Homeworld 2 ships. Native World

Developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment, the game is 115 years ahead of the original Homeworld. The protagonist race from the previous 2 games, the Hiigarane, is slowly establishing its once-crushed empire as a formidable galactic force. However, the Hiigaran's prosperity is interrupted by the emergence of a malevolent nomadic force known as the Weigry. The Veygr united under the command of Macaan, who came to power after the opening of the third hyperspace core. Makaan declared himself Sajuk Kar - the Chosen One who forms existence. The Hiigaranes must once again unearth the ax of war and defend their domain, which they previously fought so desperately for.

While the Weigras are launching a brutal campaign in outer space in Hiigaran, the Hiigara clans unite to build a new (relative to a similar ship from previous games) Mothership; construction takes place in a secret shipbuilding facility. Along with the ancient hyperspace core of the original Mothership, the new ship houses Karen Si'Jet, a longtime Hiigaran heroine who serves as the living core of the Mothership. During the campaign, the Hiigaranes wage a desperate war aimed at repelling the onslaught of the Weygr and expelling them from the system that gave the game its name "Homeworld". When the situation deteriorates, the Hiigiran make a desperate decision: to fly away from Homeworld and find the technology of the Ancient Ancestors, which will give an advantage to the war. It soon becomes clear that the Macaans are also looking for Ancestor technology.

Gameplay

Much like the first two Homeworld games, Homeworld 2 contains the same massive battles taking place in 3D space (unlike most strategy games). The three-dimensional nature of Homeworld never feels intimidating to play, as context-sensitive commands are used abundantly, meaning, for example, right-clicking on a unit can perform most of the game's commands, including attack, recovery and gathering. The player can control movement along all 3 axes; for example, movement along the Z axis is controlled while holding down the Shift key. Thanks to this, the player gets a lot of tactical options. Since the action takes place in space, things such as shelters and resources are rare, so the formation, formation and position of units are more important in battle. Some of the larger units, such as battleships and cruisers, are very weakly protected from the rear and turn very slowly; thus, a smart commander can flank such units using small and fast units.

Players build their fleets by mining and using RU ("Resource Units") from asteroids. Mining ships must return to the Mothership or to dedicated processing platforms. The miners often have to operate at a distance from the supporting fleet, so they can be destroyed without much resistance. Resource units are used for construction and research, which means you have to choose between expanding your fleet, upgrading existing ships or researching new units with new abilities.

Much of Homeworld's gameplay revolves around the Mothership. The mother ship is the stronghold that supports the fleet - it produces new units and repairs damaged ships, serves as a point of delivery of resources and carries out research. The mother ship can produce all units of the game, except for 2: the shipyard, which is built on Hiigara, and the battle cruiser, which is only built in the shipyard. The loss of the Mothership during the campaign means that the mission must be restarted. In multiplayer mode, players who have lost the Mothership can continue the battle with the Carrier, a smaller production ship capable of performing most of the functions of the Mothership, but not capable of producing frigates.

Sequel

About a year after the release of Homeworld 2, Relic Studios was acquired by another company, THQ. It happened in August 2004, the deal was worth $ 10 million. Since THQ was viewed as a competitor to Sierra Entertainment and Vivendi Universal, a new Homeworld game was considered unlikely as Sierra still owned the rights to the game. However, in November 2007 THQ finally confirmed the acquisition of a license for the Homeworld franchise, however, information about a possible new game was not given. In November 2008, Eurogamer reported that Relic was clearly considering making Homeworld 3.

The Homeworld series is a massive real-time strategy game in which the player takes on the role of commander of a space fleet. For our readers, we have prepared a review “ Homeworld 2» ( Home World 2), which reveals the key features of this legendary game. By right, "Rodniy Mir" is a classic of the genre, this project had a significant impact on the development of the segment of space RTS and strategies.

Try to play EVE Online and evaluate it for yourself - how much this game universe suits you.

