1 or 3. Currently Starbases and Defense platforms suck, I recommend we brain storm many changes to improve their performance. The remainder is split on a roughly 1:1:1 ratio between PD/missile, hangars, and a 1 KA and 1 NL station type. For example, a basic outpost has the defense power of perhaps ten corvettes, but the offensive power of ~0. Starbase auras are still great, but defense platforms are a waste of alloys. A starbase / orbital ring with all hangar bays and like 70 defense platforms and a handful of Ion Canons per starbase / orbital ring can actually make a system VERY hard for AI to take. Stellaris Real-time strategy Strategy video game Gaming. The right side stern remains the same. 8. Generally, if you have venerable, or enduring and. ago. Go to system you want to build it in. 8, I built a defensive citadel to hold the Terminal Egress system and was shocked to see 800k fleet power in the early-endgame (2370s, no more than 10x repeatables, spiritualist empire with immortal God-Empress, Composer of Strands covenant, and 2x Bulwark vassals)Each starbase only cost energy upkeep and each tier of starbase costs 1 more (a outpost costs 1 to start, then 2, then 3, etc). Authority has minimal ability to be best. 0 is the starbase weapons. I mean I can exchange the Gun Battery Modules for Hangar Bays or Missile Batteries (- or something completely different), and just add a few Defense Platforms instead, but I don't like the fact that Defense Platforms don't regenerate / they get really destroyed in a war, when Starbases change hands back and forth, whereas the base. Defense platforms have two sections for weapon slots which can be outfitted with a wide variety of weapon configurations. Theutus Dec 9, 2021 @ 10:24am. I think it's Ancient Cache of Technologies that has the heavy platforms. Kinetic artillery and neutron launchers is a good mix. Defense platforms and starbases are very strong in the early game, if used well. Scourge missles and swarm strikers do NOT increase your ships upkeep costs. 4. You’re in luck if you happen to find a star system protected by the mysterious Ether Drake. Ygolnac Dec 27, 2017 @ 6:55am. Ion Cannons are mediocre in comparison to L-Slot Defense Platforms because they cost roughly 20x as much to build and take up 8 defense platform slots. STOCKHOLM - Feb 23, 2023 - Paradox Interactive, a developer and publisher of games that add more vassals and less hassles, today announced that Overlord, a full expansion for Stellaris that focuses on deeper empire management, will arrive on Xbox and PlayStation consoles on March 8, 2023. #2. They have their own shield - which is also weak 3. r/Stellaris • Best to worst. 1 day ago · Guarded by multiple powerful defense platforms. Defense platforms are a cost effective way to ensure our safety, but they need to be monitored from an operation center. ATM pre-rework at least, Defense Platforms are highly situational and not seen as worth wasting alloys on compared to just building more ships, and likewise, after the update, Habitats will be much more niche. Ie: Defense platforms in pulsar systems (no shields) are all protected by heavy armor with guns that are weak only against shields. Reintroduces the medium and large military stations which can be build at starbases just like defense platforms. In any case for a defensive bastion, what you want are as many defense platforms as optimized against your enemy and taking as much advantage of the system effects as you have time/energy/resources to design and build. . Discovery is a top first pick in most strategies. Step 2: still doesn't stop a near-peer neighbor and you have to manually click the defense platform build button 4060 times. 1. Wooden-Many-8509 • 22 min. Step 2: still doesn't stop a near-peer neighbor and you have to manually click the defense platform build button 4060 times. Imagine the fleet upgrade complete notifications on upgrade all. But adding in just one can be useful if you're using Strikecraft as well, since it will cause them to launch much earlier due to the range of Ion Cannons. Best. I'm finally starting to tamper with the Ship Designer and I'm trying to figure out Starbases and Defense Platforms. ago. Fleet power is the way to go, don't put your defensive installations on the borders. 67. When did defensive platforms get so strong? In a recent game of unmodded 3. The best use of any sort of defense station is to put 1 defense station, stripped of everything except for the FTL snair, along your border for atleast 2-3 systems deep. The purpose of the Maginot line is to defend France by forcing Germany to attack through Belgium. They have their own HP - and that too is weak. Democracy is a good unity start if you take beacon of liberty and fulfill goals. Content is available under Attribution-ShareAlike 3. ; About Stellaris Wiki; Mobile view Pro Tip Four: Combining tips Two and Three, you can make a Defense Platform for as cheap as 82 alloys per platform, before discounts. . ) Rare techs that specifically boosted. What if I'm fighting a federation of 4 people with the end threat casus beli (colosus) 1. The Target Uplink Computer building on starbases that increases the range by 50%, does not work. Paradox Staff. Please do not ask if it works with <Insert your Mod here> because I likely won't know. This guide contains only examples of good ship designs. Dragonslayer. I really think that any viable late game fortification would need sturdier platforms in order to withstand the initial alpha and not be completely obliterated, as it is currently, building ordinary defense platforms is pretty. . Overall you get +50% upgrade speed, -50% starbase upgrade cost, -20% upkeep, +50% defense platform cap, and +33% defense platform health and damage. Long ago I made a meme no-fleet run vs 2250 5x Prethoryn - managed to get to a point where a starbase fully loaded with defense platforms could. Really not the worst thing just fortify your borders and prepare your fleets. " It scales better into the late game, due to missile weapons having decent range and inflicting hull damage, and in the early game, missile corvettes are the best way to take down starbases until Carrier Cruisers. 9. Shield disruptor, range, combat disengagement, and defense supercomputers for buildings. Fleet academy, crew quarters, shipyard modules. To answer the title question, if memory serves, it's always a 30 day delay on healing, and then they repair at a rate of like 1-2% hull and armor per day afterwards. 3-9 of them on a starhold easily demolish fleets trying to get past my choke points in the early to mid game. IMO they are never something to be blanket built only purpose built. We are all aware that Stellaris ship design has had a massive rebalance, and with that the combat system and the overall pace of the game. Nice one to hold enemies, prob best one. Ring World has always been one of the most powerful megastructures in Stellaris due to its flexibility in placement and resource production. TheOtherBridge • 1 min. The best use of defense platforms I've found is to split the DPS of the attacker off from a single starbase defending into multiple targets. if you were to run the 0. Instead of a bunch of ion. Now updated for 3. Save Game CompatibilityBy default, this mod only works on newly created military stations (defense platforms, etc. So I always build a couple Ion-canons and put like for every canon 2-3 defense platforms in with either artillery, Torpedos, hangars and at least 1 picket platform against missiles and carriers. (Only 1 missile slot!) A citadel boasts 80,000 hull, 20,000 armor, and 26 L slot defense components. So, this thread gets made once every few months, but I felt like I should bring it up again. They could even make their own defense section in the ship design. Jump to latest Follow Reply. Thank you very much, I. Pocket Sand - Both point defense/flak battery components. Defense platforms are honestly super cheap by the mid to late game compared to their value, the. They. Note the change in fleet power. For guns you could take the choice of two heavy batteries or four small lasers or some other combination depending if you took a light, med, or heavy platform. * Starbase Defenses Extended 2. Give the starbase the + 50 % range module, make sure there's at least one hangar module on there if you have it, park your fleet about halfway between the system edge and the base from where the enemy will pass. In mid game when I have unlocked all 6 slots I set up my base with 4 gun battery and 2 missile, meanwhile defensive platform filled. It's especially weird when the upgrade cost is. So if your economy is tight, they are a great weapons to have. and call it a day. 3) and I can't seem to find where to retrofit defence platforms. Yes. The other platform sections just don't get enough weapon slots to be competitive with 1 hangar. Ion Cannons aren’t any better, on account of being a very fat Defense Platform (same downsides) with Perdition Beam (imagine a Tachyon Lance that deals 5 times the damage but takes 3 times as long to reload, thus suffering from overkilling enemies in a major way) for a low, low price of Battleship and a half in Alloys. Again, fill up free slots with missiles, and you want the line computer (the stats aren't great, but you need a computer. In mid game when I have unlocked all 6 slots I set up my base with 4 gun battery and 2 missile, meanwhile defensive platform filled with Torpedos. 2. ago. My starbases: 2 gun/missile/hangar bays. The starbase itself is where I put all the hangars. I also wonder if there really are 65/16 defense platforms in place. 2. Defense platforms have some pretty big issues, including that you can only build one at a time per station. I've got the economy to support just about anything and I parked a citadel over it, but now I'm wondering if my defense platform mix is correct. Members Online Opinion: Terraforming is a bad mechanic that needs to be heavily reworked. And all/most of the defense platforms get destroyed any time there's a fight, so its a decent amount of alloy and. The problem becomes even more severe when you consider defense platforms. Report. Step 1: fill a solar system with then. Stellaris Real-time strategy Strategy video game Gaming. Starbases need to be looked at again. You can go really high with starhold + traditions + ascension perk + module. Ancient Shield Overcharger's value depends on what weapons the enemy is using, but can really help against Torpedoes, Lances, and Neutron Launchers. When the starbase is lost, all defense platforms are lost as well, you will have to rebuild all of them. Shield nullification let's you go full anti-armor. This page was last edited on 28 February 2018, at 06:00. 