Well the developers already have this idea, the advent starbase can field the most strike craft bar none(it gets a whole extra upgrade for this).  As for my idea being shortsighted, I would say, prove it.  I've only seen this idea gain justification as time has gone on.  The TEC starbase would benefit the most from mobile starbases.  The fact that many don't see this just boggles my mind.  A very slow moving red button is scary.  Far more scary then an advent starbase.  Its so scary that I would be afraid of a TEC starbase over a vasari starbase in some situations.  The advent starbase would still be the weakest of the 3 utility wise(even considering the advent's defenses).  So if you think i'm biased for advent, think again.  Simple fix to increase the fun of all 3 factions.  After all, vasari players would have to move their fleets more and actually do something skilled.

Yes I agree asymmetric balance is difficult, and i was impressed when the developers thought to design a game with those elements.  The best way to know how to balance the game with asymmetric balance would be to play the game a lot to get a real experience based understanding of how to balance these incalculable variables.

The other two types of starbases are far less effective, so their asymmetric balance isn't even on the same level, because they aren't even basic, balanced ideas.  Movement increases vasari starbases usefulness by about 75%+ more then other stationary defenses.  I get this number because a vasari starbase can defend its entire gravity well, while a stationary starbase can defend about 1/4 of its gravity well.  Thats a reasonable, plain and simple way to look at it.  This is the most important aspect of space defense, because you can chase away an enemy fleet (I call this an effective defense).  The vasari still wouldn't be very threatened by an opposing player's starbase construction in their gravity well, as the vasari player can build their own starbase in their gravity well faster (with upgrades, FAR FASTER), and the vasari starbase is so much stronger against other racial starbases.  The vasari would still be very difficult to crack defensively, yet the other races would have their arms untied from behind them so that they too could defend their planets.

If this were anything close to an actual universe, the primary focus of the advent and the TEC military would be to give their starbases thruster capability to deal with the vasari ability to attack any part of their empire, at any time.  Not having this destroys storyline credibility.

Now, IF the TEC / Advent factions had moving starbases:

The advent starbase could, by itself, catch an enemy force that was too slow/not paying attention.  If I recall that is what its supposed to be able to do anyways, yet this ability is no fun in actual play because 99% of players stay out of range(usually just sitting their fleet doing nothing, which is a boring style of play), so therefore you have no chance to defend properly.  If it could move a little bit, it would allow a skilled player to set up a large entrapment scenario, which would A) cost a lot, and be very fun. The TEC could also create a large entrapment scenario.  The vasari fleet is very difficult to entrap(phase nodes), so its not like the vasari fleet is ever going to attack with a high amount of risk(naturally i'm talking mid - endgame here).  Yet the vasari player would have to step a bit more carefully around the universe and a vasari player would have to play better, and their mistakes would cost them more. 

As it stands vasari don't just have a critical movement advantage, they have ALL the movement advantage.  Even in areas where they most likely shouldn't(starbases).  The one advantage to movement that really matters, that really sets the vasari FAR apart, is the movement capabilities their fleet has with their PHASE NODES.  I don't want to get rid of this cool vasari movement advantage. 

Yet this alone is their primary, extremely unique, extremely powerful movement advantage. Wait, what, you can jump your titan ANYWHERE into an enemy empire, anytime you want with a kostura?  Wait what, you can jump your titan and a starbase ANYWHERE you want into an enemy empire if you build a starbase or get a lvl 6 titan/antorak maruader into enemy space?  Thats truly powerful.  The vasari will ALWAYS have the movement advantage, because no other race is going to get their phase node technology.  The vasari can both attack and defend in the endgame very easily.  If all they face are enemy starbases that can't move, then they will just sweep through.  It doesn't matter how skilled the player is, if they have a good knowledge of what's what in the game, they don't really need any skill to beat any defense once the game reaches this level.  Now with moving starbases, all races become a little bit harder to beat with this strategy. 

How does throwing the other races the tiniest of bones in regards to having starbases that can actually defend against an incursion in their gravity well take anything away from the game?

If the vasari can hit anywhere they want, at any point in time once they have phase nodes up, and be literally one jump away from anywhere on the map (thats what the pro's do), then you should have a starbase that can at least attempt to defend its gravity well against such a one sided advantage(in fact, how can advent even attack the vasari endgame? If you want real game balance end game attack should be a real option for all races).  Its one sided because the vasari starbase beats the other starbases 1v1, because its a beast.  Having starbases that can't move in a gravity well is having a starbase that doesn't defend anything effectively.  Its a starbase that doesn't need to be constructed.  Thats why people  mostly don't build TEC/Advent starbases in the early game, and thats why people build vasari starbases in the early game.  Its all about movement. 

