Best defense against Kostura phase stabilization?

There isn't one.  Best thing you can do is keep some corvettes deep in your territory.  If they send a small force, build a counter to it.  If they send their main one, invade them on the border world.  If you can push through their border quickly, they may be forced to withdraw most of their forces to defend their own territory.

It definately was his main fleet, but my fleet is usually a few jumps away from his border while he's already inside my core planets.  Its doubtful he'd pull back either, since the phase stabilizer only lasts 30 seconds.

Arg... I guess I'm just wishing for some kind of miracle cure to keep them vasari out of my homeworlds when in reality I should just guess he's going right for home...

Umm..  It lasts 90 seconds, plus Orkies, Antoraks, and Vorastras can open a new gate at any time.

Agreed with Volt. If you get attacked at your central Worlds with his main fleet, hit his worlds harder/faster. A small counter/harassment fleet can help slow him down, along with red buttons at the jump-in points if he's careless.

TEC RB, Wail, and Coward's submission can be serious discentives to phase jump to particular planets....it's not perfect but then again no counter to a superweapon should be...

Having lots of culture is a general counter against kostura jumping...even if they destroy some structures and wipe out the planet they jumped to, they won't be able to colonize it because of the culture (and can't Strip it then)...

For all the gripe the Novalith gets, it's actually quite counterable if you have the eco for it. The DE even more so. The AI doesn't use it well (phew....viscous AI with this just a couple minutes [exaggerated] into the game...if he did use it well it would be a nightmare lol), but against a human opponent it is far, far harder to counter then the other two.

Oops my bad about the time thing.  I guess thats a more than decent tactic then.  I'll be curious to see if he doesn't just continue to go through the planets though.  He tends to play more aggressive than keeping his ships safe.

I love this idea.  Two starbases and he's toast.  Even with the TEC

This is probably the cheapest way I've heard so far.  Once he sees that something is uncolonizable I'm pretty sure he would either turn back right away or just stick there for awhile until he has something to colonize it.

First thing to do when you hear the superweapon construction warning from a TEC or Vasari player is to build a starbase on your home world if you don't already have one. Then upgrade it with emergency government or combat upgrades for TEC and Vasari respectively.

If they are kosturas, waste of time unless you have a fleet there....at that stage, bombers will wipe up any SB...a TEC SB with RB might be useful if your fleet is only a couple jumps away, cause you can still kill off all the bombers and make them a non factor if you engage the enemy fleet shortly after...

Best thing is tons of culture....VL can't colonize planet then and eat it...

Well by that argument anything but your main fleet isn't going to last very long. If its a serious attack yeah it won't stop them, but you'll probably need some something to stall them while you either reinforce your homeworld or try and strike them back first. And last I checked a starbase with repair platforms and what flak you can spare was still the best thing for that. Or have I been out of the game too long and am missing something?

It depends on how early the kostura is obtained...most players get them to jump their planet eating fleet, and so by the time they have them they also have a fleet that can deal with a SB easily...however, I have seen good eco players spam them and focus fire on one planet at a time to wipe structures, not using them for fleet jumping until later...in that case you are betting off fleeting up since an SB isn't going to do you any good....either way, SBs probably aren't going to accomplish much....

If VL are jumping to your planet, they are almost certainly bringing their titan and their caps...and most likely they are also bringing bombers en masse...if you aren't within 3 jumps of your HW, odds are the SB will be destroyed before you get there (and 3 jumps is really pushing it)....once it is destroyed, the planet will be colonized and then stripped....the key is preventing them from being able to colonize, and only culture can accomplish that...

Flak and repair bays aren't likely going to do too much (maybe like 200+ flak would but that isn't something you get in a pinch)...the titan can move right in and hit structures as well as any flak you have, so that's basically feeding the titan even more and not really stopping anything...

Bomber spam can be dealt with by fleets to a degree...mass fighters (maybe with flak) and cap abilities can actually do well...you may lose a cap or two, or you may lose your titan, but once the bombers are gone they lose their firepower and you just mop them up with LRFs or LFs or Snipe or whatever...so, the bombers that can wipe SBs really fast are not necessarily instant kills to well-made fleets...

The typical VL planet eating fleet is a titan, 4-6 caps, and lots and lots of bombers...obviously you have 1 or 2 jarassuls for colonizing (and maybe drain planet), and the other caps are personaly preference...the thing is that the VL fleet doesn't need to be well balanced because it can just keep running away....

Even if you are 2 jumps from your HW, the VL fleet can easily escape (they'll bomb out PJI's no problem)...it's only if you are 1 jump (or 2 jumps that can be done really fast) where you stand a chance of catching them, and your fleet really is the only thing that can do much against their planet eating "foray"...if you are close by, RB wiping out their bombers may still be useful, and wailing may also be a possibility if you think you can wipe the carriers (you'd have to have a nearby desert or terran to even stand a chance, though)....so basically, building an SB to deal with VL might buy you some time, but likely not enough to make a difference...

In my experience, trying to stop a VL planet eating fleet is pretty much a lost cause unless your fleet is close by...your only option really is to have culture everywhere so they can't colonize planets they bomb out while you go and take the other team's planets...and if you can't make headway on the frontline then you are hosed, because if you try to come all the way back to your HW, they'll just leave and now you wasted a bunch of time doing nothing but phase jump...