Edited to fix the formatting since the quote boxes went crazy. =]
Don't be so quick to kill off this idea.
I didn't kill off anything, you asked for opinions, you got one. It just doesn't line up with yours.
Let me know what u all think?
That was your comment asking for criticism of your idea.
You also mis-understood my point, i don't need the turrets to be ferried,
I understood it completely. You said:
In a more realistic world, no space defense platform is stationary from an engineering point of view and can be moved by ferrying it with another ship.
Which is true, and caused me to say:
Should you have put something in the wrong place and want to move it, you could always scuttle the structure and rebuild it elsewhere. That may actually prove to be faster the trying to drag it somewhere and much more energy efficient.
Which is also true. If you weren't being so defensive, you might have realized that. Since you were attempting to make a real world comparison, I continued that thought with a real world comparison of my own:
You also have to consider that in a more realistic world, you could always just build another one and leave the old one in it's place since the only limiting factor would be the resources you have available, not some randomly imposed point limit.
Do you disagree? Yeah, didn't think so.
i don't need the turrets to be ferried, i need them to have atleast some kind of propulsion system or better an increased range if there stationary.
No where in your original comment did you say self propelled or increase in range...
Is it here?
Since vasari get mobile starbases, why can't tec and advent get a mobile defense turret thats got 2000 hull instead of 3000?
Maybe sort of, but its a broad comment and needs further explanation. Okay, so how about here?
Let me know what u all think? The turrets will still remain planet bound. I'd really love this idea to be put in the game because i'm sure the devs can find a way of making it balance.
No? Hmm.... How about here then?
In a more realistic world, no space defense platform is stationary from an engineering point of view and can be moved by ferrying it with another ship.
Still no? Well you did say ferry it with another ship though...
Awww, shucks... I guess you failed to make that point in your post, so I don't know where you think you get to claim that I misunderstood anything when I answered completely appropriately to what you typed.
Anyway....
Hanger bays solve the mobility problem but there just isn't enough craft to be worth the money. thats why all multiplayer games skip over defenses entirely and opt for repair platforms.
No, I don't think that's it at all. When I play multiplayer, I skip defenses because the resources are better spent on fleet. You know, that thing this game is based on. Defenses outside of the starbase are purely a delay tactic, and not even a really good one for a human player who knows they can just avoid them or can customize their fleet to handle what you've got there. Not a single one of them is strong enough to repel a small enemy fleet, again, except the starbase, and even that needs help from your fleet because a swarm of anti structure ships can take it out quite fast even if it's fully upgraded. Repair platforms are cheap and serve a dual purpose. Not only do they keep what few defenses you did put up in the fight longer, but when you do bring in fleet elements, it repairs them and keeps them alive longer so you need less then your opponent to counter them. Lack of hangers isn't because of lack of craft types it can provide, it's again because the money is better spent in fleet. For a few more resources, you get the same craft options, plus the mobility to take them anywhere on the map. Also, not discounting the obvious advantage of avoiding a harsher late game slow down because you've cluttered up your gravity wells with useless structures if your winning, or wasted resources if you're losing (which is probably why you're losing).
That being said, let's examine weaker, yet mobile turrets, versus, say twenty anti structure units. Wanna guess what happens? The anti structure units make quicker work of the mobile turrets then the stationary ones mostly due to the fact that they are weaker, but also because they can take a lesson from carriers and sit at the edge of a gravity well with some repair support and let your defenses come to them and they get picked off one at a time just like they would if they were stationary, and worst yet, they're out of range of your repair platforms... I don't see where adding mobility would all of a sudden get people to start focusing on defenses rather then a quick strike fleet that could actually mount a decent defense.
Let's examine a stationary turret with a wider range. So it gets the first shot off. My twenty anti structure ships cruise on in, one or two or three take hits from the turrets before lining up their own shots and pop. One turret down. Slight turn to the left and pop, two turrets down. Slight turn to the right and pop, three turrets down. And so on and so on and so on. Or even better, I send a couple weak, inexpensive scouts on in first to do a flyby and draw their fire while my anti structure ships pull up while they have their backs turned and I level them all while only losing a couple scouts. Wider range just means I get to draw more fire from more of them with less scouts. Seems like a perfectly well taken advantage of improvement to me. You go right on ahead and build those.
If all you've got are hangers, I lead with some flak frigates and decimate your strike craft, then I send in the anti structure units and pop all of your defenses even easier because they aren't shooting back at me and I can split my forces up and hit multiple structures at once.
The only way you have any chance at all is if you bring in your fleet. Otherwise, you lose all of your structures. That's why I don't do defenses in multiplayer. They only work against the AI because the AI doesn't counter. It builds fleets and sends them out. It doesn't change their make-up to best combat you like human players. Fleet wins every time. Defenses can be used to augment that fleet, but they just don't hold up on their own, no matter if you make turrets mobile or if you give them a wider range, or even if you do both.
