I've been trying my hand at modding even back in the earlier Betas. Today, I had the idea of making a starbase module that would increase the manufacturing output of any shipyard in its range. The bonus, however, does not apply.
<StarbaseModule>
<InternalName>SpaceFactoryModule</InternalName>
<DisplayName>Space_Factory</DisplayName>
<Description>SpaceFactory_Desc</Description>
<Icon>GC3_Production_Spending_Stat_Icon.png</Icon>
<SpecializationType>Economic</SpecializationType>
<Stats>
<EffectType>ModuleConstructionPoints</EffectType>
<Scope>Queue</Scope>
<Target>
<TargetType>StarbaseModule</TargetType>
</Target>
<BonusType>Flat</BonusType>
<Value>1</Value>
</Stats>
<Stats>
<EffectType>MaxManufacturing</EffectType>
<Target>
<TargetType>Shipyard</TargetType>
</Target>
<BonusType>Flat</BonusType>
<Value>5</Value>
</Stats>
<Prerequ>
<StarbaseModule>EconomicRingModule</StarbaseModule>
</Prerequ>
</StarbaseModule>
The tooltip will display "Manufacturing +5", but there is no effect to the shipyard itself. Even in the "Effects" tab on the starbase, there's no entry for the bonus to the shipyard.
Sidenote: It is possible to give certain other bonuses to shipyards from starbases. I experimented adding a bonus to shipyard point defense, like so:
<Stats>
<EffectType>PointDefense</EffectType>
<Scope>AreaEffect</Scope>
<Target>
<TargetType>Shipyard</TargetType>
</Target>
<BonusType>Flat</BonusType>
<Value>10</Value>
</Stats>
And it worked.
Maybe I'm using the wrong <EffectType>, but I also tried "Manufacturing" and "Military", and couldn't find anything else that could be the proper type.
I think we need a lot more of modding resources (as in documentation for the XMLs and general guides). GC3, as Brad put it on the dev stream, is more than a game, it's a platform to build upon. But please give teach us to build upon this platform.