Homeworld
- January 01, 2000 00:00 AM PST
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Homeworld is the story of a people adrift in the cosmos. Lost for so long their own history is a mystery, they have decided to take a bold step into the unknown. Your task will be to guide them through a hostile galaxy to Hiigara, their home.
Homeworld is the story of a people adrift in the cosmos. Lost for so long their own history is a mystery, they have decided to take a bold step into the unknown. Your task will be to guide them through a hostile galaxy to Hiigara, their home.Our task is to help you. We've listed both general strategies that will make the journey a bit safer and specific, level-by-level explanations of the tactics we used to win. There will be times when you need patience, and others when decisive action will be the only way to save the day.
General Strategies
- Don't rush just because Fleet Intelligence says to. Fleet Intel isn't always as cautious as it should be, and often directs you to begin an action without considering the possible consequences or the fleet's readiness.
- Resource gathering is vital. Start harvesting as soon as possible. More Resource Units (RUs) means a larger fleet, and a larger fleet generally means victory. Caveat: Don't let your Resource Collectors (RCs) run wild. They'll head into dangerous areas looking for resources.
- Research a technology as soon as it becomes available. Check for new ones regularly. They often become available in the beginning of a level, while others crop up in the course of a level and are easily forgotten in the heat of battle.
- Probes are an excellent source of information. In the beginning, you'll be prompted to use them to gain intelligence. Later on, you'll have to remember to do so without a prompt. Build them only as needed, as they will be left behind at the end of a level.
- Pause! While paused, you can move the camera around, select your units, and see any battles more clearly. Homeworld's a fully 3D RTS with units ranging in size from small to gigantic; taking in various aspects of large battles can be helpful.
- Bind your units to hotkeys. In mid-battle, you'll want to quickly issue orders to specific units. (After the first few of the 16 levels, I had all 10 hotkeys assigned.) Select the units you want to be in the group, and then hit "Ctrl" and the number you want to assign to them.
- The combat advantages enjoyed by certain classes of spacecraft are a little like a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Strike craft are good against frigates, frigates against corvette-class ships, and corvettes against strike craft.
- Tactics can make a difference. When using smaller craft to fight a larger vessel, use neutral or evasive tactics. When fighting an opponent your own size, be neutral or aggressive. When fighting a smaller opponent, you'll usually want to be aggressive.
- Formations increase combat effectiveness. Wall is effective when using large craft and the Claw and X formations work well when using strike craft.
- Try not to let large groups of your capital ships engage smaller, faster enemy strike craft in close proximity. The capital ships invariably will do extensive damage to each other--and anything close by--as they slowly rotate, shooting wildly.
- Watch fuel levels on strike craft. In a long battle, they can run out, which will slow them to a snail's pace and leave them vulnerable to enemy attacks.
- By laying mines and then moving away, the Minelayer Corvette can damage enemy craft at minimal risk to itself. A careful and patient strategist can use Minelayers to cause amazing amounts of damage.
- At least two Salvage Corvettes (SV) should be part of your fleet at all times. While the enemy will attack any SVs it spots, this craft's ability to capture enemy ships makes it indispensable. I try to salvage toward the end of a battle, when enemy frigates are almost completely defeated or unable to support each other effectively. By the end of one game, I had a fleet that included more than 30 salvaged frigates. Because SVs cost so much less than Frigates and capital ships it is usually a profitable errand even if you lose two Salvage Corvettes in the process.
- Support frigates and repair frigates can heal units--a must if you want to finish the game. You'll find this ability especially useful with capital ships and frigates. (Never lose a super-capital sized ship if you can help it.)
- In general, keep your camera zoomed out as far as possible. That way, you can usually see much more of the battle and react more quickly. If you need to see something close up, pause and then zoom in.
- Set your Resource Controller to guard one of your Resource Collectors (RC) to speed up harvesting.
