Homeworld
Strategy Guide
revision 1.0
by
SubAtomicCascade
This guide is directed at the multiplayer aspects of Homeworld only, mostly 1v1.
For a fun and competitive time online, join Cases Homeworld Ladder at www.myleague.com/homeworld.
For all the latest news, and an unhealthy dose of pr0n related comments, check out www.relicnews.com.
And for the latest in strategies from an Armada that’s friendly, knowledgable, and down-to-earth check out
www.digitalsquirrel.com/414armada.
Guide Version List
Nov 9, 1999 - version 1.0
I. The Early Game
Build Orders - The initial construction and research phase you use to begin your game is known as a build order. As an RTS game evolves, players devise new and brutally quick build orders, though there are always common elements. Any build order in a game of HomeWorld should contain the following elements…
Scouts: Whatever your overall strategy is going to be [we’ll discuss that later], your initial build order should always include Scouts…enough to bring your total up to at least 15-20. If you do not do this, your opponent can quickly build up a large force of Scouts and wreck havoc on your supply lines before you even have Defenders researched.
Probes: Always build a couple of Probes. You will use these to see what your opponent is up to. You can use them to view any area of the map, but you MUST see what your opponent is cooking up at thier Mothership. Note that your opponent could be keeping all or some of his strike craft docked inside his Mothership. This is another reason why it’s imperative to build Scouts no matter what. Also, don’t build Probes and send them out right away. An early Probe will tell you absolutely nothing that you don’t already know. Wait until enough time has passed for Light Corvettes, Assault Frigates, Interceptors, or other low level technologies to be researched before you go nosing around. Some people prefer Scouts to using Probes, just keep in mind that Probes are four times faster. Some additional things to look for when your Probe arrives are the direction his mothership is moving [if at all], the number of Research Ships, the number of collectors and controllers in the vicinity, and construction activity [units emerging from MS] that might indicate if they are out of resources and waiting for shipments.
Collectors: Build enough to bring your total number of collectors up to three. Building more is advisable [read ‘Good’], but this is subjective and may vary depending on your particular strategy or build order. It is not written in stone, and feel free to experiment, but experience has shown us that three is the minimal number to open up with.
Controllers: Always build at least one controller when they become available. Building more is usually warranted, but again this is dependent on maps, preferences, and strategies.
Research Ships: Unless your playing on a huge map with lots of resources and wide open spaces, never own more than three Research Ships. It has come to my attention that four maybe acceptable on occasion, but additional Research Ships are of minimal value if they come later in the game, and 700 is a lot of money to spend early on. Only build three or more if your using Large starting resources, for Medium build enough to bring your total to two. This brings us to the next aspect of a Homeworld build order…
Research: Take a look at the map your playing on. If you do not start out in, or close to, a large number of resources, your first priority must be Capital Ship Drive. This will net you the ability to build Resource Controllers, which you will need to win the game. Some people think they have answers and secret strategies to overcome this. Don’t be one of them; they’re wrong.
There are several other tasks that need to be accomplished at the start of any Homeworld game, as well as some guidelines-
1 - Use the hotkeys…‘R’ for research, ‘B’ for build. Also, use ‘B’ to confirm build orders as your queing them in. In addition, ‘C’ can be used to close manager windows. Use the spacebar to access the Sensors Manager, and use the options menu to change the command for centering on the Mothership from the HOME key to something more practical [I use TAB]. Learn the function keys as well; F2-F4 for tactics, and F5-F10 for formations, with F11 locking in a custom formation.
2 - Set your collectors to harvest, and set them to aggressive [F4]. Whenever a collector is built, immediatley set it to aggressive, wether you plan to have it harvest right away or not.
3 - Allocate your research.
4 - Access the Build Manager and assign your initial unit constructions.
5 - Start moving your Mothership…if your going to move it.
6 - I usually take time now to assign my initial Scouts to group 1, and start recording the game.
Building - Building in Homeworld is incredibly simple, but there are rules to follow. The first rule is to make sure you have enough money to build everything you need. What you need is up to you, but if you run out of money waiting for your first controller to finish building, you could find yourself in a world of hurt. That means you might lose. Never queue in more than you can build with the money you have, unless you are familiar with the map and your situation, and know when more RUs are forthcoming. Having some RUs in the bank can often be far more valuable than having an extra frigate or squad of fighers in your fleet. Also, know how long it takes for the various units to build. The following chart should make that pretty easy, and also contains other useful information [times are fairly accurate]:
table 1-1
Unit [HS]=HyperSpaceable Build Time Cost Speed Firepower Armor
Defender - 9 sec [0:09] 65 385 10 325
Scout - 12 sec [0:12] 35 1000 12 110
Interceptor - 18 sec [0:18] 55 875 26 160
Taidan Defense Fighter - 20 sec [0:20] 85 875 192 300
Kushan Cloaked Fighter - 45 sec [0:45] 85 775 25 150
Attack Bomber - 20 sec [0:20] 85 750 42 100
Light Corvette - 22 sec [0:22] 135 575 9 900
Heavy Corvette - 30 sec [0:30] 250 520 23 1700
Repair Corvette - 20 sec [0:20] 150 500 5 1200
Salvage Corvette - 30 sec [0:30] 220 425 - 1500
Minelayer Corvette - 45 sec [0:45] 295 425 183 1800
Multi-Gun Corvette - 30 sec [0:30] 225 695 19 1400
Resource Collector [HS] - 60 sec [1:00] 650 325 - 10800
Resource Controller [HS] - 64 sec [1:04] 680 300 - 13600
Assault Frigate [HS] - 60 sec [1:00] 575 325 82 16000
Support Frigate [HS] - 64 sec [1:04] 425 450 28 12000
Taidan Field Frigate [HS] - 75 sec [1:15] 800 325 - 17600
Kushan Drone Frigate [HS] - 75 sec [1:15] 800 325 - 16000
Ion Cannon Frigate [HS] - 60 sec [1:00] 650 300 138 15000
Destroyer [HS] - 150 sec [2:30] 1350 315 347 44000
Missile Destroyer [HS] - 175 sec [2:55] 1500 295 450 42000
Heavy Cruiser [HS] - 420 sec [7:00] 3700 250 921 90000
Carrier [HS] - 350 sec [5:50] 2000 300 109 72000
Probe - 6 sec [0:06] 30 4000 - 800
Proximity Sensor - 6 sec [0:06] 50 1000 - 800
Sensors Array [HS] - 80 sec [1:20] 800 280 - 4500
Research Ship - 60 sec [1:00] 700 280 - 7500
Gravwell Generator [HS] - 60 sec [1:00] 800 325 - 8000
Cloak Generator [HS] - 60 sec [1:00] 500 325 - 6000
You may or may not want to build units in groups of fives or tens, since it’s easier to compute the cost that way [10 Light Corvettes is 1350 RUs]. The cost of all your units under construction is located in the build manager, so you can add units until the cost of the units to be built is equal to the amount you have in the bank. It’s also easier to keep track of how well your units are doing in battle, since your more likely to consistently remember starting amounts like 20 Scouts and 5 Light Corvettes, as opposed to 37 Scouts and 14 Light Corvettes. This obviously becomes a moot point with larger ships.
