Dieinafire

Agreed. Expansion, while extending your front, is the best way to get early income. Remember that trade benefits from a far flung empire as well, so expansion is still key to a good credit income. Don't be afraid to buy/sell surplus metal/crystals on the black market, it's more important to have what you need when you need it than sitting on a stockpile of wealth while your opponent is reinvesting into his empire. Against the AI, asteroid belts are really a boon, as the AI will

Flaks and LRMs both do 75% of base damage to each other, but the flaks are hampered by short range and divided firing arcs, whereas the LRM frigates are slower, softer and cost more fleet logistics (those missiles are expensive :P). To work as a proper counter, Flaks require a little micro. Drive them right up on top of the LRM formation, so that they can all be firing in all directions. Flaks aren't a hard counter to LRMs by any means, but they do beat them cost effectively if you use

I think the Vasari have as steady an economy as any other race. Admittedly, trade ports are higher up the tree, but honestly, trade ports are so spendy that you had better have a fairly wide empire before you build them anyway. As you point out, early access to Assailants makes them better able to mount offensives early, and you can use that to clear more plantets than your rivals, which is a far better way to get your economy rolling than knocking over a few systems and focusing on trade and in

For the choke point base I expect pirates to attack, I'll put up 1 or 2 repair bays, 4 hangars, and a couple turrets covering the whole mess, plus as much of my extractor system as I can cover. A PJI of course, and the gravity well becomes my rally point for new ship builds, and I'll have at least one of my cap ships parked there as well, ready to soak up XP. The turrets are there to punish people attempting to hit my repair bays, that's all, and I typically can get pirates to fly into

What is the actual use of the chance to bypass shields for Phase Missiles, used by Vasari Assailants and Strike Craft? The rate of penetration is never so high that it's likely for a target ship or structure to have its shields intact by the time it's destroyed. The only possible use I can think of is tearing down a wounded capital ship after it has withdrawn from a battle, and has had time to regenerate shields, but not to repair itself fully. Am I missing something, or is this abili

[quote]If they haven't built flaks couldn't your transporters just keep running from the Kodiaks indefinitely? How about trapping them in a system (at least for a little while) using a jump inhibitor and building several hangars there?[/quote] Answer: No. HCs can outrun carriers by 20%, and accelerate faster to boot. To the OP: You spent your money on economy, and he spent his on fleet size and prototypes. Going for trade as Vasari is a very expensive proposition, as you need t