My experience with Vasari Loyalists

1.  True, but from a lore standpoint, you also have to consider that it can't be a quick process, harvesting an entire planet, and you'd kind of have to control it, as somehow I think the residents might not like you wiping out their entire planet.

2a. Absolutely.  Even the Coronata will beat out the Vorastra, even microing won't help you (you can use MPJ to jump to it's side in a 1v1 where it has no guns while the Vorastra does still have guns on it's sides, but all this does is slow the inevitable).  Heck, I even made a modded version where I made the Vorastra have Wave Cannons instead of Pulse Waves which I proceeded to buff by 15 or so per volley, changed Phase Cannons to only damage hull (particularly effective against an Advent opponent) and nerfed them a bit to compensate on average and it still got it's butt kicked by the Coronata.  Sure, the Coronata has Suppression Aura, but still!

2b.  Agree on the cooldown.  Even at maximum level, I find myself wishing it was a minute or so shorter.  It's so freaking long...

2c.  The Maw is already sufficiently powerful as it can instagib frigates.  The Vorastra needs help in the damage department, not TM.

1. I just felt that since you already wiped the population out from orbit you should just be able to colonize it without consequence for a short duration so you can initiate the destruction of the planet. Maybe as a second rank of the research to balance it out?

2c. Yeah i was just mentioning on how it will instagib cruisers as well people were swearing that the VLT's Maw didnt kill cruisers but it does, I was just responding to threads on how the Maw didn't affect capitals or titans.

Sorry, I just realized that I posted an incomplete last sentence.  I've since fixed it.

1. Sorry, but that would be way OP.  Spam siege frigates and send them to bomb random planets via Kostura and suddenly you have stripped half your enemy's planets.

That's not the problem, ive destroyed a planet it has no population the VL shouldn't have to worry about culture when there is no one there to be influenced by it.

Population 0 has been explained prior as simply not having anyone on that planet registered for taxation.  They're still there, just not registered.

So those nukes selectively kill just taxpayers  

I dont know. I think that stripped to the core comes wayyy too early and is kinda incredibly, insanely OP and neutralizes any underpowered ships incl. the titan the loyalists have. What are people's thoughts on this?

(id be happy to demonstrate in a game :P)

The biggest thing about stripped to the core is that your income from it isn't "taxed" by your fleet supply.  As a result, you can max out your fleet supply without any adverse effects.  In a recent SP game with multiple systems, after conquering my system (both myself and my ally started in suicide spots in different systems), I stripped all but a couple planets which I kept around for Kosturas and factories and moved off to aid my ally where I proceeded to steamroll everyone in my path because I now had effectively unlimited resources.

This is exactly what I have found, after you rush the tech, you basically send a lone evac around and just get unlimited monies. If you cant find any worthy planets just strip your homeworld and you're rolling in cash. In MP, defence is a much higher priority, expec against the rebels as they will be SB rushing you, but other than that...

I dont think stripped is overpowered, the amount you get is a little over the top but you sacrifice alot by going completely mobile, not to mention the mechanic isn't working very well atm. I'm fine with VL economy being nerfed but the mechanics leave alot to be desired.

I think Stripped should work like Wail - returns based on the size of the population/income level.

[Edit: Or better yet, no returns for planets still in the red, and/or be required to pay for those upgrades first.]

If it is based on the size of the population it will be far less useful for offensive purposes. It will require the fleet to babysit the planet while the pop cap is reached and the (expensive) upgrades are applied, which will compound the late game problems VL have with culture. I think better balanced returns are needed (over 30 minutes of rez from the planet are deposited immediately), perhaps this would work better as a staged approach. The problem with eliminating the large bonus entirely is of course that you cannot afford to stay mobile after say 30 mins when all the planets run out. Perhaps if the money was given out in two stages, say immediate credit boost then receive the crystal and metal after 10 minutes this would reduce the problem.

Another move in the right direction might be removing the need for the planet to be owned by you, however the strip must be performed by a capital who is completely vulnerable during the stripping (cannot move, lowered armour, cannot fire etc) and increase the strip time to maybe 3 or more minutes. This would make VL who rush the tech very vulnerable to offensive rushes, whilst also delaying the tech a bit.

I immensely enjoy the mobile VL fleet, I think it is implemented in a way that is both simple and works well and would like to keep it in a state very similar to how it is now. It just needs a balance once over is all. 

Opinions?

Changing it to be based off population would make absolute zero sense, you are harvesting resources not people. The resource amount should change base on planet type, right now you get the same amount for all colonizable entities. And like i said following this change you should be able to settle planets in hostile culture so you can strip them.

Actually, you dont get the same amount. You get 20k for terran, 10k for desert, 12 for ice and 2k for belts etc etc 

I'm thinking the best way may be to make the process take 8 minutes or so and give enemy players a warning saying something "Our enemy has begun deconstructing an entire planet!" or what have you.  Same sort of thing as titan construction or superweapon firing.

It makes perfect sesne as the number is not total population but a degree of control over the planet.  It is ridiculous just to have one soldier stick a thingabob onto a planet in order to ground it up.  It is just stupid OP having Eggs flying around colonizing and shredding planets in short order.

I agree with volt! as long as the rebels are nerfed ofc. Man, i want the next update released already!

0/X population means the population has been exterminated, hostile culture in this game means there's either some sort of psychic presence or communication pattern that is being used to dissuade the population. The Vasari Loyalists are world eaters they are not here to colonize planets they are here to begin mining operations and tear planets apart. Like i said the economic effects of Strip are over the top but the functionality of it is an awkward one, id be fine with it taking longer to finish the destruction of the planet so long it could be used in places where there is hostile culture.

I agree with all your points. If the VL main thing is being a nomadic space faring fleet, the phase stabilizer cooldown needs to be cut in half. I also think striped to the core is too far down the tree, it should be available the same time as the last level of your titan. So once you can build it, you can start blowing planets up! Also did they remove the vorastra dark fleet ability? its on the tool tip with the other 5 research skills but I can't find it anyway in game.

no dark fleet is a tech after the phase tunneling tech or what ever it is called 

It says that the ability summons ships to the titan itself, the dark fleet research requires those phase stabilizers and the titan ability having a 1200 second cooldown is ridiculous.

they changed it, now they spawn out of any phase stabilizer you have once you get the research, have the correct fleet supply   amount of credits/minerals and press the gimme ships button

its somewhat bugged but it still works