As a note on building, the Taidan have an advantage over the Kushan, as Taidan super capital ships ‘fall’ out the bottom of the mothership and are immediately available for orders, while the Kushan super capital ships must wait for a door in the side of the mothership to slide out, and then themselves slide out, until they are available for orders. Note that the door must start sliding shut before you can give your new unit it’s orders.
Research - Unless you plan on overrunning your opponent with Scouts and Repair Corvettes [note to newbies…this is NOT a viable strategy], you will need to research new technologies to make the better units available for construction. Before I shock you with the 15 minute Heavy Cruiser [yes, it can be done], glance over the following information:
table 1-2
Name of Amount of time it takes to research with # research ships
Technology 1 2 3 4 5 6
Fighter Drive 1:15 0:47 0:34 0:27 0:23 0:21
Fighter Chassis 2:05 1:18 0:56 0:44 0:38 0:34
Plasma Bomb Launcher 5:00 3:07 2:13 1:48 1:32 1:29
Defense Fighter 6:40 4:08 3:04 2:25 2:03 1:58
Cloaked Fighter 6:40 4:08 3:04 2:25 2:03 1:58
Defender Sub-Systems 5:00 3:07 2:13 1:48 1:32 1:29
Corvette Drive 1:15 0:47 0:34 0:27 0:23 0:21
Corvette Chassis 3:20 2:05 1:28 1:11 1:01 0:56
Heavy Corvette Upgrade 4:10 2:36 1:51 1:30 1:16 1:09
Fast Tracking Turrets 5:00 3:07 2:13 1:48 1:32 1:29
Minelaying Tech 5:00 3:07 2:13 1:48 1:32 1:29
Capital Ship Drive 1:40 1:02 0:44 0:35 0:30 0:27
Capital Ship Chassis 5:20 3:19 2:22 1:54 1:39 1:28
Ion Cannons 7:30 4:40 3:20 2:41 2:26 2:04
Guided Missiles 5:00 3:07 2:13 1:48 1:32 1:29
Defense Field 6:40 4:08 3:04 2:25 2:03 1:58
Drone Technology 6:40 4:08 3:04 2:25 2:03 1:58
Super Capital Ship Drive 7:30 4:40 3:20 2:41 2:26 2:04
Super Capital Ship Chassis 4:10 2:36 1:51 1:30 1:16 1:09
Heavy Guns 10:50 6:46 4:49 3:52 3:20 3:02
Proximity Sensors 1:40 1:02 0:44 0:35 0:30 0:27
Sensors Array 6:40 4:08 3:04 2:25 2:03 1:58
Gravity Generator 8:40 5:25 3:50 3:05 2:41 2:33
Cloak Generator 8:40 5:25 3:50 3:05 2:41 2:33
The key to look for in this information is that the more Research Ships you have on a particular item, the less efficiently they work. Having 6 Research Ships on one item doesn’t get it completed six times faster; if you look at the table, it only takes about 3 seconds off a five minute job [compared to having 5 ships on it]. Can you build 5 Research Ships [assuming you start with one] and research several technologies at once? Of course, that would be the optimal use of your available resources, from a research perspective. Will you have enough money to build units and protect yourself in the meantime? Hell no, which is why I cringe when I assault someones Mothership and see six research vessels parked next to it [unless it’s a ladder match, then I cheer]. Obviously there are times when you’ll have no choice but to put them all on one tech, or times when it’s a good idea. This information is simply here so that you can make an intelligent, informed descision when that situation arises. That would be, oh, about every game you play. Research will be covered more in the unit description and evaluation section.
Okay, okay, so I promised you the 15 minute Heavy Cruiser. Well, first of all, I didn’t tell the whole truth. The only maps you can get a 15’ HC on are ‘Subjugate Your Friends’ and ‘Hyperspace Arena’, or any other map where you start with four Research Ships. The key lies in utilizing your research in the most efficient way. Here it is:
Build 2 more Research Ships right away, to bring you up to six.
A - All ships on Capital Ship Drive.
B - All ships on Capital Ship Chassis.
C - 1 ship on Ion Cannons, 1 ship on Super Cap Ship Drive, 4 ships on Super Cap Ship Chassis.
D - When Chassis finishes, put those 4 ships on Heavy Guns.
E - When the completion bar for Super Cap Ship Drive is just past the ‘e’ in ‘Drive’, take 2 ships off of Heavy Guns and place one on Ion Cannons and the other on Super Capital Ship Drive.
note: When you select the research ships to cancel the research, it will automatically select ALL the research ships on Heavy Guns. Make sure you only have one selected at a time to cancel…otherwise you will find yourself up the creek without a canoe…
If you’ve done it right [the timing of the switch takes a little practice], all three technologies will complete at the same time, about 8 minutes into the game. Heavy Cruisers take 7 minutes to build, so 15 minutes into the game…ZOINK! This is not a strategy for newbies, or even intermediate players. You will be at a huge disadvantage, possibly even after the Heavy Cruiser comes out, so I wouldn’t recommend using this without first practicing it in skirmish, and not against skilled opponents in a competitive environment.
Movement - Once all these units are built, they’ll need to be moved. Follow these guidelines:
1 - Use unit groups. Use CTRL-# to asssign a group, and # to select it [or ALT-# to select it and center the screen on it]. Do not mix units in a group, as this decreases the mortality of the faster units in a mixed group. You might actually want a type of unit to span several groups, so that you have 2 groups of 10 Scouts, as opposed to one group of 20 Scouts. The exception to this rule is, of course, if you run out of groups. You should then group them by chassis or function [i.e fighters in one group, or support craft in one group]. Use the group composition listing in the top right hand corner of the screen to assign formations, tactics, and orders to units from mixed groups. This is a vital function, as it allows Fleet Command to give you status reports on unit groups, so you know where the problems lie [refueling, being overrun, etc]. Note: Do not mix groups to prevent units from pulling away from slower units, simply have them guard the slowest unit or group you have. This will save you a lot of headaches once the bullets start flying. You can, at your descretion, hold down SHIFT and press the 1-0 keys to select groups, and then place them in Wall formation [F9] to keep them together while moving.
