Do other people use this tactic?

I can't believe they didn't change Military Starbases yet. They're uber -- allowing 1/1 tiny hull ships to dominate the AI on Suicidal.

My advice: Don't do it, as the fun from the game will quickly fade away. I know it's not "fullfilling" to handicap yourself that way... but... the strategy really is too good.

I remember a UP starbase tax on those outside your influence, but can't remember other limits. And why does UP always go after the evil guy   .When they do that, I watch who which way they vote and go after the ones that vote against me first. That'll teach'em  

Cheesy? I don't think so.

I agree with random50. Military starbases r balanced now. They have already been nerfed since GC2 was released. U only needed to stick 1 attack module and got all attack/defense bonuses, those were the days. I never build them any more, just build warships now, faster, more manoeuvreable on the map.

You should've just left the U.P. Unless it was a small map, and your income was from trade.

Military starbases need not te be adapted. They are okay.
You have to choose two ways:
1. Invest in starships or:
2. Invest in starbases.

Using starbases has often been my lifesaver in later phases of gameplays. They are also very usefull in increasing speed of your ships.

And they DO trigger negative response from other civilizations. War with me is often triggered after I planted down a starbase!

Speaking of the speed boosts... if you have overlapping starbases do you get stacked speed boosts? IE I've always thought about trying to build a really dense 'highway' of starbases down the middle of the map... dunno how useful that would really be tho.

It used to and I assume it still does. I remember a post from a guy who had done exactly that because he was waiting for the AI to catch up on a gigantic map (the unusually slow AI development was actually what his post was about).

As to how useful it is, it probably depends exactly how the mechanics work. In particular do you get the bonus added to your moves immediately when you enter the new zone of influence or do you have to wait 'til the next turn? If you get it immediately, you could move ships anywhere inside your empire in one turn, which would be pretty cool. Would also make assembling invasion fleets fun...1 turn after they're built, they're at your checkpoint, regardless of where you built them! Might even be financially viable since you could defend your entire empire with almost no ships at all!

in the mid/end game starships dominate far more than starbases. but yes, starbases can balance things when facing a stronger oponent. building them for invading planets is a bit a wate of time IMO unless it's a planet with fleet orbital manager or stuff like that. the main purpose of military starbases is to help take down strong enemy starbase. but unfortunately the AI don't do a terrific job there in building their starbase defense.... also the biggest problem is the AI not realizing you're luring them to a military starbase.