So it’s not logical for a player to do so…which keeps these planets private.
Yes… players which develop a new planet should have an avenue toward compensation, but keeping a planet private with an overinflated barrier of entry is harmful to the game. Keeping the best planets within a sector locked down prevents further development outside of faction space.
Despite the cost of developing a new planet, players still do it because it is profitable. The player can still ask for compensation over a year producing on the planet and earning their return on investment.
Yet, I see players desiring even stronger protections for private planets because 10m doesn’t apparently seem to be enough… The Corporate Planet System