starbases

Some people have mentioned they'd like to see SB's have 10 upgrades. Maybee doing this for that extra 2 could be good. Then again they are pretty well balanced now IMO.

I think they are fine as they are right now. You have to choose for specific upgrades and that's it. If you make them too powerful, they will break the game. Right now, you can get them down with a reasonable sized and well balanced fleet. If the starbase is properly defended and shielded with regeneration bays it can be a pretty tough nut to crack.

Once they are too powerfull, you will have a complete stalemate in the game... I would suggest to leave them exactly the way they are. But that's just my opinion...

I think the starbases at present are OK. I find the 8 slots a limitation that becomes somewhat frustrating later in games, when large fleets and even just 10-15 torp cruisers can man-handle a SB, even fully upgraded. Having to choose between weapons systems and squadrons and special abilities is particularly frustrating. I don't know that a leveling system is what I would suggest, but rather a tiered system of say 3 different scales of starbase. These ideas have already been discussed at greater length by a greater number in the Starbases 2.5 thread: https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/339384

i don't want to have to level up a starbase the same way i have to level up capships.  that would suck.  i like the system now where if you need additional power and you have the money, you simply pay for it.

Well, maybe just 3 levels?

I agree with Agent of Kharma, no levels-- increases in SB power should come at the hand of research and cash -- and preferrably (for me) in 3 distinguishable tiers of SB.

actually a level system would be very nice.

make it exactly like cap ships where you can buy the first 2 (or 3 with research) levels for money and the rest through XP.

of course upgrade costs should be bigger and way more XP needed, like 2-3 times of the current cap level.

which each level you then can chose 1 of the upgrades currently available.

make it level 1-10 and let them have more hull & shields as they progress, just like cap ships.

i really like this idea, maybe it can be modded somehow.

Whoa, if Starbases get owned by spam, that would suck. 

They really need to make the non-spammable elements in the games (starbases, cap-ships) more powerful. 

well, someone else pointed out an important issue when it comes to leveling starbases: decision of whether the starbase gets fighting experience or not rests with the enemy. if he doesn't attack, your sb won't get experience and you can't do anything about it. in fact, with the multi firing banks, even your control over what your sb should attack is fairly limited. also you can't run to save an experienced unit, so I'm not so sure of how often the situation occurs that you even have sb with experience.

think about it: any player worth his creds will scout before and only attack, if he is reasonably certain he can beat it, especially with the lane disruption. so there are three possible outcomes: a) the enemy avoids the station and finds another path to attack you, b ) the enemy attacks with what he thinks is sufficient force and he destroys you or c) the enemy attacks with what he thinks is sufficient force and he fails for whatever reason or d) he attacks, but something unforseen forces him back. only in cases c and d would a starbase that gains experience even happen. so is this really going to happen that often? maybe, if you arrive in time to drive the enemy off. but proper scouting should go a long way of preventing nasty surprises.

that said, the idea has some merit. I definately would not flesh it out as much as with capships, so no abilities, no new stuff. but I could live with 'basic level', 'veteran crew' and 'elite crew'. each new level gives you a slight boost in stats (as with capships) and maybe an extra slot. I mean not that I think it really needs to be done, but linked with experience and just being two more anyway, it would be a nice touch to give experienced sbs some extra punch for a price. though realistically, that probably requires quite some reprogramming that it's likely out of the question at this point.

I really like this idea. In my ideal world this crew-experience system would exist along with the idea of 3 researchable tiers of Starbases-- this would give Entrenchment the final-touches of depth to REALLY blow critics and players away (though really, I think they will be blown away regardless).

Also, just throwing this out there.. and I know it is not going to be applied for entrenchment, but maybe for a future expansion: wouldn't it be awesome if all frigates and cruisers gained similar, minor crew-experience benefits? I would love to have some distinction drawn between that cobalt that has somehow survived from the beginning of the game to this late-game battle... this may also have the added benefit of making the advent late-game experience skill more relevent (I often find that my cap-ships are beyond lvl 4 at the point in the game where I can research this, and the benefit to new cap ships somewhat negligable, as at that time experience is basically unavoidable anyways)