Help with early game pvp? I feel vasari have been nerfed too much

Yeah, a couple years ago Vasari were kicking ass everywhere but enough people cried about it and now they are sucking.  They're all I ever play.  Now I'm sure some people will come along and tell me to just learn to play another race....whatever.

 

So enough people have played with me to know that I'm not the greatest in 5s, but I don't entirely suck either.  Since the last few patches pretty much every faction is doing LF spam out the ass.  Then they add in another couple dozen corvettes for good measure and now as everyone who has played a reasonably skilled 5s game knows, most of them are over in about 1 hour, this combo has pretty much killed any real usage of long-range frigates, such as the vasari assailants or TEC Javelis, etc.  This is an absolute shame in my opinion because these early frigates were what helped to shape multiplayer games in prior years...what's the point of even researching this ship anymore?  It's an absolute waste because vettes will roll over them time and again. 

 

So as Vasari where everything ALWAYS costs more, we have few ways of dealing with someone spamming their 50+ fleet of disciples and vettes:

1.  Build flak frigates/skirmishers/vettes

2.  Build an Orky

 

That Advent player with those 50+ ships will then throw in their free cap ship from the start and you're practically forced to turtle.  I actually im'ed a couple of people who play with me on occasion and asked them about this issue...both of them suggested SB. 

 

Seriously...let's examine this for a minute:  So far the best strategy Vasari now have to counter the LF+Vette spam is to SB...every single planet they take.  Frankly this is getting almost as bad as the old seeker spam problem a few years ago.  The only other option would be to tech up to carriers but anyone whose played vasari knows how expensive that gets and you absolutely must have the eco to support carriers in the first place.  If your enemy is rushing you with this spam very early there's no way you're going to be able to pull that off, which leaves you with the 2 options I mentioned previously.

 

So let's say you try option 1, which is to meet spam with spam.  Sounds ok on the surface but remember, Vasari costs more and/or takes longer to build.  As vasari, I try to pump out vette spam.  Ok, no problem since all factions build vettes in 11 seconds.  Only there is a problem and that is Vasari costs more per vette to build.  They are built a little more 'sturdy' with higher hull points/shields and such, but if another faction is sending spam, well, its cheaper for them to build more than care about how good their hitpoints are.  Play this scenario out over a period of a few minutes and any other faction will win because they'll be able to send more spam.

The vette spam scenario is actually the most fair comparison!  LF spam absolutely sucks for Vasari.  As Vasari you simply cannot match the spam output of any other faction's LF equivalent.

 

So, flame suit on!  Eagerly awaiting replies from others telling me if I didn't suck so bad I wouldn't be posting this, or that I need to capture more neutrals, play as a different faction....I've heard them all.  If you've got a strategy that works, I'd love to hear it.  But I think this presents an issue of imbalance.  Stardock might consider one possibility to reduce resource cost or build time for skirmishers; but for the bigger picture, I think the original problem of long-range frigates being made obsolete should be addressed. 

11,530 views 11 replies
Reply #1 Top

If you don't build at least 3 starbases in a game with vasari, you are playing it wrong.

 

Reply #2 Top

Quoting Sinkillr, reply 1
If you don't build at least 3 starbases in a game with vasari, you are playing it wrong.

QFT

For the record though, if I random and get Vasari I often still do LF spam just like I would as TEC or Advent...troll migrators are wonderful things...bottom line is that you don't have to use Orkies to win as Vasari, it's just a lot easier if you can...

Reply #3 Top

I'm not a multiplayer, so you can ignore this at your leisure, but I mostly play advent and then since everyone is always talking about vasari I played a game as them yesterday and could not believe how much easier it was.

I did run into money problems, and did use an orky (ended up not being entirely necessary. I got the research so that I had the option then later decided may as well use it). If you're wondering about what I did about the money issue, I guess it can be best summarized as "keep expanding, don't buy anything until you're in a fight".

That might be a dumb strategy for multiplayer, but I already warned you to ignore this....

 

Reply #4 Top

Yeah, a couple years ago Vasari were kicking ass everywhere but enough people cried about it and now they are sucking.  They're all I ever play.  Now I'm sure some people will come along and tell me to just learn to play another race....whatever.

What was nerfed exactly?

Reply #5 Top

Quoting ZombiesRus5, reply 4


What was nerfed exactly?

Their nerfs :p

Reply #6 Top

Quoting ZombiesRus5, reply 4

What was nerfed exactly?