Some movement capability is necessary for all races, vasari having all the movement capability is just a recipe for long term imbalance, because mobility is extremely powerful in a game, even if its not easily calculated.  I believe since it isn't easily calculated the developers failed at this balance when entrenchment first came out.  Yet they could fix this glaring imbalance, one that is even greater in rebellion because now the vasari starbase is the only starbase that can really defend against an enemy titan.  Why? because it can move to intercept the titan.

Not being able to defend against titans with mobility of your own is lame, lame lame lame lame.  Especially when a starbase would have to have maneuvering jets and thrusters to maintain its orbit.  All orbits degrade(except if you are in a legrange point, an area of equal gravity pulls between the sun and the planetary body in question.  Yet a defensive starbase would move anyways, because space is vast, and you will have to move to defend an area because you can't defend the entire surface area of a planet at once, it takes too much resources). If they want to maintain your sci-fi brand name, i'd expect you to at least incorporate this basic principle into the game.

Do you honestly think vasari scientists are the only ones that figured out that a starbase should be able to move?

Please.

 

how about tec and advent starbases get 2 units - you have to research them "cosmetically" they are part of the hull of the bases (implement them into the design) when an emergency defense is needed they separate (sorta detach themselves) and wholaaa u have 2 cool purely defense vessels that can travel (only in the gravity well the SB is in) give them lots of armor have them be the scale between the cap ship and the heavy cruzer ( i know this is far fetched) but i would love ships being able to return to the host and attach itself like a part of the ship

dont know if sins engine can handle that... one could even use this idea even for a new titan...

Yeah--I'd love a moving Transcencia that can meteor storm worlds and ships becoming an uber siege, anti-structure, anti-capital and and anti-frigate killer that can bring along mass disorientation "to go".

And yes, it would be really fun to drive my TEC starbases into your system and self-destruct in the middle of your enormous fleet.

It just doesn't have any clarity of purpose here other than, "I wantz eet!".

Tweaking starbase balance doesn't require redefining them.

There you go guys someone who is thinking along the line of what makes each races base unique to begin with. Let’s follow this line of thinking instead of cheap fixes / making things worse.

Babylon 5, DS9

Quit being so arrogant

When the majority of the actual "pro" community in this game doesn't agree with you than you see that it's a BAD idea.

You forget the purpose of defense in the game. It's to delay your enemies for your fleet to arrive then make a decisive victory and move on. It's only the Vasari Rebels that have redefined that role with an attack SB. Before that the Orky was made for delaying. The Orky even with it's super high DPS can't kill a large fleet fast enough even with a phase jump inhibitor if they decide to run or bypass.  

The TEC and Advent may not be able to protect the "entire well" but they have something the Orky doesn't which is AREA DENIAL. You can run past the Orky without too much trouble. Advent with it's disorient and meteor will put a huge dent into your fleet. The TEC Red Button now with a buff can kill your fleet outright if you're not careful. The current TEC SB can deny access to a gravity well just from fear that no matter where you jump you can lose your entire fleet. This is further enhanced with Twin Fortresses to even blockade the largest of wells. Your belief that Advent and TEC SBs are "subpar" is misplaced. They all have their uses while it may not conform to the high mobility of Vasari; they can stop Vasari in their tracks if used right.

You may not be able to kill a Orky or Titan with Red Button or meteor but you can make sure that you can kill the rest of the fleet making the single large units easy pickings.

Fact is that your idea is a too radical of a change to current gameplay. No major change like this is even required with the current Starbases.

Sure the presence of Titans makes a small change but it isn't drastic enough to require that every starbase should move.

....but....but...you are not reading with UNDERSTANDING  

@ rovert

Lol

Nope, most of them will fight anything that will actually balance the game because most of them are vasari players.  There is a reason they are almost all vasari players.  So I fully expect them to vehemently oppose this idea, and look how much it has been opposed already.  Yet I still think they bring piss poor reasoning to the table, as I have demonstrated/asked earlier in the thread.

I am not forgetting anything about defense.  Your enemies are in your gravity well, you should kick them out.  You can bypass a stationary starbase FAR easier then you can an orkulus(and i'd love you to debate this further...lol).  Orkulus starbases do eat fleets for lunch, and If you are caught in a phase jump inhibitor they really do destroy your fleet.  You can get away usually if the starbase is on the other side of the gravity well, yet that is rarely the case because prudent players already have their orkulus near where your fleet is going to jump in anyways.  Its called scouting your enemy, and good players do that all the time.  Once you know where they are, and you know where they are jumping to, its not hard to issue a move command to ensure that the second your gravity well is invaded, your orkulus is right there ready to munch on their fleet.

