I registered specifically to suggest this topic, essentially.



As the game stands, it feels like there's little point in a non-military victory, even for, say, the Sophons, as there is no differentiation between offensive and defensive forces. So, in order to survive to accomplish a non-military victory, you have to build the same military or network of allies you could have just used for a military victory.



I'd do a series of orbital defense facility chassis that work exactly like ships except for a significantly higher mass-to-cp ratio. Perhaps stick them somewhere in the research tree other than Expansion to further differentiate them from ship chassis, which become the de facto offensive alternative, and because defending is a conceptual opposite of expanding. I would put them in the same "fleet" grouping system that ships use, so that you can use both ships and defensive platforms in the same battle, but give them all a special property that prevents any kind of movement to any fleet containing them. When you want to move your ships somewhere else, you just split the fleet and they go on their merry way.



Really, it's a pretty simple thing to implement with the game's already existing features; I would expect art assets and gameplay balance to be the hardest parts.

Gonna offer my two cents on this topic.



I'd love to have something like Starbases or other in-system defenses, and here's my two cents on how to implement it. Each ship size (Corvette, Destroyer, Cruiser, etc.) also comes with a corresponding orbital to it. These have more tonnage than their ship counterparts, and can be designed just like any other ship (adding guns, defenses, etc.). Each system then counts as its own fleet, in a way, the size of which is determined by your Empire's command points. Any time you build an orbital, it immediately goes into that system's fleet.



Also, they could never "attack" only be attacked by an enemy fleet, nor can they intercept fleets, but they can prevent an invasion.