Player owned defence station

Hello all,

Could someone please tell if if you find defense station useful?

Up to now aside from claiming a sector I find defense station a waste of resources. It is locked to specifc location, takes ages to build and costs resources to repair while I can just build a fleet of ships that will allow me to deploy military strenght where it is actually needed

Are there major advantages I have missed?

What modifications you think would be necessary to make them attractive? (Special weaponary or shield restricted to stations?)