Micro and macro control in Homeworld 2

Key feature Homeworld 2 lies in the fact that battles take place in three-dimensional space - this means that each unit can move in six directions, instead of the usual four (forward, backward, left, right + up, down). The position of the ships in space relative to each other plays an important role - the armor is unevenly located on the hull of the equipment, and the damage that the rocket inflicts on the bottom and side of the ship is significantly different.

Homeworld 2 requires a high degree of concentration and experience in the RTS genre from the player. The commander-in-chief has to not only quickly manage the fleet during collisions, but also plan the production and consumption of resources that are necessary for the production of new ships and key research.

Ships in Homeworld 2

Ships in Homeworld 2 are represented by the following range of varieties:

• The Mothership is the backbone of any fleet, the largest unit in the game, which acts as a command post, the main production and research center. The "mother" ship moves slowly and does not have effective defense mechanisms. It can manufacture any kind of vehicle, but it is mainly used to create heavy attack ships that can independently “churn out” lighter units.
• The aircraft carriers in Homeworld 2 are the core of the Expeditionary Force. Heavy and to some extent clumsy, these dreadnoughts are capable of turning any ship that has failed force fields into debris and space debris.
• Fighters of various classes and types are a bargaining chip on the battlefield. Relatively cheap and quick to manufacture, they perform a wide range of missions on the battlefield, from reconnaissance to massive attacks.
• Civil Aviation in Homeworld 2 is mainly represented by mining ships that collect valuable resources from asteroids, large ship wrecks and gas clouds.

An interesting aspect of the game is the research modules that are used to develop new technologies. Just one side can have six capsules, each of which can develop one technology or combine with another to speed up the process.

How to make the most efficient use of limited time resources? The outcome of the battle largely depends on whether the commander-in-chief finds the answer to this question. Technological advantage is the key to winning Homeworld 2.

The results of the review of the game Homeworld 2

In project " Homeworld 2"Developers from Relic Entertainment managed to move the usual strategic battles from two-dimensional to three-dimensional space. Qualitatively new solutions, an innovative graphics engine at the time of the release of the game largely determined the further course of the development of the genre.

Capital planet: Hiigara / Kharak;

Emblem:

Short story:

One of the most long-suffering races in the XB galaxy, which constantly falls to experience the heavy tread of the conquerors.

First, they are kicked out of their home planet by the Taidans, sending them to hell on Easter cakes, that is, to Kharak.

Then, after 3000 years, the same Taidans burn out 300 million inhabitants of Kharak. Unfortunately for the punitive squadron, the gigantic colonial ship escapes destruction and begins its bloody vendetta.
Thanks to a happy coincidence, the ex-residents of Kharak, the Kushans manage to become Hiigaryans - that is, after 3000 years they can reclaim their planet. But even in trouble, with a population of only 600 thousand Hiigars, they could not resist strife: internal large clans, called Kiits, began to fight for the assimilation of small Kiits. Plus, thanks also to the brave Hiigaryans, the Creature appeared in the world, organizing the local Apocalypse. But everything ended more or less well ...
But exactly one hundred years after the Beast's invasion of the Hiigaryans, who barely managed to reach a population of about 200 million people, a red threat attacked the Galaxy - the Weigry ...

Analogs the real world: Jews;

Fractions: Ancestral clans, called Kiits, are the 8 largest.

2. Taidans

Capital planet: Taiden / Hiigara;

Emblem:

Short story:

The main empire of the Galaxy, setting the tone for the whole story.

Several thousand years ago, the Taidans and Hiigarians, together with 14 unknown races, constituted the main force of the Galaxy and formed the Galactic Council. Taidans actively played on the political field, causing a lot of inconvenience to their neighbors - the Hiigarians.

