Which cap ships to use as VL

I usually start with the Space Egg as well (unless I'm rushing a starbase to an opponents home world in which case the Skirantra with its repair ability is extremely useful).

After that, I usually wait a bit before getting another capital ship.  The VL have a string of techs that lead up to Stripped to the Core that give you credits per second and then both military and civilian labs for each capital ship.  After researching those techs, I then start building more capital ships and usually end up building a total of 8.

Of the 8, I usually have 3 Kortuls.  They are tanks, can drain antimatter from enemy ships, and are helpful against strikecraft.  If I didn't get a Space Egg at the beginning, I make sure I have one of those (they have great abilities across the board, but tend to be 'squishy' and harder to keep alive in a fight).  I also have a couple of Skirantras for their repair ability and extra strikecraft and usually a Marauder for its Distort Gravity ability.  Sometimes I'll add a Rankulas as the support nanite swarms are a pretty good repair ability.

The only one I don't get (as VL) is the Desolator.  It is a good ship for planet bombing but I find that with 8 capital ships and a Titan, I already have all the planet bombing firepower I need.  (And BTW, at higher levels Phase Missile Swarm and Disintegration are also good abilities, its just that you need to get the Desolator to around level 6-7 before it shines as combat ship which is very hard to do with 7 other capital ships running around.)

Egg should be your first capital ship untill you become more skilled.

Massing capitalships as Vl is decent but you should focus on just having an egg and a Titan + fleet to get the most out of the xp.

The Vl titans lvl 6 abillity is the best in the game and the faster you reach it the better.

Capitalships and titans share xp thus the less caps u have the more xp for your titan.

This is a good point.  I'd go even further and say your first couple of battles should only be with your Titan and frigates.  Once you get it to Level 6, then get the techs and build the other 7 capital ships.

The timing of this all depends on the game situation however.  If you have a Eradica or Ragnarov bearing down on you, those Kortuls are going to be invaluable in draining its antimatter.  It really boils down to whether or not you can win the fight with just frigates and the Titan.  If you can, it is going to help you tremendously later on (by activating the Maw on your Titan).  But if your frigates get eaten up by the enemy's Titan, you just gave your enemy a tremendous advantage (by leveling up his Titan).

Indeed, it does depend on what your enemy is fielding.

For a heavy capital ship fleet I recommend:

2 -3 Kortuls

1 or 2 Skikantra for repair and air support

4 Vulkoras Desolater - not for the planet bombing, but for the large phase missile firepower. (Notice that the ability phase missile swarm does not bypass shields, however the primary weapons do.... and as such do tremendous damage, even to high level Titans.

1 Antorak Marauder  for enhanced mobility and later on second way to stabilize phase space.

1 Evacuator.... jump in... bomb.... colonize.... STRIP TO THE CORE.......

of course combined with a Titan.

I havent used the Rankulas yet... is it useful?

How to level up the Vorastra:

Leveling up the Vorasta requires a somewhat different approach than that of other Titans. Unlike other Titans that support your main fleet you should send it out to hunt on its own. At first this does sound like stupid idea. However, you have to understand that it merely relies on unrivaled mobility for its survival, contrary to the Ragnarov (kill them before they kill me) or the Ankylon (outlast them forever and kill them with 1000 small cuts - after 20 minutes).

The Vorasta is the most mobile Titan in this game. It can outrun anything powerful enough to destroy it and it can outgun anything (unless extreme numbers) that can follow it. It can successfully retreat from situations that would have destroyed any other Titan and as such can and should be used much more agressivly.

Even more so than the Ragnarovs, the Vorastras firepower is focused primarly on the front. Combined with a slugish and slow turning ship (TEC has at least an upgrade for that) the Vorastra is ill suited for engaging enemy frigates fleets to gain XP. A skilled player will simple  move his frigates behind the Vorasta time and time again.... denying it any descent XP gain. So whenever you you are on the hunt, you should focus on capital ships. Many people underestimate the raw combat potential of the Vorasta below level 6 and so they might not retreat their capitalship immediatly. When they finally realize, that besides the unimpressive looking stats the thing actually has some descent firepower (more than the Ankylon btw) they will try to retreat it.

To late they will realize that there is no running away from a Vorastra with Micro Phase Jump. Just keep on target.... tearing them down... if they phase jump and you are 20 seconds behind... dont bother.... after you have arrived in their escape system, a short micro jump will get you back in weapons range. Nail them down.... the Vorasta is durable enough to withstand a few defending units with ease.

Unless they have a fully fortified systems, there is little stopping you from killing that capital ship, unless they move in their main fleet. At which time you run.... not back home but back to their capital.... hopefully with their entire fleet in hot pursuit. While they are so busy dealing with your Titan, this is the perfect opportunity to move in your main fleet and ravage their undefended worlds. They will probably now divert a majority of their fleet to deal with your fleet. That allows your Titan to gain valuable XP against the remaining defenders and orbital structures. Or they dont. So just wait until your Titan begins to take heavy damage... and then retreat.... denying them everything.

Once you have gotten the Maw (bwt, always get the second upgrade on Level 8, nice range increase) the Vorastra in many ways becomes the most powerful Titan in the game. Not by raw damage potential... the range of the Maw is still somewhat limited. But by its ability to nullify even the largest of bomber fleet with ease, the preferred way of human enemys to deal with hostile Titans.

A Level 8 Eradica might be actually doing more brute force total damage to a larger fleet..... but it is quite powerless against a carrier fleet running away from it. The Vorasta will just micro phase jump right in front of them.... and eat them for breakfast.

Playing around with the lone wolf Vorastra now.  Pretty cool tip, thanks.

I've only used it a little.  The Support Nanite Swarm seems pretty good.  It's like popping out a couple of Hoshiko's to repair your fleet.  The Combat and Assault Nanite Swarms don't seem that useful though.  I've only gotten to the Greater Nanite Swarm once and its stats looked strong (along the lines of a heavy cruiser).  If they truly have no expiration time (as they are suppose to) then it could be very useful to build a fleet of them.  I've heard that go away after a period of time however...

600 or 800 seconds last time I heard.  Pretty sure it's a bug though, hopefully will be fixed soon.

Keep in mind I play Single Player, since not a lot of people are online when I'm awake usually.

Personally, I start with a colony cap with every race so I can get 1 or 2 more scouts or Light Frigates.  With Vas, my second is always a Skirantra.  A lot of people used to cry that their healing ability was better for Strike Craft than Frigates, but I've always found it useful.  Kortul usually comes next, usually 2-3 of them, then I build what seems right at the time.  Haven't used Rankulas much yet though, will have to check it out.  (If it's as awesome as the TEC Corsev, I may play more Vas.)

-Twi