Base - Space station
 

What hell are Bases for? I mean if I build a Space Station I cannot find any use for it. I cannot load it as a cargo I cannot tow it everywhere. Thanks for helping me

Re: Base - Space station
 

Use them for orbital planetary defenses or put a shipyard component in them to help your construction. They can serve several purposes depending on what you design them for.

Re: Base - Space station
 

As coldsteel said, as a supplementary build facility (good for when you are upgrading or placing new facilities on a planet) or put shields/armor/weapons on one (or more) to make a defense platform.

just remember, these things are kinda stuck in one spot, so a fleet could sit on other side of planet and take out planet without being bothered by the base if you only have short-range weapons on it.

[This message has been edited by pathfinder (edited 21 January 2001).]

Re: Base - Space station
 

I have mainly two uses.
First, like most, a base space yard. Build a bunch of them, and if you have the resources, you'll be able to build a good size fleet pretty quickly.
Secondly, I have storage bases. I put these over my home planet and load it up with population. That way I don't loose the high growth rate cause the planet is full.

Re: Base - Space station
 

As soon as I get the cruiser hull I build a bunch of space yard ships and use them to build defense bases at warp points so my fleet is free to go on the advance. Gotta love that range and power combined with 50% less upkepp.

Re: Base - Space station
 

The good points about bases: Less maintaince costs, longer weapon range, can build space yards in smallest space station early in the game.

The bad points: They can't move, Defence is less useful than offence when the AI doesn't attack often, larger sizes take a lot of minerals and time to build.

Re: Base - Space station
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tomgs:
The good points about bases: Less maintaince costs, longer weapon range, can build space yards in smallest space station early in the game.

The bad points: They can't move, Defence is less useful than offence when the AI doesn't attack often, larger sizes take a lot of minerals and time to build.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The 'worst' point is that so many facility abilities that we'd like to have work in components do not -- yet. I hope that is changed because then the motivation to build bases would be multiplied many times. Imagine if you could put a resupply depot in a base! You could put resupply anywhere, even in barren systems without planets. Or if you could have a space port in a base, you could save a facility space in a system with crucial resources that you need very badly.

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 21 January 2001).]

Re: Base - Space station
 

Actually a base can act as a resupply depot. End the turn and have the base join a fleet with the ships. Not instant supply but end of turn supply if you can wait around.

Re: Base - Space station
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hydraa:
Actually a base can act as a resupply depot. End the turn and have the base join a fleet with the ships. Not instant supply but end of turn supply if you can wait around. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's the point. Merging a base into a fleet works fine if you're not going anywhere. So you can have a "support squadron" for the base which will never run out of supplies. But having to stop for a turn just to resupply can be a serious handicap if you're trying to defend a distant part of your empire.

Re: Base - Space station
 

But it would be nice to have it so that if you clicked the resuply at nearest, your fleet would move to the space station http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Base - Space station
 

I also recently discovered the tactic of making Base Carriers. Instead of giving them guns, I give them a shipyard and a bunch of fighter bays. Then I build them near important planets and at warp points. Fighters in bays don't get coutned against teh 2000 units in orbit, the fighters can move during combat so the enemy can't just run out of the base's range and wait for 30 turns to end, and it can replace lost fighters on its own. Hehe. Too bad they take so dan glong to build...

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Compete in the Space Empires IV World Championship at www.twingalaxies.com.

Re: Base - Space station
 

I use bases for two things:

1) Maintaining a presence in no-planet systems. I put a base (with a shipyard on it) in nebula/storm/asteroid systems so I can keep an eye on what's going on in them. Just to make sure the enemy doesn't sneak up on me. (Obviously, this doesn't work in black hole systems, but the AI doesn't deal with those very well anyway...)

2) Remote miners! You can fit 14 remote miners/farmers/extractors on a battlestation, and mine the heck out of an asteroid field (or uncolonized planet). Works like a charm, and pays for itself within a few turns if you're mining a reasonably rich (&gt;100% resource) asteroid field/planet.

Re: Base - Space station
 

In some of the really long and drawn out games of SE3, my friend and I used to hide shipyard ships in storms deep inside each other's territory (use cloaks to get there). Then we'd build bases and other things like that inside the storm. Every once in a while a big fleet would pop out of the storm and start ravaging a system way behind the front lines. Hehe. When you went to attack there'd be four or five starbases protecting the ships and no one had shields so you really didn't want to get in range of the stations' guns. This only really works if you turn off star destroying weapons.

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Compete in the Space Empires IV World Championship at www.twingalaxies.com.