Homeworld (walkthrough)
Homeworld=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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=-= HOMEWORLD =-=
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=a gameplay guide
by The_Assimilator
version 1.0.4
23 January 2004________________________________________________________________________________
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-> LEGAL NOTICE / COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
========================================This guide is the sole property of its author, Ian "The_Assimilator" Kemp.
It may be used ONLY for your personal enjoyment, it is ILLEGAL to sell this
document without the author's permission. It is also ILLEGAL to claim all or
part of this guide as your own. You may not sell and/or distribute this guide
without the author's prior consent.This guide may (currently) only be featured on MY website (if it ever gets put
up...), and the below website(s):Cheats.de http://www.cheats.de/
DLH.net http://dlh.net/
GameFAQs http://www.gamefaqs.com/
IGN FAQs http://faqs.ign.com/If you would like to host this guide on your website, or use portions of it for
your own guide, please ask me first (see the "Contacting the author" section).If you do not abide by the above conditions, expect to have legal action taken
against you!Ian Kemp is not affiliated with Relic Entertainment, Sierra Studios, nor Vivendi
Universal in any way. All trademarks used here are the properties of their
respective owners.Use this document at your own risk. The author cannot be held responsible for
ANY damages you might sustain from using this guide!________________________________________________________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
==================-> LEGAL NOTICE / COPYRIGHT INFORMATION <--- read this NOW! A. Introduction B. About the author C. Contacting the author D. Version history E. ***For Windows XP users F. Updating Homeworld (Patches) G. Cheats and Command-line switches H. Abbreviations/Shorthands I. Ships and Civilisations 1. Kushan 2. Taiidan 3. Turanic Raiders 4. Bentusi 5. Kadeshi 6. Miscellaneous J. Tactics K. Formations L. Damage Ratios M. Single-player walkthrough 1. Kharak System 2. Outskirts of Kharak System 3. Return to Kharak 4. Great Wastelands (Part 1) 5. Great Wastelands (Part 2) 6. Diamond Shoals 7. The Gardens of Kadesh 8. The Cathedral of Kadesh 9. Deep Space - Sea of Lost Souls 10. Super Nova Research Station 11. Tenhauser Gate 12. Galactic Core 13. The Karos Graveyard - The Shining Hinterlands 14. Bridge of Sighs 15. Chapel Perilous 16. Hiigara N. Multi-player guide 1. General Strategy 2. Resources 3. Useful Tactics O. Credits and Links P. The End ________________________________________________________________________________ ================= A. Introduction ================= Homeworld was released in 1999 and completely revolutionised the RTS (Real-Time Strategy) game genre. Homeworld (or HW, as it is known amongst its fans) was the first RTS to combine stunning 3D graphics with great gameplay. (Don't know what a RTS is? Think Command & Conquer. Don't know what *that* is? Then you're a little young to be reading this guide.) Homeworld subsequently went on to win at least 5 Game of the Year awards from various gaming websites (GameSpot, IGN, ...). This prompted a later release of the special "Game of the Year" (GOTY) edition of the game, which featured different box art and manual design from the original. But it was not just Homeworld's aesthetics that gained it such praise. The game's storyline was (and still is) one of the best ever. I'm not gunna tell it here - because if you're a real Homeworld fanatic, you'll already know it - and besides, it's in the manual that came with the game. (You *did* buy it from a reputable source, hmmm?) Where do I come into this? Well, I was given Homeworld for Christmas 2000 (OK, so I'm slow), and I was immediately addicted. For a month I played nothing else but the game. Later I got my hands on the "sequel" to Homeworld, Homeworld: Cataclysm, which is also an excellent game (but not *quite* as good as the original). I had been meaning to write this guide ever since the day I got Homeworld, but for various reasons I never got around to it. But now Homeworld2 is here! So, I decided to finally get my Homeworld walkthrough done. Here is the result; I hope you enjoy it. ________________________________________________________________________________ ===================== B. About the author ===================== I'm an 18-year-old living in South Africa. In RealLife(tm) I'm a student getting ready for my fierst year of university, studying Computer Science. If anyone reading this needs a Java or PHP/MySQL programmer with 2+ years experience, or a web designer (HTML/JavaScript/DHTML/CSS) with 4+ years experience, please see the "Contacting the author" section below for my email address. I need a job! ----------------- My hobbies/likes ----------------- - writing game guides (that never get released) - writing programs (that never get finished) - designing web sites (that never get published) - reading - reading - Dragonball Z (o how amusing mindless violence can be) - cats - sleep (which I don't get enough of) - caffeine (which I get too much of) - playing games! --------- My games --------- I play Gameboy, Nintendo64, PlayStation and PC games, so my interests are varied. Genres I like: - platformers (Crash Bandicoot and Spyro games, Ape Escape, Klonoa, Mario64) - arcade racing games (Mario Kart 64, Crash Team Racing, wipEout series) - RPGs (Azure Dreams, Pokemon, Final Fantasy series, Zelda series, NeverWinter) - RTSs (Homeworld/Age of Empires series) - FPSs (Quake series, Unreal series) - any genre that's a TLA Genres I hate: - super-realistic-handling-is-so-sensitive racing games (too irritating to play, go and drive a real car!) - "super realistic" fighting games (why does *everyone* buy