Questions about economic starbases

[Badtz Maru]

I have a couple of questions about economic starbases.

First, does the bonus it provides to trade routes apply to routes that pass through the bases range or only to ones that pass directly through the square the base is on? I'd think it was the former, but I noticed that the AI tends to build it's bases directly on it's routes.

Secondly, is there a way to get the highlighted range of a starbase to conform to the parsec boundaries instead of being a perfect circle? This leads me to be unsure which squares are actually getting it's bonuses - is it squares that are totally within the circle, more than 50% within the circle, or any square that is partially highlighted at all?

[ZargonX]

First, does the bonus it provides to trade routes apply to routes that pass through the bases range or only to ones that pass directly through the square the base is on? I'd think it was the former, but I noticed that the AI tends to build it's bases directly on it's routes.

I'm fairly certain in counts towards all routes that pass through the stations area of effect. I think the AI builds directly on the routes because, well, it's an AI and has mysterious ways...

[Peets]

yup, the bonus applies to the routes that pass through the range area of the starbase.

[Badtz Maru]

Cool...now, does anyone know how to tell what squares are actually within the starbases radius?

[DaviddesJ]

Originally posted by Badtz Maru
Cool...now, does anyone know how to tell what squares are actually within the starbases radius?

In the 1.1 release, you will be able to see the radius.

[tetley]

I'm playing the beta, and the econ starbases are a bit nerfed. You only get 10% production (5% free) and 10% freighter revenue without that second factory upgrade.

If you consider 4 constructors (~600bc), plus the initial starbase cost (~400bc), that's 1000bc initial investment. If you can fit 6 planets in its radius--which is WAY optimistic--and let's say an average 30bc/turn production--a bit pessimistic (I make it pessimistic because some of those planets will be class-7's, etc.). That's 180bc/turn. Take 10% of that, and that's 55 turns before you even make back your initial investment. And twice that--110 turns!--before you make it back in free production. That is sad.

The numbers drop down to 30 turns/60 turns when you get that second factory upgrade, but by that point you're well into the game. There may not be another 30/60 turns before the game is already basically over.

[Peets]

I don't think you should count the constructor cost.
There isn't much better you can use to replace that cost.

[tetley]

Why wouldn't you count the constructors? That's 600bc I could have used for something else.

[Kinjiru]

Originally posted by DaviddesJ


In the 1.1 release, you will be able to see the radius.

You can already do that, unless I am misunderstanding the point.

If you click on a starbase, you will see it's circular area of influence projected onto the galaxy map. If your trade route runs through that AoI, then you get the trade bonus. If not, you don't.

[ChaotikVisions]

You can't just look at it base cost wise. You're trading BC now for speedier production later. If you simply didn't build the constructors and save your BC as cash it'd cost far more to speed the construction of ships/buildings continually like the starbase does. I think its worth taking a temporary hit to produce things faster for the rest of the game on the planets affected.

[tetley]

Not necessarily save your BC as cash. But use your industrial capacity to build something else, like ships or Galactic Achievements. Compared to other things you could be doing, it just seems your return on investment on Econ starbases is very low in the beta. That could change for very long games, or if you choose an accelerated tech option (where you get the high-level factory techs).

[Peets]

Originally posted by tetley
Why wouldn't you count the constructors? That's 600bc I could have used for something else.

I wouldn't buy it but build it.

[Hansolo88]

Yes, they are much cheaper to construct, less than 200 bc I believe (depending on the design of course).

[Badtz Maru]

Originally posted by Kinjiru


You can already do that, unless I am misunderstanding the point.

If you click on a starbase, you will see it's circular area of influence projected onto the galaxy map. If your trade route runs through that AoI, then you get the trade bonus. If not, you don't.

I know how to ge the circular influence indicator on the map, but the problem with it is that it's circular while the map is divided up into little squares. Nobody seems to know whether a square has to be entirely within the circle or not to be effected by the starbase, and that's very important sometimes when trying to place a base to effect the economies of two different planets.

Ship range is not depicted as perfect circles, so there's no guesswork as to where you can go and where you can't (though I've found you can colonize a planet just outside your range if an adjacent square is in range). I'd like to see the squares effected by the starbase outlined like ship range.

[Gufnork]

Actually all ships can travel one square outside their range for some bizarre reason, even if it's empty space.