2 - Use formations…sometimes. [SUB-to be examined later].
3 - Unit groups can be selected and moved from within the Sensors Manager, so you don’t have to zoom in and out all over the map to select and move your ships. You cannot, however, issue tactics or formations to a group from within the Sensors Manager, nor can you use special abilities.
4 - Use Probes and other units as landmarks to guard. In other words, send a Probe to a location where you wish to gather your fleet, or select [or deselect if necessary] a unit that is already at that location, and have the units you wish to move guard it. This is a big help on maps that make use of the third axis [most all of them], and prevents you from wasting to much time issuing the same move command over and over. Just make sure your landmark doesn’t get destroyed. Resource Controllers make excellent landmarks…
5 - Hyperspacing is another way to move some of the units in your fleet. By pressing ‘J’ [make sure your not in the sensors manager] with one or more valid units selected, you can hyperspace them to any area on the map. Units that emerge from hyperspace will forget all standing orders they had previously recieved, though units that were assigned to guard or service them will ‘remember’ and proceed to intercept those units after they exit hyperspace. There is a minimum and maximum amount of RUs per unit to hyperspace, meaning if you wish to hyperspace a Resource Controller, it will cost at least X, but no more than Y RUs, depending on how far you wish to hyperspace it. The following chart lists the minimum and maximum values, along with the relative distances:
table 1-3
Units Minimum RUs / Distance Maximum RUs / Distance
All Frigates* 150 / 5200 m 500 / 92 km
All Destroyers 300 / 5200 m 1500 / 305 km
Carrier 500 / 5200 m ???
Heavy Cruiser 700 / 5200 m ???
Mothership 1500 / 2800 m ???
- Includes Resource Collectors and Controllers, Cloak and Gravity Generators, and the Sensors Array.
To clarify, if you wish to hyperspace an Assault Frigate, it will cost you at least 150 RUs, if the distance you wish to hyperspace it is between 0 and 5200 meters [distances are shown on the sensors manager]. If you wish to hyperspace it farther than 5200 meters, it will cost more, in proportion to the distance, until the cost reaches 500 RUs, at 92 km. You can hyperspace it as far as you want [within the confines of the map] and the cost will never rise above 500 RUs; if you wanted to hyperspace your Assault Frigate 230 km, it would still only cost 500 RUs.
Just for the record, it costs 25,000 RUs to jump the mothership 50 km!
Combat - While moving your units around the map, you may on occasion find yourself parked next to another players fleet. This is a good time to communicate your peaceful intentions to said player. I have found that carving your intentions on their hulls with large caliber weapons works wonders, and leaves a lasting impression.
This is the end of the early game. Once initial skirmishes are over, and players have established their economies and strategies, the game progresses to the midgame, and possibly the late game. I will cover the basics of Homeworld combat here, but fear not: The Good Stuff will be revealed and examined in the unit descriptions and evaluations, and also in the strategies section, where I will discuss the prevelant strategies and tactics being used on the multiplayer scene. But first, let’s learn to crawl…
Formations
Formations can play a large part in determining the outcome of a battle, especially where strike craft are concerned. I believe there is still much to learn about formations, so this section will be expanded upon in the future. For now the following information will have to do:
Delta - Delta formation is a dangerous formation to use. This is the default formation [the formation your strike craft will form when they’re done being serviced], and the problem lies in firing ranges. The unit in the front of the Delta is considered the ‘lead’, and all other member of the formation will keep position based on this unit. If the group is mixed, it will probably be the largest or most expensive vessel. What happens on occasion is you will tell a group of corvette class [or larger] units to engage an enemy, and the lead vessel will begin to circle and fire at the target from a certain distance. At this distance, the units at the tips of the Delta wing formation are out of firing range, and will maitain formation, even though they are too far the fire upon the target. Note that Defenders act similar to corvettes for the purpose of firing on an enemy unit. You may find that using fighter class ships in Delta provides some sort of advantage, however there are better formations to use. So until somebody finds a redeeming quallty in the Delta formation, stay away from it.
Broad - This one is not much more useful than Delta. The lead in a broad formation is again at the center, and that’s about all you need to know. On rare occasions I will place a small group of capital ships in Broad.
X - Now we’re cooking with fire! X formation is one of the more popular formations for strike craft, as it allows the units to enter firing range at about the same time. Units in X formation will also turn around faster than units in most other formations, since the unit spread is more compact. The lead in an X formation is at the center of the X.
Claw - Claw is probably the most well known formation in the community. Everyone uses Claw at one time or another. The lead in Claw is at the center of the claw. While some believ that Claw is useful for attacking capital ships [because they ‘engulf’ it], this is not the case. All Claw will do against capital or corvette ships is make less units available to as targets to any one turret at a time, while increasing the number if units availbable to ALL turrets. This is the opposite of what you want. Claw is more useful against fighters, as units in Claw formation have more room to jockey around in to avoid fire, although Claw also suffers from the fact that units tend to enter and exit firing ranges at different times.
Wall - Wall is the best formation overall available to you. It is excellent for both capital ships and strike craft alike, and units in Wall formation will enter firing range at almost the exact same time. This will direct the most firepower at your targets, and give your opponent the most tragets to deal with when the battle begins. Lead in Wall formation is in the upper right corner, as you face it. Units in Wall formation will turn around in the shorted possible time, and it’s easiest for support craft to service units in Wall formation. Wall does suffer, however, in that it makes it extremely easy for enemy ships to destroy thier targets, since once a unit is destroyed, the next target is probably right next to it. This keeps your opponents ships firing at an optimum rate, which can turn the tide of battle in their favor.
Sphere - Sphere formation can make you or break you. It is the best formation for fighter class ships when attacking an unarmed target, as they will abandon making runs on the target and maintain the formation around the target and direct a steady stream of firepower into it. Strike craft in Sphere will not manuever to evade incoming fire though, and this is the fastest way tolose your strike craft, since even an Ion Cannon Frigate can defeat fighters in Sphere formation. While they will manuever in place, by subtley bobbing and weaving, this will not save them. The lead in Sphere formation is a single ship at the center of the sphere, unless the formation is attacking a target, in which case the lead will take position at the top of the sphere. Sphere is also useful in that it prevents your attacking capital ships from being rammed by the mothership, ar most any target for that matter.