them?) - games that are just CRAP (too many to list) ________________________________________________________________________________ ========================== C. Contacting the author ========================== If you want to send me e-mail, my address is currently assimilator64@webmail.co.za Use the subject header "Homeworld Walkthrough", or your message may be ignored! Please note, that any spam, flames or hate mail will be deleted without being read. The same applies for any mails containing stupid questions, or questions that are answered in this guide. In addition, I can (probably) be found on the Relic Forums (http://forums.relicnews.com) from Monday to Friday every week. Send me a Private Message, if you wish, and I will respond just as I would respond to emails. ________________________________________________________________________________ ==================== D. Version history ==================== 1.0.4 + Added more information for Assault Frigates. 23 January 2004 + Changed some info for Heavy Cruisers and Carriers. + Replayed Homeworld single-player again and corrected the walkthrough in many places. + Fixed a few typos (hopefully the last...). 1.0.3 + Noted that Missile Destroyers can only use the 01 December 2003 Missile Volley special action if they have 1 or more missiles in stock (again, thanks to Koki for pointing that out). + Minor formatting/layout changes. 1.0.2 + Allowed Cheats.de (http://www.cheats.de/) 27 October 2003 and DLH.net (http://dlh.net/) to host this guide. + Some minor changes to "Abbreviations/Shorthands" section. 1.0.1 + Added permission to allow IGN FAQs 20 October 2003 (http://faqs.ign.com/) to host this guide. + Made many changes after receiving some feedback (*BIG* thanks to Koki from the Relic Forums!). + Added "Abbreviations/Shorthands" section. + Minor adjustments and corrections. 1.0.0 + *** First release to the public! 12 October 2003 + Rewrote some of the single-player guides to clear up some points. + Changed the format of the multi-player section. + Reorganised layout of the file, as well as the Table of Contents. + Finished "Ships and Civilisations" section. + Added "***For Windows XP Users" section. + Added "Cheats/Command-Line Switches" section. + Added "Updating Homeworld (Patches)" section. 0.9.9 + Miscellaneous corrections. 09 October 2003 + Added more multi-player strategies. 0.9.8 + Single-player walkthrough completed. 01 September 2003 + Ships list for Kushan/Taiidan completed. 0.9.7 + Added mission 10 and 11. 24 August 2003 0.9.6 + The very first release. Missions 1 - 9 of the 16 August 2003 single-player game covered, as well as intros and credits of this guide. + Began ships list. ________________________________________________________________________________ ============================ E. ***For Windows XP users ============================ By default, Homeworld *WILL NOT RUN* in OpenGL hardware acceleration on Microsoft Windows XP. If you have been wondering how to get around this problem, here is the solution: 1. Right-click the shortcut you use to play Homeworld and choose "Properties". 2. Click the "Compatibility" tab. 3. Check the "Run this program in compatibility mode for" box, then from the list below, select "Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack 5)". 4. Click OK. Homeworld will now allow you to use OpenGL to run the game. This hint may apply to other games as well, so feel free to try it. ________________________________________________________________________________ ================================= F. Updating Homeworld (Patches) ================================= No game is ever released perfect, and Homeworld is not an exception. Relic have released 3 updates to the game, or "patches", that alter some aspects of the game (mostly to fix bugs). The default Homeworld version (and the only one that you can buy) is 1.00. The 3 patches will update your game to version 1.03, 1.04 or 1.05, respectively. Each later patch also includes all the enhancements of the previous one(s), so for example, the 1.05 patch also includes the 1.03 and 1.04 updates. (Side note: No-one knows what happened to the 1.01 and 1.02 patches, and as usual, Relic won't say...) You can tell what version of Homeworld you have by starting the game, and looking at the top-left corner of the screen. In small writing you should see text saying "Version HomeworldV1.n0x", where x is the patch you have installed (0 if no patching has been done), and n is the letter B if a patch is present. ***VERY IMPORTANT! If you are intending to play Homeworld over the Internet, i.e. via WON.net, you MUST have the latest patch (1.05 at this time) installed. Otherwise, you will be asked to download and install it when you try and connect to a game. You CANNOT play Homeworld with other people, if your version of the game is different to theirs! To get the patches, go to RelicNews (http://www.relicnews.com) and click the "Downloads" link under the Homeworld section of the left menu. Download the patch of your choice (it will come as an executable) and run it to update your Homeworld installation. The next time you run the game, you should see that the version has been changed to reflect the patch you installed. ________________________________________________________________________________ ===================================== G. Cheats and Command-line switches ===================================== First of all - THERE ARE NO CHEATS IN THIS GAME. Homeworld was designed for people who are actually able to *play* a RTS game, not pathetic newbies who get a game, die on the first mission then get onto the Internet and download every cheat they can find. If you're that kind of person, please stop reading this guide RIGHT NOW. I don't have time for lamers like you, and neither does Relic nor the Homeworld community. There *are* trainers (aka hacks) for the game that give you extra RUs, more ships etc., but the same comments apply to them. Homeworld does, however, feature a comprehensive list of command-line switches or parameters, that can be used to tweak your game to perform at its best. It's a pretty long list, but I like to be thorough. To use these switches ---------------------- 1. Right-click the shortcut you use to play Homeworld and choose "Properties". 