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