Custom -[SUB-to be examined later]
Tactics
Like formations, tactics can [an often will] decide the outcome of a battle between evenly matched forces. Tactics are the lifeblood of your strike craft, especially fighters, and are not quite as important to capital ships. Experimentation has shown that tactics tend to have a rock, paper, scissors effect with strike craft; fighters in particular. The outcomes are as follows [this is not written in stone]: Evasive beats Neutral, Neutral beats Aggressive, Aggressive beats Evasive. The Tactics availble to your units are:
Evasive - Contrary to popular belief, units on Evasive tactics do NOT go faster [with the possible exception of Scouts]. While they do maintain a higher average speed in combat, no unit in the game will arrive at a destination faster simply because it’s set to Evasive, wether your moving it there, guarding something there, or ordering it to attack a unit. Strike craft on Evasive will consume fuel faster, and it is possible that Scouts on Evasive cannot be overtaken by other Scouts even using Speed Burst [I haven’t tested this]. Strike craft set to Evasive will break formation and pair up, and capital ships set to Evasive will not fire on targets of opportunity.
Neutral - All units start out on Neutral. Not much to comment on here, you should be familiar with your units behavior on this setting.
Aggressive - This tactical setting is incredibly useful for strike craft, and basically pointless for capital ships. The most beneficial characteristic of strike craft, especially fighters, when set to Aggressive is that their firing range increases by 25%+, allowing them to open fire on identical units FIRST in a firefight. This goes a long way towards deciding the outcome of a skirmish. Agressive tactics do not cause units to shoot more often, it does not increase the damage they do, and it does not slow a unit down. Strike craft on Aggressive will not perform evasive manuevers of any kind, can be targeted and shot down by capital ships much more easily, and will maintain much tighter formations [with the exception of sphere formation, which is larger because of the increase in firing range].
note: The most widely used aspect of the Aggressive setting is the fact that Resource Collectors set to Aggressive will continue to harvest and function normally. On any other setting they will return to the nearest friendly controller, carrier, or mothership if they sustain ANY damage whatsoever.
The next order of combat is to choose a target to kill. If you have a group of scouts, and you run into a group of enemy scouts, the target is simple enough. Bandbox the enemy scouts while holding CTRL, and your good to go.
Problems begin to surface, however, when multiple types of ships encounter each other. The problem is actually three-fold:
1 - Who’s the biggest threat?
2 - Who’s the easiest to kill?
3 - Who’s the easiest to target?
1 - Who’s the Biggest Threat? This factor, like all the others requires you to know your units, their stats, and their capabilities. Generally speaking, the bigger it is, the more dangerous it is. Beware of the metagame though. If you have 2 Ion Frigates, and your opponent has 1 Ion Frigate and 10 Interceptors, the Interceptors are the biggest threat. If you have 1 Ion Frigate and 10 Interceptors, and your opponent also has 1 Ion Frigate and 10 Interceptors, the Interceptors are still the biggest threat. Because if you kill the Ion Frigate, his Interceptors are still a threat to your fighters and frigate. But, if you kill the fighters, his frigate is only a threat to your frigate…your Interceptors have nothing to fear from an Ion Frigate.
2 - Who’s the easiest to kill? This one is easy and straight forward. Which target would die first? By diminishing the enemy numbers as fast as possible, you reduce the amount of damage being directed at your fleet…as fast as possible. Is your opponent attacking you with 2 Ion Frigates and 1 Destroyer? Easy…kill the Ion Frigates. Is your opponent attacking your mixed fleet of strike craft and capital ships with 2 Ion Frigates and 1 Missile Destroyer? Again, easy…kill the Missile Destroyer. Why? Because it works both ways…[and this is assuming you know that you must remove your strike craft from this particualr engagement before the Missile Destroyer get in range]…if you kill the Ion Frigates, your still missing at least half your firepower; the Missile Destroyer is temporarily ‘killing’ half your fleet simply by being in the vicinity. By removing the Missile Destroyer, you add that half of your firepower back to the battle. Even if he kills all your capital ships…wouldn’t you rather have your strike craft facing 2 Ion Frigates, as opposed to 1 Missile Destroyer?
3 - Who’s the easiest to target? This one is obivous and intuitive. Whoever your pointing at is the easiest one to target, obviously. Note that if an enemy is close to you and to your side [or above or below you], you can bring them into your firing arc faster by backing away from them after you issue the attack order. This only applies to capital ships; once you give a capital ship orders to attack, you can then issue a move command to it and it will continue to fire on it’s target while it moves. Strike Craft can be a problem when they enter the fray: you typically can’t bandbox them because you’ll end up snagging other targets you don’t wish to shoot at. In these cases you will have to be attentive and select as many strike craft as you can at a time, repeating the process until they’re dead. Do not bandbox targets that aren’t a priority, and don’t tell your units to guard a unit the strike craft are attacking, as your units will likely not consider the strike craft a primary threat. And they probably are.
So using the above criteria, who do you target? Well, I can’t tell you that: every game is different. I have, however, provided you with the information you need to make that descision. You must prioritize your targets by combining the guidelines presented here with your own judgement. Experience will be your best teacher in these matters.
Remember, when attacking capital ships, target them one at a time. When that target is dead, move on to the next.
Special Note on Capital Ships
All captial ships suffer increased damage when attacked from the top, bottom, or rear. While I don’t know the multiplier for attacks from the top or bottom, attacks from the rear do almost twice as much damage as normal. The exception to this rule are Resource Collectors, Gravwell and Cloak Generators, Research Ships, Sensors Arrays, and the Mothership.
II. Unit Descriptions and Evaluation
In the following section I will cover various units and unit types within the game. Please refer to table 1-1 for specific unit statistics. First lets take a look at the 2 races themselves and see how they stack up:
Kushan - The Kushan are fundamentally the “Good Guys”, i.e. they are the default race the single player missions are based around. Unfortunately, they are not the best choice to make in multiplayer games. This is due to two main descrepancies:
1 - Kushan Super Capital Ships take longer to become available due to the ‘door’ that they emerge from…this was covered earlier in this guide. Adding to this problem is the fact that Cloak and Gravwell Generators and Resource Controllers are considered Super Capital Ships for the purpose of emerging from or being salvaged/retired to the mothership. The final nail in the coffin is, of course, that the door must open and close completely for each ship or operation.
2 - The Kushan’s unique vessels are flawed and weaker than thier counterparts. The reasons are covered in the sections for those units [Cloaked Fighter and Drone Frigate].
If you’re willing to deal with these shortcomings [which you really shouldn’t be], then the Kushan units are otherwise very similar [but not identical] to their Taidan counterparts. Players obviously have preferences as to who’s ships look cooler, but that is irrelevant and does not affect any aspect of gameplay, with the possible exception of your enjoyment of the game. However, since I wrote this guide, I feel compelled to abuse my standing in this matter and force upon you my taste in galactic fashion. So there.
? Fighers - Taidan all the way, with the exception of the Cloaked Fighter [which looks cool when it’s not cloaked], and the Defender, with its pop-out cannons.
? Corvettes - Kushan, with the exception of the Taidan Heavy Corvette.
