Just randomly thinking it would be nice to have an artillery style unit in a space game. My idea is kind of simple, and if Terror Stars are feasible, this is also feasible to add on in a future expansion.

Take a Constructor. Instead of turning it into a Starbase or a module on an existing starbase, it could just create a Battle Stations module on itself, turning it into an Artillery Ship, destroying all components fitted in the original Constructor ship and taking up all it's hull space. This conversion would take 1 turn during which the ship would be able to do nothing. The original Constructor ship's hitpoints would be carried over to the Artillery Ship.

The new Artillery Ship would have an area of effect(AoE) like military Starbases have(but no influence). The ship's speed would be reduced to 3pc/wk, it's base sensor range would be 3pc and it would use up 7 logistics points. Empire-wide speed bonuses like breakthrough technologies, Gravity Accelerators, racial bonuses, etc. would still increase the speed of the Artillery Ship.

The Artillery Ship could be upgraded with more 'defensive' starbase modules(Common modules that can be fitted to any starbase) by sending in another Constructor and waiting another week. However, it would not be able to use Military(ship assistance), Economic, or Influence modules. Each further module would cause the ship to use up 1 more logistics point. Adding Perimeter Scanners and other sensory modules would simply add to the ship's sensor range. Same with defense modules(like Combat Armor, etc.). Modules with individual prices on them would take longer to install(1 turn per every 100 bc).

Selecting the ship, then selecting an enemy ship/fleet/starbase within that AoE, and clicking on a 'Fire' button would then cause the Artillery Ship's modules to fire at every ship in the target fleet without the Artillery Ship moving itself. Each module would roll once and each target ships' defenses would altogether roll once, with dissimilar defenses contributing less to the total defense. At the end of the attack, the Artillery Ships' Fire button would be disabled for the rest of the turn and the ship would lose 1 movement point.

However, the Artillery Ship would not be able to engage in normal close-in combat, and would act like a starbase if attacked normally(firing at only one ship at a time).

This adds to the game a substitute for the current high-attack kamikaze ships that are used to attack offensive fleets and soften them up for later fleet combat. Of course a sharply increasing fee for every module added, combined with huge maintainance costs for every module would make these expensive but increasingly powerful superweapon-ish ships. They would also be deadly against starbases, which can't move.