2. Click the "Shortcut" tab, and click to place the cursor inside the "Target:" box (which will point to homeworld.exe). 3. To add one of these switches, put a space at the end of the text, then type in the slash character ( / ), and then the switch. For example (using the dsound switch), if your Target field reads "C:gameshomeworldhomeworld.exe", you would do this: "C:gameshomeworldhomeworld.exe" /dsound To add more switches, you just add another space, a slash, and the next switch. E.g.: "C:gameshomeworldhomeworld.exe" /dsound /enableSSE /pilotview You can have an infinite amount of switches present. Note however, that some switches are mutually exclusive. If you type in an invalid switch, Homeworld will warn you of this on startup and refuse to start until you replace or change the invalid switch(es). *** CURRENT COMMAND-LINE SWITCHES *** System options --------------- heap [n] - sets the amount of memory available to Homeworld to [n] megabytes prepath [path] - sets the location for the game to look for its files (where [path] is this location) CDpath [drive] - where [drive] is the drive letter of the CD-ROM containing the Homeworld game CD Processor options ------------------ enableSSE - enable the use of Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) for improved game performance (Pentium III and up, AMD Athlon and up) forceSSE - force the game to use SSE, even if found to be unavailable. Not recommended, as severe slowdown may occur on non-SSE capable processors enable3dNow - enable the use of AMD's 3DNow! instruction set to improve performance Video options -------------- safeGL - do not use optimized, but possibly buggy, special features of the selected OpenGL renderer (your video card). If you are experiencing strange graphical glitches in OpenGL, using this option can help, but it may also decrease performance somewhat triple - if the game's menus are flickering madly, this will triple-buffer them to prevent this. Does not affect in-game performance nodrawpixels - use when background "images" tppabs="http://cheatbook.de/wfiles/images" are not shown when starting and/or loading games noswddraw - do not use DirectDraw for the software renderer. Makes software mode a lot slower, and is only recommended if your video card has a really bad DirectDraw implementation noglddraw - do not use DirectDraw to setup the OpenGL renderer. Can be slower or faster, depending on your video card, so try this and see sw - use the software renderer ONLY for drawing the game's graphics; with this switch present, you can't change the rendering system from within the game (it is locked into software mode). This is not recommended unless you have a really crappy video card (e.g. SiS or S3 chip), which is unable to handle Direct3D and OpenGL hardware acceleration well. In this case, software mode will probably be faster (depending on your PC as a whole) than either Direct3D or OpenGL noFastFE - disables fast front-end menu rendering. Use this if menus are slow to appear, or are rendered incorrectly (e.g. strange colours). This has also been known to fix problems where the game starts up, then instantly crashes fullscreen - runs the game in software mode, in a full-screen window, and at 640x480 resolution (default mode) window - displays the game in a window noBorder - if /window is present, this disables the border on the window 640 - runs in 640x480 resolution (default) 800 - 800x600 resolution 1024 - 1024x768 resolution 1280 - 1280x1024 resolution 1600 - 1600x1200 resolution device [dev] - selects the rendering mode to use, where [dev] is that mode. Valid values for [dev] are sw (software), d3d (Direct3D), gl (OpenGL), fx (3dfx mode - Voodoo cards ONLY). If using this option, you will be unable to change the renderer from within the game nohint - disable usage of OpenGL perspective correction hints. No-one except Relic seems to know what this option actually does, and Relic ain't telling... nopal - disable palettised texture support. Usually makes the game slower, since the aim of palettising is to speed up texture generation. If you have an older card that has a dodgy palettised texture engine, using this switch might help to fix graphical glitches Sound options -------------- dsound - forces game to use the Microsoft DirectSound mixer, even if the sound driver is not certified dsoundCoop - if DirectSound mixer supports co-operative mode, this will allow other applications to use DirectSound even while Homeworld is using it waveout - forces game to use Waveout mixer (slower, lower quality) even if DirectSound is available reverseStereo - swap left/right audio channels Detail options --------------- rasterSkip - enable interlacing with software renderer. This allows for much-improved performance in software mode, but creates a "motion blur" effect that may be too visually distracting to use (faster) noBG - disable display of galaxy backgrounds (so you will see only black backgrounds with stars) (faster) noFilter - disables bilinear texture filtering (decreases graphic quality but increases performance). All modern video cards can filter with no performance penalty, so you should never need to use this option noSmooth - do not use polygon smoothing. Same as noFilter, you should not need to use this option stipple - enables stipple alpha belending to emulate transparency effects. Very ugly and can only be used in software mode; makes game run faster noShowDamage - do not show ship damage effects (drive plasma leaking, fires). Can drastically improve performance, BUT you won't be able to easily see if your