I think this is the sticking point - many players expect the military starbase to act like a battlestation did in MOO2, but it's not supposed to do that. Just as an economic starbase isn't supposed to generate manufacturing, gold or research by itself, but rather buff planets that do, the military starbase isn't meant to be a defensive bastion in itself, but rather give a tactical advantage to other vessels nearby (which a fully-decked out military starbase clearly does, with its enormous bonuses). Starbases are meant to be valuable strategic targets in themselves, rather than a tactical defense platform - they aren't defenders, but are rather things to be defended.

I modded in the ability for Military starbases to increase Planetary Defense in their area of influence. It certainly doesn't fix all the issues, but it does at least give a reason to target them prior to attempting an invasion, instead of just bypassing them on the way to the planet.

While military starbases can be useful in specific circumstances, that usefulness is both limited by affect and time - how often will I actually be fighting within the influence of such a starbase?

And in regards to protecting your planets, my mod helps with that, but still doesn't seem fully satisfactory to me. I'd kinda like to be able to build/station them on the planet themselves - that way you'd have to go through them to get to the planet (something like the defensive fortifications in Starship Troopers, or the Taurus around Earth from X3). Still somewhat niche, but at least more useful.

@ Christian_Akacro :

Here's the link to the thread for my updated mod.

https://forums.galciv3.com/466468/page/1

I too would like it if the AI could utilize this; they will build military starbases near their planets, but I'm not sure how well they target enemy starbases for destruction prior to invasion attempts.

Thanks! Waiting for 1.1 for steam workshop though. I need something that can manage mods for me. Hope you post it there when you can!

They still do, yes. Really huge bonuses by the end game. The argument here is that some players want the starbase to be more directly powerful rather than indirectly - using it to protect stuff in it's own right rather than enhance other protection.

There's nothing in the xml which seems to suggest they reduce maintenance costs. Starbases do give some influence, apparently (though I've never seen a non-influence SB increase it's border radius), and also give strategic repair bonuses along with ship range bonuses too. On larger maps, the range bonus is very important.

Not sure that I agree other starbases are useless; I build a fair number just for sensor stations (I dislike the gamey aspect of mega sensor boats), and economic starbases can be a huge boon if they catch multiple planets. On insane/abundant maps, the morale-booster module alone is a Godsend. Influence starbases are handy for holding borders and locking enemies out, and artifacts are equally very powerful. The value of mining bases is pretty much directly based on the value of resource buildings imo; these are currently really weak compared to the effort you need to expend to make them.

The big bonuses from military starbases mean that, by around 3/4 of the way through their upgrades, they reduce the number of ships required for the same damage output by 50% - meaning that eventually you're better off splitting a fleet in 2 and defending both than you would be otherwise (plus, more bang-per-logistics-buck while in radius). But you need to sink a hell of a lot of resources into the base to get to that level. 

Combined with the range extension effect, the military SB seem more suited to a staging base for attacking the enemy from, than as a defensive base for your own empire. Don't build them in your own borders. Build them just outside your enemy's, stack ships on them, and upgrade them to hell and back. Then launch your fleet to attack from there. 

I'd say that, generally, military bases need their progression reworked a bit (beef up some of the earlier bonuses a little more and tone down the later ones), the basic att/def modules should scale with tech, all starbases need a hitpoint-per-module bonus, and resource buildings need to be rebalanced upwards to make mining starbases more worth the effort (Thulium and antimatter being the priority here, with Promethium close behind - Duranthium is reasonable and Elerium is arguably OP).

wait till starbase is on far side of planet start invasion from near side of planet

I like that starbases have to specialize (mining / culture / economic / military).  What I don't like is that when the constructor arrives, I have to go answer a question that I could have answered 10 turns ago when I requested the constructor.  The fact that I can request a constructor, however, is a huge improvement over GC2.

From the construction side, starbases really need a "build queue" and "build time" to be implemented.  Instead of having constructors arrive and be immediately converted into a finished product, you would instead have:

• A build queue for what upgrades you want to install on the starbase
• You can queue up things that you don't yet have enough parts on-hand for
• A standard constructor module delivers 100 units of "parts"
• Parts get stored in a central storage tank (up to 1000 parts total?)
• Starbases have a mechanic shop which controls how fast they turn parts into modules
• Tier 1 modules should cost about 100 "parts"

The idea being that when you build a starbase, it starts out with a base mechanics workshop which takes 10 turns to turn a 100 part module into something useful.  You then request additional constructor deliveries (like you do now), but when constructors arrive they automatically unload their parts into the central storage tank.  You queue up as many modules in the construction queue as you have parts on hand in the tanks to build them.

Now you only need to visit the starbase whenever:

• Construction is idle (just like a planet)
• Construction is stalled due to lack of parts
• To queue up new work orders
• To request more constructors be sent

Letting fighters escort fleets within the ZoC is a very good idea.  You could even have installable modules which change the escort range from "same" tile out to a range of five tiles (so five upgrade levels for the flight control center).

Hah wrong game.

Hmm I thought i was in rebellion, so I deleted it.  good catch lol

Military Starbases are of questionable value.  Giving 3 worlds morale, science, cash, and production boosts all at once is sexy.  

My escort ships are generally tougher than a starbase and can solo them with a stack of defenders vs. the AI (human vs. human they may have value - especially if you can drop them offensively and protect them for a turn while they build modules.)

Given the available extremes in ship design, if Military Starbases are supposed to reduce movement, they need to reduce movement to a set number of units (within their zone of control).  As a Baseline; "Enemy movement is reduced to 4" Fully upgraded:  "Enemy movement is reduced to 2."   That way it should take an enemy 2 or 4 turns to reach your starbase and destroy it.   - This should give your mobile fleet ample time to respond. 

Any idea how you get your custom designed construction ships to be queued up by the "request constructor" option?  Or to control which starbase gets the requests? 

I am working on an insane map and I have a shipyard that produces a constructor a turn... and my colony ship producer shipyard is constantly getting bogged down by constructor requests.