9. The only reason I can get that high is because I can upgrade the defense platforms the 10% dozens of times. Preferably id like an upkeep trait, a increased hitpoint trait and a fire rate trait. There are several different parts of the platform, and each one is very important to the survival of the system. 36 thousand in effective health and 5. System: Max systems, line computer, afterburners, and auxiliary fire control. Apr 4, 2019 703 24. Except terminal egress, which gets 3 ion cannons and 4 L/L. All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos Workshop News Guides Reviews. Because the AI was not using them (vanilla stellaris issue) and modders can't make the AI use those defense platforms 2. Ring World has always been one of the most powerful megastructures in Stellaris due to its flexibility in placement and resource production. Optimally, I'll use 2 large, one using Torpedos and the other Kinetic, max range is the aim of the game. Defense platforms are smaller military stations that are deployed around the starbase and act as weapons platforms. Starbase weapons. true you can build platforms to help pick off marauder fleets to claim some early debris since they have a predictable path and early game hangars have good DPS and tracking. You can have 60 defense platforms, but good luck actually building 60 defense platforms in a reasonable timeframe - and then you lose them when it gets into a fight and now you need to rebuild them for the next ten years. You have encountered the great Blorg Collective, resistance is futile, and we will be friends. just a list of ships, the platforms aren't listed. Projectile Weapons cause additional damage vs shields but deal less damage vs armor. Second best is hangars. Stronger defense platforms. I usually pair mine (lately I only build two in a system) with defense platforms designed to hold hangars or a hangar plus artillery (it'd be SO. +33% Defense platform damage +33% Defense platform hull points; −25% Orbital Bombardment Damage Received; −25% War exhaustion gain +25% Hostile claim influence costIn fact, a Stellaris campaign can last for over eighty hours. ago. Useful Stations was one of my favorite mod. 4 there was no extension to the range of weapons on defense platforms, This mod added that. You should use armor piercing weapons exclusively. Hi, I'm just playing through my first game of Stellaris (2. Pirate Patrol Scout 1 sensor, 1 hyperlane Detection, 10% sublight Light Skirmish Trickster-15% emergency FLT damage risk, 25% disengage Light Combat Gale Speed +5% Evasion, +20% Sublight Speed Mixed Skirmish Cautious +20% Weapons Range Mixed Combat Aggressive +5% Fire Rate, +10% Sublight Speedfire rate Heavy. Currently, stations placed at pulsar systems are underperforming using default station template with pointless shields and stock weapon choices completely missing on the advantage that pulsar system can give. com] and run event eac_aw_dpl_actions. Stellaris Wiki Active Wikis. You should be building these defenses in choke point systems. Tinca12 • 10 mo. Better build a fleet that is parked on that station. ago 1 light platform section (all slots filled with missiles), 1 hangar section. Ring World has always been one of the most powerful megastructures in Stellaris due to its flexibility in placement. The general rule of thumb for Leviathans like Shard is about 30k fleet power. Torpedoes do more damage, and especially do more damage per hit, meaning enemy ships are more likely to be destroyed, rather than escape to emergency FTL. Paradox Staff. They build twice as fast (120 -> 60 days) The fire rate and tracking is tied to combat computers. Mid game. What they will do is buy you time. Rule Zero of Stellaris combat: autodesigned ships suck so much they have an event horizon. I posted a bug report on the Stellaris forums. Hangar is the only type of platform worth using. T4 Station, six offensive modules, debuff auras + Defensive Grid Supercomputer, one ion cannon + defensive platforms up to the limit (the cap on platforms was around 55 iirc). The most powerful defense is a strong gateway network, with all your ready fleets stationed orbiting a gateway in your staging system. ago. I don't use disrupters, cloud-lighting weapons, or matter disintegrators. This ownership is permeant (until reconquered). 