Illuminator Vessel
From Sins of a Solar Empire
 Advent
Illuminator Vessel
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The Illuminator Vessel is a frightening sight to behold on the battlefield and a true testament to the Advent‘s mastery of beam technology. Featuring not one but three long-range beam cannons, the Illuminator can quickly tear through shields and hull, leaving nothing but a cloud of debris in its wake. Despite its weak armor, the Illuminator is able to survive due to its ability to project false images of itself into the minds of nearby enemies, confusing and bewildering them. The adversary facing a cohort of Illuminators can never be sure of how numerous his enemies really are.
While still being considered a long range assault vessel, the Illuminator is less of one than the equivalent offerings from other factions. Boasting more armor and shields and a higher potential damage output than either of the other two and a very useful special ability it can quickly turn the tide of a battle. It is important to note, however, that the damage number on this ship is for a volley of its entire battery, all 3 beams, which means that if not all of them are capable of targeting something, you're not getting the most out of the ship. Due to the design of the ship it is impossible to bring all 3 beams to bear on a single target, making it more at home in the middle of a battle than on the edge where its 3 beams can wreak havoc on many foes at once.
[edit] Development
The Illuminator had several issues fixed in Patch 1.04. Namely, it was found it had accidentally been given the "Capital Ship"-class damage. It was restored to its "Anti-Medium" attack in the patch. Its hull points were increased from 520 to 620, and its shield points were increased from 450 to 550. Its front-vector attacks were increased from 33.8 to 58.5, while its side-vector attacks were lowered from 33.8 to 30.3. Patch 1.1 changed these values again, lowering front-vector damage to 53.5 and side-vector damage to 27.25.
| Ship Type: | Frigates |
|---|---|
| Primary Role: | Long-Range Combat |
| Shield Power: | Low |
| Hull Points: | Very Low |
| Armor Level: | Low |
| Armor Type: | Light |
| Antimatter: | None |
| Weapons: | 3 x Beam Cannons (Forward / Port / Starboard) |
| Crew Complement: | 250 |
 Deceptive Illusion | | | | |
 Attack |  Stop |  Move |  Tactics Management | |
- The Illuminator Frigate is a must for any kind of Advent Fleet. Its unique ability to fly directly into enemy formations to produce the most desired effect and damage is a game and strategy genre first. No other single ship can cause as much overall confusion and chaos among an enemy's formation. If they move to get you out of their formation that is less fire coming onto your other ships allowing you to rip into them more successfully. If they do not move they you can bring the fearsome power of those three beams to bear at once. Twenty Illuminators can completely turn a battle around especially if they have their Deceptive Illusion ability active.
- Despite their destructive and disruptive prowess all Illuminators suffer from one underlying weakness.Their ability to take damage. Advent in general have all been greatly disadvantaged in wars of attrition where whoever takes the most damage first loses and the Guardian Cruiser fixes this to an extent but not enough. If your going to use Illuminators they should be in packs of Twenty or more for them to be really effective. You can never have too many Illuminators.
