Your not missing anything, generally speaking starbases are sitting ducks unless you defend them with warships. Its something that bugs me to, but for the moment its the way it is.

Depends... are you building defenses? What tech speed are you on?

If your on a fast tech speed there seems to be not much you can do.

But if you play the slowest tech speed (at least in a TOUGH game not sure on the higher settings) and get to starbase defenses II a fully defended starbase will obliterate large number of fleets before needing a repair construct.

In my games now I only build up starbases to the first level of defence and have constructs near by if I feel that the enemy may actually be a threat to my bases.

I don't get why they don't make the starbases defenses better.

The AI loves starbase defenses, wasting hordes of constructors on them, and doesn't use fleets at all to defend starbases.

Which absolutely fails !!!

Either teach the AI that they are worthless, and use fleets. OR make them better...

What is so hard here?

Thanks a lot for those tips. I'll try it out when I play again.

I've seen instances where the weaponry on the starbases makes attacking them a bad idea. THis is generally the case when using small ships in large fleets... attacking starbases depletes fleet strength when you're already having to conserve your military strength. Starbase defenses are only REALLY viable on slower tech speeds, though.

That's okay, that's the way I prefer to play the game.

Mine as well..

I don't mind guarding a starbase with a fleet, but now it seems more like baby-sitting sometimes then guarding. I like the idea of a local fleet or squadron which guards a base in times of danger or if they have nothing else to do, but can can also be sent on local missions or assist in nearby battle operations without leaving the station as a sitting duck.

Fortunately, Stardock has given us the option to adjust the game to our own preferences through modding, which is cool and totally awesome. I used it for instance to make starbases stronger with less modules. The only thing is that starbases are not comparable to ships in that some or all of their weapons don't scale with military bonuses like ship weapons do. So in my modding experience, I either create strong modules which last through the game but are too powerful in the beginning or the other way around. I think this is the reason why there are originally so many modules; to maintain a reasonable curve in gaining strength, because you have to keep researching and building a lot of constructors to max out your base.

I would be very happy if a starbase could be equipped with around 10 weapons/defense modules, where if you just slapped on 3 modules, the base could defend itself against most unfleeted ships and would remain being able to do so by automatically gaining more power through the military bonuses, just like the ships do.

And for an uber amount of money and research you could intall all 10 systems and end up with a useless, immobile, virtually indestructable money/research sink of a starbase which you could only complete if you had won the game already anyway.

Did I mention it would be indestructable?

The biggest problem, is that the AI totally believes in starbase defenses. It does not ever park ships to protect a starbase.

This often means in the beginning of a war you can wipe out a bunch of his resource bases, essentially cripling him. Worse, if you planned the attack, you can fully build on them that turn.

Getting one or two military resources like this generates a huge swing.

I'm almost of the opinion that if the AI can't learn to deal with this, that resources should either be nerfed or removed from the game.

I routinely build a ninja class starship that's fast and long range, that is ussually strong enough to take out starbases. Because the AI doesn't properly use engines, or defend them, my ninjas usually make short work of their starbases...