ships are damaged, so it's not recommended to use this Other options -------------- diableavi - skips opening Sierra and Relic movies pilotview - allows you to see the game from the "pilot's eye view" of your ships. This option is only available from the v1.04 patch and up. If enabled, select a ship and hit the Q key to switch to pilot view; press Q gain to return to external view. (NOTE: some ships have very strange pilot views...) ________________________________________________________________________________ ============================= H. Abbreviations/Shorthands ============================= Many of the ship and tactics names are very long to type, so on Homeworld message boards (e.g. Relic Forums - http://forums.relicnews.com), you will often find an abbreviated form being used to describe things. If you aren't a veteran boardie, then it's quite possible that you won't know WTF is being talked about - so here's a useful list of (some) of the shorthands used by the Homeworld community. Adv Swarmer Advanced Swarmer (Kadeshi) AS Assassin Ion Array Frigate (Turanic Raiders) Auto Autogun (from Karos Graveyard) Banana Kushan Mothership Banana Mothership Banana MS BB Battle Ball (attacking technique using Sphere formation) BBall Bentusi Station Bentusi Exchange (Bentusi) Trade Station Traders Boardie Internet bulletin board/discussion forum user Brigand Missile Corvette (Turanic Raiders) Cap Capital Ship CapShip Cap Ship Caterpillar Fuel Pod (Kadeshi) Grub Worm Corv Corvette CorvWall Corvette Wall (Corvettes in Wall formation to deal maximum damage) CS Crazy Scouts (strategy where Scouts quickly switch between Wall and Sphere formation to dodge gunfire) *** NOT considered a legitimate strategy! Dawg Junkyard Dawg JD DFG Defense Field Frigate DFG Frig DFG Frigate DS Dancing Scouts (strategy where Scouts jump around and dodge gunfire) *** NOT considered a legitimate strategy! ES Evil Scouts (usage of key-bashing to allow your Scouts to avoid almost all gunfire) *** NOT considered a legitimate strategy! Frig Frigate Furball Massive battle between many ships (usually Strike Craft) Hairball Heavies Heavy Corvettes HVC Heavy Cruiser HW Homeworld IAF Ion Array Frigate (Turanic Raiders) ICF Ion Cannon Frigate Int Interceptor Intie Kami Kamikaze (ram your ship into another ship and self-destruct your ship - causes massive damage to the enemy) Lord Battle Carrier (Turanic Raiders) Lt Corv Light Corvette MBF Multi-Beam Frigate (Kadeshi) MD Missile Destroyer MGC Multi-Gun Corvette Multi Corv Multigun Multigunner MM Micro-management ("managing" a group of ships with "microscopic" precision - giving new orders, formations etc. very often during a battle) MP Multi-player mode MS Mothership Needle Needle Mothership (Kadeshi) Needleship Prox Detector Proximity Sensor Prox Sensor Proxy Detector Proxy Sensor Researcher Research Ship Resourcer Resource Collector RUs Resource Units SalCap Salvage Corvette SalCapCorv Salvager Salvette SC SVC Sct Scout SP Single-player mode SS Super Scouts (strategy where Scouts are able to deal tons of damage by changing formations as they complete their attack run) SuperCap Super-Capital Ship Super Cap Swarm Massive melee attack of Strike Craft Thief Standard Corvette (Turanic Raiders) Ugly Taiidan Mothership Ugly Mothership Ugly MS Wing Group of ships (usually Strike Craft) ________________________________________________________________________________ ============================ I. Ships and Civilisations ============================ *** PLEASE NOTE: unless otherwise stated, all stats here are taken from *** *** version 1.05 of Homeworld. *** This section will tell you all about the ships in the game, as well as the civilisations that they belong to. A great resource is the Homeworld Shipyards (http://well-of-souls.com/hws). This site is maintained by Arioch, and contains a list of all the ships in all the Homeworld games (including Homeworld2), with statistics, pictures, and notes. Visit it, it's a great resource! ----------- 1. Kushan ----------- The Kushan are the "big tech/low tech" civilisation. Their ships are clunky and not exactly pleasing to look at, but they get the job done. Choose a red colour scheme and you can pretend that their ships were carved from bricks ;). According to Relic (developers of Homeworld), the Kushan were originally designed to be the "true exiles". It was only later in the game's development that the option was added to allow you to play as either the Kushan or the Taiidan in single-player. Ion beam color: red-white ------------ 2. Taiidan ------------ The Taiidani are supposed to be a 4000-year-old empire, so naturally their ships would look more refined than the Kushan ones. For example, the Taiidani Heavy Cruiser looks graceful and deadly, unlike the boxy Kushan one. Taiidani ships also tend to have better turret placement than Kushan ships (Heavy Corvette, Assault Frigate), so they are probably the better race to play as, in multi-player. Ion beam color: blue-white *** STRIKE CRAFT *** i. Fighters ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Scout ------ Cost: 35 RUs Mass: 10 tons Armour: 110 Firepower: 12 Coverage: 8% Weapons: 2x mass driver (nose-mounted) Special Action: Afterburners (increases speed drastically for 3 seconds) Velocity: 1 000 m/s (standard); 1 500 m/s (with Afterburners) Maneuverability: very high Build Time: 12 seconds Availability: Mission 1 The fastest and cheapest combat-capable vessels in the game. They do very little damage alone, but get them in packs of 40 and that's a dangerous punch, not to mention that their speed allows them to avoid almost all weapons fire. You won't be building these too much in single-player, but in multi-player mode you will soon learn that Scouts are your best friends. If you are playing anyone half decent, they will build Scouts like there is no tomorrow; you must do the same or your Mothership/Carrier will die the "death of a thousand