Influence Starbases

I've stuck influence starbases far from my planets early on to get range access to unclaimed planets, and they certainly do project their own spheres of influence, but I don't know how much if at all they affect the influence generated by a planet.

I've yet to see an "official" response to this question.

In my "unofficial" experience of many games, it has consistently been that the influence starbase projects its own influence (1 - above), and NOTHING ELSE.

I do not believe that it has any relationship to its "starbase zone". None. Think of it as another planet, generating its own influence, based not on pop, but on upgrades that you place in it.

they create their own sphere of influence. If you play games on larger maps, you'll sometimes see small areas of influence from a faction that does not have planets anywhere near that spot. But still are the main influence in that sector simply because they placed a influence base in the area.

Hmm, really? Guess I should look into that. I don't want to use up my Starbase per sector on just inf generators if I could put an economic one instead to help out

Every starbase generate some infulence in the erea they are build. So you don't need to build a infulence starbase to get longer range. But the bonuses given by the modules on the infulence starbase are multiplide to the background infulence. So if you got some infulence in the erea the infulence starbase will strenghten your hold there.

Atleast thats how I thing it works

All starbases have some influence, but nothing that's going to flip a planet, or prevent a planet from flipping.

Influence starbases increase the base level of influence (from zero) within their area of effect (which is the same size as the area for military and economic starbases). Outside this area, the starbase has no effect whatsoever. You do not need a base level of influence in an area to have an effect.

To test this, place an influence starbase in the middle of nowhere, and fully upgrade it. The actual size of the influence it produces will not increase beyond the circle, no matter how many modules you add.

yep, i place them next to planets that i want to defect to my side or near my own planets that may become in danger of defection. i used to place them all over the place, but that's a waste of time and money. if you're going to use starbases to maximize your galactic ownership, you might as well build military ones so you can defend them easier.

Influence star bases are definately worth it. I never add the diplomatic branch, but always the entire culture branch. I build these up during peace time, and have nearly conquered opponents in this manner. And yes, you can do it cross galaxy, then don't have to be anywhere near your planet. Just make sure you have at least one influence resource maxed out, and put them as close to your target planets as possible. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 stacked influence bases to work, but, if you're evil like me, it only takes the initial investment of building the star base. Plus, when you flip a planet it will pay for itself, since you'll have a full population to tax, and an unharmed planet.