Homeworld/ 1-2

**Fragony** · 08-29-2006, 09:32

Originally Posted by Mithradates

Gardens of kadesh

That has to be one of my most immersive gaming experiences ever.

**Phatose** · 08-31-2006, 03:28

Homeworld 1 was a wonderful game. It's interface provided a steep learning curve, but gave you so much control that you could pull off lots of tricks. Bouncing Battle Balls and Kami-Salvaging to get those sweet, sweet missile vettes in the second and third mission.

Actually, savlaging alone made that game worth it. Fleet carry over + no salvage limits + very limited difficulty scaling to fleet size = Grand theft starfleet. Few things were quite as satisfying as showing up at Higaara with the entire Taaidan fleet refitted and looking for some payback.

Plotwise, it had great atmosphere. An excellent story with a real sadness and desperation to it.

Cataclysm....well, it was good. Not great, but fun. Salvage was affected by the fleet limit, and even if it hadn't been, the massive fleets of the original couldn't have been achieved since you just plain couldn't salvage a Beast ship. The Beast itself came off as cliched as well - did they really think anyone was going to look at it without thinking "Hey, its the Borg. oh joy."?

On the bright side, the ships were a bit more interesting then the originals, at least for me. And no salvaging made the temptation to go all out ship thief go away, so I wasn't left with a huge fleet that I barely ever used because blowing something up meant I couldn't steal it.

Homeworld 2....well, not so hot. Far less control over your fleet then the original, scaling was way overdone, there were too many missions focused on the silly movers for my taste. Subsystem attacking, while implemented, was ultimately fairly useless. Salvage was again limited, and far less useful. The new squad based fighters made starfights far more useful, but turned frigates into the fleet cannon fodder - and you got a friggin voice message every time your cannon fodder frigates got blown up. Which they did. A lot. And the story wasn't as good. The Higaarns just came across as somewhat arrogant, and turning Karan S'jet into some kind of divinity figure didn't do the game any good.

**Kraxis** · 09-05-2006, 23:33

Originally Posted by Fragony

That has to be one of my most immersive gaming experiences ever.

Yes... I damn near screamed out in dispair and regret when I learned the truth in Kadesh.
Those fanatics were just about the best enemies ever in a strategy game.

I loved the swarmers, they made it so much fun to use corvettes and fighters. And yet somehow they always ripped your forces apart, no matter how many you took out.
And the multi-beam corvettes? That first time I ran into them I got my ass handed to me so badly it wasn't fun... Well, it was. Then I began to capture them. Ohhhh....

Oh man!!! They really augmented your forces at that point. Supported by a Support Frigate or two they could really lay the smackdown on the enemy.

I also tried to capture those early missile corvettes the pirates used when they attacked the Char Kobah or what it was called. But sadly I couldn't (how could you Phatose?), neither could their carrier be captured.

But Kadesh is by far the most memorable piece in the game, and without it I fear it would 'just' have been a brilliant game. Now it stands as the best space strategy game.
So I'm happy the Battlestar Gallactica got scrapped, in fact I doubt I would have bought it as I didn't know that series back then.

Bloody hated the junkyard dog... I never managed to beat it. So after a few tries I just sent in my multigun corvettes and cloakfighters. The multis took care of the enemy easily while the cloakfighters snuck around and found the stuff.
I almost loved the multiguns as much as the multibeams.

And who couldn't love the brilliantly underplayed voices... Deep with sorrow and regret when Kharak burns (or at other places I won't mention for the people who haven't played it), and rich in analytical emotions when you encounter something new. Those voices were simply not copied or matched in Homeworld 2.

**Marshal Murat** · 09-09-2006, 17:14

Where should I purchase this from? Walmart, Target, where?

**Kraxis** · 09-10-2006, 21:46

No idea... Try amazon, they might have it.

But given the age it isn't even likely to be in most bargain-bins. The net is the most sure place to look. Just search for it and you should get it.

Oh and the ship I mentioned was called Khar Selim, I woke up in the middle of the night with it ready on my tongue. Wierd...

And who couldn't love the Carriers? Able to build Frigates themselves... and house waves of fighters. Perfect for protecting miningoperations (it is also a dropoff point).

**Gregoshi** · 09-10-2006, 21:54

Thanks to this thread, I downloaded the HW demo. Argh! Another game I want to play. From the demo it seems every bit as good as I had heard and suspected. It had hovered just on the fringe of my "to buy" list back in the day, but I never got around to purchasing it. Now it is back on the list and much higher up...the bargan bin price will make it doubly attractive. The demo was a bit strange though. There was more action during the training tutorial than in the single player "game". It ended just as it was getting interesting.

**hoom** · 09-12-2006, 07:02

Heh, I grew up with the Terran Trade Authority books (of 70s sci-fi art) which form the prime inspiration of Homeworld so, well I bought Homeworld before I even had a PC that could play it

**Major Robert Dump** · 09-15-2006, 10:06

I have probably played HW more than any other SP rts game. In fact, i even played one campaign where i broke the game, going with a "skirt the frigate and cruiser cap by using repair corvettes to capture everything i saw"

note: you can capture @ 10 the big slow, flower looking frigates of the pirates. you can also capture around 12 of the multilaster firagtes (the one that looks like a white tick and kicks major tail vs slow moving targets but also does friendly fire) In the map where you have to disable the circular sensor grid you can kite entire egments at a time. On that map, the ships dont even shoot at the repair vettes like they usually do if you kite with fighters, they just keep chasing. Eventually half the frigates flow off the radar once you have the grid destroyed, but even so you can still capture around 30ish. All in all, you go into the final battle with an army of frigates well into the 50s, and half a dozen carriers and battlecruisers

final mission imo is one of the best ever, particularly since i struggled so much with it the first time i played. the reinforcements just kept coming, i was pulling my hair out, then u get that hyperspace signal right on your ship and u are like

HW 2 was okay, and apparently im the minoroty for enjoying homeworld:cataclysm, although the narrator/crew chief guy sounds like abbot from abbot and costello