All good points, Deadly_Buzz - I was similarly boggled at the big step up from "starter" to "next viable" as far as power and control's concerned.
FWIW with that step made, and the starting plot size now full of rooms and stuff (some of it actually useful!), I'm finding the next step up (larger control room for Oracles, and maybe larger plot too) is a doozy too.
After earning about 1.5 million Prest from various alts, and that lovely double prestige grant, to get where I am now, each subsequent add on needs a million or so each if I want to take things further. 
it could be changed, the parts cost more the more members you gain, with a cap ofcouse.
so that way, the cost can be lowered and smaller SG's can grow better, while the bigger SG's don't profit from it.
[ QUOTE ]
it could be changed, the parts cost more the more members you gain, with a cap ofcouse.
so that way, the cost can be lowered and smaller SG's can grow better, while the bigger SG's don't profit from it.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'd be all for smaller steps between different levels of base capability, either by making expensive things cheaper or adding new things with capabilities between the current steps, with intermediate prices to match.
I can't see variable prices being brought in though - if things are seriously cheaper on small groups that would be exploited, with stuff like "everyone leave the SG for the weekend - I'm redesigning the base and will reinvite you on Monday".
easy fix, put a 2 week barrier on it, so you can't exploit it that easily.
and since it's 2 weeks, they risk losing there members, something they don't like.
Easy to describe, but that's making things a lot more complicated to implement.
Not only do you need to check the SG size when pricing items for base building (that could be quite easy), you also need to add a whole new table to the database for past SG members and their leaving dates. That last bit will need a lot more work.
If the upcoming I13 features base love which has been long promised, then things are likely to be very different. Either way, the whole point of superGROUPS is that they are a collection of more than one individual. That's not to say you can't have a solo SG/base but why then should it be easy for you to make a base when it's tough for a group?
Thelonious Monk
I agree that it shouldn't be easy, but the fact is that it *is* easy to get a functional base together on your own. I have 8 of them (I experimented with having 2 SG bases in coalition to give me 6 teleport destinations and remove the need to choose between either an inv or worktable - it means you have a lot of alts that get ignored...) What's difficult is putting a base together as a small SG that is significantly better than what you could achieve on your own.
One way you could address this - which would be a [censored] to implement - would be to have craftable power and control sources that individually are not enough to run a base but are inexpensive to create, can only be placed if you've been a member of an SG for 30 days and you can only create one per account. Stops blow ins and trial account abuse, encourages use of the base salvage system which is currently all but useless to all but the biggest SGs and solves the mid-table expandability crisis, at the cost of only a few hundred precious man-hours of coding.
The big problem is that a small SG can get a decent base going very quickly - with 15 members, and only 3 of them actively playing the game (ie alt-padding) you can have (salvage permitting) a single-unit medbay, salvage storage, a 2-destination teleporter and either an inv or worktable with about 3-4 days worth of work (levelling 3 toons up to about 18-20 between them). The jump from there to a medium sized base - assuming an SG of 15 genuine members, or the same small 3-man SG looking to upgrade - things go a bit screwy.
A second teleport will require more power and control than your startup can supply, so that's going to set you back an extra 250,000 for the necessary rooms and a whopping 375,000 for your generators. If you want to ditch the startup generator, you'll also need a few control auxs, (starting from 32K each). It works out over 10 times the cost of the small SG base (after membership bonus) - still achievable but if you're a medium sized SG you're not going to have 10 times the manpower, especially the way the populations on the servers are. And if you're a moderately sized SG - say 10 active members - that isn't padding the ranks to get extra money, you're screwed! And we aren't even looking at upgrading the plot yet.
given the way the levelling system works (showing you the bars till next level so you always feel like you're making some progress, however small, it's amazing that they've allowed the base system to be so spirit-crushing - the finishline never looks achievable, so there's no real drive for a small-to-medium SG to try and build their base up beyond the initial starter config.
I can see why the gulf is there - it stops 1-man SGs from building big small bases with all the mod cons without a very significant amount of effort, pushing the average player in to joining a real SG and sharing the game experience. But there needs to be some sort of median option for genuine small-to-medium sized SGs, small groups of friends who want to enjoy teaming together without being pushed in to tiresome farming to achieve that certain QoL that I think the base system was introduced to offer to regular players.
And us Altoholics need love too!
As such, one of the following might work :
1. Introduce an interim set of power and control rooms and devices - lower capacity and limited aux at reduced cost, possibly fitting in to 1x2 rooms so they don't add too much glamour to the base. Something achievable for the determined solo altoholic or a small group to drive towards on their way to the big leagues
2. Allow for the crafting of devices that work at in and around the same level as basic power and control generators and aux devices at lower placing cost than the current craftable devices (1.5million for the turbine generator? who has that kind of prestige?)
Oops - I've gone off topic, haven't I? Ctrl + Alt + placate!
One other thing - what ever happened to the idea of Apartments, the one-man base for the solo player that all his toons on that server can access? I thought that was an official idea being put in to action way back when villains was released, but I might have dreamed it. Like that time me and Ghost Widow.. uh.. never mind!