 

It's an unintentional nerf is what I'm getting at.  Small improvements made during updates or patches, etc.  for various TEC/Advent stuff have resulted in (my opinion) a nerf of Vasari capabilities. 

 

But do keep in mind my main complaint here is that LRFs are now essentially useless in every multiplayer game I've played recently.

Reply #7 Top

Quoting Furball-09, reply 6


Quoting ZombiesRus5, reply 4
What was nerfed exactly?

 

It's an unintentional nerf is what I'm getting at.  Small improvements made during updates or patches, etc.  for various TEC/Advent stuff have resulted in (my opinion) a nerf of Vasari capabilities. 

 

But do keep in mind my main complaint here is that LRFs are now essentially useless in every multiplayer game I've played recently.

 

Actually the Kanrak is still awesome for sniping capitalships and even Titans.

 

Yes... Vasari are slightly more difficult in the early stages of the games compared to Advent or TEC.

 

However, after the early game they easily become a match and once in late game TEC changes of stopping them are sinking, while Advent are pretty much outclassed in every important way.

 

As most people know that Vasari are an unstoppable juggernaut of destruction in late game, they often try to make sure that they dont make it that far.

Reply #8 Top

LRF fleets aren't the norm, but I wouldn't say they are rare...Illum spam is one of the worse things you can face early and mid game if it is coupled with malice....

Reply #9 Top

Vasari is not weak, never has been and you can have 80% of a lobby still pick them. It doesn't matter how much time it takes to upgrade the offensive weapons on orkys in the early game, nor the fact desperation was nerfed because phase missiles still exist , carriers plus overseers are still going to keep them alive in any fight, mines and there more than average economy especially with the DLC version of the game.

Reply #10 Top

I haven't seen a starbase rush on a critical chokepoint world in a while(and getting early phase jump inhibitors on that planet), that is important for vasari early game survival.  Also, I don't know why vasari players don't build more corvettes...they are very strong, especially with armor upgrades early on.  In general, without feed, a vasari player should field 1 starbase early on (chokepoint world).  Your best bet still is building a fleet, and vasari can still acquire a large fleet.

Also, it seems that on average players are getting lazy because of all the easy wins they can get from the newest steam members that can't defend against a rush.  

Also, I rarely see vasari minelayers anymore...which spell doom to most early game fleets(even advent loyals have to tech up carriers early and build at least 1 to neutralize their effectiveness).  

Also, i've seen not so aggressive neutral battles, most vasari players are gimping themselves by not micromanaging their early fleet of scouts (you should have 8+ scouts for a skilled multiplayer game).  I've gone many games without a single threat to my neutrals.  Vasari players cannot let this happen when advent spam you :).

Considering everyone is getting an economic boost with the new DLC, and the vasari have population growth upgrades that are actually worth investing in, maximize your tax income.  That will help you stay on top of these spams.

It takes more skill to counter fleet with fleet, but the game is more fun.  The vasari starbases are powerful defensive fleet deterrents, yet the early game allows for earlier critical mass to kill starbases then the old days (especially with that lvl 1 titanupgrade for fleet damage).

I wonder what an antorak marauder start would do to help vasari win vs advent, as it would hamper the advent's population growth, causing early game investments in social upgrades to be less lucrative.  Also, why hasn't the sova seen a comeback yet? With homeworld's bringing in 50 cred/sec by themselves...well that has to be mental laziness.

So, vasari players need to get off their starbase crutch, because it's not an "I win button" in every situation.

Reply #11 Top

Regarding LRFs being useless,

Why single them out? Sins is a complicated game of options with a (slowly) evolving metagame. Naturally the players will reach an equilibrium after every system alteration. There was a time when the equilibrium was shifted so far in LRFs' favor that LFs were pretty useless. Now the equilibrium has shifted elsewhere.

The way I see it, there's a lot of stuff that's really great because of how things just happened to turn out. TEC/Advent LFs. Corvettes. Vasari Starbases. Titans. Carriers. Phase Missiles. Etc.

Then there's a lot of shit that's either situational or plain inferior / 'underused' / useless. Vasari LFs. Starfish. Frickin' Heavy Cruisers. Flak and LRMs are situational.

Even on the economic side; trade ports are just better than refineries (which are inferior) or culture centers (which are situational) as something to occupy your logistics slots and boost your economy.

And the diplomatic and exploratory aspects of the game are pretty darn basic anyway.

 

It's a phenomenon that happens in a lot of games which have a lot of options. It's all really quite arbitrary.