The Problem With Upgrading Starbases (and a possible solution)

from GalCiv3 Forums

I love starbases, but hate upgrading starbases. Manually directing constructors to various starbases as they come out of the shipyard is extremely inefficient. Using the govern tab to set rally points for constructor-producing shipyards is marginally better, but still requires players to shift the rally points around whenever they want to upgrade a different starbase. This means it is the same problem, just with a different interface. Even the “Request Constructor” button, which is currently the most efficient option, requires that the player jump back to the starbase to select upgrades whenever an individual constructors arrive. Furthermore, it may request a constructor from a different shipyard than the one the player wants to be building the constructors.

These may seem like small issues, but they rapidly become obnoxious as one’s empire expands and dozens of starbases need to be managed. More importantly, constructors built to upgrade starbases will rarely (if ever) be destroyed or redirected to do something else, so requiring the player to manage constructors is largely unnecessary.

My idea for improving the starbase upgrade process is to remove constructors entirely. Instead, starbases would be built by constructors, then upgraded like ships. The player would pay credits, with the amount determined by the level of the upgrade, and it would take effect after a small number of turns. Multiple upgrades could be purchased at once, with construction of one beginning immediately after the previous upgrade was completed.

tl;dr: Upgrading starbases with constructors is tedious, starbase upgrades should be bought like ship upgrades.

Do you think this would be an improvement over the current system?

19,326 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Has some merit, not sure if it would upset any other balance but would be more efficient - and I agree managing constructors is a pain!

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Do you think this would be an improvement over the current system?

End of quote

 

Not really, no. It's be nice to see the constructor spam process automated a little more than it is already, but I wouldn't remove it and just let you pay-to-win SBs.

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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

You forgot to add that when you select the “Request Constructor” button that it will only use the base constructor for your race and not use any others. So if you obsolete the base constructor then the button will no longer work even though you may have another constructor design.


Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

i wish you could just link it to planets production and build modules like ships at a shipyard, with the option to rapid 'buy' modules. on an insane map when you have 100+ starbases the tedium makes it unplayable. i'd keep the same system if you build advanced constructors to be able to build more than one module though.

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting jdan00, reply 4

i wish you could just link it to planets production and build modules like ships at a shipyard, with the option to rapid 'buy' modules. on an insane map when you have 100+ starbases the tedium makes it unplayable. i'd keep the same system if you build advanced constructors to be able to build more than one module though.
End of jdan00's quote

this was my thought as well. The shipyard is set to "Build Starbase Module" instead of a constructor. This could be a one time thing (managed in the queue), or set to repeat. This way the planet manufacturing setting still matters.

To go along with this, you would need to select which Starbase gets the module and also it would be nice to define an upgrade path for a Starbase when it is first constructed--eliminating the need to select which module gets added each turn that one is completed.

ok, with that said I realize this suggestion creates a new issue: how far away can the Starbase be from the shipyard? Are there diminishing returns (like with the current planet sponsorship to shipyards)? Hmmm, have to think about that...

 

Now that I've said all that, I realize that two things alone would basically fix the current system without eliminating constructors.

1- ability to choose which constructor level you want when you Request Constructor and the shipyard it comes from

2- predefined upgrade paths for Starbases so you don't need to choose the module every time