So I get the 'immersion' reason behind why so many of these stations - such as the asteroid bases in various nebulae - lack shipyards and outfitting. They're bare-bones facilities designed for extraction or studying or what have you.
Here's the thing...most of these also offer missions and clearly interact with the BGS, which implies that if a commander or squadron wanted to support such a station they could. I've tossed the idea around myself several times since mining isn't so bad and I'd be curious about 'expanding' and its impacts.
BUT...
1) No shipyard means the only ship I can use to support a faction is the one I used to get there - so if I want to build a mining ship, it's going to be a long trip out there the first time around.
2) Without outfitting, said ship can also not be refitted for changing mission needs. That mining ship is STUCK with bad range, mining equipment (not defense equipment for say, combat missions, or exploration equipment for taking a break from mining).
3) Combined, these two lacking facilities make habitation and support of a deep space station nearly impossible for a sustained period.
So the proposal is simple, and you technically don't need both! Add shipyards to deep space stations so you can transfer in the various ships you may need, outfitted to their various tasks...
...or even simpler...
...just add outfitting and restocking so that modules can be transferred and the one ship can at least marginally complete the tasks it isn't best suited for.
Here's the thing...most of these also offer missions and clearly interact with the BGS, which implies that if a commander or squadron wanted to support such a station they could. I've tossed the idea around myself several times since mining isn't so bad and I'd be curious about 'expanding' and its impacts.
BUT...
1) No shipyard means the only ship I can use to support a faction is the one I used to get there - so if I want to build a mining ship, it's going to be a long trip out there the first time around.
2) Without outfitting, said ship can also not be refitted for changing mission needs. That mining ship is STUCK with bad range, mining equipment (not defense equipment for say, combat missions, or exploration equipment for taking a break from mining).
3) Combined, these two lacking facilities make habitation and support of a deep space station nearly impossible for a sustained period.
So the proposal is simple, and you technically don't need both! Add shipyards to deep space stations so you can transfer in the various ships you may need, outfitted to their various tasks...
...or even simpler...
...just add outfitting and restocking so that modules can be transferred and the one ship can at least marginally complete the tasks it isn't best suited for.