So have seen some really good suggestions lately, and we are getting very close to getting a level 9 base. Those two feelings have combined into the following:

Base Construction Yard.
-A way to use ship bots constructively, Develop XTS-9 as a used resource, and gave a bit of fun.
Research Cost: 50 Million Points.
Construction Cost: 5000 Ship Bots, 10 000 XTS-9, 200 billion Credits.

I would like to restrict Base Construction Yards to level 9 bases and above so there is actually a good reason to get them, but that may be preventing too much of the galaxy from getting the content. Possibly make it available at level 8, or even 7, but more options become unlocked at higher level bases.

This would also have a secondary effect of allowing massive ships to buff higher, though of course this would cost more.

The Base Construction Yard is much like a mix between the Complex Tech Lab and the Service Terminal. Here, you can research "Bot" designs and build temporary drones that offer a combat advantage to your ship.

Two Primary Ideas:

STYLE 1:
Temporary Buffs.
Pay listed costs to achieve a temporary buff (1 day) that can not be dispelled from your ship. This would make the base construction yard a massive buff for a raid on exotica or similar situations, allowing someone willing to blow large amounts of resources for one goal to have a large advantage. War could be maintained with Bots, with difficulty.

STYLE 2:
Permanent Allocation.
The Base Construction Yard allows you to semi-permanently modify the exterior of your hull. Pay the Augmentation cost to modify your ship for 1 month. Ship bots can be removed at any time for a small fee for greater customization. Expect playing around to get very expensive. Expect an entire strategy sub-culture about preferred drone combinations to emerge.

Of these, I much prefer style 2. I think it would add another layer of depth to the game, and give the Large Ships a BIG advantage again... depending on if they choose they bots wisely.


Bot Ideas:
Bots should offer a sizable advantage. It should be a difficult choice to choose one over the other, so we will need to come up with good balance mechanisms. Each bot takes more decks than the one before due to added support structures.
Example: First Bot only takes 50 decks of your total capacity (Current used and total of course are helpfully displayed on the screen). Second Bot takes 100. Third bot takes 150. Fourth bot takes 200.
Costs should become prohibitive for having mass amounts of one bot type. If you really want a bonus 400 damage each attack you could do it - but your going to have to buy 5k nanite swarms a month to do it even on augmentation mode.

Gun Bot.
Temporary Cost - 10 Ship Bots, 5 Nanite Swarm Capsules, 3 XTS-9.
Augmentation Cost - 100 Ship Bots, 200 Nanite Swarm Capsules, 100 XTS-9.
Effect: Each Gun Bot adds a secondary effect of 20 bonus damage to your ships attack. This is not bonus attack - it is bonus damage, and thus is not modified by either defence or damage cap. Not effective VS Planets


Shield Bot.
Temporary Cost - 10 Ship Bots, 5 Shield Sentries, 3 XTS-9.
Augmentation Cost - 100 Ship Bots, 200 Shield Sentries, 100 XTS-9.
Effect: Each Shield Bot reduces damage taken by 10 from all sources. It would reduce damage taken from an attack, from a Gun Bot, from a mine, etc.

EMP Bot.
Temporary Cost - 10 Ship Bots, 5 EMP Bombs, 3 XTS-9.
Augmentation Cost - 100 Ship Bots, 200 EMP Bombs, 100 XTS-9.
Effect: Each EMP Bot offers a 10% percentage chance to prevent an artifact from effecting your ship. The percentage is small, but they do stack, with each EMP bot offering 1% less defence than the last, to a minimum of 2% added each...

Other ideas: Shield drones reducing shield tick delay, Durtranium drones offering improved hull, Engine drones offering a defence bonus or weapon evasion chance, Sensor Drones bypassing EMP Bots, etc etc.

EDIT: changing prices a bit. Realised that 100k income could only maintain 3-4 bots permanently, and thats a bit much.

I think it sounds like a interesting idea.

Ships bots for a lot of higher ranks just seem to take up space. A lot of people have been waiting for a use for them. Adding it to a level 9 base does it give it appeal but it would make it a little unfair to the big legions who have the power to get to a level 9 base and the little legions who many never get there. Having it at a level 7-8 I think works better but having better rewards unlock with higher bases seems like the better option to me. Which still gives it that appeal to aim for a higher base.

Though I would really like it if you could add buffs to the actuall base as well. I would think that would be pretty cool.

Anyways just my thoughts

I like the thoughts here. would be cool to see CTL items too that use and abuse shipbots. kinda like Anubix but adding a sense of ridiculousness to it XD