Do Planets need Cargo facilities?

[Spyder]

If so, what for? It seems to me that you are in a constant state of production and those items which you produce are constantly being offloaded onto ships. My planets all have one cargo facility, but, I hardly ever see it used and I believe that the included cargo storage of many of the facilities would be adequate.....?

[rdouglass]

Planets inherently have a certain amount of storage, domed far less than undomed (similar to pop and facilities). Cargo Facilities are for EXTRA storage or for strategic uses (like a hidden moon).

[Drake]

I think the only time I'd use cargo facilities would be for a military outpost that was vital to hold for strategic reasons. Even so, I don't think I've ever built one.

Any other planet worth defending would probably be better used producing more resources to support more ships. I prefer production and mobility to entrenchment. Just my take on them.

[pathfinder]

guess I must be different. I use them to add space for fighters, weapon platforms.

[rdouglass]

On the subject of Cargo Facilities, IMO, they should be changed. They should be like the Cargo Holds on ships. When troops / sats/ fighters are in the cargo space of a ship, they are not useable in space combat unless launched / dropped on planet. To me, that should be the same way on a planet.

For instance, to launch fighters from a planet, you should have a ship yard (or possibly a new facility - Launch Pad or something) in order to use them. If you don't have the facility, all you could do with them is transfer them like cargo. Of course, this would not hold true for ground troops, they're right where they need to be.

This would probably be a bear to program - I would not have a clue as to how to do this. However, I don't think its right for a planet with no space facilities (SY, SP, or otherwise) to be able to launch mines or sats. They possibly should be able to launch fighters, but with a very limited capacity.

I think this would add to gameplay and realism, not take away from them. OTOH, many other improvements / bug fixes should take priority IMO.

[Triumvir Emphy]

I always love it when people talk about realism when discussing a Sci-fi game.