pinpricks" - not nice at all. Interceptor ------------ Cost: 55 RUs Mass: 60 tons Armour: 160 Firepower: 16 Coverage: 8% Weapons: 2x mass driver (Kushan : nose-mounted Taiidan: 1 nose-mounted, 1 externally mounted) Special Action: - Velocity: 875 m/s Maneuverability: very high Build Time: 18 seconds Availability: Mission 2 The successor to the Scout - not. Interceptors die against almost any Strike Craft they go up against - including Scouts, which on Evasive are too fast for the Interceptors to hit, and also too fast to run away from. Don't even bother building these. Defender --------- Cost: 65 RUs Mass: 60 tons Armour: 325 Firepower: 5 Coverage: 11% Weapons: 3x rapid-fire mass driver (externally mounted) Special Action: - Velocity: 385 m/s Maneuverability: medium Build Time: 9 seconds Availability: Mission 4 The quickest ship in the game to build; as their name suggests, they are best used for escort duty. In version 1.00 of the game Defenders had firepower/ armour ratings of 30/160 respectively, thus they were a lot weaker but they packed a *HELL* of a punch. A wall of 30 v1.00 Defenders could annihilate a Carrier in a minute, now they will only tap at its hull and get killed. They are still good escorts for resource operations, no matter what version of the game you're playing. Their main problem is their looow speed, which means that even Support Frigates can outrun them (and that *hurts*). Best used in the early stages of a multi-player game to protect your valuable Resourcers, then as the Defenders get killed, you can replace them with Corvettes. Koki noted: "[Defenders] are pretty good at dodging, if they are not moving. They move up/down/left/right pretty fast." In other words, their maneuverability is quite a bit better than their speed - Defenders can actually dodge Corvette bullets (sometimes). BTW: while Kushan Defenders need about 1 - 2 seconds to meet a threat (because they retract/extend their guns), Taiidani Defenders are always ready to rock. Attack Bomber -------------- Cost: 85 RUs Mass: 90 tons Armour: 110 Firepower: 42 Coverage: 5% Weapons: 2x plasma bomb launcher (Kushan : nose-mounted Taiidan: mounted either side of body) Special Action: - Velocity: 750 m/s Maneuverability: medium Build Time: 20 seconds Availability: Mission 5 Slow, heavy, but the ultimate anti-Capital Ship fighter. It *kills* anything frigate-size and up within seconds, a wing of 20 can destroy a frigate in 2 volleys. These suck against other Strike Craft, but hey, that's not what they're designed for. If you need a fast, mobile, Capital Ship-killing force, these are for you. But make sure you guard them with something anti-Strike Craft, for goodness' sakes. Note that Attack Bombers *can* kill Strike Craft, although not without difficulty. It's just that their bombs are sooo slooowww... ii. Corvettes ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Light Corvette --------------- Cost: 135 RUs Mass: 400 tons Armour: 900 Firepower: 100 Coverage: 40% Weapons: (Kushan) 1x turret (mounted below cockpit) (Taiidan) 2x turret (mounted in front of cockpit) Special Action: - Velocity: 575 m/s Maneuverability: medium Build Time: 22 seconds Availability: Mission 2 Like Interceptors; pretty useless unless you're up against Fighters, then they do okay. Best used early in multi-player to thwart Scout rushes on your Resourcers, that single turreted gun really makes up for the Light Corvette's slow speed. Heavy Corvette --------------- Cost: 250 RUs Mass: 750 tons Armour: 1 700 Firepower: 200 Coverage: 50% Weapons: (Kushan) 2x turret (mounted below cockpit) (Taiidan) 4x turret (mounted in front of cockpit) Special Action: Burst Attack (5km range / 2.5km area of effect) Velocity: 500 m/s Maneuverability: medium Build Time: 30 seconds Availability: Mission 2 Two words: KICK ASS. It seems like everyone loves these ships, and why the hell not? They're the best Strike Craft in the game, simply because they can take pain like nothing else can. These ships can even take a direct ion beam and live (seriously!). Of course, their twin turreted guns will make mincemeat of anything that comes too close. Put 16 or 25 Heavy Corvettes in a Wall, set 2 Support Frigates to repair them, and you've got a virtually impenetrable screen of Corvette gunfire. No Fighters will be able to take them on and live (except maybe Evasive Scouts), and Frigates will also die pretty damn fast. Heck, Heavies can even knock out a Destroyer, given enough time. Their weakness is their slow speed, which allows even ion beam-equipped ships to hit them. Even the inaccurate Attack Bomber can be a menace to Heavies, but that's where Burst Fire mode comes in. Select an area of space, click Z and your Heavy Corvettes begin offloading high-explosive, highly deadly shells into that area. Fighter wings simply pop when they get hit with Burst - try it. Multi-Gun Corvette ------------------- Cost: 220 RUs Mass: 750 tons Armour: 1 400 Firepower: 180 Coverage: 78% Weapons: 6x turret (Kushan : 4 mounted below, 2 mounted above Taiidan: 2 mounted in front of cockpit, 4 mounted on sides) Special Action: - Velocity: 695 m/s Maneuverability: medium (seems to be high) Build Time: 22 seconds Availability: Mission 3 A lower-spec version of the Heavy Corvette, faster and the only ship able to hit all types of Strike Craft, but that's about all in their favour. Put these up against Fighters and they do great, but against anything else, not so well. The problem is that the multi-targeting guns don't provide a direct rain of bullets, tell them to attack something and normally only one or two of the guns will respond. Good against Fighter-happy opposition, but for anything else, use Heavy Corvettes. You know it makes sense. Minelayer Corvette ------------------- Cost: 275 RUs Mass: 750 tons Armour: 1 800 Firepower: ~700 per mine Coverage: - Weapons: 2x mine launcher (rear-mounted) Special Action: Force Drop (dump 6 mines at once) Velocity: 