Thanks BadgerBadger. I finally got it working. The code is below for anyone else who is interested.
One side effect is that if I use the Debug menu option "Explore All" everything disappears from the map view except for fleets. Its no big deal since I don't use that option but it is strange.
try
{
planetsSeeded.Clear();
planetsSeeded = Mapgen_SeedSpecialEntities(Context, galaxy, null, FactionType.NaturalObject, SpecialEntityType.None, "TheHive", SeedingType.CapturableWeightsAndMax,
1, MapGenCountPerPlanet.One, MapGenSeedStyle.BigBad, 1, 2, minHopsToAIHomeworld, maxHopsToAIHomeworld,
PlanetSeedingZone.MostAnywhere, SeedingExpansionType.ComplicatedOriginal);
Helper_MapgenLogger_PlanetsSeeder(planetsSeeded, "TheHive - wherever", 1);
if (planetsSeeded.Count > 0)
{
planetsSeeded[0].IntelLevel = PlanetIntelLevel.PermanentlyWatched;
UnityEngine.Debug.Log("I seeded the Hive on planet " + planetsSeeded[0].Name);
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
UnityEngine.Debug.Log("Exception in Bacon code: " + ex.Message);
}