? Resources - Kushan again, especially when it comes to controllers and docking methods. Plus, I prefer the Kushan ‘oil tanker’ collectors to the Taidan ‘Mack Truck’ collectors.
? Frigates - Kushan, although the Taidan Assault Frigate is something of an icon. This is a tough one to call, unlike…
? Destroyers - Taidan, and this matter is only hurt more by the similarities between the Kushan Destroyer and Heavy Cruiser.
? Carriers - Toss up. Don’t see them very often anyway, although the Kushan Carrier has the same polish as the Resource Controllers when it comes to Collectors docking.
? Heavy Cruiser - Taidan, and with authority! The Kushan Heavy Cruiser doesn’t even come close to the sleek lines and contemporary styling of the Taidan Heavy Cruiser. Drive one home today!
? Odds and Ends - Kushan. The Taidan Cloak, Gravwell, and Research ships pale in comparison. And don’t force me to mention that obnoxious green Sensors Array…
Taidan - Oddly enough, everything you need to know about the Taidan was covered in the previous section on the Kushan. To complete this rather broad look at the Taidan and Kushan races, start a couple of games first as one, then the other. Have Research turned off and plenty of fast injections and build all the unit types. This will show you the Parade Formation positions of all the ships for each side, as they are not the same.
NOTE: The following entries list weapon ranges for many of the craft. For strike craft, the ranges are shown in Neutral/Aggressive format. For capital ships, the ranges shown [if more than 1 is listed] will also indicate the weapon system. The Missile Destroyer has two values listed because it will start firing it’s missiles while still out of range of it’s target [the values are FiringRange/MissileRange]. Values for the Field Frigate, etc., indicate the area of effect.
Strike Craft
Strike Craft consist of two sub-classes: fighters and corvettes. Strike craft burn fuel, and must be refueled at a support craft before they run out. Strike Craft that run out of fuel are unable to fire their weapons, but will continue to move VERY slowly. If this happens you can assign support craft to service them. The support craft will then fly out to the stranded units and refuel and/or repair them. Strike Craft are unable to hyperspace.
Fighter Class
Fighters are the smallest combat unit you can build. They are fast, cheap, they build quickly, and are ideal for harrasing and destroying non-combat units. They fair well against capital ships [with the obvious exception of units that are designed to counter them], and can be researched faster than any other class of ship overall.
Defender
Mass: 10 tons
Weapon Range: 6500m / 8800m
Research: Fighter Drive, Defender Sub-Systems
Defenders are the the best fighter class unit overall. They are the fastest building combat unit in the game, have the longest attack range of any strike craft [or any unit in the game when set to aggressive], have the highest armor of any fighter, have the one of the best anti-fighter projectiles, can target more units than any other fighter, have excellent coverage for a strike craft, research faster than any other strike craft [except the Light Corvette and Interceptor], yet only cost slightly more than an Interceptor. While Defenders are also the slowest strike craft, this has not proven a sufficient handicap, and the Defender has therefore become the most abused unit online. In the ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ game of Homeworld, Defenders are the ‘Atom Bomb’. Defenders are especially deadly on smaller maps and maps where resources are tight. Defenders are best used in wall formation, where their superior numbers can reduce enemy strike craft to dust before they enter into firing range. Sphere formation is also useful under the right circumtances. Because of the incredile offensive capabilities of this unit, you should rarely use them to defend. Use their superior build rate to amass as many as you can, and quickly send them out to disrupt your opponents economy and fleet assembly.
Scout
Mass: 8 tons
Weapon Range: 3800m / 4800m
Research: none
The Jack-Of-All-Trades. And Maser-Of-Quite-A-Few. The Scout is the most versitale and economic unit availabe: no research is required, they’re cheap and build fast, and they are the fastest and most manueverable combat unit in the game. Don’t let they’re low armor and firepower fool you; you should have a group of about 20 Scouts [a mere 700 RUs] available to you throughout the game. This group, or parts of it, can be used for recon, harrasement, or to augment the firepower of other units or fleets under your command. Twenty Scouts in sphere formation will kill a resource collector in a reasonable amount of time, and this is the where the true power of the Scout comes in handy. If your opponent sends units to deal with your Scouts, you can outrun those units until your opponent abandons the pursuit. If he assigns adequate defenses to the target, you can quickly vector your Scouts to a new target and attack again. If your Scouts are forced to fight a battle against superior forces, you can kamikaze them as a last resort, inflicting a surprising number of casualties on the opposing group. Do not throw your Scouts away, as they are just as valuable as any other unit you can produce. Protect them as you would protect the more expensive and impressive ships in your fleet, and they will pave the way for your victory.
Special Ability: Speed Burst
The Scouts special ability temporarly increases the speed of the unit by about 50-100%. It is useful for retreating from other Scouts when outnumbered, or to close with hostile units who possess superior firing ranges. Scouts executing a Speed Burst can also outrun Guided Missiles, and since kamikaze damage is calculated from speed and mass, using Speed Burst will drastically increase the damage a vessel suffers when a Scout impacts with it. Caution should be used around asteroid fields, since Scouts tend to run into these objects when executing a Speed Burst.
Interceptor
Mass: 10 tons
Weapon Range: 4000m / 5500m
Research: Fighter Drive, Fighter Chassis
Interceptors are a excellent, if rather ‘run of the mill’, addition to the fighter class units. Easy to research, they can be obtained very early in the game. They build slightly faster than most other strike craft, and it’s relatively cheap, at 55 RUs, to maintain a steady supply of them. If the map will afford it, think about replacing or augmenting your Scouts with Interceptors, as Interceptors pack quite a punch in numbers. [SUB-To be examined later].
Defense Fighter [Taidan]
Mass: 10 tons
Weapon Range: Who cares?
Research: Fighter Drive, Fighter Chassis, Defense Fighter
Defense Fighters are a support unit designed to shoot down incoming enemy fire. Unfortunately, I have not yet taken the time to figure out how to use them effectively. I do know two things:
1 - I have seen Defense Fighters do little to protect themselves and the ships around them from other strike craft.
2 - I have personally witnessed 10 Defense Fighters protect themselves almost indefinately against 8+ Multi-Gun Corvettes.
[SUB-To be examined later].
Cloaked Fighter [Kushan]
Mass:10 tons
Weapon Range: 4000m / 5000m
Research: Fighter Drive, Fighter Chassis, Cloaked Fighter
As the Kushan’s unique fighter, this unit is one of the reasons the Taidan hold an advantage over the Kushan in the multiplayer arena. It’s not that the Cloaked Fighter is itself a bad unit. On the contrary, it’s one of the best strike craft available. The problem is that they build slow…real slow. Slow enough to prevent them from being a viable unit in 99% of the games you will play. Heavy Corvettes build faster. And if I see my opponent using Cloaked Fighters, I can research Proximity Sensors [with three research ships] before he finishes building another cloaked fighter. While the next Cloaked Fighter is building, I can contruct 7 of those Proximity Sensors and have them en route. As it stands, there are better technologies to obtain, as the Cloaked Fighter will not make up for the research time it requires.
