Best Vasaari fleet?

2 words.

Returning Armada

Returning Armada is a heavily debated 'overpowered' 'cheat' strategy that(if you want to get it quickly) would result in you taking heavy penalties in non-Phase technology levels and planetary development.

Anyway, nothing should be spammed. There are no 'unbeatable win' strategies in a game this new and this well balanced. Units complement each other, and all of them have a use. The 'really good' units that you should build depend on your situation.

Against the Advent, Skarovas Enforcers and Kortul Devastator/s could form front line with support from Stilakus Subverters using their Defeat Shields ability and Antorak Marauder/s using Phase Out.
Artillery firepower could then be provided with long range Phase Missiles fired from Vulkoras Desolator/s and Kanrak Assailants to cut through enemy shielding and crush weak Advent hulls.
Air cover would come from Lasurak Transporters hanging back and launching Fighters, and Skirantra Carrier/s operating just behind the front line would send Bombers into the battle while providing support with the Repair Cloud and Microphasing Aura abilities.

Serevun Overseers and Jarrasul Evacuator/s could also come in use if your enemy is the type who loves to run away, and even Ravastra Skirmishers could be useful to knock out enemy support cruisers. If the enemy is particularly strikecraft-heavy, then Junsurak Sentinels spread among the fleet would come in useful to shoot them down.

Against the TEC, which doesn't rely so heavily on shields and instead has very tough armor, Enforcers and Devastators would be even better since they have heavier defenses and the Jarrasul Evacuator would be able to reduce enemy armor with one of it's abilities.

In tactical structures, the Phase Stabilizers are unmatched. They take 10 tactical slots each and are expensive, but they provide nearly instantaneous transportation for your fleets between any 2 of them - meaning you can be everywhere at once with a Phase Stabilizer network. The Vasari defensive Turrets fire Phase Missiles and can penetrate enemy shielding, and they also have a special 'Nano Weapons Jammer' structure that decreases enemy weapons damage and increases enemy cool-down time a bit. Also, the Vasari's Jikara Navigator scouts have the ability to capture neutral asteroids and can thus prove useful in the beginning.

The techs to make their ships better would obviously be the Phase Missile, Hull and Armor technology paths as well as any ability upgrades that become available on the way. If your not fighting the Advent and don't need Phase Missiles that much, then the Pulse Gun/Beam and Wave Cannon techs supplant the Phase Missile techs as the main progression for weaponry, since they provide bigger damage bonuses. In the Imperial tree, the Phase Mastery branch also has technologies to make the ships better at Phase Jumping and all that.

I start each round by building 2-4 skirmishers with my capital. I always start out with the Evacuator capital because of its colonization ability is really convenient right off the back, and late game it's Drain Planet is amazing. Use that small fleet to take any surrounding asteroid-type planets. Build 1 weapons lab to unlock Assailants and add 2 to your small fleet and that should be all you need to take a few planets. Since assailants are available first tier, its deffinately very worth it to just spend 1 weapons facility building them.

After my initial planet taking fleet is assembled, I usually build 3-4 Empire labs, like the TEC, the Vasari have some really good economical skills/buildings available within the first 3 tiers. I suggest teching up to extractors(crystal/metal tradeports) before going back to your military tree, if you're not getting rushed (is that even possible in this game), your small fleet of capital +6 frigates should be plenty to take any/all of your surrounding planets. Once you have at least 1 extractor and at least 1 trade port (the more the better) you can once again focus on your warefare tree.

Here I tech up to enforcers and overseers, (by now I've capped 3-5 planets and have a stable cash flow). My main fleet generally consists of a large amount of assailants (50+), which are reinforced by a few sentinels(1 for every 10 assailants) to take care of squadrons, and a few enforcers to do some heavy tanking with 2 overseers around to do some healing. Your enforcers and overseers will take the front line with your capitals generally while your assailants will sit back and pelt everything with devestating shield-bypassing missiles. If you pair this fleet with a few support vessels (especially get the speed impairment upgrade for your enforcers) you can lock down even speedier capitals before they have a chance to escape.

I usually also have a secondary squad of around 10-20 destructors to quickly take down planets. They also serve as an excellent harrassment fleet and pair perfectly with the Maurader capital. This squad can quickly move into an enemy planet and nuke it for a bit destroying the population and then retreating out before your enemies can really react. Its perfect for slowing down their economy and even crippling them if you can actually destroy the planet before they have a chance to react.

In your late game, make sure you have your assailants upgraded all the way to get the full advantage of their range and damage. Also, in your arsenal of capitals, make sure to have at least 1 Destructor because its huge tank and firepower makes it a perfect all purpose capital, and at least 1 carrier which you can level up to getting "replicate forces" makes you pretty unstoppable.

If you are fighting Advent, you might consider a few more sentinels to take care of their massive squadron swarms. If you are fighting TEC, maybe add a few more enforcers.

To be honest, I have never tried teching up for the Returning Armada. I need to look harder at that tree i suppose. There are some convenient skills there, but alot of them also seem uneccessary and don't do much to benefit your military strength, unless you like to excel at running away.

Important question. What maps do you play when you guys do the above strategy? Large maps?

thanks a lot guys. do trade posts just give you extra money? do you just put them between two of you planets? or do you actually have to be in a trade alliance with someone

Have the max amount of Capital Ships, 70 cruisers, and 100 frigates

I think the largest map I have played was a 37 planet game, so medium, and it was vs AI not versus a human opponent, though I don't imagine my strategy would be much different vs a human opponent, especially since using this the AI didn't pose any threat whatsoever, and i had so many resources i ended up building 2 of the interplanetary superweapon cannons and would randomly fire at a planet my ally was attacking just to see all of his ships getting disabled for a few seconds.

The bottom line is is that it seems to be a pretty solid strategy and its very easily adaptable. This way you don't gimp your forces by teching directly to RA and so therefore you are less reliant on it, you have more resources etc. With this strategy you could probably start teching for RA within an hour and a half and still have teched up to support cruisers and enforcers, along with having a solid economy and weapon/armor upgrades.

Of course, I'm willing for anyone to poke holes in my strat, as i am still new myself.



Trade ports automatically spawn automated trade ships which automatically trade with other alliances (even enemy apparently) which in turn generates income for you. It's a completely automated proccess so you don't have to do anything besides build them and they will produce extra income.

The same goes for the material processors, only with crystal/metal as opposed to cash.

also one more thing, i notice theres 2 levels of dark armada. whats the second level do, just call in more ships each time or decrease the cooldown time?