Sins Of A Solar Empire Strategy: Vasari Frigates
The Alien Menace Is You!
The only alien race in Sins Of A Solar Empire, the Vasari are the remnants of a once vast galactic empire that ruled most of the galaxy. But as is often the case with empires, the Vasari’s reign eventually came to an end. For unknown reasons, border worlds of their empire began to be silenced. The Vasari sent fleets in response to this threat, and none returned. What haunts the Vasari is unknown, now the Vasari flee constantly - and this flight has now brought them into space occupied by humanity.
Being that they are an advanced alien race that once owned most of the galaxy, the Vasari are technologically advanced. Their units are tougher then the units of the other two races as a general rule, but they’re also more expensive, which means that they’ll have fewer of them. This means you need to be extremely aware of what each unit is supposed to do, as losing a single frigate is a greater economic blow to you then it is to the TEC or the Advent.
This guide only covers combat units. Units like constructors and colonization ships are not included, but they are simple and don’t vary much from one race to another.
Vasari Frigates
Jikara Navigator
The basic scout ship for the Vasari, the Jikara is the only ship they have that isn’t notably more powerful than similar vessels belonging to the other races. Ultimately this doesn’t matter - it is a scout, not a combat ship, so you shouldn’t be putting it into combat with enemy vessels anyway. Unlike the scouts for the other races, the Jikara does not have any upgrade that gives an offensive potential. It can however, capture neutral resource extractors, which is very useful.
Ravastra Skirmisher
Though technically the light frigate of the Vasari fleet, the term “light” is a bit misleading in the case of the Ravastra. It is the toughest of all the light frigates by a fair margin. Compared to a TEC Cobalt light frigate, it has several hundred more hitpoints and more armor. It is not much better in terms of offense. The Ravastra has two researchable abilities. One is regeneration, which powers down the Ravastra (making it static and defenseless) in order to achieve health regeneration. This isn’t very useful, as the health regeneration rate is low. The other is Interference. This is a better upgrade, as it doubles the antimatter cost and cooldown time on abilities used by enemy ships. If micro-managed well, a small group of Ravastra can significantly handicap an enemy support cruiser or capital ship with this upgrade.
Kanrak Assailant
The Kanrak is the missile frigate of the Vasari forces. It is tough for a missile frigate, but still weak against fighters and close combat. Its missiles are notable because they are Phase Missiles, which have a chance to bypass shields. Through research, you can upgrade these missiles so that their chance to bypass shields is significant. This is very deadly against the Advent, which relies on shields for protection. The Kanrak can also be upgraded with the Discharging Missiles upgrade, which increases range and gives splash damage in return for limited mobility. This is not a bad upgrade to get, provided you don’t mind micro-ing some Junsuraks and Ravastras to keep your Kanraks from getting caught with their pants down.
Karrastra Destructor
Not much to say here. They are planet-killers, and the usual rules apply. They’re weak against everything except planets and they need to be well defended. They have no upgrades.
Junsurak Sentinel
The Junsurak is your typical anti-fighter frigate, except that it has Phase Missiles like the Assailant, which make it moderately more useful against enemy frigates. In addition, the Junsurak can be upgraded with Discharging Missiles just like the Ravastra, which gives it splash damage and increased range in exchange for mobility. When pitted in a straight-up slug-fest against an enemy fleet, this upgrade is very good, as it lets each Junsurak Sentinel cover more of your fleet.
Vasari Cruisers
Lasurak Transporter
The Lasurak Transporter is the carrier of the Vasari. While it is stat-wise very similar to the one the Advent have, it is not placed as low on the tech tree, and Vasari fighters are known to be weaker overall. Using carriers is still a very important part of many Vasari strategies, but you should be aware that you’re not getting as much bang for your buck as the Advent, and that you won’t be able to field fighters as early.
Stilakus Subverter
A support cruiser, the Stilakus is best combined with Kanrak missile frigates, as its primary special ability is Shield Disruption. This special reduces the damage mitigation of shields and - more importantly - gives Phase Missiles a greater chance to completely bypass shielding. Pair these with Kanraks and the passive Phase Missile shield penetration upgrades, and you can render shielding very near useless against Kanraks. The Stilakus also can research the Distortion Field, which can render a target completely disabled. This effect doesn’t last that long however, and it plays second fiddle to Shield Disruption.
Serevun Overseer
These support cruisers are basically buff-ships, as they have an ability which can give extra hitpoints and armor to a friendly ship. This is useful, but on the downside, it is a targeted ability rather than area-of-effect. The Serevun also have upgrades that slow the jump speed of enemy vessels and detect incoming enemy ships. Again, these are both useful, but they also give you no reason to build more than one Serevun. Serevuns aren’t nearly as useful as the Stilakus as a result, but you may wishes to build a few simply to boost the durability of your most important vessels.
Skarovas Enforcer
The Skarovas, being the heavy cruiser of a race known for ships that are more durable and powerful than the norm, is a very nasty vessel. Two of these can go toe-to-toe with certain capital ships, and they can brush aside most other opponents without much effort. The Skarovas can be upgraded with regeneration, which is of questionable usefulness, since it makes the cruiser defenseless and static in order to regenerate health. The Inertial Field upgrade is very useful however, as it cripples the speed of nearby enemies. This makes retreat from a fleet equipped with Skarovas Enforcers very difficult.
This post is part of the series: Sins of a Solar Empire Units
A collection of guides for the various units in Sins of a Solar Empire.