425 m/s Maneuverability: medium Build Time: 40 seconds Availability: Mission 10 Very useful or very useless, depending on your viewpoint. The mines dumped by these Corvettes are slow-ish (meaning they can't hit Fighters), but then again, they don't need to be too fast to hit lumbering Capital Ships. The problem with minefields is that the mines disappear after a time and have to be relaid, and of course, Minelayers aren't the fastest corvettes around. Your own fleet also tends to *cough* run into the mines they dispense. BUT: if you can put, say, 20 Minelayers in a Carrier, then jump over by the enemy's Mothership and start dumping mines, then you will be smiling. And of course, laying mines in a resource patch will ruin anyone's day. It's your choice to use them or not. Repair Corvette ---------------- Cost: 150 RUs Mass: 750 tons Armour: 800 Firepower: 60 Coverage: 10% Weapons: 1x mass driver turret (below cockpit) Special Action: repair/refuel Strike Craft Velocity: 350 m/s Maneuverability: medium Build Time: 20 seconds Availability: Mission 1 Good early on in single-player, useless everywhere else. You can get Support Frigates from only 1 technology, and they are faster (yes!), a lot tougher and just a whole lot better than these Corvettes. I used them once, after that, never again. Possibly the game's least-used ship type. Salvage Corvette ----------------- Cost: 150 RUs Mass: 120 tons Armour: 1 400 Firepower: - Coverage: - Weapons: - Special Action: salvage (duh) Velocity: 425 m/s Maneuverability: medium ("bad") Build Time: 30 seconds Availability: Mission 1 The Homeworld manual states that Salvage Corvettes "can capture heavily damaged ships". Well folks, if you've already played single-player you'll know that's not true. What happened was that the Homeworld manual was completed before the actual game itself, and then due to time constraints, Relic decided to let you salvage any ship, of any health. But they forgot to update the manual :|. Salvagers are some of the most valuable in the game, they can grab almost anything. Obviously in multi-player their usefulness drops because humans will be on the lookout for them, but in single-player, Salvagers allow you to amass a huge fleet, without spending many RUs. Here is a table showing exactly *which* ships can be captured, and the number of Salvage Corvettes needed to grab 'em: +---------------------+-------------------+ | Ship type | Salvage Corvettes | | | to capture | |---------------------+-------------------| | Strike Craft | 1 | | | | | Frigate | 2 | | | | | Destroyer | 3 | | | | | Heavy Cruiser | 5 | | | | | Carrier | 5 | |---------------------+-------------------| | Resource Collector | 2 | | | | | Resource Controller | 3 | | | | | Cloak Generator | 2 | | | | | GravWell Generator | 2 | +---------------------+-------------------+ Note that Strike Craft (Fighters and Corvettes) can only be captured if they are out of fuel and/or trapped in a GravWell. Salvaging is fun. *** CAPITAL SHIPS *** Assault Frigate ---------------- Cost: 575 RUs Mass: 45 000 tons Armour: 16 000 Firepower: 82 Coverage: 75% Weapons: 4x mass driver turret (around nose), 2x plasma bomb launcher (around nose) Special Action: - Velocity: 325 m/s Maneuverability: low Build Time: 60 seconds Availability: Mission 3 Good against Corvettes and other Capital Ships, bad against anything else. If only its turrets/bullets were faster... grrr. Seriously though, if used correctly, these ships can be a menace to other Capital Ships, notably Ion Cannon Frigates, because they are more maneuverable than them. In other words, if you tell an Assault Frigate to attack another Capital Ship, and then start moving your Frigate around, it will most likely come out as the winner of the battle. Having all the turrets clustered around the nose area means that this Frigate gets in more hits than others. Unfortunately, this is also its greatest weakness, since the Assault Frigate is totally unable to cover its vulnerable engine area. Get a squadron of Heavy Corvettes behind an Assault Frigate, and it will die very fast. This Frigate's bullets seem to be heavier than other ships'; get a wing of 6 Assault Frigates and start shooting an enemy ship, it will get blown backwards and will never be able to get in range to fire on your Frigates. Cheap, but it can help. Addendum: After doing a few tests with Assault Frigates, I have come to the conclusion that their effectiveness increases *dramatically* when used in larger groups. A set of 8 Assault Frigates are an excellent deterrent to Strike Craft groups (even Fighters), because they're firing so many bullets that it's virtually impossible for one slug *not* to hit a target. Ion Cannon Frigate ------------------- Cost: 650 RUs Mass: 57 000 tons Armour: 15 000 Firepower: 138 Coverage: 3% Weapons: 1x ion cannon beam (fixed, forward-mounted) Special Action: - Velocity: 300 m/s Maneuverability: low Build Time: 60 seconds Availability: Mission 4 The mainstay of every respectable fleet, the Ion Cannon Frigate packs a single ion beam with the biggest punch in the game. Getting in front of one of these is very bad news, no matter what type of ship you are. Group ICFs with Assault Frigate and some Heavy Corvettes, and you have a highly dangerous escort or attack fleet. But don't even think about sending them out unguarded, since they die very quickly to any ship class. When engaging an enemy fleet, *always* take out the ICFs first. Drone Frigate -------------- ***Kushan ONLY! Cost: 800 RUs Mass: 60 000 tons Armour: 16 000 Firepower: 192 Coverage: 100% Weapons: 24x drones (mobile mass driver turrets) Special Action: launch/retract drones Velocity: 300 m/s Maneuverability: low Build Time: 75 seconds Availability: Mission 6 This is the only ship capable of hitting *any* other ship, no matter how fast the enemy may be. Each drone has a single mass driver that is equal in power/ firing speed to the guns of a