And so, when the Hiigarians found the ultimate weapon - an ancient hypernucleus that allows you to jump as far as anyone using hyperjumping - they made a prank for the Taidans, preemptively hitting the Taidan capital planet. The emperor died, and the Taidans turned to the Galactic Council for help.
Hiigaryan was tied hand and foot, put in prison ships and sent far and for a long time. And the new emperor-usurper of the Taidan was Admiral Risstiu. For 3000 years, his clones ruled the empire, bringing it to decline, so that the appearance of the mother ship of the Kushan on the horizon was a breeze that destroyed the house of cards.

The revolution swept over the star systems, and after the civil war, under the name of Taidani, half the number of worlds remained, and the rest, moreover, were divided into the Taidan Republic and the Taidani imperialists.

This existence continued until the Weygrs came and first included the imperialists and then the Republicans in their armada ...

Real world analogs: ancient Egyptians, Russian-Bolsheviks, Germans-Nazis, the Muslim world;

Fractions: Taidan Republic, Imperial Authorities led by lords, generals.

3. Vaygry (vaygr)

Capital planet: Wei;

Emblem:

Short story:

A subtle race of nomads that lived on the eastern side of the galaxy.

After Macaan united all the Weygrs under his command, his armada conquered a myriad of minor worlds, then the Taidani imperialists, and, in the end, broke the resistance of the Taidan Republic. After that, Macaan took a direct course to Hiigara, where the scythe found a stone, and the Weigrs were left without a leader.

In the future, weigrov will slowly disintegrate without a worthy leader, but he will still have a long time to come.

Real world analogs: Tatar-Mongols, Russian-communists, Chinese-communists, Vikings;

Fractions: separate clans reunited under the leadership of Macaan.

4. Frerrn aggregate

Capital planet: lot;

Emblem: No;

Short story:

A Star Empire that had problems with the Taidans as could not determine where whose.

Nothing else is known.

Real world analogs: USA, European Union (in + NATO format);

Fractions: separate star systems;

5. Turanics

Capital planet: a mobile base in the Western Edges of the Galaxy;

Emblem:

Short story:

For the first time, they learned about the Turanians 400 years before the collapse of the Taidan Empire. They were named after the sector in which they were first noticed - "Turan".

100 years before his death, the Taidan emperor Risstiu 4-2 entered into an agreement with the Turanians, and they began to conduct reconnaissance and sabotage activities in his favor in exchange for a non-aggression pact and some technology.

After the death of the emperor, the Turanians continued to lead a raider life, but there were those who took advantage of the situation and created the Turanian Kingdoms by force, sometimes using the services of the Taidani imperialists.

In the era of the Vaygr, the kingdoms were most likely absorbed by the Macaan armada, while the common raiders continued to pursue their "craft".

Real world analogs: pirates from Angola, Muslim terrorists, barbarian nomadic tribes, Vikings;

Fractions: separate clans-bandit formations under a single command.

6. Kadeshi

Capital planet: a mobile base in the Nebula;

Emblem: /carefully! made by fans! /

Short story:

In fact, being the kiit of the Hiigaryans, due to the long (13 generations at least) distance from the main brotherhood, the Kadesh became a separate race / people.

The Kadesh were once Hiigarians, but they separated from them on the path of the Exile from Hiigara to Kharak. Since then, they have lived in the resource-rich Nebula, fenced off from the rest of the world, allowing no one to pass through their territory. They made it a religion, and the Nebula, the Gardens of Kadesh, a sacred place.

The only ones who managed to get past the Gardens were the Kushans who were returning home.

What about the Kadesh is now unknown. One thing is clear: they are still there, and, possibly, very angry.

Real world analogs: Catholic martial monastic orders, Sufis, Jewish Levites;

Fractions: presumably a unified theocracy; a split is possible after the breakthrough of the Kushans.

7. Tobari

Capital planet: a mobile base in the ruins of the Karos sector;

Emblem:

Short story: / From plot drafts /

Where they come from is unknown, but one thing is clear: it is organized crime.

