new starbase type???

that would be cool to make outpost construction starbases that are further away from the empire. only problem is that it could be easily abused to death and how do we be sure that the AI doesn't build hundreds of them?

while it sounds cool, there is a game balance issue there.

I think it'd be pretty easy to balance. It may be possible to say it's gotta be in overlapping influence spheres from 3+ friendly planets, and no planet's sphere can hold more than one. It may be tough to code, but should be possible.

Also, make it expensive and hard to defend, so the player/AI has to build fleets solely for the protection of these things if they want their investment to pay off in the long run.

say it's gotta be in overlapping influence spheres from 3+ friendly planets

I don't think this is the best way to limit them because one of the main things I would use this starbase for is building ships where I don't have planets that can build ships. Requiring that planets surround the base more or less defeats the point.

I don't think so. I'd like to have these as additional starports, allowing more production. It adds a level of strategy to the game because suddenly you can have super industrial centers, complete with economic starbases, factory planets, and an orbital shipyard.

Where would the manufacturing points come from?

modules on the starbase to increase the capacity of production.

Or perhaps you could build an economy starbase, Or even a trade route to said shipyard (It would not generate trade, But would give it more production points)

I think the best way to balance this would be to "link" each "construction starbase" to a planet, preferably a productive one. When said starbase begins construction, it first imports production points from the linked planet, up to a percentage of the planet's production set by the player. Ships recieve no construction penalties when built at a construction starbase. Modules are required for larger hulls. The largest ships can be constructed only on a construction starbase, and can never dock on a planet (for obvious reasons).

Construction starbases are expensive, and lower the production of the planet they are linked to.

lets try a little reality here

a starbase would have to have its own production capabilities
example the death star was so big that it would have needed about 100,000 people to operate it ie move it, keep the engines running, feeding everybody.
why do i say this becouse the modern day carrier requires 10,000 crew to maintain it

a fully functional starbase would require at minimum 500,000 crew remember the deathstar would still need to go someplace to make major repairs although i guess a constructer could be sent to repair it

but think about it you have this starbase light years from the nearest planet a couple of parsects

it is going to require so much food just to feed its own crew that it is going to need to grow its own or have so many cargo ships coming in everyday that nothing else could dock

same goes for minor repairs such as radios phones and the such

i know i know replecated food right

how many of you have eaten military rations becouse that is what i believe replecated food would taste like but no better than c rats which i kind of like but wouldn't want to eat it for ever

and i think the starbases would be limited to building the tiny ships ie fighters becouse most of its space would be taken up for repairs unless of course your going to stick a military base next to it ie in the same space

nasa has decided that a secter in space is how far light can travel in one year

which would put alpha century about 4.5 secters away i don't know the distance in the game but it seems to be even bigger than that

and as for not being able to dock a huge ship at a planet do you think any ship will ever be as big as our moon

Ryan, im talking about entirely new starbases...

ccxvi (what is that, 216???), the largest ships are huge hulls... unless you added new hull sizes (like i suggested earlier), that wouldnt make sense.... what would be cool is if you could connect it to several dozen planets, the ones that are too small to be useful.. like class fours, so you can pool weak worlds into a strong ship production plant.... also make them extremely weak and easy to destroy.... that would add an entire new twist to war... if a comp was dependent on the shipyards, you could eradicate them and prevent them from building ships.... but this would be hard to code... escpecially the production pooling...

Only having one slip to build in at each shipyard is a bit of a bear sometimes.

One thought that occured to me when considering the dilemna of balancing starbase placement was a mechanism which increases overhead costs the further away from a colony a starbases is located. Make the penalty steep enough and it would discourage placement of any large scale naval shipyards in logistically unsustainable space. Considering such a deep space venture would either have to be completely self sufficient (all needs met, from raw material to consumer product onsite), else depend upon regular supply shipments; the cost of operation would be astronomical either way.

I think that a docking starbase is a great idea, but only in the dark avater it will be possible

it would be really hard to put distance penalties into the game... im sure it could be done, but im not a modder... i can barely shange the name of a technology... i was just giving an idea...

that would be cool to make outpost construction starbases that are further away from the empire. only problem is that it could be easily abused to death and how do we be sure that the AI doesn't build hundreds of them? while it sounds cool, there is a game balance issue there.

You could make it so it could only produce tiny and small ships. And maybe you could make it so it doesn't have any bounuses.

maybe i could make two types: a large one that has a build range (like a ship range, but much smaller) and can make any size ship... another, smaller one that can only build small and tiny hulls, but has MUCH larger range... that wouldnt be as hard..