Starbases

Starbases only fight back when attacked directly. The purpose of a military starbase is to house 'ship assist' modules which increase the attacks and/or defenses of any friendly ships in the SB's radius, not to engage in combat itself.

Military starbases to not attack ships. They increase the attack and deffense of ships within the area of effect. However, you need to first add modules which do these things. Also, to improve defense, you need to have at least one point worth of any of the defenses. (Does not matter which one) The same goes with attack.

Military starbases, with the appropriate modules, enhance the weapons and defense of your ships that are in the influence area of the starbase. It's these enhanced ships that you can use to defend your planets.

You can add weapons and defense to Military starbases (or any other kind of starbases) but these only attack and defend when the starbase itself is attacked.

I don't use military starbases myself very often but in general the modules enabled by the Starbase Fortification branch of the tech tree only work when the starbase itself is attacked and the modules enabled by the Starbase Defenses branch of the tech tree enhance the weapons and defenses of ships in the influence are of the starbase.

Between the two kinds there are over 60 types of these modules so they're way too many to list here but the Battle Stations, Subspace Blaster, Star javelin, Ship Pounder, Ray Shielding, Missile Defender and Combat Armor series of modules all affect the starbase itself. The Beam Multiplier, Omega Cannon and Missile Bloom series among others all affect ships within the influence area of the starbase.

I sure wish there were some way to increase the influence area of starbases.

I'm a little confused when it comes to starbases:

I built a mining starbase (influence resource) close to home planet and later added a mining barracks module to it. However when I go to my homeplanets "Details" screen there is the starbases box on the upper right hand corner and it says something like "no starbase bonuses". Also on the main planetary screen when I hower my mouse over the influence line I can see a list of things affecting the influence number but no mention of starbases. The planet is within range of the starbase. What am I missing/misunderstanding ?

And what about trading starbases. Where can I see it's effect ?, there's no sign of starbase effects in the "Details" screen of the planet where the freighter left from.

What am I missing/misunderstanding ?

Resource starbases effect yr entire empire. So the influence of every planet u own gets 5% increase or whatever. It's very powerful, more so than the effect u were after. To check it, before constructor builds new module check yr influence % on stats & grapths (I think), then check after u built the module. Resource starbases r the most powerful of all starbases.

And what about trading starbases. Where can I see it's effect ?, there's no sign of starbase effects in the "Details" screen of the planet where the freighter left from.

Under trade routes of course (economy screen), the BC income goes up.

Resource starbases effect yr entire empire

In that case is it even necessary to own any planets within the range of such starbase ? I mean if I go to empty space outside my territory and build a starbase on a resource do I still get the benefits ?

Oh, and when should I expect to see something in that planetary "starbase bonuses" box? I had a military starbase near another planet but nothing showed in the forementioned box. Am I missing some starbase components or what ?

Starbases mining resources provides an empire wide bonus (very valuable, be sure to defend them with weapons/defenses or nearby fleets), regardless of where they are located. Economic, influence, and military starbases only provide a bonus within their sphere of influence. Each of your ship's range is measured from the planets and starbases you control, so starbases are also useful for extending your range.

I think starbases should be able to attack within their area of effect but sadly they can only defend against attacks.
Allow Star Bases to Attack within their Area of Effect

If you built an Economic Starbase with planets within its influence sphere you can add 'production' modules to it and those bonuses would appear in the Planetary "Starbase Bonuses" box of the planets nearby.

Economy Starbases are very powerful things; money and production bonuses in one little package.

NEW PLAYER - HOW DO I UPGRASE A STAR BASE - IN GAME NOW WITH A TON OF RESEARCH AND CANNOT FIND THESE MODUALS TO UPDATE.

Just build Constructor ships, and send them to the starbases you want to upgrade. When they arrive you'll get a prompt asking which module you want to add (one new module per constructor).

So, if I may ask a total newbie question...

What must I do to get a ship or fleet to help defend a planet or a starbase?

For the planet, can I assume the ships must be orbiting the planet to help defend it?

What about starbases? Can ships help defend those?

Spazdad - just put the fleet in the same square as the starbase. You cannot add the SB to the fleet - but as long as the fleet is more powerful than the Starbase, the aI will have to attack and defeat the fleet first before it can assault the SB.

You need to build Orbital Fleet Managers on your planets before orbitting ships will defend as a fleet. If not, the ships will defensd individually. (Sometimes this is preferred, as the attacking force will have to expend a movement point for each attack - this works especially well if you just put lots of empty hulls in orbit - do NOT build a OFM in this case - you want the attacker to have to attack many times - hopefully running out of movement points before he can eliminate all your hulls, giving you time to get your mobile fleets' arses in gear to attack the invasion force.) Otherwise, just keep a fleet in the vicinity of the planet to attack any approaching enemy forces.