Simple starbase question

from Stardock Forums
Hi,
What is the purpose of building starbases on resources? It sounds like a stupid question but what do they do? Are they important in establishing trading monopolies or something (and if they are, how do you do this?).
I'm sorry to be so dumb.
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Resources don't establish monopolies. They give you global (empire wide) bonuses that are hard to match otherwise.

For example, I have three military resources with maxed mining starbases in my current game - this means that my ships have higher attack, defense, and hit points than any race I'm fighting, even if they have the same tech - I can generally take two Yor dreadnoughts with one of my battleships.

Anyway, you have "Influence," which boosts your influence (and thus votes in the UP council), technology (which boosts your research), military (explained above), morale (which boosts your empire-wide morale - very handy for all kinds of things, like economy and production), and of course, economy (boosts your income).

There's apparently a life-force resource that boosts your population growth, but I haven't seen one yet.

Anyway, resources are a double-edged sword. Having them makes you *very* strong, but it also makes it very easy for that strength to evaporate when the enemy attacks the starbases in war. And they *will*. Guard them. :)

(of course, with military starbases, this is a self-supporting thing - the AI's battleships can't destroy the battlehammers guarding my starbases)

~SDC~
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Phaedyme, I haven't seen the life-force one either, but I thought it boosted planet quality. At least, that's what the manual says.
Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Just to elaborate on what Phaedyme said...

Resources add to the total, overall stats for your empire in a number of fields. An Influence resource will add to your empires Influence rating just as choosing +Influence as a racial trait, or researching a tech that increases Influence. A tab somewhere in the Empire menu displays your total percentages in the 30 or so stats.

To start, building a starbase on a resource gives +5% (I believe) to the given statistic. Later on mining modules can be developed and added to the starbase that will increase what bonus you get out of it.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
That one is said to be VERY rare, try playing HUGE galalxy a few times, maybe once you'll get it :(
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks guys - I think I get it now. How does one establish a trade monopoly then? I only ask because many of the other civs seem to have one.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
To establish a trade monopoly, build one of the special resources on one of your planets. Like the Diplomatic Translaters or the Ultra Spices for example.