A lot of what you've said was true of the original Sins, but the status quo is a bit different in Rebellion.
yeah I was thinking the Vasari too...I read that they are a very slow start off but once they get going are very tough
The big disadvantage the Vasari have is per fleet supply, their frigates are less good than the TEC and Advent. They get around this with their better frigate abilities and unique capacities they get through research (phase stabalizers, global phase monitoring, phase missiles, you get the idea).
However, their capitalships are just as good as anyone elses, if not better, so typically Vasari players are going to be relying on ships like the Skinantra Carrier, Jarrasul Evacuator and later the Kortul Devestator until they can get their research up and going. This is even more true as a Vasari Loyalist player, since you get money and labs from controlling them as well.
Also another thing I think I've been doing wrong is when I take as many planets as I can up until I'm running into opposition...Is sometimes if I make my military into one huge force...I haven't been planning strategically for if they happen to find their way to my planets in a whole other direction of where my fleet is...I'm pretty sure I should be setting up some major defenses on all points that they could enter my planets especially if my fleet is far from there.
Not quite. Scouting is important, and what you want to do is run to expand to key choke points ASAP, then go back and fill out any planets you may have skipped. Building defenses on all your planets is a big waste of resources. You should focus them on just the few planets your enemy can directly attack.
With that said I heard one of the basic defensive setups to have to hold off until your force could get there is setting up hangars crunched up all together...
The repair bay, not the hangar, is the bread and butter of planet defenses. You may want one or two for the fighter cover and their unlockable abilities, but a few squads of strike craft are not going to hold off a major attack force. Repair bays covering your important civic structure, factories, and a starbase is the way to go. Plus they can also repair your fleet when they get their to help turn the tide of a battle.
Also a huge question I have is I'm very slow at capturing planets and knowing exactly what to do once I capture them...can't remember what its called but once I taken a planet the first thing I do is the first option you have available as an upgrade for the planet
Yeah, slow expansion is something a lot of new players have issues with. I would recommend you try starting out a game like this (we'll stick with TEC just because the Vasari starting strategy can be quite a bit different than the other two races).
Immediately build a Akkan Battlecruiser colony cap, two light frigates, a colony frigate, and a military lab and start researching Corvettes. Send your two light frigates to the nearest moon or asteroid and tell them to destroy the siege frigates first. Keep your colony frigate on the edge of the gravity well waiting to jump in as soon as the siege frigate is about to die. When your colony cap gets build, have it start going to a moderately defended world if you have one next to you, either an ice or volcanic or lightly defended desert or terran, again taking out the siege frigates first. Once they are destroyed, colonize the planet, and if there are still a few militia ships, build a turret at the planet first, and order your cap to the next planet. The turret will take out the militia so your cap doesn't need to waste time.
Once you have corvettes research, use the rest of your fleet supply to build them and have them reinforce your light frigates. When you colonize a planet, immediately order 1 population upgrade for asteroids and moons, and two for everything else, so that your planets will make a profit, and build all the extractors. Keep your colony cap and frigate moving in separate directions, preferably towards good choke points, and reinforce them with new frigates as needed. Don't worry about developing anything else for now, just put down research labs as needed for say volcanic/ice colonization techs or LRF/Flak etc.
