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The Illuminator Vessel is the Advent's Long Range Frigate.
Official Description: 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.
Overview[]
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 Deceptive Illusion ability it can quickly turn the tide of a battle. It is important to note however that the damage of the ship is per null, each of the 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.
Tactics[]
The Illuminator Vessel is a must for many Advent fleets after the early-game. 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 focused upon your other ships allowing you to rip into them more successfully. If the enemy ships remain where they are, you can bring the fearsome power of your Illuminators' 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 inability to focus all of their damage against a single target. While the side beams are excellent for cleaning up a large enemy fleet, Illuminators are subpar for more focused attacks such as against enemy capital ships or against an Orkulus being built on one of your planets.
As with all Advent ships, the Illuminator has relatively strong shields but a somewhat weak hull for its cost. Advent in general are somewhat disadvantaged in wars of attrition, especially in the early-mid game, and rely more upon firepower and special abilities than upon their ability to take incoming damage. This is especially obvious when you bring the Illuminator into play--you've got awesome damage capability, and your special ability is great for confusing enemy fire control, but if you don't maneuver to keep your ships in the middle of the enemy formation, where all the enemy guns can get at you, you're not getting the most out of your ships. Needless to say, this often results in high casualties. The Iconus Guardian fixes this to an extent, but not enough. If you are going to use Illuminators they should be in packs of twenty or more for them to be really effective; otherwise, the spread of the 3 beams won't be killing enemy frigates as fast as you probably need.
| Ship Type: | Frigates |
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| 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 |
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 Attack |
 Stop |
 Move |
 Tactics Management |
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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.