Being able to have shipyards sponsor starbases would be an idea that could greatly reduce micromanagement.

But I ain't gonna get any of the above so I will go play SoaSE or Endless Space and wait for Gal Civ 4

Your loss, I guess?

Thats kinda the point, the only thing I lost was the money I spent on being a founder.  Nothing in the scheme of things.

I wonder just how many bad reviews a game can take? I think I saw a post about that from a dev, so someone has does the numbers.

Why do the 3rd iteration of space strat games always suck, cough MoO 3, cough

Guess we just don't agree and as for reviews Gc3 has actually had mostly positive reviews both in the gaming press and in by users. A few bad user reviews don't mean the reviews on the whole have been bad.

They mentioned on an earlier post the game has so far beat their sales projections and was number 2 selling game on steam only beaten by witcher 3 for 2 weeks after release and it's still doing well.

So as you suggest if you don't like it go play something else but many of us do like it. As for comparing it to moo3 I'm not going to dignify that other than to say I consider a ridiculous comparison like that an attempt at trolling.

I fully agree that military starbases need work.

I think every starbase needs a massive buff to HP because having 30 modules and only 200hp is stupid. there should be some buff to hp for each module, so that simple starbases are still easy and so that fully upgraded starbases require dedication(if military and can fight back) or more than a simple defender(if other type).

As for the role of military, I do see it as useless at the moment. Either they need to have artillery type weapons that can hit ships in their influence, or a shield/inhibitor module where you can't attack anything inside it's radius except the starbase itself. This would prevent taking planets guarded by military starbases. this isn't a perfect option as you would still need to be able to attack fleets otherwise someone could pad the starbase with fleets. but I'm sure you can understand the balance point I am trying to go for.

Here's an idea: Let military starbases exude a zone of control that doesn't protect things directly, but involves the base in any battle happening in that zone - 2 hexes or so.

So, if you have a starbase next to your planet, troop transports and attacking craft can't just go to town without going through the starbase. But, due to the starbase overlap issue, you will have to choose between surrounding planets with production/culture bases, or having a military base close enough to protect it.

Having military modules add hitpoints also seems like a good idea.

Bear in mind that Starbases give massive logistics values to the tile they're in - they can have a truly immense ship numbers defending them compared to mobile fleets. Think of them like a castle - it's more powerful the more units you put in it, but vulnerable if it's not properly defended.

Off the top of my head, there are a number of things that could be done to make Military SBs worthwhile:-

• Increased auto-repair for fleets stationed within its ZoC.
• Increased Logistics for fleets stationed within its ZoC.  (Although when moving a boosted fleet out of ZoC there will need to be a pop-up telling you that you need to break the fleet up first.)
• 'Free' rapid response Fighter Wings that automatically join any battles that take place within the Military SB's ZoC.
• [variation on the above:] Any ships that you have stationed in defence of the SB are that SB's rapid response contingent.
• When stationed 'in orbit' around a planet (cf. placed in a hex directly adjacent to a planet) then any attacks directed at said planet also include the Military SB, plus defending fleets, (plus rapid response Wings).
• Every module added to a Military SB makes it tougher (extra HP). 

Once again, point being that no matter how massive your garrison if you can't prevent the enemy from swooping right past it to get to its primary target then what good are they.  If you could move a larger number of ships around as a fleet within the SB's ZoC, or have said stationed forces auto-join battles within the SB's ZoC as 'rapid response', then it might be worthwhile having that Military SB there instead of just parking fleets near/on your worlds.

EDIT:  Let us not forget that in the late game ships have so many moves that they're pretty much teleporting from planet to planet; you can't intercept something moving that fast using a TBS.  If Military SBs allowed some form of a 'rapid response' mechanic that functioned within their ZoC then they would have true projection of power capabilities, not just a garage for lots of ships that can't fight as a force unless they're attacked directly. 

No, you can't prevent the enemy from swooping past your glorified garage in the mid to late game where moves are so high that stuff practically teleports around.  See edit.

Also, by having to move your fleets out you are losing your Logistics advantage, thus negating the one advantage that Mil SBs have in that regard. 

Mil SBs are pants unless directly attacked (and even then they're so weak that they fold very quickly to a half-way decent fleet), but no-one who knows what they're doing will do that if a huge fleet is in defence thus rendering the Mil SB pretty much a waste of resources.

The size of the rapid repsonse force should be limited, perhaps even based on the number of modules present on the SB.  This is pretty easy to rule for.  That said, a planet that has numerous Mil SBs in the area absolutely _should_ be a tough nut to crack.  Presently it's not because you don't have to engage any of the SBs directly, you just swwop past them, and only have to deal with a distinctly marginal attack bonus to whatever fleet is in defence. 

No, since the projection point was already covered by the buffed attendant fleet. Ignoring them is fair enough, if the enemy doesn't mind an area where your ships are made more powerful and his ships are made weaker. He can, of course, also completely ignore your fleets, if he doesn't mind areas of space where you can attack him with impunity. 

Look, I'm not saying that mil bases couldn't use a buff - the effect of their support is pretty limited, and I personally play with all the rings unlocked so they don't preclude each other. But there's no need to completely rework them, as you seem to be lobbying for. They're equivalent to Civ 4 forts. You have a stationary building which acts as a force multiplier around it. That's not a problem imo. They don't need to act as a fleet replacement, since that's not their purpose - they're an augmentation to a fleet.

The arguments in favour of changing them are all basically a matter of using them incorrectly. Those who argue that they're not strong enough to defend themselves aren't garrisoning them. Those who argue that they can be ignored aren't using the debuff modules (they can wipe 30% off enemy movement, and add 70% to the cost of moving - that more or less halves enemy movement overall, which will halt most fleets traversing their ZoC prior to endgame). Those arguing that they can't project power aren't using them to buff an attendant fleet (usually in combination with not garrisoning them). 

I'd like to see the 'level' of starbase defences match up to a tech-equivalent max-size ship, which they currently don't at all (so attacking it, the defender gets a 'free' big ship). Currently, they fall behind before Huge. And I'd like to see an additional level of buff/debuff modules balanced for endgame, so that (for example) end-game engines don't laugh at the slowdown effect. And yesw, I'd like to see a hitpoint increase just from adding any module, since destroying a starbase with 30 modules should be harder than killing a naked one. But I just don't see any real reason to rework the basic mechanic of a ZoC-wide buff and a large garrison; that's works fine imo.

The 'marginal buff' includes 85% bonus to all defenses and attack stats, a 50% reduction in enemy movement, and a 50% increase in your movement (and, if you've got the evil ideology trait, a big reduction in enemy HP). What, exactly, would you regard as non-marginal?

EDIT: Make that 145% buff to all attack and def stats - missed the def grids.