Attack Bomber
Mass:10 tons
Weapon Range: 5200m / 7300m
Research: Fighter Drive, Fighter Chassis, Plasma Bomb Launcher
Unlike the Cloaked Fighter, Attack Bombers are available to both races. Like the Cloaked Fighter, however, Attack Bombers suffer from a fatal flaw that keeps tham from be useful in 99% of the games you will play. The problem with Attack Bomber is that they die. Quickly. To almost everything. With the lowest armor rating in the game, Attack Bombers simply are not worth the RUs and research neccessary to obtain them. Even providing an excessive and large escort will not protect your investment. Steer clear.
Corvette Class
Corvettes are the most verstaile unit class in Homeworld. They are useful against fighters, capital ships, and even other corvettes. When RUs are abundant, Corvettes can be amassed quickly, since you can build pretty much all of them without having to worry about specialization: all corvettes are dangerous to your opponent in one form or another, regardless of they’re strategy. Corvettes currently suffer from high costs and slow build rates.
Light Corvette
Mass:150 tons
Weapon Range: 5100m / 6500m
Research: Corvette Drive
Held in check only because of the unbalancing effect of the Defender, Light Corvettes are potentially a huge threat in the early game. This comes from their ability to arrive on the scene very early [the next fastest combat unit takes over twice as long to research], and with 900 armor to boot. Speedwise they pale in comparision to most fighter class units, but from corvettes on up they are the second fastest combat unit available. Light Corvettes eat fighter class units for breakfast [see the section on Defenders for the exception to this rule and virtually all others in this guide], but become less effective later in the game when they lack the firepower of the other units.
Heavy Corvette
Mass:150 tons
Weapon Range: 5100m / 6500m
Research: Corvette Drive, Corvette Chassis, Heavy Corvette Upgrade
The King of the strike craft. The Heavy Corvette flat out beats all other strike craft in combat, with the possible exception of the minelayer [which doesn’t fare well at all against fighters]. It also researches faster than most of the other corvettes, making it an attractive choice for players wishing to steer towards the high end strike craft. With an armor rating of 1700, these thing just don’t die, and though they are particularly vulnerable to capital ships, keeping them around will give your opponent more to worry about, since a Heavy Corvette can withstand 3 Ion Cannon hits before giving out.
Special Ability: Charged Burst Attack
The Heavy Corvettes special ability is a Charged Burst Attack: an explosive area affect shot that decimates fighter class vessels. The Charged Burst Attack, is useless against anything larger, and is a fickle weapon to boot. This comes from the fact that there is a delay before this attack will complete. It appears that the target area is locked in at the start of the delay, and so a few seconds later when it goes off, the nimble fighters have left the area of effect. The best way to deal with this is to continually bandbox the intended targets over and over until the burst comes out. Note that the Heavy Corvette will stop and remain motionless while performing a Charged Burst Attack.
Repair Corvette
Mass:150 tons
Weapon Range: 3100m / 4000m
Research: None
The only true support craft available to you at the start of the game, Repair Corvettes are a useful, if specialized, unit. They cost little and build fast enough, though they are of minimal value as a fighter repair/refueling station. Though they are armed with a single turret, for offensive purposes they are the most useless buildable combat unit in the game. Instead, Repair Corvettes are best used to support corvettes, resource class vessels, and capital ships Using these units to support your corvettes can pay big dividends, extending your offensive units mortality indefinately and making Salvage Corvettes a real threat. Repair corvettes cannot refuel other corvettes though, so you will require Support Frigates to service your corvettes in the field. This unit, and any other support/service craft, does not run out of fuel. As was previously mentioned, Repair Corvettes can do little to support your fighters in the field, since they can only service one unit at a time. Build these in small numbers, but build them just the same: they can easily turn the tide of early battles in your favor. 4-5 Repair Corvettes are equivalent in healing ability to one support frigate.
Special Ability: Support/Service
Repair Corvettes can repair any unit, and can refuel fighter class units in the field. Don’t bother telling them to service your fighters, as you will have to babysit the operation to prevent your fighters from entering Delta fornation and following the Repair Corvette around afterwards. Because the cursor will default to a service icon [red cross] when placed over any other unit, you must use the dock command to force Repair Corvettes to dock. If you want them to dock with a particualr vessel, you will have to make sure that it’s the closest unit able to service them.
Salvage Corvette
Mass:400 tons
Research: Corvette Drive, Corvette Chassis
Salvage Corvettes have one mission, and that is to steal enemy units. While this may sound like the best gift RUs can buy, make no mistake: Salvage Corvettes are the Homeworld equivalent of a 400 ton ‘Shoot Me’ sign. As such you should not send them onto the field of engagement without adequate support and/or sufficient tactical diversions. Once Salvage Corvettes latch onto a unit and begin towing it, that unit will cease firing, any special abilites will cease to function, and its owner will no longer be able to select it [i.e. they will be unable to scuttle or hyperspace it]. The number of Salvage Corvettes required to sieze a vessel are as follows:
Fighters, Corvettes - 1
Frigates, Collectors, Generators - 2
Destroyers, Controllers - 3
Cruisers, Carriers - 6
Planets - 541,239
To the best of my knowledge, Research Ships cannot be salvaged. As for Probes, Proximity Sensors, and Sensors Arrays…whatever. Since your opponent may try to kamikaze his strike craft to prevent a units capture, try to intercept rescue attempts early in order to diminish or eliminate suicide squads.
Note: If a Salvage Corvette is attached to one of your units, you may have difficulty targeting it with capital ships. They will not maneuver to create a line of fire and may stop responding if ordered to attack the corvette and no line of fire exists. In this case you will have to maneuver your ships manually. If the unit being seized is a capital ship, it may start spinning in place, complicating matters further. This has only happened to me on a select few occasions, and strike craft will prevent this fiasco altogether.
Special Ability: Salvage
The salvage ability is also the Salvage Corvettes ‘weapon’, so it doesn’t matter how you tell them to salvage; you can attack/force attack a unit, bandbox several units to salvage, or use the special abilities key [default ‘z’]. If you salvage a super capital ship, and your mothership is subsequently destroyed, the corvettes will continue to hold the unit indefinately until they are destroyed or you give them other orders.
