Starbase Strategies

[mpnorman10]

I am reading threads talking about focusing on trading hubs and anchorages, then there is also chokepoints.

The trading hubs and anchorages (and their respective enhancing building) make sense for managing energy and fleet capacity, respectively. I am pretty certain most players use at least some of these.

There is also putting starbases on black holes and enclaves.

Putting starbases on chokepoints with the idea this will stop (or at least hinder) enemies is full of flaws, even if you have FTL inhibitors. With wormholes, gates and L-Gates there are holes all over your territory, and each one is effectively another chokepoint to be protected (except when you control both ends). Is it still viable to try to protect every chokepoint? Should one try to protect every important colony instead... or in addition?

Putting starbases in colony systems provides more defense in that system but does nothing for other colonies unless it is also a chokepoint and all relevant chokepoints are covered.

I say "relevant" chokepoints because in some case it is possible to predict which way or which few candidate ways a particular enemy might come.

So my question is this: With 2.1 and all of the methods of travel early and late, what starbase strategy do you use and recommend. There are pieces of this all over numerous threads but if any of you are so inclined to share, I would be interested in your overall starbase strategy and its strengths and weaknesses, how many starbases for each type of use, etc.

There are certain established basic principles like specialization and choke points, but how do you find it most efficient to build and utilize your starbases regarding these and other factors? Do you find it necessary or strategically powerful to take the +5 starbase perk, etc.?

[Karina]

In my last game i managed to secure my entire empire with only 3 bastions. I had 12 planets but half of them was in L cluster. L cluster can be completly defended by a single station. Also each bastion had like 45k military power.

Note that i did not tried to defend my ENTIRE BORDER, only block off access to planets.

[Captain Conundrum]

First priority is to put a starbase in a system with curators or artisans. Second priority is to get one in every system with a black hole. After that, I make sure I have a good balance of anchorages and trading hubs. Don't bother getting your naval cap a lot higher than your navy size. If you can't afford to support more ships, there is no reason to keep paying to increase the cap. I try to avoid bastions unless I really need them because each bastion is one less starbase that I can use for something useful.

[CysteicAcid]

First priority is to put a starbase in a system with curators or artisans.

Why?

[Army Pea]

I always end up with Starbases in systems with a colony to mass produce energy and anchorages.

I tend to play very focused on my starports and ship yards.
Any given time I have 1 yard per fleet with max shipyards build and everything else is focused on energy and naval cap.

[galadon3]

Originally posted by CysteicAcid:

First priority is to put a starbase in a system with curators or artisans.

Why?

they allow special buildings in the starbase that produce science (curator) and unity (artisans)

[Meewec]

i always secure my borders before focusing on support bases.

here's a screenshot of one of my empires from 2.0. the circled stars have my fortified chokepoint starbases while the ones with an X are my shipyard and docking points for the fleet assigned to guard that border.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1335311891

once i'm secure i will do ancorages in black hole systems and a curator system if i have one while any core system will get starbases for energy production

(edit)oh, the hole in my empire that is pictured and looks like a weak point is actually the enigmatic fortress which i couldn't deal with because it was bugged at the time so it's basically a free defensive starbase

[The entire freaking Soviet Union]

Originally posted by mpnorman10:

Putting starbases on chokepoints with the idea this will stop (or at least hinder) enemies is full of flaws, even if you have FTL inhibitors. With wormholes, gates and L-Gates there are holes all over your territory, and each one is effectively another chokepoint to be protected (except when you control both ends). Is it still viable to try to protect every chokepoint? Should one try to protect every important colony instead... or in addition?

What've you set the spawn rate of them to? on x1 multiplyer there really isn't alot of wormholes or gates spawning.. even if you've got them in your borders, theres not a massive need to get paranoid about them unless every empire in your galaxy are xenophobic militarists.

With Riven 2.1, theres alot more 'choke points' on the map, with clusters of planets only having one lane in.. most my starting points had a cluster of stars with 2 lanes at either side, so sealing them off pretty much guards your entire empire.

Choke points - fortresses with gun batteries, FTL inhibitors, defense platforms.

Core worlds - ship yards, maybe defence? depends how aggressive the AI is and how paranoid you are.

Unused stations / enclosed clusters of stars - anchors and trade hubs, misc junk to reduce unrest or speed up hyperlane travel.

I think building them in systems with enclaves is just common knowledge at this point, they all give you decent benefits for having a space station next to them.

your enemy may have a 15k ship fleet but if theres x3 5k starbases between their fleet and your core world, they'll probably back off. with the auras you can put on stations mid-game - some of which reduce fire rate by 50% or shields by 20% - you'll be pretty safe.

