Starbases are built in orbit of a planet which you control. Every planet can have at most one starbase. Starbases use resources (cash, minerals) from the planet, and inherit its friendly code.
Every starbase has four tech levels, for the areas starship hulls, engines, beams, and torpedoes. You need an appropriate tech level to build starship components. At tech 1, you can only build the most simple components. You can buy upgrades for money. Registered players can buy up to Tech 10, unregistered players can buy only Tech 6. Starbases start with Tech 1 in all areas when built, but some native races give you a free Tech 10 on one area. Tech levels are local to each base. To build parts on many bases, you have to buy the appropriate tech level on all of them.
Starbases have storage for starship components (hulls, engines, beams, torpedo launchers) as well as ammunition (torpedoes, fighters). You can build these components and store them on the base.
Every starbase can have one of six primary orders. One of these is to repair starbase damage. A starbase which is damaged in combat loses some tech levels.
When a planet is involved in a battle, the planet and starbase will fight as one unit. Starbases can have defense posts which improve the battle power of the team. The starbase defense will allow more weapons, the tech levels will improve the weapons' types, and torpedoes and fighters from starbase storage will also be used.
You cannot scrap a starbase. The only way to get rid of a base is to remove all colonists from the planet so that it is unowned for one turn. This will remove the base. Sometimes it can be useful to do that, for example, when the base got heavily damaged, or when beneficial natives were discovered on the planet.