Minelayer Corvette
Mass:150
Weapon Range: @5000m [?]
Research: Corvette Drive, Corvette Chassis, Mine-Laying Technology
Every capital ships nightmare, the Minelayer Corvettes offensive capabilities increase geometrically with each unit you build. Minelayers attack by flying around the target vessel and releasing mines that home in on and impact the target for substantial damage. As an added bonus, the mines aren’t exactly speedy, and tend to follow the target around for a short while if it’s moving. This increases the chance that the mines will impact on the sides or rear of the vessel, drastically increasing the damage. Mines are effective against anything larger than a fighter, and that includes corvettes. As an exception, Defenders tend to take a beating from mines, as they are slow and tend to wallow around their targets in combat. Minelayer Corvettes carry an internal store of 6 mines, but they continue producing them at a rate of 1 every 15 seconds, so you never really run out. Mines have a time limit after which they expire. While I don’t know the duration, my experience has shown me that it’s a very long time. Mines can be force-attacked.
Special Ability: Force Drop
The Minelayer Corvettes special ability is the Force Drop, which causes the unit to stop where it is and start deploying mines that form a wall behind it. The wall will be contructed perpendicular to the minelayers current heading when it is given this order. So if the corvettes was heading up at a 45’ angle, the wall behind it would be slanted at 45’ [with the bottom of the wall extending ‘forward’]. Keep in mind that while mines will actively seek out only hostile ships, they will detonate on contact with ANY vessel. Mines that are Force Dropped supposedly do more damage than mines released when directed to attack a unit or group of units. Force Dropped mines cannot be directed, however, and will seek out the largest vessel in range [not the closest]. There may be other criteria that determines a mines target.
Multi-Gun Corvette
Mass:150 tons
Weapon Range: 6100m / 7800m
Research: Corvette Drive, Corvette Chassis, Fast-Tracking Turrets
Overall one of the best corvettes, the Multi-Gun Corvette has an impressive list of standard features. It has a firing range second only to Defenders and Missile Destroyers, adequate firepower and armor, and it’s way faster than any corvette has a right to be. This means it performs better than any other corvette across all the platforms as a whole. Like the Scout, Multi-Gun Corvettes can pretty much augment any operation you assign them to, and can be relocated and redirected with the kind of swiftness that is otherwise reserved for fighter class units. When no fighters are available, these corvettes are your best bet for chasing down salvage corvettes and intercepting harrassing fleets of strike craft.
Resource Class
These are the ships your economy will be built on, and that will in turn build your economy. Every game you play, you will build and protect these units. They are expensive and worth every penny you put into them. When managed properly and used to their fullest potential, they can indirectly put your opponent at a huge disadvantage.
Resource Collector
Mass:400 tons
Research: None
A unique unit through and through. While they share the same drive as basic strike craft [indicated by the glowing ion trail that follows behind them], they equal frigates in mass. Salvage Corvettes also weigh in at 400 tons, but Resource Collectors differentiate themselves by being the only non-capital ship unit capable of hyperspace. Like strike craft, however, they do NOT suffer additional damage from attacks to the top, bottom, and rear; they can also be ordered to kamikaze. This unit harvests asteroids, dust clouds, gas clouds, and nebula [really just a collection of gas clouds with nitfy looking ‘strands’ connecting them]. Larger ships that are destroyed will occasionally leave behind a cloud of debris identical to a dust cloud. Resource Collectors that are set to Evasive or Neutral which come under fire will return to the nearest dockable vessel [mothership, controller, or carrier], regardless of the severity of the attack [they will do this wether they are harveseting or not]. Collectors set to Aggressive will continue to harvest and operate normally, regardless of the amount of damage they have sustained. Once a harvester has collected a full load [always 650 RUs], it will return to the nearest friendly vessel it can dock with. If it docks with an ally’s controller, carrier, or mothership, you will still recieve the full shipment. If you tell one of your Resource Collectors to dock with a vessel that can recieve shipments, it will NOT resume harvesting once it completes the dock, but will instead follow that vessel around under a default guard command.
Special Ability: Harvest
While you will often use the ‘H’ hotkey to have your Resource Collectors begin to harvest, you can, at your descretion, force them to harvest a particular resource by using the ‘z’ key [or by simply placing the cursor over a valid resource]. Collectors ordered to harvest this way will continue to harvest normally once that particular resource object is depleted.
Resource Controller
Mass:600 tons
Research: Capital Ship Drive
The Resource Controller is another link in the resource chain. While collectors harvest the RUs, those RUs are unavailable to you until that load is dropped off at the mothership, a carrier, or a controller. Resource Controllers are designed for this purpose, as they are much faster then the mothership and much cheaper, and quicker to research, than a carrier. Resource Controllers can be used in one of two ways:
1 - They can be set to Guard a Resource Collector. This is probably the best an most widely used method, as it tends to keep your collectors together and insures that resources or collected and tranferred at an optimum rate. If you have your controller guard multiple collectors, it will maintain an equal distance from all of them [as will any unit that is guarding multiple units]. As a pleasant bonus however, once a collector obtains a full load and targets the controller to drop it off, the controller will NOT keep trying to maintain it’s position between them, but will stop and wait at it’s current location until the collector has delivered it’s shipment. Once the collector disengages from the controller, the Resource Controller will resume guarding normally.
2 - You can move your Resource Controller to an area on the map and leave it there. This is not as effective as the guard technique, however it does hold certain advatages. One advantage is that on maps like Talas Corssroads or Scattered, a central resource pocket will regenerate at a slow pace. If your collector manage to harvest all the resources in the pocket, they will proceed to the next available resource. When the resource pockets regenerates and produces more dust clouds [or whatever type of resource it is] they will NOT turn around: the next available resource is evaluated once when the collectors are searching for the next target [they will, however, search for a new target if they’re current one is consumed/destroyed]. By keeping the Controller inside or next to this patch, you don’t have to worry about it following a collector to some far corner of map in search on some pebble. You also decrease the chance that your collectors will leave the center at all, since they will have to travel a slighlty farther distance to drop off their loads, which gives the pocket more time to regenerate and maintain a small ‘stock’ of resources.
If multiple Resource Collectors arrive at a controller at the same time to dock, they will wait in line by the controller as they drop of their loads. If there are already 2 collectors waiting, the 4th collector [1 docking and two others waiting] will head to the next nearest vessel capable of recieving shipments. If this happens to be the collector your controller was guarding, it will follow the Resource Collector all the way back to the target unit [usually the mothership]. Hence, it is advisable not to exceed a 3:1 ratio of collectors to controllers in any one region. Resource Controllers are also capable of refueling, but not repairing, up to 6 fighters and 2 corvettes at a time.
