The evil scratchy-voiced Vasari lizards get an Orkulus class star base. It has a rather silly name (in fact, I think "Orkulus" was the name of the guy Robin Williams reported to in Mork and Mindy). You could also say there's something, well, scrotum-esque about the Orkulus. Just look at it. In motion (yes, it can move), the lower part sort trails behind, dangling sac-like and ridiculous. It's enough to make you wish your star base looked more like a lamp, or a crescent moon with a dish jammed into the side. When playing the Vasari, I find that it helps to think of my star base not as a testicle, but as a Death Star wearing a cool spiky hat.

But then it starts tearing up the galaxy and I don't care what part of the anatomy it looks like, because I'm too busy admiring the carnage.

After the jump, read about your own personal be-hatted Death Star.

Before I get too carried away talking about the destructive capability of an Orkulus class star base, let me tell you about some of the more peaceable things it can do. Unlike any of the other star bases, the Orkulus is like a Vasari apartment building in space. Once you equip it with enough Colony Pods, it can comfortably house the population of a planet of middling habitability. And in Sins of a Solar Empire, population means taxes, which means more money for you. Augment this with the trade income from Merchant Cargo Bays, and your star base turns into a nice little cash cow.

In addition to housing, the Orkulus is great for meeting your transportation needs. The Vasari get unique structures called phase stabilizers, which they can build at settled planets. These are teleportation gates to any other phase stabilizer. A normal Sins map is navigated by phase lanes, which are like taking surface streets across a city. But phase stabilizers are like an interstellar freeway, offering fast transport between two distant points. Before the Orkulus star base came long, this interstellar freeway could only connect settled planets. Not anymore! Build a Phase Stabilizer Array on your star base and it's got an instant path to any other phase stabilizer in the galaxy. I know what you're thinking: "Gosh, that will make the Vasari commute much easier!" But consider building a star base in enemy territory, fitting it with a Phase Stabilizer Array, and then using it as a shortcut for another fleet to arrive, or for reinforcements from your home planet to flow through.

When it comes to building your first star base, the Vasari have an easier time than either of the other races. They only require two levels of military technology, whereas the other races require three. Furthermore, the Vasari don't have to build a dedicated constructor ship. Instead, their colonization ships can convert into star bases. By the mid-game, you're probably going to have a couple of extra colonization ships lying around. Turn them into star bases! The Vasari can even research a tech that speeds up the construction of their star bases at an enemy location. It's almost as if the Orkulus is designed to be used on the offense.

Which it is. What really seals the deal, and what makes these things perfect Death Stars, is that they aren't stuck in place once you've build them. Other star bases are fixed emplacements. Is the enemy fleet dancing around outside your star base's range? Too bad. But an Orkulus class star base can fly. Drive it around to blow away defensive emplacements, factories, mines, fleets, and even other star bases. In fact, arguably the best star base killer in Sins of a Solar Empire is the Orkulus. Build it at the location you want to conquer, upgrade its weapons and defenses (which include a unique deflector shield and repair module), and then drive it up to the enemy star base. Sins of a Solar Empire doesn't get much more epic than star base vs. star base combat, and that's were the Orkulus shines in all its dangling glory.