Influence Starbases

The precise effect of influence bases has been debated a lot - to my knowledge there hasn't been reached a definitive answer to the inner workings of the influence algorithm, but I believe it works something like this:

Every square in the game is influenced by the IP of the different races, the race with the highest level of IP in a given sector controls it (as represented by the coloured borders). IP radiates from every colony (and to a less degree every starbase) into the surrounding sectors. If you build an influence starbase the IP level in the SB's sphere of influence is boosted by a given percentage. So if your colonies in a sector radiate a total amount of 100 IP and you build a SB with a bonus level of 50%, you will have an equivalent of 150 IP in the SB sphere of influence.

The blue resources add to your global influence bonus which is multiplied with the produced value of influence points for every colony.

Or at least this is how I think it works

All I know is that the Torians have erected no less than six - SIX - influence starbases inside my sphere-of-influence, all within a half-dozen tiles of my Technology capital. They're an ally. I'd go to war with them just to get rid of the station spam, but they're my #1 trading partner and I'd rather not take a 500bc/turn hit.

Yea, there needs to be a counter to this besides building your own right next to theirs. But honestly, since we don't know how influence really works, it's hard to determine what should be done or if these are really a threat or just annoying.

I am playing a long game right now and am fighting an influence war with two of my allies. Though I do not have alliances with the races, I have excellent standing and trade. At first I was pissed that the AI would be so aggressive with the Influence starbases but now it has become an interesting kind of fencing where we are constanly checking each others influence. I am glad I did not go to war over it because it has really been fun trying to out maneuver the AI.

I just won a cultural conquest,id say the influence star base put me over the edge and helped me win.

I'm still unclear about where influence starbases should go.

Do we put them near planets or towards where we want to project our influence? Do influence starbases generate influence or help planets generate influence?

As close to the enemies home world as possible. The enemy must be in awe of you. If your culture surrounds their planets then,their citizens will revolt,then its a matter of time before they join up with you. Do not let up,keep building them,until you simply dominate. You must be good at diplomacy,to talk your way out of sticky situations. Also superior research helps a lot.
my settings were....
Terran Alliance
economics +30
research +20
diplomacy +20
espionage +15
logistics +6

PINK

BIG

OW

I've never seen the radius increase, but the IP does, of course, go up.

i would suggest putting the starbases near your own border wher your influence is higher for a larger influence increase and working your way toward whoever you are trying to take over that way the starbases are more effective they protect yourself from influence and spread it out wards it is extremly expesive in producion points but generaly you are going to have only a few colonies produceing military ships unless you are under attack so you can use lower production colonies to prduce constructors and the other race will not complain as much because the starbases are in sectors that you control

You can try to buy the Torians Starbases...? My problem is the starbases of minor races. I am not able to see what ship/starbases they own, so I can't trade or buy it from them... Is there anyway to remedy this? I thought first to increase intelligence about the minor race might do it, as it says we need to increase our espionage efforts to increase our knowledge, but I dont see where or how to do that...?

I use them both to expand my influence border and to subvert the planets of other races. I have noticed that if you put them on your borders and build them up you will see your influence bulge. As far as getting planets to defect. the AI will try and counter you with planetary improvemtns and its own influnence starbases. It is a nice alternative to traditional warfare.

I have NO CLUE how the math adds up, but I do know that you want to build them as close as possible to the world you want to defect, and you may need to build more than one. You'll know it's working when you see a little symbol next to the world, but then it takes quite a large number of turns before the defection finally takes place.

Influence can be a bad thing. Well, too much of it can be, at least.

On the losing path for one of the first Dread Lords missions you have to basically seduce another race into joining with you. There are a couple of other races about the place, too, and a ton of influence resources to be mined. I forget the name of it.

Anyway, I got off to a very fast start on this, managed to grab a lot of space and many of the influence resoures. Figuring that I'd be able to overwhelm them culturally I built everything up to the point where the whole damn minimap was blue.

What happened? Instead of ceding to me, one of the other races decided to start a war because I was *too* influencial. After a maybe 10 turns after that, the race I was supposed to be schmoozing up to decided they were really good pals with the ones (the Korx?) that went to war with me, and decided to declare war, also. The result: game over.

It seems odd that this would happen if I wasn't the one that started the war, and that it didn't happen the instant the other race declared war. It also seems odd that I failed when I was just doing things in what would appear to be the suggested manner - be influencial in order to gain an alliance.

I must admit that I just don't get influence at all. Too much, too little - I don't bloody know.

Several things. Yes if you want planets to rebel to you placing influence bases so the planet falls in the radius of effect is a very good idea. Generally takes a few to do. Watch out. This sours a relationship.

Next, your influence must cover 75% of the galaxy thats a lot. Placing bases on the fringe or frontier will help you expand it. Also building one out in the middle of no-where turns it to your color automatically....

re 6 influence bases? You gotta be kidding me. Thats grounds for war declaration. After you're done blasting the bases if you dont want to invade, call a peace treaty and resume trades.. problem solved.

No race has ever seemed to do anything to me for putting up influence bases right next to their planet. But then, I've made sure that I have the highest military rating.

I really don't understand the math behind the influence at all. What's the best strategy for increasing your overall influence? I'm just not sure.

I'd like to see culture flipping of planets happen more often. The idea of an almost pure diplomatic/influence strat sounds fun. Just try and do it now tho and see what happens. You infringe enough on a nightbours borders or if you don't trade enough with EVERYONE sitting on your side of the map and watch how many declare war and how fast. Right now a solid strat is Culture/War. Invading with a combination of influence stations to put pressure on your target's people/resources.

I find the best place for influence bases are on the fringe near your enemies higher PQ planets. The lower planets tend to have higher moral and are crap to begin with. The larger planets with higher pop are unhappy, have more slots, and worth the thousand creds you'll spend in station upgrades.