I would have to disagree.  You can't 'run past' the defences like a starbase.   I tried just this thing in a multiplayer game with a friend.   You set up a base... the key is to put it near the exit lanes to the inner planets, then you slap the enhancement that slows or stops phase jumping.  It had that, a hanger upgrade and a defense upgrade.  I watched a starbase just eat a fleet for breakfast.   The fleet was pretty sizable (3 bars on the zoomed-out view of the gravity well) and the survivors of the blockade run were only 5 ships, none of them heavy which seemed to be priotized by the starbase as best targets.  (there wasn't a capital ship in the fleet, so I don't know how that might turn the tide, but there were some heavy cruisers)

im talking here against adept human players.

I will never ever fight something that hold no economical walue to enemy if i can avoid it.

You can make this thing useful against AI, yes.

Im talking  abaut making it useful against player that know how to ruin your day.

Ever seen 20 carriers run pass your defenses and Bomb rushing your tradeports?

I agree with your points exept for the low cost.  These are supposed to be huge and very powerful and should be hard to build (both long time and cost wise)  They are basically a super-power that nothing in the game can touch single-handedly or even in a small group.  So, they should be hard to build and obtain as well.

Just my thoughts.

There is reason people dont use many capital ships. It is hig cost to usefulness ratio.

A static defense, however formitable it is, is static. It wont follow you araund, so any money spent on it is money wasted (save the trade exstension) the moment that area is no longer close to warzone.

Thats why people that do well in SinS rarely build turrets. They might be powerful for the cost, but you cant get them follwo your fleet.

This is a good and valid point, but not enough to change my opinion that they are too cheap and easy to build at the present time.

This is also a good point and in most maps there are a lot of back doors.

I've found that starbases (Advent ones at least) are pretty useless as defensive measures in uncolonisable locations.

Their fireing range is so minute (even with both weapons upgrades) that enemies have to be nearly on top of them to be shot at. This might not be a problem at a planet, where you can park it in the middle of your defences right next to the high-value targets, but in empty gravwells enemy fleets only have to arrive slightly off from where you parked the base to zoom through the entire area safely.

I've seen pirate and enemy fleets just zoom past heavily upgraded starbases at less than 1/4 to 1/8 of the gravwell in distance and pass by completely untouched. (except for a few desperate fly-bys by the bomber squadrons) I get the impression they have less range than an unupgraded turret!

The TEC starbase seems pretty similar to the Advent one, in range at least, though I've only played with them as enemies. The only starbase I've seen with some decent range on it is, ironically, the Vasari one (upgraded), which can move to intercept anyway and doesn't need it.

A starbase should be a prime (hard!) target for the enemy, not something you just skip by on your way to bombing an asteroid!

I just checked using the alt key to bring up the tactical ranges.  My fully upgraded TEC starbase has the same range as a gauss turret with the +15% range upgrade.

Also, why would you make mines disappear if their wasn't a star base in system? Any local system, even with a single fighter bay, should be able to support hundreds of mines. Its not that hard. Really, they could just be said to be small, powerful missiles with a slight movement capability. As such, they are extremely easy to mantain. A limit on mines would be pointless, and if you don't try to find them with scouts, you're a fool.

Coming from a singleplayer perspective: I agree with the Cpt_Siddy. I don't think there should be that many drastic changes as he mentions, but they really do feel like glorified turrets. Their role as defense is no where near as Ironclad was advertising, and building one seems inconsequential for either TEC or Advent. There really needs to be some higher range and/or slow movement attached to them because what other users are mentioning here are the exception to the rule (case by case studies), and not as their original purpose was designed for. The only way I've been able to use them effectively is offensively, so that the AI's firepower is drawn towards the starbase rather than my attacking fleet.

Realistically, if I am to "Entrench" myself in a gravity well, these starbases should provide that function.

Then you can mod it to increase the range of the star base. Stick an Akkan with level 3 targeting uplinks with it, and thats a 20 percent range increase right there. It should have enough range to kill anything that exits a phase line. Or, you could not build star bases and build as many fighter defense platforms as you can and pump out bombers at the enemy.

If the enemy scouts and sees a star base in the system, then he should know better then to attack that system. They should be deterants for an attack, or numerous enough that he has to attack at one point in your line, and take horrendous losses to break through. If you can inflict severe losses among his capital ships, he won't want to continue to attack. Even if he does and he takes away the system, he just left his own systems undefended unless he had star bases of his own, and your fleet is still intact, ready to do the same to his systems as he was trying to do to yours. A star base would make it hard to take a heavily defended system away from your enemy, unless you are prepared to scrafice heavily from your battle line, and probably your strike craft as well as your bombers attempt to close with the star base.

the starbases are supposed to be expensive (3x cap ship)  

they should be a slow moving but aable to reposition.  

they should be able to warp inhibit

they should have a range greater than static defenses.  they are a planatary defense so they should be able to hit most of the grave well if not all with at least some type of weapon even if not all of them.

Ive only played one game thus far and some of the suggestions that everyone is making are obviously valid souch as mayb they should have better a little better range and a phase jump inhibotor ability. Overall though i like the way the game plays right now for the most part. It may be possible to get around a starbase but eventually you eill havr to deal with it no matter. Also alot of people seem to want a starbase to be able to wipe out the enemy for them. I dont really want a game where no i have to attack the star base and risk losing every ship i have in one assault expeically when there can be so many star bases in the galaxy. Of course there are things that need to be fixed and tweaked, but overall i gotta say nicely done