Introduction
Sins of a Solar Empire II doubles down on the uniqueness and importance of capital ships. There are several mechanics making them the pinnacle of your fleet, but this guide will focus on the new capital ship modules.
The right module can save not just the ship, but your entire fleet. Each race has their unique modules, which makes knowing them and countering enemy modules only more important.
Up to 4 modules can be installed on a capital ship. The first capital ship for TEC and Advent start with a module that refunds its cost of exotics. Here is my first Akkan of the game with the free module:
TEC modules
Name | Function | Comment | Strength | Tech Tier |
Radiation Bomb | 2 uses Small AOE dmg | Negligible impact, but cost is also extremely low, which makes it usable in niche situations. | 4 | - |
Rapid Autoloader | Weapon reload speed decrease | Has passive and active boost. Can be really good on Kol and Marza. | 6 | 2 Mil |
Targeting Array | Weapon range buff for self and fleet | Niche item. Use it with Javelis and Orgrovs for first strike or out-range specific static defenses. | 2 | 3 Mil |
Missile Guidance Computer | Missile damage buff for self and fleet | Extra good on Marza, but true benefit comes from the fleet buff. A must have if you are going to surprise your enemy with a Javelis fleet. | 7 | 4 Mil |
High Yield Warheads | Planetary bombing dmg buff | Can be useful in a capital victory snipe, but otherwise you’ll find better modules to build. | 2 | 4 Mil |
Reserve Squadron Hangar (Sova, Dunov only) | Gives extra squadrons and instant build ability | Quite a decent addition to your strike craft strength. | 5 | 2 Mil |
Armor Patch Kit | 3 uses Minor repairs | Negligible impact but can provide that tiny bit of extra health which may save your capital ship. And comes at low cost. | 3 | - |
Flak Burst | AOE dmg against strike craft and missiles | A very strong tool when used properly to stop swarms of strike craft or missiles. | 8 | 2 Mil |
Combat Repair System | In-combat repairs | Significant boost to repairs of your high value cap ships | 9 | 2 Mil |
Reactive Armor | Extra Armor and missile damage reduction | Missiles counter capital ships. With this, you will significantly decrease their effectiveness. | 5 | 3 Mil |
Backup Shield Generator | Adds a weak shield burst | Good for a tanky build, but keep in mind, that TEC have low shields to begin with. | 5 | 4 Mil |
War Reporter | +1 Influence point | You may have enough Influence points from planets, but good to have a plan B. | 3 | 2 Civ |
Exotics Salvage Policy | Returns exotics spent, once ship is lost | Niche tool. Try rather not to lose your capital ship in the first place with the help of other modules. | 1 | - |
Antimatter Engine | Increases AM capabilities of a capital ship | Core item on any capital ship with active abilities. | 8 | 2 Mil |
Deploy Argonev Starbase | - | You face an impenetrable enemy starbase? Just drop one of your own! | 7 | 5 Mil |
Volatile Accelerants | Drastically increases speed of your ship at cost of hull | A race car upgrade for your capital ship. If you think you are good at micro, this module will keep your capital ship alive. | 6 | 3 Mil |
Heavy Gauss Slugs (Kol, Marza only) | Gauss damage buff | Makes your Kol/Marza the bane of enemy capital ships. | 6 | 4 Mil |
Vasari Modules
Vasari Exodus (VE) has a much stronger lore focus on capital ships with them trying to abandon this part of the galaxy. This is also represented in gameplay, as their capital ships get some extra interesting modules.