0 unless otherwise noted. Additional modifiers which affect various defense platform parameters are summarized below. Disruptors are better against opposing Corvettes, while Missiles are better against starbases and defense platforms. Also the defence modules (missile module, battery module, hangar module) add their. Disruptors have high tracking to ignore evasion and completely ignore armor and shields, making them one of the best anti-Corvette weapons in the game. I have internal trade security SBs with no defense platforms, and their trade protection value is higher because they have 6 hangars, whereas my chokepoint SBs have missiles and guns instead, even though they have 23 points of platform including ion cannon. Stellaris > General Discussions > Topic Details. ago. Is there any way I can build this anywhere above my planets for an extra layer of defense, or it strictly for primitive space stations?Rapid Pulse Laser Weapons Could Be The Pentagon's Future Edge - But defense leaders are increasingly interested in ultrashort pulse lasers (USPLs), unimaginably high-powered beams fired for a tiny fraction of a second to vaporize a small portion of a target’s surface or disrupt its electronics. Wooden-Many-8509 • 1 min. The only difference between a 10k station base station and a 13k defense platform station is that the 13k cost a lot more. The Angry Hive - Hanger components on both. They add to the firepower of the spacestation that they are attached to. Thank you very much, I. Secondly, Starbases are way more cost effective than fleets in the early game. Originally posted by Keltosh: A basic defense platforms with subspace snare is supercheap and can make you gain up to a month of time. They can generally tie any enemy fleet up for a few volleys of my defense platforms. Some intelligence on systems, including fleets and colonies, can also be gained via sensors (fleets, starbases, or colonies). Starbase modules also do not cost mineral upkeep, only the energy upkeep listed. Personally, in early game I prefer to build my starbases with the following setup: gun battery, DP hangars and some Point Defense station. This is incorrect, without mods, you have to manually select each station and click upgrade. You can just build a ship instead with those alloys and get the same thing, but better in basically every way. Make a hanger bay defense platform design and build those along your trade routes and you won’t need to use up starbase slots. Change the Carrier. The damage is crazy compared to the other defense platform designs I've tinkered with. Defense platforms are pretty weak, and unless you're stacking large cost discounts are usually not worth building. 6 adding PD also makes them a lot stronger since the AI uses missiles a lot more often. Also some traits are easier to get via victory, loss, or some other condition than others. . Defense platform Juggernaut / Star-Eater Colossus Required technology Cost Power Cost Power Cost Power Cost Power Cost Power Cost Power Cost Power Power Fission Reactor 10: 75 20: 140 40: 280 80: 550 160: 1100 20: 200 560: 3850 Fission Power Fusion Reactor 13: 100 26: 180 52: 360 104: 720 208: 1450 26: 260 730: 5000 Fusion. HerewardTheWayk • 1 hr. Thasher Class Assault Ships - Doubling as both my point defense and kinetic weapon platforms my Thasher class ship is 2 small point. Then ideally you want any enemy fleets to be under fire from both the defense platform as well as your. What are some good builds (I have max plasma, level 2 autocannons, max lasers, max railguns, swarmer missiles, torpedos {Both Neutron and Regular}, and near max regular missiles. The only defense platform worth building is the Hanger one, here's why: Every ship has a max deployment limit. They buffed torpedos amd missiles, so you gonna need more pd. . While having a constructor selected, click in space. This is incorrect, without mods, you have to manually select each station and click upgrade. Best rocket/strike-craft defense is not allow enemy to make more than one-two salvos, so just kill them first. AI will favor P slots over S slots if it researched new P weapons that are of the same tech tier or higher than its best S/M weapon. Besides defense stations are bad designed. Ion cannons are actually fully free and have no upkeep costs whatsoever. Regeneration is useless since the starbase already provides repair services to the defense platforms out of combat and the in-combat healing rate is very. Shield nullification let's you go full anti-armor. Mine are usually 3x Guns, 1x Missle, 1x Hanger, then I do a few hanger/pd platforms and as many icon cannons as I can. Defense Platforms use special rules and will most commonly use M slots to avoid range issues. Due to their ability to bypass shields, Strike Craft are very effective against other Strike Craft. t0: nothing. As others have said, putting up ftl block is a good tech. You can also put the range module on your starbase to increase engagement range. E. I usually put a mix of antishield/antiarmor on my platforms, something like 3 small kinetics/2 medium lasers. Observe armour of platform Upload Attachment File(s) attachedYes, they let your Corvette move faster and get into firing range sooner. You have encountered the great Blorg Collective, resistance is futile, and we will be friends. For design instructions and descriptions of