I was reading some posts and updates planned for the games. One was on how to make dead planets functional and the other was on starbases. Why not make it so most star bases need to be on or connected to a dead planet. So that way they have functionality. This would also make the expansion of the universe more along the lines of jumping from system to system in early game which would give more combat opportunities. Then late game would would be able to bypass the systems because of increased range.
Not that I want to base the use of star bases in reality. But it doesn't make sense that a base in the middle of star systems being able to provide much in terms of extending a ships range. If they were connected to a planet they would be "utilizing" the resources of that planet to allow ships to extend range.
You could make a separate range extending starbase. I would think that this would have some downside. Like high maintenance or a fairly small range, or large mass. So if you wanted to sneak around an empire and hit them from the back you could but it would be costly.
I'm sure this has been discussed and dismissed. But I thought it would be a nice usage for dead worlds and stop the spamming of starbases.
Thoughts?