Battle Stations

Fighter Drones (lowest beam atk) also requires battle stations.

I've just used military SB's for the first time. It was a bit of a shock to find out that each SB required 28 constructors to complete.    This is 448 constructors to flesh out an array of 16 military SB's.   

In comparison I have 128 economic SB's in my game and they took only 896 constructors to build.

The other strange thing about military SB's is that they give a fixed bonus, *not* a percentage bonus. AFAIK a fully populated military SB gives a total of 54 attack points and 9 defense points to all ships, from a tiny hull with 1 attack point and 1 defense point, to a huge hull dreadnought with an attack rating of 800 and a defense of 400.

Mumble, you seem pretty obssessed with scalability for a hardware guy

Seriously, though, you've pointed out yet another thing I'd only half-consciously considered even though I've built military bases in several of my past games. Even though I like the gigantic maps too, I've never had as many as 16. I tend to use them to reinforce a chokepoint in an early game or as a mother hen for the areas where I pool transport fleets.

Mumble, you seem pretty obssessed with scalability for a hardware guy

It's more of a micro-managment concern. I actually have never used military SB's before. I suppose they could be of some use defensively but I far prefer offense to defense. Now if they could move that would be different.

In this game I'm using military SB's as an enhanced Spin Control Center to boost my military rating so that I'm not attacked before I'm ready. I build 16 SB's, 4 in each sector where the sectors meet. That gives me a 1063 boost (16*54 + 16*9) in the military rating of each ship. I could put a couple of attack 1 defense 1 ships in the influence area and everyone is afraid of me. It's fun.

Can't add and can't edit 16*54 + 16*9 = 1008.   

This % for military bases thing stuck in my head. The scalablility aspect made me warm to it initially, but I can see how it could/should be fixed in "narrative" terms.

If the starbases lay down covering fire and project defensive fields and drones, then the specs of the ship getting the assist are moot, other than needing the basic receiver unit, an attack or defense module in this case.

I've always assumed that the point of the current fixed bonus implementation was to enable viable defense fleets composed of cheep hulls. Spend your primary defensive fund on the starbases, cover them with disposable fighters, and go conquer the enemy with your real fleet.

Also, it's a cheaper alternative to upgrading old defensive designs... to a point.

I build 16 SB's, 4 in each sector where the sectors meet.

This is also a good way to create ships that will have +32 movement points (for one turn only), so making a military SB array is also a good way to create a staging point for a sudden invasion. plus, it'll virtually stop incoming ships.

My best Battlestation ever was a Mining Station (I think it was on Economic Enhancement). I like to play massive maps with few stars and planets and slow technology, so space is more terrain like (and I think more strategic)

I built one and the Drengin started threatening, since it was the closest to them, I upgraded the station with some defenses. sure enough, the Drengin attack a bit later and they go for my mining station. It survives, wiping out a minor fleet, but is heavily damaged. Well I don't want it to die after such a valiant effort, so I upgrade it with all my nearest S9 (speed 9) constructors, and it survives the next attack by the Drengin. They become fixated on the ship (which I've by now renamed Drengin Frontier DS (for defensive station). I max out that ship and give it a bit of low end support with what I call Frigates (small frames, slow, with the best weaponry available at that time). That station held up for the entire game, and is the reason I eventually was able to beat the Drengin. Allowing me to reach their territory and destroying possibly hundreds of their fanaticly obsessed ships. It was a really fun game.

In the game, I'd like it if ships healed faster when in a Military Stations radius, and if it were cheaper to upgrade them then (or perhaps ONLY possible to upgrade them then or when on a planet with a yard.