Starbases and Satellites useless

[Danny]

Tractor Beams need a much longer range, they're completely useless when the emeny is already within "can't miss" range.

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I AM Canadian.

[Commander G]

In strategic combat, missle satelites are useful for giving a cheap defense to a planet early in the game. Missle ships cannot target them, but must avoid their missles.

Best use of bases is to give you multiple production queues at one point in space. You find this more useful against human players where the front-line is much more static. Once you have enough ship building bases in orbit, you can scrap the ship yard facility and use the slot for something else. When you don't need to build anyships, you can mothball the bases to save on resources. If you need the faster planetary queue for emergencies, then you are letting your enemy get to close to your planet and one or two Last minute builds will probably not save your planet anyway.

Satelites and Bases are useless at a warp-point because fleets can choose to ignore them with their battle plans! The only things useful at a warp-point to keep your enemy out are mines, fighers, and ships.

[greghacke]

"Satelites and Bases are useless at a warp-point because fleets can choose to ignore them with their battle plans! The only things useful at a warp-point to keep your enemy out are mines, fighers, and ships."

Quite true regarding the battle plans, however...

Drop some mines, then place a base and/or satellites. The enemy must stop to deal with the mines. Put fighter bays in the base and some decent weapons and you'll maintain true control of the warp point. Additionally, throwing a Shipyard/Repair bay means you can build and mothball a mine layer for after battle re-seeding. Tossing in a low-tech Solar Panel for energy reduces your resupply needs considerablly too...