Defending planets and fleets with starbases and Visa versa

I am addicted to starbases. A military starbase in your home sector, with nothing but a missile bloom, will mean the difference between life and death if attacked within the first year(I normally just make one small fighting ship in the first 6 months, the other in the second) and you have missile-equipped vessels. If you have a fleet of small or tiny ships, the boost of a starbase will double or even triple their attack power. In 1.2, it's good to use defensive ship-assists too, as the mechanics have changed. And it's not really all that expensive, just make sure you have a planet capable to churn out one constructor vessel per turn, and you're on your way.

one thing I've found from playing with the milbases-

Yes, they *are* picked in the same order as if they were a ship. So, if you're going to want your *fleets* defending your *bases* (which is probably the best way to go) make sure you only put Battlestations I on there (so you can fit all the boosts), and not any of the other stuff that ups the *base's* attack and defense. Then park a fleet on top of it and you're good to go (until the fleet is eaten).

Overlapping multiple milbases is a way to make your fleets very powerful defensively for a relatively small investment both in terms of construction (constructors are generally cheap, and sure some of the modules are 500 a pop but then again buying a decent ship outright is a good bit more) and research (compared to any one weapons tech the starbase projection research tree is rather expensive, but each time you hit a new level you've just added a good amount to every ship in their area in all 3 categories).

I've found that once ships get to the "you die now" stage they aren't *as* big a help, but my laser-and-titanium defenders are doing just as much damage as the black-hole-gun toting fighters the computer is throwing at me.

They just seem to have more... ><

I think he's talking about the starbases obscenely low hitpoints late game.

Suggested fixes:

Military Starbase module, inserted with a new tech, that adds hp to starbases.

Second idea: With Planetary Invasion tech- create a military starbase tech that prevents a planet from being invaded, or perhaps doubles the planetary defenses until the starbase is destroyed. This module should be very expensive though. (500 credits)

I think he's talking about the starbases obscenely low hitpoints late game.

Well, yeah, but that's why I pointed out the bit where you have to make sure they're always at the bottom of the hit list.

I can't decide if mega-starbases (module-pumped and/or just flat out beefier) would work or if I like the "better bonus" stuff I've been toying with (makes them more noticable since you are spending a good amout of time/constructors setting them up that otherwise would be making your ships better)... the way combat works though, I really don't see more HP helping all that much unless we're talking a few thousand HP after you fully pump one up, and at least covering 'em with fleets keeps them around... its just a shame that the actual base-mounted weapons are crap because it means you have to build milbases around all your mining bases too and they're often way the heck out of the way.