Agree 100% except for using their lrf for anti structure. I dont think that would go well if you were rushed by lrf that could kill your mil labs real fast.

Ok then I want a Death Ray for TEC.

I think the problem is that once I'm at the point in the game where I can build and defend a starbase on an enemy planet, I usually already have a fleet that can destroy the planet quicker and then move on.  And the regular meteor ability is not bad at all(although it does ned alittle more since it only hits shields...maybe a 10%chance to hit penalty for a minute of so after the strike).  And since the advent starbase can't move, it's usually on the wrong side of the well when it switches to defense. 

The vasari base is fine, simply because it can be repositioned.

I have hard time understanding this. For me something is completely nonsensual, yet I just can't point out what's utterly wrong.

Oh wait, I see some serious logic flaw.

In the late game, once I have effectively unlimited resources, I have a tendency to put a Vasari starbase around every planet of the races I have Cease Fires with (I never make actual Alliances, as it breaks all of the vision/ceasefire/trade pacts when they fail).  I then give each a phase stabilizer and lots of combat upgrades (2/2 weapon, at least 3/4 health, and 1 rank of Frontal Deflector; the final upgrade is either the fourth health or the debris vortex).  Since I'm not at war with the person I'm building around, there's no risk to the constructor, no need for a fleet to guard it for two minutes.  This policy has several practical effects:

1> Enemy ships can't easily attack me by passing safely through my erstwhile "ally", who also has a cease-fire with my enemy.

2> I keep vision on their planets regardless of whether they agree to a vision pact or not.

3> I can phase-jump through their territory to hit distant enemies.

and most importantly,

4> When the Cease Fire inevitably breaks, I've got a series of massive combat bases parked right in the center of their infrastructure, with phase gates allowing my fleets to jump straight to the systems of their choice.  The starbases will proceed to fight the enemy starbase (if any), followed by clearing out the enemy's defense structures, and finally any commercial ones.

I send in my fleets to help, but take last night's game for instance; I did this to 12 systems on one opponent before the fighting started (and he did one to me, in return, placing a starbase around one of my key planets).  In three of those twelve cases, the enemy would have destroyed the starbase had my fleets not arrived (and in one case, they managed to destroy it even with my fleet there); these three were the systems in which the AI had placed his own fully-upgraded starbases as well. Most of my fleets were busy wiping that foe's battle fleet, which he'd been using to attack a third party at the time.

But in the other NINE cases, my starbase won the battle without any fleet help at all; some of those were where the enemy starbase was outgunned (and massed Kostura Cannon assistance really helped), but most were systems where he'd never built an SB, period.  Hangars and gauss platforms are just no match for a slightly mobile base with 20k hit points and huge guns.  I'll say that again, in most cases the starbase WON.  By the time my fleet arrived at some of these planets, every orbital structure was destroyed and no ships survived.  That's a huge strategic advantage, not just in time saved, but in the risk to my own planets; half of the enemy's ships were pinned down in scattered losing battles against my bases, instead of being sent towards my own systems to raid. One of the systems cleared this way was a chokepoint between his home system and the rest of his empire; that base effectively blocked any reinforcements from helping his other systems, and made conquering easy.  I still had to send fleets in to perform the planetary bombardment, though.

So, in that sort of strategy, an anti-planet starbase weapon would have tremendous utility.  Put it on a starbase near one of your allies, and if the alliance ever fails, the starbase won't just wipe out the orbital structures, it'll wipe the entire planet.  Send in a colony ship and you're done.

Of course what they fail to mention is that it's not a separate upgrade. Researching Meteor Storm for the Starbase unlocks both the "nuke the hell out of the enemy fleet" and "nuke the hell out of the planet" abilities, from one Starbase upgrade. This way, you use it for whatever you want.

This is why a lot of feedback posts fail more than gameplay issues do.

That's irrelevant. The planet-bombard ability is a freebie/bonus. If you research the Meteor Storm ability to drop 'em on ships, you get the planet one with it. Which means it has both defensive and offensive uses from the same upgrade. Don't want the offensive part? You still get the same defensive for the same resource investment.

The bottom line is people play differently. I don't use PJIs, others do. I use sieges, others don't. But we all have our options. Each starbase likewise has offensive options, whether or not everyone will use them. The TEC can build ships, which is hardly needed on defense since it's cheaper to plop down a 2 frigate factories instead. The Vasari gets a phase node, which can also be replaced. Whether you personally use these or not is up to you, but the important thing is everyone has their options. There's certainly plenty to upgrade

Annatar, we must also remember that with the current starbase upgrade scheme, you'd have to build the base, then research the meteor upgrade at an additional cost and 50 seconds. And then, only if you're neglecting structure upgrades, which leaves the base rather vulnerable. And due to the... rather large antimatter cost of the meteor abilities, you probably wouldn't be able to use both of them, thus even less defense against a fleet.

Basically, I think the complaint, and I sort of agree with it, is that the effort required to follow the very difficult and exacting path that would allow you to assult a planet with such an ability is far out of proportion to the benefit, especially if the benefit can be obtained much more easily another way. It's just an attack, whereas phase nodes or ship factories are something you couldn't at all have in an enemy grav well.

Your point that it is available if a player so desires is certainly valid, but... I think advent players like myself are looking for something a bit more flavorful. I mean, it's a lot of damage, but I can do a lot of damage with fleets too.