Scout, thus 24 x 8 = 192 damage per volley. These Frigates are great for guarding against Strike Craft attack, but don't do nearly so well against bigger ships. The drones do get rebuilt if destroyed, although this takes a while - 50 seconds (faster if all drones are retracted, only 20-25 seconds). And the drones aren't repaired if damaged, only replaced if they are destroyed. Support Frigate ---------------- Cost: 425 RUs Mass: 45 000 tons Armour: 12 000 Firepower: 28 Coverage: 21% Weapons: (Kushan) 1x mass driver turret (below nose) (Taiidan) 2x mass driver turret (either side of body) Special Action: refuel Strike Craft, repair all ships Velocity: 450 m/s Maneuverability: low Build Time: 65 seconds Availability: Mission 3 The successor to the Repair Corvette, and a much better ship all around. The Support Frigate can repair and refuel 10 Fighters and 4 Corvettes at once, and its green beam can heal any other ships that are damaged. Set a Support Frigate or 2 to assist a CorvWall, and you have a deadly team. These versatile Frigates are best used on groups of 2 and upwards; you should always have at least 1 supporting your Mothership. A useful trick is the Strike Craft Hyperspace Jump: tell some Strike Craft to dock with a Support Frigate, then Hyperspace that Frigate - the Strike Craft will go along for the ride, and it doesn't cost you any extra RUs. Great for launching surprise attacks on resource operations. Kushan Support Frigates have only 1 gun, but can repair themselves (hold Z and click on the Frigate a few times). Taiidan Support Frigates have 2 guns, but lack the self-repair capability. Support Frigate guns are more like Corvette weapons than Capital Ship armaments, they fire very fast and accurately, and do less damage (so the Frigate can protect itself from Strike Craft assault, if needed). But its armour points are so low, that it dies to almost anything anyway... *** SUPER-CAPITAL SHIPS*** Destroyer ---------- Cost: 1 350 RUs Mass: 185 0000 tons Armour: 44 000 Firepower: 341 Coverage: 88% (more like 40%) Weapons: (Kushan) 2x side-mounted ion cannon turrets, 2x top-mounted mass driver turrets (Taiidan) 2x forward-mounted fixed ion cannons, 2x (dual) top-mounted mass driver turrets (4 gun barrels) Special Action: - Velocity: 315 m/s Maneuverability: very low (seems to be low) Build Time: 150 seconds Availability: Mission 6 Slightly more expensive than 2 Ion Cannon Frigates but a better deal, these ships have deadly twin ion beams, backed up by 2 big-ass mass driver turrets. They are highly maneuverable for their size and (relatively) speedy, too. The only problem is their coverage; a Destroyer's guns are meant to hit things in front of it, consequently they have trouble shooting at attackers below or behind them. The large, undefended "blind spot" below a Destroyer also makes them easy to approach with Salvagers; so if you're fielding a few of these heavyweights, give them a decent Strike Craft escort. Missile Destroyer ------------------ Cost: 1 500 RUs Mass: 200 0000 tons Armour: 42 000 Firepower: 450 Coverage: 100% Weapons: 2x guided missile launchers Special Action: Missile Volley (32x missiles) Velocity: 295 m/s Maneuverability: very low Build Time: 175 seconds Availability: Mission 9 Death to Strike Craft, the only thing that can outrun the missiles are Evasive Scouts on Afterburners (cloaking also spoils missile lock-on). The only problem is the 32-missile initial capacity, once an MD is empty, its firing rate drops off substantially (as it takes 0.5 seconds to manufacture new missiles). This is a Destroyer, but it's *not* meant for taking on other Capital and Super- Capital ships - leave that job to your ion beam-equipped ships. Different tactics also alter missile accuracy versus Strike Craft: Evasive 50% Neutral 70% Aggressive 90% So on Evasive for example, half of the missiles fired at enemies are going to miss. On Aggressive, 10% will miss the target. Regarding Missile Volley: If used, your MD will fire off however many missiles it currently has in stock (thanks to Koki for noting this). The penalty to pay is that your MD can't fire/manufacture new missiles for 10 seconds after the Volley attack has been used, so obviously, it pays to use Missile Volley only when your ships have a full (or almost full) stock of 32 missiles. BTW, this attack seems to make the missiles "dumb" - their homing capability is downgraded quite substantially. Carrier -------- Cost: 2 000 RUs Mass: 600 0000 tons Armour: 70 000 Firepower: 109 Coverage: 100% (not really) Weapons: 4x fixed mass drivers, at each corner of the Carrier Special Action: build/dock/refuel/repair Strike Craft, build Frigates Velocity: 315 m/s Maneuverability: very low Build Time: 280 seconds Availability: Mission 9 Vital to your fleet, these ships are able to move a *LOT* faster than a Mothership. They are best used as mobile construction yards around resource operations, since you can keep churning out Strike Craft and Frigates to thwart enemy attacks. Their guns are pretty bad though, and sending a Carrier out unescorted is just asking for it to be salvaged or blown up. In multi-player, your Carriers take over the role of Fleet Command if you lose your Mothership, thus it's a good idea to build at least 1. Any ship(s) being built by a Carrier will also die if the Carrier is destroyed, the same applies to all Strike Craft docked inside the destroyed Carrier. A Carrier can dock 50 Fighters and 25 Corvettes at a time (a little small to fit all those ships inside, I would have thought?). Heavy Cruiser -------------- Cost: 3 700 RUs Mass: 800 0000 tons Armour: 90 000 Firepower: 921 Coverage: 100% Weapons: (Kushan) 2x dual-ion "wide" turrets, mounted above/below nose; 6x mass driver turrets, on top/bottom/sides (Taiidan) 2x dual-ion "thin" turrets, mounted above/below nose; 6x mass-driver turrets, mounted over-under-along on sides Special Action: - Velocity: 250 m/s Maneuverability: