The previous thread has gotten V big so I stated a new one. Beta 4 shows a big improvement in SB battle performance. To try see by how much I redid a test similar to the one ran with beta 3. (see reply 16 in orig thread https://forums.galciv3.com/460135/page/1/#3513849) Then: single wimpy Ranger A0/8/8- D0/20/0 always won vs starbase 10/20/19- D23/63/25.
(recap:** cheats used to stage the battle, build up SB, give it away, build fighter fleet, attack SB **)
This time (beta 4) my starbase stats were 12/15/21- D 13/39/14 vs Ranger(s) A0/8/0- D0/20/0.
Single Ranger stood no chance at all! Neither did a fleet of 2. Moving on to a fleet of 3 the starbase won in 4 of 5 battles with the surviving SB taking 50-70 HP( out of 80) damage. A fleet of 4 rangers won 5 of 5 fights but lost 3 ships every time and the forth was heavily damaged.
The battle viewer is great for getting a clue on what’s going on, you can see the Sb firing the superior ranged lasers first and taking out 1-2 ships before the attackers get into missile range. Giving the rangers shields (D now 10/20/0 per ship) made it so a fleet of 3 now won 4/5 battles. Thruster also made a big difference, with the battle viewer you can actually see them closing into missile ranger faster thereby not taking as many laser hits before getting their first salvos off. I put the thruster on 2/3 ships to observe the relative difference.
A lot more testing and balancing is still needed but Starbases in beta 4 are much more effective vs ships and i like it. And being able to put carrier modules on them .. OMG the pendulum may be swinging too far.