You can already send all ships already in progress to one starbase to a different one, assuming you've set rally points at / near both. Yes, it takes seperate clicks to reset all ships and all planets, but it's hardly unwieldly. Build queues for starbases would be nice, but probably difficult to implement - you'd definitely want some way to override in case a war breaks out and your priorities change, etc. Personally I don't find selecting modules all that onerous - the only slightly obnoxious bit is the time it takes to build the constructors and have them all reach their destination. Constructors ARE pretty cheap though.

I think you should be able to tell a constructor "go to nearest starbase that needs a constuctor". That would solve a *lot* of the starbase micromanagement.

I would be satisfied if there were someway to tell when a base is temporarily or permanently full without sending a constructor or checking the details and trying to figure it out based on current tech level.

Look at the starbase's details. You should see something similar to 5/8 on it. This tells you how many available modules you have researched that can be put on.
I haven't tested it, but I think you can pretty much ignore the Maximum number of modules. It's linked to the hull size of the starbase core ship (not seen ingame). I think at one point modules were going to take up space on starbases.

go to nearest starbase that needs a constuctor

Define "need".

Many times, I've had production starbases that aren't fully upgraded because I don't want them to be (I like having money, for example). Often, the worlds near there are building constructors.

At the point in the game when you're spending time building vast starbase networks, you're probably not spending your game time on other things. So, even if you didn't have this management to do, you'd just be clicking "turn" a lot...

Eliminates need for constructors (this games version of settlers) all together. It does change a few things about gameplay... like the galactic resources are just a matter of getting the funds to grab instead of physically sending a constructor there first... but thats a small price to pay (and basically inconsequential anyways as the 'public spending' fund is tantamount to a constructor fleet) imo.

You could still require a constructor to build the initial starbase and then use a CTP like system to buy upgrades on it.

go to nearest starbase that needs a constuctor

Define "need".

Easy solution, put a toggle on each starbase that enables it as a target for auto-sent constructors.

With both options, you can still micromanage to your heart's content, do it fully auotmated, or a mix between depending on which border and what kind of starbases you are building.

I do find this constructor micromanagement to be the most tedius part of the game (plus not being able to "upgrade" core ship designs.)

Another thing that would be nice would be for the map to center on the starbase being upgraded when an autopiloted constructor gets there. As things are, the dialogue will pop up, "Upgrading Influence Starbase 12149" but you've got no idea where it is, and thus, no real idea what upgrades are most important for it. Worse, the dialogue is not modeless so you cant drag the map around underneath even to find which one it is. This is a pain when you've got 3 or 4 starbases being built at once.

Speaking of dialogues... seems the graphics limiter gets disabled when one pops up on the main map screen (also true for the shipyard screen), causing my video card temp to shoot up until the dialogue box (or shipyard) is closed. Very odd... anyway...

I haven't tested it, but I think you can pretty much ignore the Maximum number of modules. It's linked to the hull size of the starbase core ship (not seen ingame). I think at one point modules were going to take up space on starbases.

Actually the maximum number is purely the number of modules you can possibly put on it, based on what technologies you have researched. It is purely telling you that you cannot build anything else, because you don't know how yet.

I haven't figured it out yet, but I'm limited to three types of modules, namely station defense, mining, and sensor improvements. How do I add in the Gal Forum or mall or other improvements?

Thanks.

I haven't figured it out yet, but I'm limited to three types of modules, namely station defense, mining, and sensor improvements. How do I add in the Gal Forum or mall or other improvements?

You have to have -

a) Researched the appropriate technology, and
Be upgrading an appropriate type starbase. For example, Galactic Forum is only for Influence starbases.

There are 2 primary types of starbases. Those that harvest the special anomaly resources, and those that you construct where you please.

The resource starbases are ALWAYS listed as "Mining" starbases, because they are harvesting the resource. Whatever type of resource it is, influence/economy/research/morale/military/whatever, it's always going to be listed as a mining starbase.

The other kind of starbase is the kind that you place yourself, and they come in 3 categories... Military, Influence, and Economic. Each inspires bonuses in their area of effect. For example, place some Economy starbases in the path of your freighter lanes and watch your trade income go up. Military bases improve performance of your ships in their AOE, and influence gives you... influence!

By the way... when I upgrade an economy starbase, the numbers in the economy window don't change. Same income. When I upgrade a morale starbase, my approval doesn't change. 72% before, 72% after. Does anyone know if these resources actually do anything?

I've found that it takes time for those resources to take effect, but they DO go up. Check your planet screen, and mouse over the morale rating, it'll show if that planet is getting any bonus from the resource.

Well, I wasn't bothered by SB management too much, but this might be because I haven't played big maps yet. So far, I like that erecting a full-blown starbase really feels like the logistic effort it would be. While the idea to just give it a build queue like a planet is easier, it neglects that a planet has a supply of resources and facilities to produce something. For a starbase, at least the material needs to come from somewhere.

What I'd like to see, though, is more information not just about HOW MANY modules could still be built on a starbase (e.g. 5/8), but WHICH. It doesn't help me to know that I could build SOME 2 modules, when these might be completely irrelevant, or not. There just needs to be a button which brings up the same list a constructor would, except that you can't build of course

The "auto-send" option mentioned above would be nice. The "send constructors to this base" checkbox should be a simple and effective solution. It's not a priority for me, though.

I have to agree that shoving 61 constructors into the military base makes things tedious, but I'm not sure if the proposed methods will help or throw the balance out of whack. The only things that I can think of would be really beneficial would be:

1. Better Starbase naming. Bases should be named for their purpose and location, like "Eco Miner 01-05 12,04", instead of "Mining Starbase 1012". I have to do this for all of my Starbases. The color icons in 1.1 help somewhat with differentiating each miner, but this never hurts. The 01-05 in the name is the sector that it is in, and the 12-04 is the coordinates for the grid within that sector. This is 1000x better than a randomly generated number, since A) you can't put 2 starbase into one grid, so you never have duplicates, and you have a good idea where the Starbase is just by its name without doing things like adding minimaps and zooming, etc.

2. Dynamically listing it's modules in the name as well. So that when you mouse over a starbase, the same starbase should say "Eco Miner 01-05 12,04 (10/15)". This would be a GREAT feature, because then I would know just by mousing over the starbase whether or not another constructor or two is needed. Also, please make it so it doesn't list all the modules that you can build as the max, but all the modules that you can build AND have prerequisites for as the max (IE: Smart Drones shouldn't be listed as being buildable unless you get Xeno Factory Construction and Mass Scalling as well).


I think these two additional improvement should go a long way to improving how Starbase upgrading could work. They don't change how the game is played, but will surely make things easier for well... me at least.

Heck, I would be satisfied if there were someway to tell when a base is temporarily or permanently full without sending a constructor or checking the details and trying to figure it out based on current tech level.

AMEN