The One Thing I Wanted - Better Starbases

justabloke

Join Date 11/2007

The One Thing I Wanted - Better Starbases

You might have guessed from the title that I am not happy with the current state of the game as it pertains to Starbases.

I as generally happy with the game play in GalCiv2 in almost all ways except for Starbase abilities and management. My big hope was for a major improvement in Starbases, their construction, abilities, usefulness and versatility. To say I am disappointed would be an understatement.

Pros:

They are slightly easier manage

Cons:

Military Starbases are a complete waste of time
The exclusion zone in combination with the requirement that Starbases specialise only serves to limit the number of Starbases, without addressing the actual reason why you might want/need more than one in close proximity.

I think Starbases:

Should be able to build any and all modules for which the appropriate tech has been unlocked
Should incorporate space docks as an option (yes, they should be able to build their own modules)
Should deploy a zone of control and an ability to attack any ship that enters that zone. The zone size (i.e. number of surrounding hexes) should depend on the modules incorporated into the Starbase. This would give a Starbase the ability to defend a planet.

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

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Quoting naselus,

reply 40

Quoting Ericridge,

reply 38

Well, If I had a starbase orbiting planet Earth, I would expect it to rain death upon enemy ships deliberately ignoring the starbase in favor of invading my homeland.

You don't have a starbase orbiting Earth, though. You're not building it in orbit, even if it's on the tile right next to the planet. The entire solar system is like 6 tiles across. Anything not on literally the same tile is in interplanetary space, millions upon millions of miles away, orbiting the Sun. The Star Base is more like an Ian M Bank Orbital - an artificial planet, too big to orbit anything smaller than a star. It'd cause huge tidal forces if it were close to a world.

There's actually planet improvements which represent Orbital Defense Platforms; those are the battle station-equivalent which many players are expecting their MSBs to be. They deploy interceptors and are largely worthless. I think perhaps they ought to be buffed and made into an actual unit on the battlefield instead - they can use the same basic code as they do now, but just replace the interceptor with a medium or large hull, packed with weapons and defenses with no engines.

Ahh, then 200 hp value doesn't represent the starbases correctly. Because at that little of hp I thought it was about as big as the Atlantis in Stargate: Atlantis. Because if it's that big, like about Mercury big? or the Moon big?, it will be quite difficult to destroy easily.

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Well, I think the devs mentioned that one of their goals post release would be to flesh out the star base system - either via expansion or dlc.

I agree military bases just don't feel useful right now.

although it would be a huge change, I think you shouldn't be able to stack economic star bases on a single planet. It takes too long, results in massive micro to min/max, and is generally poor game design. It would be a big change, but I'd like to see only 1 of each star base type per planet. ie, economic star base boosts the planets raw stats, maybe hosts some off world pop, etc. mining star base mines nearby asteroids and resources. influence star base projects and accelerates culture. military star base boosts nearby fleets, repairs, and helps defend against invasions. etc. I agree they should be sponsored by shipyards rather than constructor spam.

as for military star bases, a really simple change to boost their usefulness would be to have a very low tech module that rapidly repairs ships - in say 2-3 turns. that alone would make them really useful in early game until repair tech tree becomes available in mid game. also a module that either heavily amplifies a planets invasion defense, or allows for fighters to "intercept" unescorted transports.

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Quoting Ericridge,

reply 51

No arguments there - a star base with end-game defense modules should be able to see off end-game lone raiders, and for that it needs to have enough tank to survive 900+ damage alpha strikes from giant missile ships. Adding just +10hp per module would give a top-end starbase 1100 health, which is more in keeping with the sheer mass that the investment must represent.

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erischild

Join Date 01/2012

+136

All I want is modules in my military base that project a zone of extra heal. I would build and protect military starbases if they did that. I would probably find ways to use the other modules since the starbases were there as ship hospitals.

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