Hmm I address this point in my own post.  The orkulus can protect 100% of its gravity well, the other two starbases can protect 25% of their gravity well with "area denial". Orkulus starbases have "area denial" of their own, you don't want to go near them for ANY amount of time.  My belief that the advent and TEC starbases are "subpar" is completely well founded, because I have a strong grasp of tactics and I understand the simple truth, that a moving vasari starbase entraps your fleet, and will move to where its needed if an enemy fleet attempts to escape your grasp.  No race can even come close to defending themselves like he vasari can(because of moving starbases).  If you really want to see things properly, mod the game, take away vasari starbase movement, give the vasari starbase Red button AND meteor and see how "amazing" your AoE area denial will be at defending your gravity well.  Yeah, you know i'm right but just don't want to admit it because others in the community are posting that its not feasible.  I have yet to hear their opinions on this, Yet I have thoroughly thought this out, there is nothing they can't throw at me that hasn't already been considered.

If you asked me which was more important, I would choose the orkulus, every time, because its defensive capability is 3 times that of the other starbases.  The online community agrees with me, I can safely say I see an orkulus starbase built about 3:1(I'm being EXTREMELY conservative on this number, in reality I would say that they are built more like 10:1).

Hmm ya, well you just build say 5/6 subverters in the mid game and lock down a fleet trying to get through your world long enough for a vasari starbase to wipe it out.  If you have a phase jump inhibitor your fleet is totally screwed.  Yet perhaps you haven't had your entire fleet easily wiped out like this.

Not very radical at all, no race gets unfair advantage, and the balance is going to be FAR easier for the developers to deal with in the long run.  It wouldn't change how many aspects of the game are played.  It would just give 2/3 races the ability to defend, and it would justify them building starbases, period.

Well I'm glad you can concede this point(no matter how little you try to do so), Yet at the same time when you face not one but two titans from either vasari player (orky + faction titan, vasari loyalists OR vasari rebels), you will be hoping that your starbase could AT LEAST move.  You will hope that your starbase can intercept the loyalist titan's construction.  I'm completely justified, if you ever really want balance in this game you will see it.

Yet we both know rovert, that when you play online, your "magically favorite race" will be vasari.  Because they are just "fun".  It wouldnt' be because they are inherently designed to be overpowered, would it?  lol.  You and the rest of the online community, since entrenchment.  lol.

Now here is someone with some grasp of proportion.

@ toivoton

Not true, as you could just build Overseers to heal the starbase while it is being constructed in a gravity well, and mine around the starbase the second it lands to be built in a gravity well.  This is quite a standard practice in multiplayer, making it so even a fleet has a hard time killing a starbase before it's fully built up.  Its funny how vasari players don't like Z-axis movement when people avoid their mines in this situation to strike at the starbase risk free, thats why you see threads to get rid of Z-axis movement.

Also, since the vasari starbase would move 2x as fast as the advent starbase, and 4x as fast as the TEC starbase, they could ALWAYS keep an enemy starbase in range with their weaponry(this is by my design, to maintain balance), so the vasari starbase maintains the advantage.

Yes, phase missiles really are that good for endgame encounters, the vasari bomber spam is the most feared thing in the game, bar none. If you played online and played the pure vasari phase missile fleet of 40 lasuraks and two fleets of 50+ kanraks in diplomacy, you would realize that a vasari players primary weapon upgrade should be phase missiles.  It was only because phase missiles were abused for so long, so heavily in this fashion, and after a few threads (that I was a significant part of) that the advent even got some phase missile blocking.  This abuse was the main reason that corvettes came into existance as well. 

If you want to defeat ogrovs easily, spam corvettes, or scouts to kill them(you may lose a few structures, but you will whittle them away...I killed 20 ogrovs once with only 10 scouts...lost only 5 trade ports...lol).  You should scout your opponent regularly, because if you don't you will just lose because you don't have enough battlefield intel.

Not even close, as i've stated before, you could spam a few corvettes/scouts to counter the ogrovs.  You can't just spam a few scouts/corvettes to defeat a starbase.

@ skarlathamon

Yet, starbases all having movement does seem to be the simplest change one could make to deal with a lot of key fundamental design imbalances in this game.  What you suggest would add more abilities to each starbase, Yet defensively they would still only cover 1/4 of the gravity well, so enemy fleets will still just sit there unassailable.  No risk for the enemy, and they can choose to assault you whenever they please.

Wow there was nothing arrogant about my post, the devs want unique races anything that lessens that will not be implemented by them and thus is a waste of breath so why bother?