but then you have the issue of a super-powered choke point, even more super powered than before.

but I doubt it would be so useful. you make the offendor's job too hard with such a thing. there are plenty other, smarter alternatives.

Another solution may be to have regular "solar storms", where extra solar winds will push objects away from the star until the winds subside... this way, constructed guns and other static placed defenses are shifted far away from their originally placed location, eventually forced ridiculously far out of range.

Ships would be pretty much immune, as they have powerful engines that maintain their orbits... this will strongly encourage ship vs ship as opposed to easy static ambushes.

oh sure, lets ignore the planets around the star and the quarter hour jumpstart the defender automatically has...

when did that get mentioned?

I would very much like to see space instalations of all kinds - but I also agree with Paradoxnt that with choke points it would tip the balance in the favour of the defender. As I already wrote, with the lack of surprise factor (which is eliminated with choke points) the instalations should be weak.

Somehow I am more in favour of the surprise - no or at least less choke points and stronger instalations.

Yeah, but the problem would be the lack of logic in having space stations for all those things, but for some reason not being able to mount weapons or hangars. I don't know about you, but illogical and forced game concepts really bug me.

Okay MazonDel, so to keep things straight, are you suggesting that the platforms around stars be more powerful than the platforms around planets? Good thing that people don't always get what they want.

Personally, I wouldn't mind platforms being built around stars. They should be just as powerful as the platforms around planets. BUT, they should cost 20 times as much as they do around planets. Why 20 times as much, let's look at my reasons.

-Additional systems would need to be built in to compensate for solar winds, radiation, and solar flares (these systems are already included on all ships). This would increase the total and maintenance cost of the platform.
-Massive amounts of building materials would need to be shipped to the star through Phase Space. Sounds expensive.
-Temporary housing/logistics for the contractors who make/maintain the platforms would also need to be shipped through phase space.
-Longer Logistical trail through Phase Space would increase the basic operating cost of these platforms.

Anyway, the point here is that if platforms around stars cost 20 times as much...NOBODY will even bother with them because it is far more effective to buy 3 captial ships. So, it is simpler to just not allow them in the first place.

Glad you enjoyed my post Schem. I really doubt that there is any danger of Ironclad including any uber powerful/ultra cheap platforms around stars. The developers are just as eager to avoid stalemates as the rest of us (excluding MazonDel, of course).

I do think there will be Phase Inhibitor ships though (at least for the Vasari). Memory seems to recall some of their ships had the Phase Inhibitor ability. Maybe the TEC and the Advent will have to do a lot more research to make ships with that ability. I also think that these ship bound Inhibitors will be using an AM cost and timer effect to balance their power.

Ships with this ability are going to force a lot of battles at stars. Personally, I like this because it will help make stars more relevant.

I do however see what you are saying about the defender being able to reinforce his star sooner than the attacker. This would give the defender an edge. However, this edge would be reliant on the Defender AND the Attacker both controlling at least 1 full star system as well as being equal in terms of resources, research, and military power.

Maybe sensors shouldn't be able to pick up incoming fleets from distant stars? If sensors can only detect incoming ships between planets, star to star attacks will be made a bit less difficult.

Well, even a bare minimum 5 times the cost for defensive platforms would make them pointless (which is fine by me). I mean, you could spend 3000 on a hangar or a gauss canon. Or, you could spend 3000 on any capital ship which could easily defeat either of those defense platforms.

I think 'realistically', defense platforms would not be as cost effective as ships for fortifying stars (for the reasons I gave a couple of posts ago). So the question is should Ironclad even bother implementing them?

If they do decide to implement them, they will need to come up with some sort of star facility/construction ship (I don't even like the present construction ship concept). This means more work and balancing for the developers over something no intelligent commander will ever use.

Or they could simply take the easier way and say that since it is far too costly and problematic to make platforms around stars instead of fleets, why bother even giving the option to make star platforms. In the 'Lore', they could even state my earlier reasons for why it makes no sense to try building platforms around stars.

Yeah.

Phase Space Inhibitor ships will encourage battles around stars. IF there are no such ship in the game, then defenders will always attempt to turtle behind the standard planet to star connections. Still, the defender will need to defend four points while the attacker will be able to focus all his strength on one point. Of course, the defender will have a backup fleet to bolster a attack on any of his star-to-planet points.

I really do hope that Phase Space Inhibitor ships are in the game. It would suck if EVERY battle was about beating down platforms, bombarding a planet and then colonizing it.

Well, since planets are the primary source for everything, that wouldn't be really surprising. To hurt your opponent and make yourself stronger you need to take his planets. There is no reason to attack anything else - unless there are very important (scientific, economy, military...) starbases built elsewhere, too (GC reference). The only other way to prevent it is choke points.

The GC-like starbases could be a great addition. Let's say that you have a pack of asteroids between a few planets. Its zone of influence includes those planets. If you build a military starbase there an extra fleet (size depending on the level of the starbase) would always reinforce the planet's defences. An economy starbase would bring those planets extra money etc. This would make deep-space battles worthwhile. I'd definitely rather attack the military starbase first than see it's fleet show up every time I attack each of those planets.