Capital Ships
Capital Ships sit on the other end of the unit spectrum in Homeworld. With the exception of non-combat class units, the following units all share several traits as capital ships: they are capable of hyperspace, they suffer additional damage from attacks to the top, bottom, and rear of their chassis, repair themselves over time, and they can be issued move commands after being given an attack order [they will move while continuing to face and fire at their target(s)]. Resource Controllers are capital ships. Capital ships do not consume fuel.
Frigate Class
Frigates are the your first venture into the world of capital ships. They are slow and well armored. The frigate class contains a unique vessel for each race [fighter being the other], and mark the earliest appearance of the Ion Cannon.
Assault Frigate
Mass:400 tons
Weapon Range: Bomb 6900m / Turrets 5500m
Research: Capital Ship Drive, Capital Ship Chassis
Assault Frigates are common in most games, and make an excellent general purpose low-level capital ship. They are effective corvettes and anything larger. While they may seem underpowered once you see the higher tech ships in action, 2 Assault Frigates will kill a Resource Collector quickly enough, and Assault Frigates can be obtained rather early. Barring strike craft, Assault Frigates are your next best defense against salvage corvettes, early in the game.
Support Frigate
Mass:400 tons
Weapon Range: 2500m
Research: Capital Ship Drive
Like Defenders, Support Frigates are over-powered and upset the balance of the game. This is because just 1 Support Frigate can heal a vessel fast enough to cancel out the fire from a Destroyer. That’s right, if you have a Destroyer shooting a unit and a Support Frigate healing it, that unit will never die. Two Support Frigates will pretty much nullify a Heavy Cruiser [add 2 Repair Corvettes to competely void it’s firepower]. And since Support Frigates research very early and cost a measly 425 RUs, well…what can I say. You be a fool not to use them.
Special Ability: Support/Service
Support Frigates can service up to 10 fighters and 4 corvettes simultaneously. They can repair anything larger than a corvette [using Cavedogs patented NanoLathing technology], and can also repair Salvage Corvettes when they are attached to a unit. If you bandbox a group of capital ships to support, make sure that the selected Support Frigate are not in the box, since they will not support each other if you do this [though they will support the other units].
Field Frigate
Mass:400 tons
Weapon Range: 2000m
Research: Capital Ship Drive, Capital Ship Chassis, Defense Field
The Taidan Field Frigate is probably the best unique unit in the game. It nullifies approximately 80% of all ballistic weapon shots, fired by enemy vessels, that enter its area of effect. It does not stop plasma bombs, missiles, or ion beams. To the best of my knowledge, it does not intefere with enemy Defense Fighters either, if they’re present. You can use this unit either to protect assets that are under attack [if the enemy is spread out or attacking a single unit], or place it among enemy vessels to disrupt they’re fire at the source [if the enemy is attacking several units]. It is the best armored frigate in the game, and is also the most expensive at 800 RUs. It is fast enough to keep up with most captial ships, though make sure you’re going to use these before you research them, as they take a substantial amount of time to obtain.
Special Ability: Defense Field
The Defense Field is always active, and does not need to be turned on or off. You may have to babysit this unit to make sure it maintains useful position. Use the Caps Lock key to monitor its area of effect and the units that are being protected/supressed.
Drone Frigate
Mass:400 tons
Weapon Range: @4500m [?]
Research: Capital Ship Drive, Capital Ship Chassis, Drone Technology
As the Kushan’s unique frigate, the Drone Frigate is strike 3 against the Kushan as a playable race [1 being the Door of Doom and 2 being the Cloaked Fighter]. Drone Frigates release a field of 24 drones that form a sphere around the frigate and fire upon other units. Unfortunately, Drone frigates have an unimpressive range, and the drones can be shot down quickly by most strike craft [the very unit Drone Frigates were designed to counter]. The Drone Frigate manufactures more drones as needed, but not quickly enough to save this pathetic excuse for 800 RUs. The icing on the cake, of course, is that Gravwell Generators affect the drones the same way it affects strike craft.
Special Ability: Release/Retract Drones
While the drone frigate will automatically release its drones when ordered to attack or guard something, you must retract the drones before hyperspacing this unit. If you do not, the drones will remain in place while the frigate hyperspaces out, moving to form up again when it exits hyperspace.
Ion Cannon Frigate
Mass:400 tons
Weapon Range: 5300m
Research: Capital Ship Drive, Capital Ship Chassis, Ion Cannons
The ‘Pillsbury Dough Boy’ of Homeworld, these adorable little frigates will bring a smile to your face every time. Everybody loves Ion Cannon Frigates, and with good reason. They are the first real show of firepower you can obtain, despite their slightly reduced armor, poor speed, limited coverage, and the increased vulnerablility to strike craft. Ion Cannon frigates are particularly vulnerable to Salvage Corvettes, which is only increases their priority as a salvage target. Ion Cannon Frigates are the earliest unit that can pose a viable threat to your opponents Mothership.
Super-Capital Class
This class of vessel marks the beginning of the end, in more ways than one. Super-capital ships have incredibly high armor and firepower ratings, and are all above average in one way or another. Just one of these vessels can cause the winds of change to sweep the battlefield [what the HELL is this guy typing?], and they’re worth every RU you pour into them. The build times are rather long however, so don’t plan on having too many of these suckers anytime soon.
Destroyer
Mass:1800 tons
Weapon Range: Ion 6800m / Turrets 5000m
Research: Super-Capital Ship Drive, Ion Cannons
Frequently the first super-capital ship to arrive on the scene, Destroyers are a perfect example of the superior relative characteristics of this class of vessel. For the cost of 2 Ion Cannon Frigates [and some chump change], a Destroyer packs 25% more firepower [in the form of 2 turrets that can turn to track targets as small as a corvette], has a +1500 meter range on it’s twin ion cannons, approximately 50% more armor, and possesses superior speed [not sure about manueverability].
Missile Destroyer
Mass:1000 tons
Weapon Range: Firing 9000m / Missile 8500m
Research: Super-Capital Ship Drive, Guided Missiles
One of the few answers capital ships have for strike craft, the Missile Destroyer pretty much shuts down your opponents fighters and corvettes when it enters the fray. Missile Destroyers are marginally useful against other capital ships, which is acceptable considering it’s specialized role. Missile Destroyers are very slow, however this is not a serious problem in combat once it arrives, as it’s missiles have a 360’ area of coverage. However, Missile Destroyers will frequently attempt to turn at least 90’ towards thier target before releasing it’s ordnance. Missile Destroyers have an annoying habit of backing away from any target it is asigned to, so care must be taken to ensure it stays positioned in the local theater of engagement. One final quirk: Missile Destroyers will frequently start firing from about 500 meters beyon