very low Build Time: 420 seconds Availability: Mission 13 Even the best Homeworld players know that an enemy Heavy Cruiser is bad news. As the manual states, "When a Heavy Cruiser shows up on the scene, things get real quiet real fast". And it's true - nothing can match a Heavy Cruiser in terms of sheer, raw firepower. Their huge amount of armour allows them to shrug off any Strike Craft attack (except maybe Attack Bombers), and Frigates don't do too well against them either (unless you're able to bring about 10 ICFs to bear on the enemy Cruiser). The only thing that can go head-to-head with a Heavy Cruiser is another Cruiser or failing that, at least 3 Destroyers. If you're a skilled player, you can exploit this ship's poor (OK, *bad*) maneuverability: while attacking an enemy Cruiser with Destroyers or Frigates, move your ships around and if you're lucky, you'll be able to avoid the Cruiser's ion beams. (You probably won't be able to dodge the turret fire, but bullets are *nothing* compared to ion cannons...) For all its power, though, the Heavy Cruiser is one slow ship. The only ships that can't outrun it are Motherships (ouch), so if you need to move a Cruiser across the map, Hyperspace is probably the best option. *** MOTHERSHIP CLASS *** Mothership ----------- Cost: - Mass: 5 000 000 tons Armour: 160 000 Firepower: 7 500 Coverage: 60% Weapons: 6x fixed mass driver mounts (various locations on hull) Special Action: build all ships classes, repair Strike Craft and Resourcers Velocity: 50 m/s Maneuverability: very, very low (not moveable in single-player) Build Time: - Availability: Mission 1 (duh) The heart of your fleet, able to build and capture every ship. In single-player you lose if your Mothership is destroyed, in multi-player you lose only if you don't have a Carrier (Fleet Command transfers to the Carrier in that situation). A Mothership can dock 150 Fighters and 50 Corvettes, which is stupid when you consider that in single-player, you can only build 80 Fighters maximum. Like many Kushan and Taiidan ships, the differences are not only cosmetic. The Kushan Mothership has the "door" on the side, which has to be opened and closed every time a Super-Capital Ship goes in or out - and that takes precious time. The Taiidan Mothership just has the large bay in its belly, so large ships are moved in and out much quicker. But then, of course, the Kushan Mothership is able to produce and salvage Frigates a lot quicker, because almost as soon as the ship leaves the bay, it is ready to roll. The Taiidan Mothership produces Frigates from various bays, and there is a short delay before they are under your control. So, it's all subjective when you're choosing your race. The Mothership's guns are small and weak, but they fire very fast and are very accurate. Like the Assault Frigate, the bullets seem to mass more than other ships' bullets, so anything that gets hit by them will "bounce" back ever so slightly (not so slightly for Scouts, hehe). As with the Carrier, any ships being built when the Mohership dies, die with it. You don't get the RUs back, either :(. A dying Mothership also causes a massive amount of scuttle damage, wings of Strike Craft can be wiped out instantly, and even Frigates on occasion - so it's wise to keep as far away as possible when assaulting an enemy's Mothership. The Kushan Mothership has some bugs, too: it can happen that when a Super- Capital Ship is being captured or is leaving the construction bay, the "door" of the Mothership gets "stuck", and then the ship that's there will be trapped in that position - unusable *FOREVER*. Also, sometimes the Kushan Mothership seems to lose track of salvage groups, which can result in Salvagers sitting there, holding a ship, ad infinitum. The solution is to tell the waiting Salvagers to stop salvaging that ship (press the tilde key ~), then quickly re-issue the salvage command. The ship should now be salvaged properly. *** NON-COMBAT SHIPS *** Resource Collector ------------------- Cost: 650 RUs Mass: 40 000 tons Armour: 10 800 Firepower: - Coverage: - Weapons: - Special Action: refuel Strike Craft Velocity: 300 m/s Maneuverability: medium Build Time: 60 seconds Availability: Mission 1 You can't do anything without RUs, which is why you need Resource Collectors. They use a Phased Disassembly Array (aka "harvester beam") to extract materials from asteroids, dust clouds and nebulae; these materials become the Resource Units (RUs) used to build and Hyperspace your ships. When full, a Resourcer can carry 650 RUs worth of material (not 600, as Koki pointed out). As such, these ships are vital to any fleet, in single-player and multi-player. Since they are unarmed and slow, they *NEED* to be protected every single second of the game, or your RU supply will dry up as they die, and soon you're dead too. The Special Action is slightly useless: Strike Craft are NOT repaired, only refueled. In addition, the Resourcer has only 1 docking pad, so it's VERY slow to tell an entire strike wing to dock with it. Personally, I never have found the need to use this ability; Support Frigates are designed for this role, just keep your Resourcers harvesting. Resource Controller -------------------- Cost: 680 RUs Mass: 79 000 tons Armour: 13 600 Firepower: - Coverage: - Weapons: - Special Action: refuel Strike Craft Velocity: 300 m/s Maneuverability: low Build Time: 65 seconds Availability: Mission 4 A mobile docking pad for Resource Collectors, allows the Resourcers to deposit their harvested RUs a lot quicker than returning to a Mothership or Carrier whenever they have a full load. The best way to use these is to tell them to guard them to guard a Collector. Like the Collector it can refuel (NOT repair) Strike Craft, but a Controller can assist 4 Fighters and 2 Corvettes at a time. There is a major difference between the Kushan and Taiidan Controllers: the Kushan one requires the Resourcers to roll over by 180
