How to defeat the dreaded space egg, and have your cap survive.

In an effort to extend the length of the average MP team and ffa games, I'm compiled some tips every race can use to counter the Evacuator + Assailant rush that every player will inevitably come across. First some info on the space egg:

The Jarrasul Evacuator is the prized possesion of almost all skilled Vasari players for it's superior abilities:

Colonize Planet: As a colonizer, the evacuator is very useful. It's tough hull can take the punishment from neutral forces and clear all but the most heavily defended neutral planets on its own. After colonizing a planet, the planet itself gets decreased structure build time depending on it level. This is particularly useful to an Assailant rush as an Evacuator may clear and colonize a planet within striking distance from your homeworld, and quickly build the facilities to repair and build ships, allowing the player to keep a constant flow of reinforcements into upcoming battles in YOUR territory.

Gravity Warhead: Most Vasari players will skip this ability until the evacuator is at least level 4, as its not as useful as other abilities the evacuator has, however, this ability does add to the Evacuators arsenal of Anti-Capital ship abilities, allowing the disablement of fleeing ships' phase drives for a short period of time. This ability is particularly deadly when coupled with a phase jump inhibitor as it has an area of effect, forcing fleeing ships to restart their already extended phase jump sequences.

Nano-Disassembler: The reason Evacuators are arguably the best Capital ship in the game. At level 1 this ability deals 30 DPS for 20 seconds and subtracts 2 points from armor. This allows the evacuator to deal ~600 damage to anything it targets. This ability allows the Evacuator to go toe-to-toe with ANY enemy capital ship and be the likely victor. When fired it deals all of its damage to the hull, ignoring mitigation. This coupled with assailants shield bypassing phase missiles make the combo deadly to most capital ships early in the game.

Drain Planet: As an added bonus to a Vasari player, once their egg reaches level 6, it can destroy enemy colonies quickly AND increase the Vasari players income for a brief period of time.

Essentially the Evacuator is 3 capital ships rolled into 1; a Colonizer, a Cap-Ship killer and a Bombardment Cap.\

Now here's some tips on bringing that fat rabbit turd down.

1) Keep tabs on it: If you start out next to Vasari, there's a pretty damn good chance he going to use his early game advantage against you, it's just good strategy. Have a scout patrol the planets between your hw and his so you can monitor the Egg and fleets progression towards you. If it gets too close to your Hw then its time to get in there and push back.

2) No construction!: The last thing you want to happen is have frigate factories and repair bays 1 jump from your HW. Now sometimes you just CAN'T get there before it colonizes the planet, so if this happens destroy the constructor! Doing this will buy you some time, and the vasari won't get to use the structure build time bonus. You may need to retreat afterwards, especially if you have to cross the gravity well to get it while your fleet is being fired on, but its ok because you can come right back with more troops and fight some more.

3) Repair is your friend: The BEST chance you have of surviving is fighting near a repair bay, so if you can, DO IT. Either way you should have it researched immediately following the first signs of a rush. Build one at the closest planet you control, so you can retreat to it if things get hairy.

4) Countering that nasty ability: Ok here's the best advice I can give on this to keep your cap alive and in the fight. Nano-disassemblers weakness is that it must be fired from the front, and that fat bastard can't turn, making your best option trying to STAY BEHIND IT. Now I realize this is much easier said than done, but with a little practice with it you can get pretty good at it. This is also easier with Caps with more weapons on the sides of their ships (Akkan, Dunov, Halcyon, Progenitor etc.) as they can deal MORE damage to the Egg while circling than a forward firing cap. But even if your cap fires forward, this is still a good idea. Have your cap run a tight circle around the egg while your fleet pummels it, and if you've got some tough little frigates like flaks (which you should  get when facing lrm spammers to absorb damage) or LFs then park them as close to the egg as possible. Having to push ships aside will slow the turn rate of the evacuator a good deal, allowing your cap to slip away from the abilities firing arc. If the evacuator makes a break for a phase lane you're golden. Doing this will even up the odds a great deal as the vasari fleets total DPS will be much closer to yours.

5) KILL IT! KILL IT! KILL IT!: Without an anchor like the egg, the vasari rush will be a lot easier to manage, he may retreat it, and I would recommend not following it unless you're pretty sure you can take it down quick and double back. The best way to nab a fleeing cap is to move (not attack) to the edge of the gravwell its planning to escape from, your ships will fire on the cap automatically as long as they're in range, plus your ships will already be ready to jump in pursuit. Yeah you killed it and bought yourself some more valuable time. CAREFUL though, you're not out of the woods yet. Keep your cap ship alive! That Vasari guy is gonna want some vengeance for the loss of his egg, don't let him have it. Having a capital ship while he doesn't is going to tilt those scales in your favor eventually. Just keep pumping out those LRMs, Flaks, Carriers and repair bays.

That's all I've got at the moment. I've learned most of these tactics from people warding off my rushes, so I KNOW they can work. Good luck.

PS: #4 can be used against any forward firing capital ship, and is particularly useful for the weaker side firing cap-ships to even the odds in a cap v cap fight (where both fleets are attacking the enemy cap). However I only recommend this early in the game, later in the game caps have closer escorts (support cruisers, HCS, flak fleets) and overall larger fleets which your cap can get hung up on and leave you in a bad situation (surrounded).