Outpost influence will be tricky to tune I'm sure.  Being so close to the infrastructure of that city, I'd think the outpost shouldn't have much affect on the ownership of that resource. And the influence from your more distant cities, shouldn't add much if any to those outposts. I don't look forward to AI spamming these outposts to steal resources within established borders. I'd want it to make predictable sense when it does. 

And when Outposts do change resource ownership, that should be deemed a hostile action, resulting in a negative diplomacy modifier.

Time owned is another consideration for tile ownership. I'd be frustrated that another player plops down a city or outpost and nabs a long owned resource of mine.  It also doesn't make sense that a resource is lost just because another player moves nearby. Influence is tricky. In this case I would think that a border outpost should help secure the influence of tiles previously owned. Time owned should factor in. And on existing borders, I would agree that outposts should have an affect.

And the AI shouldn't build where it threatens resource ownership, until that AI is ready to war with the owner. The aggressiveness of that should be factored in.  If diplomacy modifiers deter the AI from war, then it should not build in that way.

I also found this mechanic annoying, more so because its not communicated when it will happen.  I like the idea behind the skeleton crew getting overwhelmed, but I want to know so I can respond appropriately, with fireballs and calvary.

What about a UI mechanic to show that your influence on a resource was being contested?  Something with each faction's color shading in different percentages abruptly competing over the resource, and after 5 turns Red beats Blue and your crystal mine goes away/ show up?

As far as influence goes, that is precisely the purpose of outposts. To exert influence. It is a fortification supporting a garrison, whose purpose it is to exert upon the lands within reach, the influence of the building nation. In FE: one outpost on the edge of a nations borders should help protect ownership of a tile that has been historically owned. In war, outposts should be able to exert some thieving influence. They do afterall represent a place from which troops can strike out to claim mines and farms and whatnot. But in peace, it should be difficult for an outpost to claim ownership of previously owned tiles. Particularly those belonging to large cities. Then it becomes a culture war of which side is most appealing, to those who reside on the outskirts of influence.

Ya, I agree Winter. It be cool to be able to do some upgrades to the outposts in some ways so that they are more useful such as providing defense bonus to garrisoned units. Maybe even have a few different paths - Military Outpost - Diplomatic Outpost - Trade Outpost.

Exactly!!  The biggest problem with FE is that there is no need to protect anything and that everything works without units or heroes.  I'd like heroes to give cities big bonuses, I'd like outposts to have to be manned to provide value, I'd like all resources to be able to be razed or at least disabled by troops on them.  This game is too much about 1 big stack walking everywhere killing everything.  I would like many small stacks to pose a real threat to that huge killer stack... This would make the game much more complex and fun

I like the idea that Outpost's influence is projected and defended by it's city's level and proximity. I think that'd fix it.

Outposts are... a Problem.

They're not really well thought out in their current form, I think they need a serious design pass, as they have a lot of weird issues right now.

Ok, how this for even more proof that they need to be changed. This is an enemies outpost that has even lost influence over the tile it's on. Side note, at the time it wasn't in my influence, but slowly got taken over and is now just about useless.