Hi,
I'm on my second play-through of the game (easy mode) and I have noticed that while my opponents had many military-only starbases, I was never attacked by them. I could just go on and conquer the planets. After I conquered every planet of the opposing faction, the starbases would dissapear.
So what's the purpose of having them? I understand when they are suppose to mine resources or boost a planet production, but is there any reason to have them just for military reasons?