Name | Function | Comment | Strength | Tech Tier |
Nano Attack Swarm | 3 uses Solo target dmg | Minor damage, which can be used to deal with enemy capital ships faster. Can be useful in early game. | 3 | - |
Beam Modulator | Increases beam damage | Has an activation for an even bigger buff. Beams are your Pierce damage, so it’s an anti-capital ship tool. | 4 | 2 Mil |
Wave Modulator | Increases wave damage | Wave cannons on capital ships represent a small portion of DPS, so use it only if everything else is upgraded. | 2 | 2 Mil |
Phase Missile Augments | Increases missile damage | Missiles have high Pierce and damage. If they can get to the target through PD, it will cause gigantic damage with this module. | 5 | 3 Mil |
Nano Repair Swarm | 6 uses Minor hull repair | Provides a better repair than the TEC counterpart module, but still only a minor one. Very useful in early game. | 5 | - |
Phase Attenuated Shield | Buffs the shield burst | Decent module to increase survivability. | 5 | 3 Mil |
Self-Repairing Armor | Helps to restore armor | Armor is the strongest type of hull, which makes it a nice addition to your survivability. | 6 | 2 Mil |
Bomber Armor | Buffs life of bombers | Could be interesting for Skirantra carrier. For other capital ships you will likely find a more interesting module. | 2 | 3 Mil |
Nano Catalyzer Swarm | 6 uses Restores antimatter | A decent early game item to get another round of some ability going. | 3 | - |
Gravity Stabilizer | Increases speed | Can be good if your entire fleet uses this. Not much sense if only 1 ship flies faster (except when you are trying to run away). | 4 | 3 Civ |
Resonance Amplifier | Increases length of Resonance | An interesting module for late game, where battles last longer and the resonance buff is significant. | 6 | 3 Civ |
Deploy Orkulus Starbase | - | Not only you can deploy a starbase at an enemy gravity well you can also research tech to do it faster! An absolute must have for late games. | 9 | 3 Mil |
Antimatter Recharger | Buffs AM regeneration | Good on ships like the Kortul, which will quickly run out of antimatter. | 7 | 2 Civ |
Deploy Phase Gate | - | A niche tool, but extremely powerful in certain situations. | 7 | 5 Civ |
Mobile Exotic Factory (VE only) | Creates exotics | Allows you to create exotics directly on a capital ship. Can be useful with STTC. | 3 | 3 Civ |
Mobile Fleet Beacon (VE only) | Builds ships | A weaker alternative to phase gates to get reinforcements. Well, unless you used STTC on all planets and this is the only way to build ships. | 4 | 4 Mil |
Mobile Resonance Capacitor (VE only) | Increases Resonance level | Resonance is extremely strong, but this module costs a lot. In situations where you cannot get more planets, this will shine. | 7 | 5 Civ |
Mobile Empire Lab | +1 civ research point | Extremely good to tech up and save planetary slots. | 8 | 1 Civ |
Mobile Warfare Lab | +1 mil research point | Same as previous. | 8 | 1 Civ |
Mobile Adjunct Lab (VE only) | Increases research speed | Decent upgrade, if you used STTC on all of your planets. | 5 | 2 Civ |
Mobile Rulership (VE only) | No need for planets | Prevents you losing when all planets are lost, as long as you have a ship with such a module. | 6 | 4 Mil |
Advent Modules
Name | Function | Comment | Strength | Tech Tier |
Plasma Nova Generator | Small AOE damage 2 uses | Akin to TEC radiation bomb, use against light targets, like corvettes | 4 | - |
Plasma Agitator | Boosts plasma damage and planet bombing | Plasma has high pierce, this will allow your capital ship to deal even more damage to enemy cap-ships | 5 | 2 Mil |
Vex Amplifier | Boosts weapon reload speed | Faster dakka = more damage This is also boosted by your psi power | 7 | 4 Mil |
Energy Accelerator | Boosts all weapons | This also increases damage of plasma | 6 | 2 Mil |
Shield Battery | Restores shields 2 uses | This restores a significant bulk of your shields. Excellent for early game! | 5 | - |
PsiKinetic Platting | Increases your armor strength and armor value | Boosted by your psi power, can become extremely strong. | 6 | - |
Synchronous Shield | Boosts your shield burst and shields in general | Shield burst makes it quite hard for a human opponent to predict how much firepower he needs to kill your capship. This magnifies this effect, often keeping your valuable ships alive. | 7 | 3 Mil |
Antimatter Pod | Restores Antimatter 2 Uses | Niche early game item, use corvettes in later game stages | 2 | - |
Psintegrat Choir | Boosts Psi Power | Psi power is responsible for increasing effects of some other modules, but really shines in buffing your abilities | 6 | - |
Guiding Mentor | Boosts experience gained | This can give you an edge over your opponent when rushing for a level 6 capship | 4 | 2 Mil |
Harmony Circuit | Boosts Psi Power Can boost 1 friendly ship as well | A stronger version of Psintegrat Choir | 8 | 3 Mil |
Psionic Dynamo | Boosts Psi Power, based on frequency of abilities | The more abilities you spam, the stronger this gets. Passive abilities do not count. | 7 | 2 Mil |
Essence Reservoir | Boosts Psi Power for ships lost nearby | This scales good into late game, but requires too many ships killed for mid game. | 5 | 3 Mil |
Brilliance Array | Increases antimatter regeneration based on Psi Power | AOE antimatter regen can be quite good, especially if enemy hard counters your corvettes | 4 | 3 Mil |
Deploy Transcencia Starbase | - | Advent can use starbases not just for entrenchment, but for sneaky strategies, like spreading culture on enemy planets. | 6 | 4 Mil |