Fairly easily done (pretty sure) but getting the AI to use it is another story so it  would really unbalance things.  Other than that i would have already done it (cause i like the idea).  When i make changes i like to make sure the AI gets the same benefits

Your a better man than me but getting the AI to use it, and using it smartly are 2 different things.  It would be easy to tell the AI just to build everything but it would really use up its resources.

Yeah I agree,  I would prefer to upgrade the starbase size and each size level gives you access to additional module slots. I think it would also be a great opportunity to balance out their combat power, make the small ones easy to kill like in the base game and the bigger ones really expensive and tough.

I agree, make starbases universal. But to not make things too easy introduce several sizes of starbases (small, medium, large, huge, you get the idea) with increasing costs. The first constructor would then just kind of mark the site, the first module would then be the "size" module, and the size would determine how many modules of whichever kind fit on the starbase.

There would be a possibility to retrofit a starbase to a bigger size later, but to enhanced costs compared with building the bigger size base from the start.

That's something you couldn't achieve by modding and you would also need some additional AI programming, but that shouldn't stop us from making suggestions

With the current administration system I agree. Starbases are precious commodities, the specialization is simply unnecessary at this point

Completely agree on the Starbase types. With limited administrators, you're incentivized to use starbases for mines. In my current game I have maybe 3 economic bases and 50 planets. The only reason I have any economic bases is because I could cover 5-6 planets with the extended range. 

I don't ever want to go back to the starbase spam days. But now, if I have to choose between a mine and an economic at the same spot, I choose mine every time. 

I'll be that guy...

I think making SB's universal is a terrible idea. It removes the need for choice... choice being the only agent of interest a game like this has, thus its rarely a good idea. It just makes things too easy in an already fairly easy environment. Admins are plentiful if you work at it, and Econ SB just need a small stat bonus at most to be competitive... just fix the stats.

• those are not choices I'm ever actually making, so we just have the illusion of choice instead. If there are goodies nearby, I make a mining base, otherwise economy base. After construction, what choices do I have? I just put upgrade modules on for the thing I already picked (mining bases 90% of the time).
• If everything was a module and those modules were financially burdensome, i feel that creates a more interesting choice: how to spend my limited money/resources.
• A universal star base design is going to be way easier for the ai to handle.

I think there are a lot of good ideas here, but I tend to agree that the types make me choose what to build and where. Now, that does limit future choices of what to do with a particular starbase once built. But I'm pretty much okay with that.

I'm not trying to derail the OP, but in my opinion, I'd prefer an alternative to or variation of universal design...

If I had my druthers, I'd like to see a system that makes it possible to diversify but more cost-effective to specialize. For example, A base that is already mining can more easily be made into a better mining base, but economic modules could be added--either at higher cost, at some disadvantage, or both. This way, depending on the tech you've researched and the resources you have, there would be a choice--do I take that economic bonus I desperately need even though it has significantly more upfront cost, or do I add that mining bonus to get more of the resource I am always running out of. (As the game is now, this wouldn't result in any real choice, though, because by midgame I am generally swimming in resources and cash.)

I would love to see something like that coupled with the ability to have combination-based choices. If you have a certain economic module and cultural module, you unlock a special module. However, that module isn't available if you have a certain military module (or maybe if you have too many military modules installed, and then you can't add more once the improvement is built).

Maybe some or all of these special modules could even be one-per-civ. Of course, I suspect this could be very difficult to implement, probably most of all from a UI perspective (and maybe not), but I think creating choices like this would make starbases incredibly interesting. Each starbase would have the potential to be a unique contributor to your empire, develop character (much like planets do), and become truly valuable and strategically important.

But for now, I'd prefer to keep types and require me to choose where my administrator ends up. As the resource system and game in general is refined, I hope starbases can become a bit more interesting and offer more opportunities for meaningful (strategic) decision making. (And that isn't really a criticism of the current starbase system, which I like a lot--and relative to the base game, I mean a lot a lot.)

One way to have universal starbases, that would allow the player to add economic modules to a mining base, or any combination of 2 types, would be by using a second administration point. 

A second way would be to have a citizen that makes a starbase universal. 

You would still have restrictions but still allow the players some flexibility.