Being able to upgrade defenses.

[Shadow Wolf TJC]

You know how you could research new body types for your vehicles in order to replace your older vehicles' body types with newer, more durable and expensive ones, such as, for example, upgrading your Pythons to Tigers, and then to Vengeance, and finally to either Wyverns or Dragons? Sadly, the same can not be said for Cyborgs or base defenses, which are forever doomed to remain in the same body types, with the same base armor, HP, and price values, though Super Cyborgs can be produced to replace the basic Cyborgs, if at the cost of being slower.

However, I've come up with an idea as to how base defenses' protection can keep up with the pace of technology: namely, by upgrading them in the same way that you upgrade Factories, Research Facilities, and Power Generators with modules. By applying, say, a Reinforced Supercrete Module to a Hardpoint, you could, for example, increase its base HP from 800 to 1000 and its base Kinetic and Thermal Armor from 15 to 18, both of which would then be multiplied by Armor/HP Upgrades. Moreover, once you research the proper technologies, you could then apply a Reinforced Plascrete Module to the Supercrete Hardpoint to further upgrade it to a Plascrete Hardpoint, with 1200 base HP and 21 base Kinetic and Thermal Armor, and then you could apply a Reinforced Plasteel Module to upgrade it to a Plasteel Hardpoint, with 1400 base HP and 24 base Kinetic and Thermal Armor. Of course, this could come at the cost of, say, at least $15 per module, with more advanced modules possibly costing more.

Note: I'm aware of how Plasteel Mk3 can multiply a structure's HP and Armor more than how much Superdense Composite Alloys can multiply a vehicle's HP and Kinetic Armor. However, other than the price of researching HP and Armor upgrades, while trying to improve your vehicles' HP and Armor means replacing your older, less expensive bodies with newer, more expensive bodies, the price of defensive structures remains relatively intact throughout the game. Whether you're in a T1 game or a T3 game, those Hardcrete Walls and Hardened Sensor Towers that you like to build will still cost $25 and $100 respectively, yet their ability to withstand punishment is different.

[aubergine]

From what I understand base structures get research upgrades applied to them automatically - eg. research reinforced base structure materials and all your buildings/walls/turrets/etc get the upgrade as soon as that research is done. (I could be wrong though - would need one of the C++ developers to confirm)

[Iluvalar]

Yeah but he is right about that... the structure should also have some sort of body change.

Shadow: I dont agree with you about the module technique; Bodies can't be upgraded like that, you need to start anew. And the same should happen with structures. I believe that this would naturally come to existence with designables structures. I beliebe that's on the wish list since a while.

The other solution for now, is to not make the structures rely on the structure graphic. In other words, making the hardpoint of the assault gun stronger than the HMG one even if they look identical. That would make the stuctures competitive with the bodies.

[Shadow Wolf TJC]

Yeah but he is right about that... the structure should also have some sort of body change.

Shadow: I dont agree with you about the module technique; Bodies can't be upgraded like that, you need to start anew. And the same should happen with structures. I believe that this would naturally come to existence with designables structures. I beliebe that's on the wish list since a while.

The other solution for now, is to not make the structures rely on the structure graphic. In other words, making the hardpoint of the assault gun stronger than the HMG one even if they look identical. That would make the stuctures competitive with the bodies.

Yeah. I've heard that being able to design our own defenses in the same way as designing vehicles is on the to-do list (and I'd like that as well), though until the time comes when we can design our own Hardpoints, Bunkers, and Towers, applying Modules is the most flexible solution that I can come up with for now, since it would give players the "choice" on whether to build cheaper, less durable defenses or more expensive, though more durable defenses. Your proposal of mounting higher-tiered weapons on higher-tiered versions of Hardpoints, Bunkers, etc. isn't a bad idea, not at all, though it would mean that players WON'T have that choice as to whether to upgrade to a more durable base or not.

Interesting note: the Avenger SAM and Vindicator SAM Emplacements use different bases, with the Vindicator SAM Emplacement using a more durable base (with 200 more HP) than the Avenger SAM Emplacement's base. Perhaps your idea of higher-tiered defense bases stems from something like this?