Hi, boggled,
I really like the concept of the mod, and implementation has worked out really well. I play with Nexerelin, as well as your terraforming mod, and just picked this one up.
I like the concept a lot, but I'm a little let down that I can't seem to create free-floating player-built stations. Worlds that already have defensive stations seemingly cannot have stations with population that grow like colonies, meaning you have to choose between defense and growth. Why is that? Space is big!
I've read through this thread as well, and maybe I'm gonna get boo'd for this, but I'd actually say that the cost of the stations should go -way- up. As it is, it's easy to build them early and gain significant advantages. Late-game, where I am now (Cycle 215), I could spam an entire system with them.
A suggestion: Vary the pricetag, both in credits and resources, based on an adjustable hazard level. 100%-hazard stations should be extremely expensive, whereas a cheap station consisting of industrial equipment, bunk beds and an airlock would be cheap, but probably 300%+ hazard. (You kick a hole in the tinfoil and get yourself and three dozen friends sucked out into the void. Oops!) The cheap one might go for 300k or so, but a fully Earth-environmental station (which is what 100% hazard assumedly represents) is going to be mindblowingly expensive to set up and maintain. Think of how, in the terraforming mod, achieving a 100% hazard rating on a planet can take years and cost millions of credits. Same deal, except now you have to also make it self-contained and orbitally stable.
Just some thoughts, thanks for making the mod! I hope I'll get to cram a system full of stations soon.
(Another suggestion: to avoid the 'overlapping defense fleets' thing, is it possible to just restrict what buildings a station can have? Maybe 'astropolis' can't build Patrol HQ?)