I would also make it so if a Military Starbase is next to a planet that you can not invade that planet until the Military Starbase is destroyed.

Or, if you had a ship or a fleet on that tile, the starbase (military or not) would fight along with your ship(s). That would make adding even a little firepower worth it most of the time.

well i prefer small like to put shild too + speed that way u get defens out of the base too

I thing - simply giving more HP with more modules can be good way (fully equpted SB with cca 1,5 x more firepower than dreadgnut, but with cca 0,5 HP make no sense.
I vote for fully SB to have cca 300-350 HP.

Maybe Starbases should give a +x% bonus instead of or additionally to the fixed +x points?

"1 you should not put weapons on the starbase it self but put a small fleet on that square to protect it your saving time since you dont need construction ships and when ever you upgrade yoru ships the defence around it gets stronger."

I've found that often doesn't work though, eventually the starbase is "up first" and then you're hosed (defenseless starbase takes a few grand with it between setup fees and upgrades, then the fleet that was depending on its bonuses to operate properly gets thrashed). I tried "garrisoning" a bunch of mining bases this way, they just got shot out from under my fleets' collective noses (didn't seem to matter if I put sentry/guard/whatever mode on), and the same happens to my military bases (the computer is generally smart enough to blow them up after it loses a fleet or two against my base-and-omega pumped defenses on whatever planet I'm using as a lure...

Someone had asked or suggested starbases getting the bonus from other military starbases... with the 4-per-sector limit, and the ongoing discussion about the offense/defense balance, I really don't see this getting out of hand because the granted benefits are individually pretty small anyway. I've made a few changes to some of the techs in a "tweak" (yeah I've got files in the mod folder but I wouldn't even say it was a balance mod, just cleaned up a couple things to suit my tastes a bit better), I actualy trebled the bonus values for weapons/defenses the modules give out, and even that has far from made my fleets unstoppable killing machines, it just seems to make them stay useful longer (bigger boost early on but early on you're not usually pushing starbases all that quickly, at least not if you intend for them to stick around, later a +6 is still an extra module whereas even all the +2s added up didn't really do anything even with 4 bases in the sector... high-end weapons end fights way too fast.

I do agree that their HP values are a bit off... especially as they have to repair the "hard" way (can't dock 'em at a planet, can't even pull refit cheese with 'em) and so even if you max out their defenses they're pretty cheap to chip away at with a couple high-attack ships as long as you don't get really bad rolls.

Some way of *actually* garrisoning the starbases would be really nice, the mod guide hints at this but actually being able to attach a fleet somehow (either allowing starbases in fleets, and you just can't move them, or by making them obstacles and having ships dock at them like planets) would make them a lot more generally useful, rather than something that usually helps you out early on when you often can't really afford them, and then just gets eaten by a lone all-attack frigate that gets to limp off with its 1 hp.

I've found that often doesn't work though, eventually the starbase is "up first" and then you're hosed (defenseless starbase takes a few grand with it between setup fees and upgrades, then the fleet that was depending on its bonuses to operate properly gets thrashed). I tried "garrisoning" a bunch of mining bases this way, they just got shot out from under my fleets' collective noses (didn't seem to matter if I put sentry/guard/whatever mode on), and the same happens to my military bases (the computer is generally smart enough to blow them up after it loses a fleet or two against my base-and-omega pumped defenses on whatever planet I'm using as a lure...

Thelron, are you sure? I've never had a starbase fight first when I had other ships on the same space. My ships have always gone first, in all versions I've played. The guard and sentry modes I've found no use for, because it doesn't seem like they work. I think if you keep your ships on the bases, they'll defend them until they (ships) are gone.

But wouldn't it be better if your starbase were a part of the fight? Then there wouldn't be a need for massively increasing HP's. Why should it take a fleet of attack ships ages to destroy a starbase with only a module or two? Wouldn't it be more "realistic" that when you have ships on a starbase tile, it means they'll take their stand at the starbase, which can help with whatever offensive and defensive components it has at the time?

Don't think any of the non-resource starbases are worth the trouble. Takes too many modules to make them effective and way too many to defend them. I never build any. I only build mining starbases then add only the 7 mining modules to them. I defend them by putting a nice fleet of warships in the same grid sector. I might throw an influence starbase here and there to extend my range, but it's considered disposable.

This happened to me just last night, a fleet on a SB was ignored and the SB attacked.

Starbases tend to get picked on first in most (all?) cases. So you really need to use that fleet to intercept attackers instead of waiting for them to come to you.

I tend to think of Military starbase's as Mobile Cannon's for my infantry.

For exp. In BOTF. By stationing a Outpost in the same square as my Battle Fleet. I received one free extra attack. (Or Cloaked ships lost their one "free" round.) Sure it isn't a "fleet killer". But at least it gave me a higher chance at victory.

In GalCiv 2. A swarm of tiny fighters can be made Many times more powerful. By simply Grouping a pair of Construction ships with the fighters. And then before my Tiny fighters attack. I set up the mobile Cannon's. Sure I will lose my starbase eventually. But they served their purpose as movable weapons platforms.

I also will use a setup and bait tactic. I make a “cheap” starbase outside the range of enemy fighters. Wait their initial charge, and pick them off. With my swarm of Tiny fighters. While some of the AI’s fleet are occupied with the diversion. I send in the Main fleet of Fighter\Cruiser\Battleship’s.

Summery: The military base is for support. Not a Stationary Star Fortress. Like other “space” games.

Don't think any of the non-resource starbases are worth the trouble.

Wow, I'd be crippled without the economy bases. +44% to production and research is no mean bonus, especially if you can cover 3 or 4 planets with the same bases (my best ever was 6 from one Ebase!)

My main problem with (non-resource) starbases is that they need a lot of micromanagement (a.k.a. constructors) for limited effects. Call me lazy, but that moves them down a lot on my priority list.

If so, then you may find military starbases have also been nerfed. The attack assist modules now cost much more, to the point where they're no longer all that worthwhile (might just as well build extra ships)

I rarely build military bases; I mainly use them as a convenient range-extender for future conquests; but that's because of my play style, which generally involves a long, peaceful economic expansion then a very sudden military buildup followed by blitzkreig tactics. I think I have only used them "defensively" in 2 or 3 games.