parts, please visit: Combat and Ship Design: A Comprensive Guide. t2: 20% tracking 30% fire rate. Oligarchy start is real good due to agendas, and because it has meritocracy, a great finisher. To put things in perspective, if I would rate Hangar platforms a 10/10 as far as platforms go, the next-best platform would be heavy at a 7/10, then Missile at a 6/10, then Light at a 4/10, Medium at a 3/10, and Point Defense at 0. This mod provides a series of small buffs to make defense platforms more useful without altering the meta. In this video we will look at a variety of defence platform builds to. 5/10 (seriously, PD platforms are a joke and a newbie trap). Late game the longest range weapons you have, but they'll still die pretty easily. CryptoIn a Total War, you gain full control of the system once the starbase has been destroyed an all habitable planets within the system are occupied. ") Then from there I'll build defense platforms, 1 of each, usually situated with equal parts gun/laser, with a missile platform, and PD platform for anti missiles. And before anyone says: "That would make attacking hard!" That's literally the point. Retrofit defense platforms. Adjust the templates according to your needs in the ship manager. We can, after all, totally suppress pirates with a fewscore naked corvettes. Three Platforms on an Outpost is less effective than upgrading to a Starbase and building a defensive module, but again going over starbase capacity is expensive. Artillery/Carrier remains a powerful fleet design in 3. ). Added Armor Hardening and Shield Hardening modifiers, which reduce armor and shield penetration. Defense Platforms haven't been worth building in years / ever besides for RP. Defense platforms cost no upkeep at all, but the weapons added to them still require upkeep like a normal ship would (meaning Defense. Thread starter Verx90; Start date Oct 10,. Exept FE/Crisis of course, with their 100k+ fleets, but against the "normal" AI empires it worked quite well. Regeneration is useless since the starbase already provides repair services to the defense platforms out of combat and the in-combat healing rate is very. • 5 yr. Probably ~ the same usefulness as Tachyon Beams. Thats the "pain" Defenseplatforms also needs upkeep (Check shipbuilder);) Also check if you are over your starbase Cap , It's okay to exceed most of the soft caps in Stellaris, even if you only have a vague idea what you're doing. Half and half on shields and armor, and 2 auxiliary fire control. This can be used on planets and habitats. Defensive Platforms and Starbase Modules exist to be a deterrent. Starbases and Defense platforms can be brutal if, and only if, you have a fleet in the system that they can support. 4 "Gemini"! Please see the patch notes for more details. So I figured, well, I know defense stations. Although it doesn't unlock useless repeatable techs that improve your tech tree, the Defense Grid Supercomputer is stupidly expensive to research and totally useless. Starting with. ChildishJack • 2 yr. Now as for defense platforms, I can see a case to be made here. breakingdefense. They are accessible early on in the game and will also increase the amount of defense platforms. In this video we will look at a variety of defence platform builds to. A starbase / orbital ring with all hangar bays and like 70 defense platforms and a handful of Ion Canons per starbase / orbital ring can actually make a system VERY hard for AI to take. I can design the defense platforms and pick what weapons they have, thats fine. The Tracking and Range, however, look irrelevant. ago. Vote. No surprise there, offense outscales defense in Stellaris combat at higher tech levels. 2. This only applies to vanilla Defense Platforms. Destroyers counter corvettes. The Angry Hive - Hanger components on both. Defense Platforms, and Bastions in general, really only serve one purpose once everyone has Destroyers - a speed bump. They don't cost alloy upkeep at very least, but their cost to performance is absolutely abysmal. 560. New Sniper Combat Computers. 2. State of New Macedonia (Citizen Stratocracy) (Stellaris 2. 1000 and that should enable the functionality on all existing military stations. Content is available under Attribution-ShareAlike 3. 9 Reanimators. Would all hangers still work? It probably wont stop giant fleets but it will prevent smaller incursions. Showing 1 - 8 of 8 comments. However, Missiles can be shot down beforehand by Point Defense (shortened to PD). The AI vastly overestimates bastions and seems to respect that you have them. Their main offensive tactics involve their building and colony ships, so if they spawn in your territory put a lot. Stellaris version supported: v2. Also imo; The best thing about a strategic coordination center is the extra defensive platforms it allows per starbase. Last I heard, yes they do, CC wise at least. Starbase Defenses Extended. Target Uplink I do not actually know. The best use of defense platforms I've found is to split the DPS of the attacker off from a single starbase defending into multiple targets. For existing games, you