Take a closer look. There are 2 lines with upgrades...the upper line raises your capital ship capacity the lower one the fleet capacity.

edit: too slow^^

I always get the colonizer. Some people say they want a more powerful ship, but there is barely a difference.

Funny story, my last game I got the colonizer and was watching TV so i wasn't paying attention, and for the free upgrade i selected the targeting link. So I had the colonizer cap without the colonizing option. I guess you had to be there.

Seeing as (in my opinion) the advent's best capital is the coloniser anyway, on big maps I generally end up with 3 or four or the beasts. ^^

Funny, call me silly, but I always go with a main battleship, I like the power it gives to your setup first off.

The colonizer capships tend to have excellent support abilities as well...

Basically I'm playing Vasari and take the colonizer first. I like the "space whale" a lot . In my opinion it is the most versatile ship with the best support skills:

Colonize: You don't have to care about colonize frigates, which are expensive in the early game. Because of the big amount of antimatter the skill is always ready.

Gravity Warheard: Prevents other ships to jump when they try to flee. The best skill to nail and take down enemys capital ships.

Nano-Disassembler: Reduces Armor and do some decent damage over time against single ships and structures...also quite usefull against capital ships.

Drain Planet: Best skill ever for late game...gives you resources and do enormous damage to planets. You need less time capturing planets, which is important if you play against several enemys.

My reason.

-Frigate colonizers are expensive and get raped without backup, even with backup, all fire is concentrated on them. Therefore, you have to clear a planet, then phase jump, then wait for anti-matter to recharge, then finally you can colonize- by which point the pirates are on you...

-Colobizer cap allows you to build scouts and then immediately head out solo and colonize a planet. No backup, no need to wait for recharge, and a quick asteroid field when your done.

-In early/mid game, they can steamroll frigates, be a fleet centerpiece with their shields, and quickly colonize whatever planets you conquer.

-In late game, a reserver colony cap ship defending some rear planets is a very good safety valve

It based on how you play and how you set up your fleet. I have seen people go with any of the capital ship, but all are based on how you play and how you like to build your fleets.

I started out with colony cap, as my first ships, but have changed it to battle ships as my first cap.

When I play TEC, I usually don't get the colonizer cap first. I really prefer the special abilities of the Dunov to the Akkan. However, as Vasari or Advent I usually do get the colonizing capital first. Especially as Advent. The Progenitor is one of the best cap ships, special abilities-wise, in the entire game. Progenitor + Halcyon + Radiance with Cleansing Brilliance and you can destroy an entire enemy fleet with special abilities if you play it just right.

For Vasari, the Evacuator's lvl 6 ability to drain planets is nice; really speeds up the siege process without having to waste supply and resources on siege frigates.

I will generally take the colonizer unless the map is particularly small or I feel unusually threatened.

If I'm playing Vasari, I will almost always take the Evacuator, for reasons similar to Sonntagskind's. Nano-disassembler can one shot several ships, even at level one. At higher levels (I may be wrong here), it can kill any frigate or cruiser with one use. As far as I know, there is no other capital ship that can claim the ability to do that, except for perhaps the Radiance -- and cleansing brilliance is a level 6 ability. Best of all, it doesn't even take that much anti-matter. It's really devastating.

Gravity warhead is great, too. It and nano-disassembler are a great one-two punch. With a decent fleet, and a Marauder to boost its speed, the Jarrasul can kill almost cap ship, at least against the AI. I think this ability might even have a small area effect, but I'm not sure.

Drain planet is absolutely amazing. This is the main reason I take the Jarrasul first -- I want to get this ability as soon as possible. I frequently find myself warping in to planets, using this ability, and warping out, with zero intention of even taking the planet. Beyond the immense damage, the resource boost is fantastic. Using a Marauder to warp in, a Jarrasul and a Devastator can take out enemy planets with frightening efficiency.

/agree Wiley

I was playing Vasari the other day and had a colonizer ship up a few levels. The nano-disassembler was doing 1200 damage-over-time. I could just pop it on cruisers and then fire at something else while the nanites ate the cruiser. When it refreshed (which is fairly quick), I would pop another ship. Frigates and cruisers all died from one shot of nanites. The nanites go directly to the hull, and ignore armor and shields.