Dev Journal 4 - The Vasari Exodus Vorastra Titan

From the depths of deep space where the Dark Fleet dwells comes the Vasari Exodus' Vorastra-class titan. Originally designed as a means to keep insurgent elements deterred in the old empire, the Vorastra continues to serve as the Exodus faction’s most lethal weapon.

At a glance, the Vorastra may seem under-powered compared to the Vasari Alliance’s Kultorask titan class, but this would be a mistake. The Vorastra’s strength comes from being highly mobile and from its ability to deal massive area-of-effect damage to enemies.

With its default configuration, the Vorastra features the following loadout:

2 Phase Missile Arrays comprised of 31 launchers each (1 array per wing).
4 Heavy Beam Cannon turrets (2 on the center body; 1 per wingtip).
12 Heavy Wave Cannon turrets (4 on the center body; 6 forward facing on the wings; 2 aft facing on the wings).
12 Point Defense Pulse Gun turrets (8 forward facing; 4 aft facing).
Planetary Bombardment Beam Cannon.

As with all titans, this basic configuration can be further specialized using a variety of offensive, defensive and utility improvements, or with mobile rulership enhancements.

[h2]Special Abilities[/h2]
The Vorastra can be upgraded with several unique abilities as the ship gains experience:

Micro Phase Jump: Instantly transports the titan to the targeted position in the same gravity well and deals area-of-effect damage upon arrival.
The Maw: Immobilizes the titan and draws in nearby enemy ships in a frontal cone. Enemy ships that are drawn into the maw are destroyed and converted into resources.
Desperation: Passive ability upgrade that grants the Vorastra splash damage to its weapons, a bonus to weapon reload speed, and damage reduction proportional to its missing hull.
Phase Tunneling: Allows the Vorastra to generate a temporary phase lane between its current gravity well and a target detected one.

[h2]Optional Offensive Upgrades for the Vorastra-class Titan[/h2]
The titan and its abilities can be further enhanced with a number of offensive upgrades:

Nano Attack Swarm (3 uses): A swarm of nanites damage the targeted enemy and then continue to damage it over time.
Auxiliary Hangar: Adds a hangar bay to the titan, giving it the ability to host 10 bomber squadrons.
Micro Phase Jump Enhancer: Enemies damaged by the Micro Phase Jump’s arrival now incur a weapon reload rate penalty for a short duration.
The Maw Enhancer: The Maw now adds a stacking buff (up to 20) to the titan’s weapon damage for each ship consumed for a short duration.
Heavy Wave Cannons x2: Adds fixed heavy wave cannons to each wing of the Vorastra.
Phase Cannon: Unlocks the Vorastra’s powerful Phase Cannon.
Beam Modulator: Uses advanced modulation of the ship’s beam cannons to increase damage. Can be set to an ‘active’ state to greatly increase the damage for a time.
Phase Missile Augments: Customizes the launcher and targeting systems of the Vorastra’s phase missiles, increasing their damage output. Can be set to an ‘active’ state for a time in order to increase their ability to bypass shields.
Wave Modulator: Modulates wave cannons before firing to maintain a more stable waveform. This both increases wave cannon damage and increases their fire rate.

[h2]Optional Defensive Upgrades for the Vorastra-class Titan[/h2]

Nano Repair Swarm: Nanites repair the hull and armor of the targeted ally unit.
Phase Attenuated Shield: Extends the inner edge of the Vorastra’s shield into phase space, increasing the speed of shield regeneration. Also provides a large passive bonus to shield burst restore points.
Hull Plating (3 Levels): Adds additional armor plating to the Vorastra, greatly increasing its ability to survive combat.
Self-Repairing Armor: Experimental nanites are installed to enable armor regeneration while in combat and to rapidly restore armor capacity in an emergency.
Bomber Armor: With a limited population, keeping bomber pilots alive is a top priority for the Vasari. As such, this upgrade was developed to retrofit each bomber strikecraft with additional armor and armor strength.

[h2]Optional Utility Upgrades for the Vorastra-class Titan[/h2]

Nano Catalyzer Swarm (5 uses): Adds packages of energized nanites that rapidly restore antimatter to the targeted ally unit during combat.
Gravity Stabilizer: An advanced system upgrade that stabilizes and normalizes gravity in the vicinity of the ship, granting it greater speed and maneuverability.
Resonance Amplifier: Adds an onboard system that allows the ship to amplify and extend the duration of Phase Resonance effects.
Antimatter Recharger: Greatly improves the Vorastra’s antimatter recharge rate.
Deploy Orkulus Starbase (1 use): Prepares an Orkulus starbase build package that can be deployed at foreign gravity wells.
Deploy Phase Gate (1 use): Prepares a permanent Phase Gate build package that can be deployed at foreign gravity wells.

[h2]Optional Infrastructure Upgrades for the Vorastra-class Titan[/h2]
Of course, the Vasari Exodus faction has the ability to return to a fully mobile state once the appropriate technology is unlocked. To maintain a mobile empire, all Exodus capital ships and titans have the option of hosting Infrastructure.

Mobile Exotic Factory: Integrates an Exotic Factory into the Vorastra, allowing it to forge exotic resources.
Mobile Research Complex: Adds a massive complex of connected research facilities within the Vorastra, allowing it to coordinate Exodus scientific efforts while on the move.
Mobile Rulership: Moves the capital of the Exodus faction to the Vorastra. This allows the empire to survive without the need of any planets.
Mobile Fleet Beacon: Allows the Vorastra to remotely summon all types of ships from the Dark Fleet to its location.
Mobile Resonance Capacitor: Permanently integrates a Phase Resonance capacitor into the Vorastra, storing it for as long as it survives.