Starbase defence modules do not get defence bonuses

from Stardock Forums
I tried this with a less serious title and not surprisingly it did not get serious responses.

Anyone who has played the game for some time realizes that star bases with a full set of defense modules are very hard to destroy in the early game. Star bases with a 15 defense are expensive, but not uncommon before the advent of the battleship. These star bases are very hard to destroy, requiring sacrificing many ships. Which makes sense considering the expense of such a star base, well over 1000 credits.

However, once the tech starts climbing even fully decked out star bases are laughably easy to destroy. It is not uncommon to see a situation where just one DN could destroy a number of star bases in succession. Many posts on the boards recommend errantly stationing defensive pickets, even sizable pickets, around star bases.

The problem, I think, is twofold.

1) there is no new defense module in the battleship/dreadnought period. Either some of the earlier modules should be moved up the tech tree or some new ones could be added to address this problem.

2) Defensive modules do not get your race's defensive modifier. This has a huge effect. The star base's base defense of 3 gets the modifier, but clearly that's a tiny portion of the defense of star bases. This is why star bases become so very vulnerable in the later stages of the game. It is not uncommon to see attack and defense modifiers in the 100 to 200 range later in the game, especially on larger maps. This allows ships to totally dominate star bases.

My suggestion is that defense modules should get defense and attack modifiers.
391 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Whoops!

"Many posts on the boards recommend errantly stationing defensive pickets, even sizable pickets, around star bases."

Hmm ...

Guess I meant:

"Many posts on the boards recommend permanently stationing defensive pickets, even sizable pickets, around star bases."


Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
I e-mailed the rest of the dev team about this and we'll discuss it. :)
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
I suppose for now, the best thing to do is to just garrison some tough warships at your vital bases, and add ship-enhancing military modules.

Never thought about bases being attacked by ships with triple-digit attack values. Never had a game that values got that high (usually play on medium maps, perhaps that's it).


~SDC~
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Well, I think starbases should be defeatable by the current 'top of the line' ship in the tech tree, for at least some time.

However, I have wonderd why we cannot build add Defense modules, that adds to the BASE Defense factor. After all, you are only talking about adding in defensive armor plating/deflector shields/phasers/etc. Like adding another hull (or portions of hull). And what about modules that add bulk (hit points) to a star base?

We don't want the AI's starbases to be unbeatable fortresses if we are near in tech level to the AI. But then, we do want our starbases as tough as possible versus the AI. So we need to find a balance point. But so long as star ships are better at defending then star bases, you'll have to defend your star bases with fleeted ships.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
CariElf,

if you guys do add a couple of new modules in the battleship era could you *ahem* consider adding "huzurdaddi" somewhere in the description?

Perhaps something like:

hacker modules. Adds +3 to defence.

Description: A module full of hackers who's job it is to attempt to decipher the command codes of the enemy ships and to subsequently use those codes to turn off their shields. In the parlance of the 20th century hackers whom they emulate : "0wzed! Huzurdaddi, Bi0tch?!"
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
I agree Huzurdaddi. But starbases should certainly stay at a beatable level. It's really annoying though when a single ship blows up three of your best starbases in one turn (I know, I know bad defences but we are talking a starBASE vs a starSHIP here).

Fully upgraded starbases should at least cost a bit of effort to destroy.