Star Base Blues

from GalCiv2 Forums
Hello

When I first started playing this game I lived and died by my star bases, but sometime during the transition from ch alleging to tough I didn't find them nearly as useful, and since I've been playing on painful I only use them to start wars(plop a military star base down in orbit of someone else's planet), or to aid in colonizing. Does anyone here playing on painful and above use star bases in any significant manor, and if so how?

Thanks
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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
...I personally put up resource starbases whenever I have the opportunity but don't expect them to survive long when war breaks out.
...I don't actually have any significant 'house' though.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well I don't make them a high priority other than the resource bases. However, when I have the time and extra starports to make the constructors I crank them out and create a lot of economic bases throughout my empire. Especially around the starport equipped planets. A few economic bases with social/military/research bonus modules can really boost the production.

Constructors in 1 turn.
Tiny fighters in 2.
Small in 3.
etc, etc,

They can make you a military powerhouse.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Resource starbases are universally used, of course.

Influence starbases are also used extensively if you are trying to assimilate another race (or just steal a few of their planets).

If I have a few good manufacturing or research planets that can be covered with multiple starbases, I will mass economic starbases there.

I almost never use military starbases - I can't get constructors to the front lines fast enough to keep the starbase from dying, and if I'm pushed back into my home territory that far I've lost anyway. They do make good outposts on Huge or Gigantic maps - especially with sensors, speed-affecting modules, and heavy defenses.

One strategy for an extended war on a very large map with an enemy far away would be to build a string of starbase 'highways' - build chains of military starbases with speed increasing (or decreasing, for enemies) modules to ferry your ships to the front lines rapidly. You can also equip every other one with sensors, defensive modules, and combat boosters in case things go south at the battlefront and you need to buy time for a retreat and regrouping.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I use economic star bases extensively for improving planet production, giving priority to solar systems with multiple colonies. Also, you can often get planets from two adjacent solar systems in the same sphere of influence. I add the trade bonus modules only as an afterthought, if I happen to have a trade route passing through the starbase area.
I use influence star bases to "culture bomb" alien colonies, and I find that can work pretty well. In a recent game (on "painful") I didn't want to invade some high population plantes (c. 20 billion population), and a couple of "fully loaded" influence bases gave me three of these planets, fully populated and without the loss of one marine.
Military starbases are another thing. Once you get past the early stages of weapon research, the paltry weapons bonuses become increasingly insignificant. Also, as the progress of conquest pushes out my borders, the bases built in an active quadrant are soon far from the action. I hardly ever use them any more. If I do build one in the early game, I usually decommission it later on.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You can also equip every other one with sensors, defensive modules, and combat boosters in case things go south at the battlefront and you need to buy time for a retreat and regrouping.


Wouldn't it be cheaper just to plop a fleet of tiny/small ships down on the same square as the starbase? You need a ton of constructors to get starbase attack/defense up to respectable levels and later on in the game, it's just going to die in a few shots anyway. Seems to me you could get the fleet for a similar or cheaper price than all those constructors and be able to move it to where it's needed.

Same thing with the sensors, 1 cargo ship loaded up with them would be a lot cheaper than all of the constructors you need to pump up the starbase sensors, and the cargo ship can move.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
(Citizen)PierpointAugust 12, 2006 23:01:03Reply #5You can also equip every other one with sensors, defensive modules, and combat boosters in case things go south at the battlefront and you need to buy time for a retreat and regrouping.


Wouldn't it be cheaper just to plop a fleet of tiny/small ships down on the same square as the starbase? You need a ton of constructors to get starbase attack/defense up to respectable levels and later on in the game, it's just going to die in a few shots anyway. Seems to me you could get the fleet for a similar or cheaper price than all those constructors and be able to move it to where it's needed.

Same thing with the sensors, 1 cargo ship loaded up with them would be a lot cheaper than all of the constructors you need to pump up the starbase sensors, and the cargo ship can move.


Thats what I do... park a defensive fleet on the important ones... Economic & Military and will go battle station 1 on the rest so no weak ship can take them out.

Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I sometimes use military starbases to make a strong point in my planetary defenses, but I never expect a starbase to hold an area on its own.

Now, when I'm REALLY bored, I'll put 16 military starbases in a sector corner and give them all both of the ship speed boosters, thus giving any ship that reaches the area the ability to "jump" an extra 32 parsecs to get something going in short order (usually an invasion or a defense redistribution). It's not efficient, but it can be amusing once in a while.