[NixBoxDone]

Originally posted by mpnorman10:

I am reading threads talking about focusing on trading hubs and anchorages, then there is also chokepoints.

The trading hubs and anchorages (and their respective enhancing building) make sense for managing energy and fleet capacity, respectively. I am pretty certain most players use at least some of these.

There is also putting starbases on black holes and enclaves.

Putting starbases on chokepoints with the idea this will stop (or at least hinder) enemies is full of flaws, even if you have FTL inhibitors. With wormholes, gates and L-Gates there are holes all over your territory, and each one is effectively another chokepoint to be protected (except when you control both ends). Is it still viable to try to protect every chokepoint? Should one try to protect every important colony instead... or in addition?

Putting starbases in colony systems provides more defense in that system but does nothing for other colonies unless it is also a chokepoint and all relevant chokepoints are covered.

I say "relevant" chokepoints because in some case it is possible to predict which way or which few candidate ways a particular enemy might come.

So my question is this: With 2.1 and all of the methods of travel early and late, what starbase strategy do you use and recommend. There are pieces of this all over numerous threads but if any of you are so inclined to share, I would be interested in your overall starbase strategy and its strengths and weaknesses, how many starbases for each type of use, etc.

There are certain established basic principles like specialization and choke points, but how do you find it most efficient to build and utilize your starbases regarding these and other factors? Do you find it necessary or strategically powerful to take the +5 starbase perk, etc.?

I don't just aimlessly claim systems that have several wormholes/gates/choke-points to defend unless there is a vital reason to do so.
When I do I make sure they are and stay throw-away systems: systems that contain nothing I can't bear losing and that exist only to stall the enemy so my fleets can mass for a counter push.
For that reason I like to only have a fortress at the choke-point (discouraging weaker enemies from taking advantage of me when my fleets are occupied or have been reduced by a leviathan/crisis/other war), but also make sure that a second starbase sits somewhere further down the line barring the way to territory I actually deem important.

I do this and also make my anchorages systems that are inside of my empire but on hub systems (what would have been choke-points if not for the fact that I own the systems in both directions anyways).
If I get attacked by a stronger enemy or several enemies I frequently re-design those stations to be partly or fully armed as well, starting with platforms. This not only serves to make them stumbling blocks and fall-back points but will hopefully also cause some losses to the enemy pushing war exhaustion.
I design my bases with L slots in mind, but which weapon goes on them depends on what the weapon modules give me. As I can't determine which projectile weapon my base gets when I build that module I then check what it gave me and supplement with the platforms to get a good mix of damage on the station.
I also make sure to build the support module that lowers enemy emergency FTL rates so more of the ships defeated in that system turn into actual losses.

Lategame I prioritize my foreign space facing starbases for gate projects to link them together, then link in 1 or 2 shipyard starbases for quick reinforcements and only after that I link in populated systems to quickly get to them in case something blindsides me. I try to make my shipyards in star systems that are at the end of a long dead end of systems so enemies have to take a lot of territory quickly to take out my building capacity.

It works pretty well until very late game when the end game crisis or AI fleets start massing 60k or more, at which point defensive starbases are only ever useful as supplemental firepower to your fleets.


You also have to keep in mind what's actually on the other side of the choke-point. It's pointless to defend the choke-point leading straight to an inwards-perfectionist AI empire, the choke-point leading to an FE unless they wake up (which usually leaves you plenty of time to arm up) or a wormhole leading to some dead-end pocket of space capped off with raiders too heavily, for example.

By all means, upgrade them, maybe throw a couple of platforms on them to make sure they've got at least some beef to them but usually those are prime candidates for using as anchorages instead.

I'd also consider heavily exploring wormholes and trying to get a beach-head on the other side instead of fortifying your side because that way you may get some actual resources out of the deal instead of blasting a starport slot on a remote danger.

If the wormhole isn't in a position where the enemy can reach multiple colonized systems you might consider just fortifying the one colonized system that can be reached instead - that way you defend a colony (/ies in some cases) while also defending against the possibility of being attacked through the wormhole.

[Vardis]

Don't forget, you can always build more starbases than your limit, if needed to control chokepoints. It's just most expensive to maintain them.

