Vorastra Titan splash damage?

I suppose a simpler way to phrase the question, is how does the splash damage work?  The ability has a radius when you mouse over it, what's that for?

After looking at the reference files for modding, I "think" (not really sure though) that it does splash damage around each enemy that it shoots at within the range of the ability that you see.  I could be wrong though.

Yes, The Vorastra gets splash damage with the desperation ability. In this case, each and every weapon on it will trigger the extra damage. So whenever any target gets hit by the Vorastra, it and any ships nearby it will take that damage on the info card. Considering the Vorastra has 4 weapons that can fire on multiple targets in every direction, each of which will apply splash damage, it can add up.

It does splash damage to all units in a 1500 unit radius of whoever is hit by the actual weapon, and it applies to all weapons.  It does 10 damage at level 1, 20 damage at level 2, 30 damage at level 3, and 40 damage at level 4.  This means damage can add up since the Vorastra has four frontal targets and two frontal weapons, especially when you consider the cooldown reduction with a stacking limit of 15 and a reduction of 4% at level 4, for a maximum cooldown reduction of 60% with Desperation at level 4.

I just don't feel that the Vorastra has the potency of titans like the Eradica, Ragnorav, Kultorask or Coronata. They all have some killer fleet wrecking moves (I'm aware the Vorastra has "the maw" but you don't get that until level 6. Whereas the Eradica is wiping fleets all day spamming its Chastic Blast). Am I missing something? Is it more of a utility ship with the microphase and the ability to spawn inhibs?

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I wouldn't include the Coronata in that top titan list personally but that's a quibble - some of them are more support oriented and the VL titan is one. It's basically a mobile command centre with the Loyalist specific techs. It really shouldn't be as strong offensively considering the perks it has in other areas. It doesn't spawn phase inhibitors, they are phase nodes that allow you to connect up long distance phase lanes with other nodes and to warp in Dark Fleet ships as you need them.  

This. Or more precisely, it does not have to be the same offensive powerhouse as the other Titans, there is no "rule" that all the Titans have to be designed this way. As long as there are other things to make up for Vorastra´s lower firepower, like the ability to spam phasegates reasonably fast enough to summon more regular ships into battle for support, there is no need for Vorastra to be match to likes of Ragnarov and Eradica in this particular regard. Still cant get my head around the fact, why people are expecting the "parity" here....they accept the asymmetric design of factions, but asymmetric design of Titans is an issue?

Right, nodes, I simply mistyped.  I guess I just wish it was as dominant on the combat scene as the other titans.  But that's simply wishful thinking and probably doesn't work into balance.  I would totally be okay with The Maw healing the titan instead of giving me money.

On a side note, I did get to use The Maw against an advent player yesterday and I believe I simply didn't give it enough credit.  I just microphased around the well until maw was ready, then I'd eat half of his fleet.  Or microphase to the back and suck up all of his drone hosts.  It is a pretty big game changer.

Many of the comments in this thread have opened my eyes about its tactical advantages (I haven't tried spawning a node and warping in the dark fleet yet). So I get why it may not house as much firepower.  But ya just wish that your big ugly stingray could mow down fleets with crazy splash damage.  It would be broken by all accounts considering what the VL already have...but a guy can wish right?

Yeah the maw is sweet, but it has to rely on Desperation for combat buffs until it reaches that point. They did say they were going to buff the stats of the Vasari titans a bit in the next patch, so at least it might get higher base weapon damage to fall back on.

I had heard somewhere that the pulse weapons research wasn't buffing the Vorastra's pulse weapons excluding the pulse gun.  Is this also getting fixed?

I think the more support style Titans like the Coronata and the Vorastra just need more staying power - health and shields - in order to deliver their fleet support. The Tec titans are pretty well balanced this way. I find the suggestion of using guardians and dominas with the Coronata funny (from other threads). Yes, you up its staying power a lot (as long as you are defending and not trying to use those support cruisers after a few jumps) but then your fleet supply is even more tied up without much damage dealing. Coronata and Vorastra need to be with a fleet that deals damage. The Rebel Advent Titan, now there's a ship that pairs well with guardians and dominas...

I agree that the vorastra shouldn't be a support titan not a combat titan like the Ragnarov or eradica.The problem with the vorastra titan is that until it hit level 6 there is no reason to ever bother bringing it to a fight and because of the cap heavy nature of the VL it will never get there. Desperation should lose the splash damage and become a fleet wide buff only the titan would get the dmg reduction though. This makes sense. As the Vorastra takes dmg the fleet will become more desperate to protected making them work harder. This would protect the vorastra as the enemy would want to hold off attacking it until the end giving it a chance to escape if things start getting bad. I also think that micro phase jump should disable all enemy frigates in a small radius of the jump location. Once again this makes sense as if you look the Stilakus Subverter has the same ability on a smaller scale. It would also fit in perfectly with the Maw. Finally a small buff to the cool down rate of spawn phase stabilizer at its earlier Lvs and the vorastra should be on par with the other titans.

I actually like all of the Vorastra's abilities. I think it just needs some tweaking. This list has been beaten to death but I'll put it up again for visibilities' sake.

1) Make Vorastra weapons affected by applicable research

2) Give Micro Phase Jump a short boost to turn rate to help the titan position itself better after the jump

3) Drastically reduce cooldown on Spawn Phase Stabilizer, make the spawned stabilizer stick around after a planet is consumed

4) Make Desperation an AOE that also applies to nearby friendly Capital Ships.

Somewhat related:

VL Dark Fleet: Allow for choice of summoned capital ship or at least get to choose between a random support capital ship or a random assault capital ship.

I miss the horn-of-death it had during the (earlyish) beta. Shame they removed it when they made suffusion/desperation a passive thing.