I thought that would produce discussion. nevertheless, if you think about it, the long range dmg is in the range of 10 lrms, which is hardly a horribly large number. and if you look at much dmg the structure busters do, how fast the kill stuff, I just don't think it would be such an extreme issue. it just feels wrong to be able to take down a massive starbase basically unmolested. and c'mon, strke craft? any decent player will bring some anti squad capacity with him, I rarely see defensive squads do any damage in any kind of serious assault. they help, but the don't really prevent anything.
First off, I'm trying to think about this in a purely theoretical way which assumes that it's only the one versus the other. that's just the way I think. Of course, this is hardly the case in reality, but trying to come up with all the possible permutations of fleet compositions and circumstances would belabor the point.
I must admit that I have not been entirely consistent in my views. Eventually, with enough research and upgrade slots purchased, I think that the SBs should be able to hit long range cruisers. Above, I said I'd like the TEC SB to be capable of gaining a missile attack that could reach such enemies. The Advent would have swarms of strikecraft, and the Vasari, from the beginning, is capable of moving into range. (I'd also love to see a "small" in grav-well Kostura EMP missile on the VSB. Adorable.)
Sins gameplay is based on a hard counter system and the fact remains that the antistructure cruiser was created specifically to destroy starbases and it should be able to do that, on its own(let's assume that the starbase does not have strikecraft built, like a siege frigate vs. a undefended planet). It may take a long time, esp at the current damage values, but it should happen.
Basically, what would the point be in a counter that is itself countered by the thing it was created to counter? You'd have a boring stalemate.
Jumping back into reality, the fact that an enemy might bring a fleet is what the starbase is for. While the starbase chews through the enemy fleet, micro some ships or strike craft around and try and knock out the cruisers. Clearly easier said than done, but that's the fun part of the game.