Can missiles be used as STOs? Launchers do not appear in the list. Can a planet attack an enemy in deep space, not just when it enters orbit? Are stations in the game just ships without engines? If there is enough Maintenance Facility on a planet, is MSP spent on ships in orbit?
Short answers: no, yes, yes, yes.
Missiles cannot be used as STOs, only direct-fire weapons. STOs can attack any enemy within range (including other planets/moons, if they get close enough). Stations are just ships without engines, but you can also use the “No Armor” checkbox to make commercial stations cheaper and lighter. Ships being maintained do not use up MSP for maintenance failures like they do normally, but MSP is consumed at a constant rate by maintenance facilities to maintain ships - you can see how much is used for each fleet in the naval organization window with that fleet selected.
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Been using a small STO batallion on Metis to cover my fuel harvester station orbiting Jupiter - so far haven’t been able to test if it works because none of the enemy ships have gone that way for about a century, so good to know that it should if/when the need arises 
How exactly do you get STO units?
They’re ground units and have to be designed as such.
Do they have be researched? What do I select for weapons? I dont see anything related to STO.
You need to have a non-turret beam weapon researched, for example a 10cm infrared laser. when designing a new ground Unit, Static Type Units can be assinged said Weapon as a STO (listed as Surface to Orbit weapon)
I personally like particle Cannons/lances as STO weapons but i feel like lasers are also a nice pick
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Turrets can be made into STOs as well.
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That´s good to know. i was not aware of that
PD STO basically have to be Turreted to be effective.