[galadon3]

Ok I'll try to put my strategy and some stuff I think is generally correct into a more organized form:

1.) there should be 4 kinds of starbases:

I. Defense Bases (dedicated to the defense of borders, that includes wormholes who run into foreign territory)
II. Shipyards (dedicated to producing ships, so as many yards as possible, naval academy, crew quarters, if necessary: titan and colossus-yards)
III. Trading Stations (maximum numbers of trading hubs, offworld trading company)
IV. Anchorage Bases (maximum number of anchorages, naval logistics office)

2.) Specialize your bases, trading hubs and anchorages get a bonus PER module from their respective bonus-buildings (offworld trading company and naval logistics office), so you get the most use out of those bonus buildings if you completely specialize the base.

2b) There might be tactical needs that make deviating from the specializing doctrine sometimes. For example putting one or two shipyards on a base thats near the frontline of a war, to make sure you have a nearby source for reinforcements should your warfleets suffer casualties.
In most cases those exaples are transitory though, as soon as the war ended and your borders advanced you should swap the yards in the example back to trading hubs / anchorages to max out the specialization again.

3.) Ratio between bases:
(this is my personally prefered tactic, it does work well for me but I don't claim it to be THE ONE WAY)

-Make one dedicated Ship Yard, 2/4/6 yards (depending on how big the starbases can be with your tech) are usually enough to fill the needs of your empire, more will most likely make your mineral reserves run out anyway when they are constantly in use. In late game you can make a second or third but that will seldom be necessary.
(as mentioned under 2b some yards in other bases near the fronline might come in handy, especially as long as your empire doesnt have gates)

-Defense-Bases: Build only those you need. Obviously you want them on systems that are connected to other empires by starlanes or wormholes, but especially in the early game don't overdo it, if you can secure a border with a non-agression treaty do that, don't put up defense bases on borders to friends or treaty-partners, theres 10 years time for that once the treaty breaks.
same goes for obvious expansion pathes. If you have a foreign empire that is much weaker then you and you plan to run them in the ground, your border will most likely be protected by your fleet, no need to put an expensive base there that will never see action and become obsolete once the war is done and your border shifted. (Saving on defense bases becomes less important in later game as you have much more ressources and a bigger starbase cap, but especially in the early game its important)

-Trading Hubs and Anchorages: EVERY point of starbase cap that isnt taken up by the shipyard and the absolutely necessary defense bases should go into those two. My personal rule of thumb is to split it 1:1. Again short term needs might make it important to give one priority for a time. For example if you havent gotten good energy-plant tech for a while you migtht need some more trading hubs and if you need to strengthen your military you might want more anchorages for a while.

4.) Where to place the bases

Defense-Bases: obviously on the entrances to your empire as discussed under 3

Shipyards: The main Yard should be way back in you territory, best if it is behind some systems with colonies and there is no access through systems that don't have colonies to it. That way as soon as you have FTL-Snares enemy empires will not only need to take the systems on the way but to take the planets too if they want to reach your vital shipyards.
(smaller temporary yards as discussed under 2B, should be near the frontlines of a running or planned soon-to-start war)

Trading Hubs: again easy, they can only be built in systems with colonies or trader enclaves. The only thing important here is to gives colonies priority over trader enclaves, since near colonies the starbase can also have a "Deep Space Black Site" building

Anchorages: Anchorages can be built anywhere but there are some places that are better. First: Don't put them in colony-systems since you want those for the trading hubs, after that the priority list is:
-Curator-Enclave: Allows to build the "Curator Think Tank" building (needs permission from the Curators) wich produces 5 of each research
-Artisan Enclave: Allows to build the "Art Collge" building (needs permission from the Artisans) wich produces 10 Unity
-Black Holes: allows to build the "Black Hole Observatory" building wich produces 10 points physics research (This might be a higher priority then the Art College, depending on the question if you rank research or traditions higher)
-Nebulas: allows to build the "Nebula Refinery" building wich produces 5 minerals

5.) What to fill empty building places with when you have everything that optimizes the main-task of the base and the special buildings discussed under 4:
-Deep Space Black Site: can only be put in a base in a colonized system and should always be built (producing one unity, reducing unrest in the system by 20% and giving 25% gov ethics attraction for all colonies in the system)
-Hydroponic Bays: Many people think that the AI already tends to overproduce food, BUT: in the early game you can use more pop-growth; food produced there frees up pops and tiles on the planet for other production as long as you run the planets yourself, the hydro-bay produces 3 food for 1 energy credit in upkeep, while traders pay you 1 energy cred for 2 food, so as long as you have a trader available you get basically 1 food per hydroponic bay for free.
-Ressource Silos: Some people might consider bigger max stockpiles not worth it, but since fleets do finally suffer some losses even when they are stronger you might need quite a lot of minerals in a war to replace losses, especially if your enemy isnt a pushover, so a big pile in reserve might come in handy AND the beauty of the ressource silo building is that it doesnt cost any upkeep, so its just the 100 minerals to build it.


