Yes after reading on the lack of use of exotic matter I had this thought. Space stations can do many of the same things that a player ship can do. It can have modules attached. But it does have limits. Heres the basic rule set:

A space station has its own hull and shield bars that are separate from your main ship.
Player space stations can be attacked in the battle tab. But you cannot use them to attack players.
They can equip modules and have space like ships in decking.
They would have extra modules that only they can use. These can do things like:

Enhance Reaserch, convert exotic matter into new and usefull artifacts, minurals, give you the ability to sell it in game ect... Basicaly anything you would want on a ship but would not make sense. This is the main part of the station its core are these types of modules. What they can do it limitless but they are bonuses that should not be or do not make sense on your standard ship.


This also in part meshes with the NPC stations and gives good reason why even NPCs have such places. (Might open new modules to loot of NPCs stations).

Edit: Dan do you think this would be a good idea at some point. Should not be to hard to set up though. As it just has a smaller version of the ship interface.

See my old old thread on starbase. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=223&hilit=starbase and viewtopic.php?f=3&t=329&hilit=starbase

but with new ideas like yours thanks to NPC can make starbase or space station more attractive.. Even introducing starbase tech tree along with its branches to keep us busy..

This would be a good idea. It establishes a base of opperations for players and there are a lot of things that make sense on a space station that would not go on a ship or a planet. A few ideas that were mentioned on other threads that would go well on a space station:
*refinery: changes ores into more compact versions, being able to store more and may have uses on their own.
*warehouse: can store more of the player's stuff, and can be raided just like a ship when it is disabled.
*fighters: it is a ton of programing to introduce fighters to the game, but how about a simple start that they are player owned NPC's that defend a space station? They can be hired for an upkeep.

on an extra note:
Starbases should have more power because they cannot attack. (perhaps refer to cannons as "artillery") Also they don't use energy so they won't need relays or generators. Starbases don't use thrusters or dampeners, so other modules will be needed to represent defense.

The main point is to in part save dan a little time. Stations can use thrusters and dampeners (the ring starbases even drops them as loot, thrusters anyway). Just they are so big it is only usefull for def nothing more.

But even if he felt different so long as my ideas makes it more likely to happen vs more difficult ones. That is what counts.

here is an idea for the space station thing. docking at your space station will allow you to repair your ship's hull over time like shields but you cant do anything cept selling/buying resources while docked.