can open the game console[stellaris. In any case for a defensive bastion, what you want are as many defense platforms as optimized against your enemy and taking as much advantage of the. Half and half on shields and armor, and 2 auxiliary fire control. Nov 16, 2023Pocket Sand - Both point defense/flak battery components. I usually use hangars on space stations along with every upgraded defense platform I'm allowed to build. A Starhold with some hangar bay modules and the maximum amount of defense platforms with hangar bays can reach fleet power values that will cause the AI to not even send fleets into its system. Bozidar Radulovic. The other platform sections just don't get enough weapon slots to be competitive with 1 hangar. If you're that intent on building defense platforms, it's best to ignore ion cannons in favor of L slot platforms with nothing but neutron launchers. Stellaris version supported: v2. Unless you have absurd research, the enemies in the game will rapidly outpace the strength of the defense platforms. I love playing the TEC Loyalists (A defense-sepcializing faction for those who haven't played) in Sins and just digging in, turning my entire territory into a nightmarish galaxy-spanning uber-stronghold. Considering that vanilla scripts for defense station and defense fortress. If 3/4 of them are shield heavy, go anti shield. I've found that if you get special traits first you are much less likely to get your 3 conventional traits. They are very underpowered and not worth their expense. This basically means Swarmer Missiles and Hangars are the only good options for Defense Platforms. No, you should be able to build military stations almost anywhere. Defense Platforms are seriously overpriced for their combat performance, and you are always better off with spending Alloys on fleet. The other platforms mostly depends on. 1. 0 unless otherwise noted. simply put, you need, at the very least, equivalent fleet power (& ship numbers, if possible. Upload. Thread starter TrotBot; Start date Feb 12, 2022;. Honestly defense platforms will rarely stop attackers, AI or human. 15 votes, 11 comments. Some amount of Shields, mostly Armor. Imo starbases should always have the alpha strike, at least if it is a dedicated defense station. ChildishJack • 2 yr. Trickster is also pretty decent. It adds back the defense station and defense fortress that were removed after 2. However, the maximum power a fleet can bring varies by map size. Defense platforms do have one niche use case. The remainder is split on a roughly 1:1:1 ratio between PD/missile, hangars, and a 1 KA and 1 NL station type. Nice one to hold enemies, prob best one. Buildings#shorts #stellaris #howto #tutorial #tips #guide Discord: tip is about how to build d. It's the weapon size above L. Instead of turning back and gaining distance, the ship stays at the maximum range of the mounted weapon, concentrate on firing its long-range guns at the enemy, with a very large bonus to weapon range. The Angry Hive - Hanger components on both. They are very underpowered and not worth their expense. they never once in 7 years got a laser option. Energy weapons generally have slightly better accuracy, lower damage and shorter range compared to kinetic weapons. Because for all intensive purposes a starbase has that fleet power however since a starbase is a single thing weapons that deal a high damage are extra effective and don’t suffer from nuking something. Added new aux components that use Exotic Gases, Rare Crystals, Living Metal, or Zro to provide armor and shield hardening. If I set the crisis time period earlier, they. Create 10 ships exactly the same in everything exept weapons. Anchorages, like most things in stellaris works best when you specialise around one objective per starbase or planet. AI will favor P slots over S slots if it researched new P weapons that are of the same tech tier or higher than its best S/M weapon. Intel. But I think ive figured out why they dont have an upkeep because theyre an endgame crisis weapon. Find a partner. Update Ion Cannon. This is my second mod for Stellaris and is still in beta, it requires Apocalypse for some elements. Content is available under Attribution-ShareAlike 3. I usually put a mix of antishield/antiarmor on my platforms, something like 3 small kinetics/2 medium lasers. Something that is puzzling me in 2. My reasoning being that you can double down on stronger repeatable techs for strike craft damage/attack speed, and stronger repeatable techs for defense platform damage. What is more, you can build up to 3 platforms on unopgraded outposts and they take only 60 days to build. ago. Ok so I figure out that you can't build a defense platform by just right clicking with a construction ship anymore. It was a long-awaited change since the meta seemed to be amassing Battleships with Neutron. On the plus side, if you don't lose your starbase, your defense platform investment is safe. There's not really that much you need in terms of utility components. Even going 1 over hurts a bunch. The technologies required to unlock them are back.