Hope this did cover most of it, its a lot of text, but I hope its structured and broken up enough to make reading not a total chore.

[Black Jesus]

My policy on starbases is as follows:

"The primary objective of the ongoing mission should be to first secure our empire's borders which as per regulations of the imperial palace and ministry of defense includes all spatial distortions and alien conduits in our territory. With the borders secured vital assets should be protected with remaining resources after all of this if we can support additional facilities they should be turned to the industry of our empire."

End quote.

[Energist]

set priorities.

1) Do you want to use stations as economic hubs or defense platforms? If economic hubs, build them on planets and nebulae. If you want research, build them at blackhole sites.

2) If doing defensive, build them at chokepoints above all else. Give those ones a ♥♥♥♥ ton of defense platforms and missle/gun batteries.

I recommend avoiding the blending of station strategies because it just dilutes the specialization of your strategy. Being a jack of all trades won't do well for you in Stellaris.

[mpnorman10]

Thanks guys for the responses. That they are all over the place is interesting... very different strategies among players. I would like to see if I can summarize but want to give it some more time and read the detailed posts thoroughly a few more times. There are at least some common principles involved.

The two basic approaches seem to be giving choke points priority and giving other stuff priority, which may depend upon ones stance. The key seems to be regarding the ethics of your faction and how you intend to deal with neighbors and crisis events.

There are many excellent points like putting shipyard capability at the isolated end of a cluster of hyperlanes to make it tougher to take out, temporary alternate uses of starbases and starbase tactics, as drastic as colony-shields, to slow down a stronger enemy.

Nobody (unless I missed it) yet mentioned the +5 allowed starbase perk and under what circumstances, if any, you have found that one worth it (or not). The number of allowed starbases (before much higher maintenance kicks in) naturally increases without that, but the starbase useage image (thanks Meewec) and detailed descriptions seem to involve a large number of starbases.

[Energist]

Nobody (unless I missed it) yet mentioned the +5 allowed starbase perk and under what circumstances, if any, you have found that one worth it (or not). The number of allowed starbases (before much higher maintenance kicks in) naturally increases without that, but the starbase useage image (thanks Meewec) and detailed descriptions seem to involve a large number of starbases.

Well, I think the reason you get so many different responses is that there are so many different playstyles. You have finite resources, so where you invest them determines the direction your game will go into. Heavy offensive styles will outright ignore stations beyond the first upgrade.

As for the +5, that makes sense if you're going for a quantity over quality approach to starbases. That works best, imo, when you're upgrading starbases at each planet for the economic boosts as opposed to bottleknecking choke points. If you take that, you're going to be dumping a lot more resources into starbases than you would if you didn't take it. It's a trade off. Other reason to take it would be to really turtle your empire up. Put one in every chokepoint, then put another one on every planet to be sure.

There is no right answer, which is why you got so many different responses. Look at it like this: in time T you will make E energy credits and M minerals. Do you want to be a defensive economic power house? Spend your T E and M on starbases at planets and nebulea, put in trade hubs and profit, but now your navy will suck. On the other hand, if you didn't get the +5, you would instead be injecting that earnings into ships or planet upgrades etc.

My best advise is to think of a strategy for starbases and stick to it for the whole game. If you want to be an economic super power, ever planet should have a maxed out trading station. If you want to be a hornet's nest, max out every base with defense platforms and gun/missle batteries. If you want to zerk, ignore stations and put everything into your navy.

There are dozens more approaches than that ofcourse, but you should get the idea from there. Since this isn't a standard RTS with standard RTS goals, it helps to think instead about the kind of empire you want to have and choosing decisionsn along the way which help you to that goal.

I like playing defensively with a bend towards economic imperialism. My empires are usually big on early game expansion, then diplomatic toward the late game. I don't aggress others too much unless they deserve it, but I make damn sure if they attack me, it's the worst decision they ever made. In that regard, my stations are usually at planets. I will invest in a station at the nearest chokepoint to what I would consider an aggressive neighbor, but I don't do that for every neighbor. If I'm planning an offensive war, I will put a starbase close to the border where I intend to attack. That's my offensive ship port.

Over time, as your borders change and the diplomatic climate changes, starbases may need to "move". This is another complication that you have to figure out when the time comes.

[Captain Conundrum]

The +5 Starbases perk is important if you choose not to get megastructures. Five extra trading stations gives you +180 energy, which you will need if you don't have a dyson sphere. Obviously it is a lot less than the 1000 from the sphere, but also much cheaper and only needs one perk instead of two or three.