Their main base is at the Karos Cemetery, where they, using the wreckage of ancient ships, built a real fortress for themselves, inaccessible to the uninitiated "island of freedom."

Problems with local guards, such as the Junkyard Dog, and Forerunner vehicles are likely to arise at times.

Most likely, they appeared against the backdrop of the collapse of the Taidan Empire: Tabaristan (today - Mazandaran) is a province of Iran, which is partly the inspiration for the Empire. This means that most of these pirates are from Taidan territories.

During the invasion, the Weygrs were on the side of Macaan and were aided by him.

Real world analogs: mafia, pirates, filibusters, corsairs, etc.

Fractions: free pirate chieftains with an agreement among themselves.

8. Progenitors

Capital planet: unknown;

Emblem: No;

Short story:

An ancient civilization from which all human civilizations in the Galaxy went.

Very little is known about the Forerunners. They disappeared 10 thousand years ago from the events taking place in the games of the series, leaving behind only automatic protection systems for certain artifacts (= artificially created objects), apparently designed to reveal the secrets of the disappearance of the Forerunners.

Judging by the small number of artifacts, the Forerunners came either from another galaxy, or some kind of cataclysm erased their traces of their stay in the Homeworld Galaxy.

Early sketches of XB2 revealed that the Forerunners fought among themselves, and Sajuuk was one of the key characters in this war. Perhaps he managed to imprison his opponents in hyperspace, but this is only speculation, although they have some facts underneath.

Real world analogs: ancient dead civilizations, like Mohenjodaro, Incas, etc.

Fractions: most likely the Sajuuk faction and the rest of the faction.

b) Inhumans

9. Bentusi

Capital planet: unknown;

Emblem:

Short story:

They are united with their ship, possess very advanced technologies. Cannot reproduce.

They appeared a long time ago. Apparently, they knew the Forerunner personally or so.

After they got hold of the first Great Hyperkernel, they began to do charity work, distributing hypertechnologies to everyone. At first, they performed police functions, pacifying all aggressive races, but after they suffered a major fiasco in this field, they turned to trade, before that they managed to pacify the Hiigars and send them into exile in a beautiful far and long time.

7 years before the collapse of the Empire, all trade ties with it were cut off. They greatly helped the Kushans on their way; most likely, they helped the leaders of the Taidani revolutionary movement, for which they were beaten by the Empire's fleet.

During the period of the "War of the Beast" they also decreased in numbers and tried to leave for another Galaxy. Some of the ships successfully left, but they were blocked by the brave Hiigaryans from Kiit Somtau.

The Macaan fleet finally finished off the merchants before being included in the Red Book. The last instance seen - one of the Bentusi Elders, Bentus - self-destructed while fighting the automated Forerunner Sentinels.

Real world analogs: traders on the Silk Road, Arab nomadic traders, the cinematic image of Shaolin monks and the like, Gandalf, etc.

Fractions: united in their gathering of knowledge, united command in the person of the elders.

10.T-Mat

Capital planet: unknown;

Emblem: No;

Short story: / From plot drafts /

An ancient race, the antipode of the bentusi, they are also technologically advanced, few in number, but very evil.

They were supposed to destroy the bentusi instead of the Imperials in mission 11, they were supposed to destroy the Emperor's flagship, and the Kushans would have to fight with them in the 17, 18 and possibly even 19 Homeworld missions. However, the developers did not have enough engine or time to implement the P3 race, which, in fact, is even for the better - the plot turned out to be more adult, without a touch of space-opera pop.

In the KVK initially the Beast was not supposed to be played by the Creature, but by the T-Mat, since the plot of Cataclysm hints at an apocalyptic mood, using the Bible as one of the sources of inspiration in the best traditions of XB1.

Tiamat is an ancient Babylonian goddess of Chaos, a dragon and the personification of the primordial elements, in the Bible she is mentioned as the Beast of the Apocalypse or Antichrist.

But, in my opinion, it turned out well with the Creature, especially since after such an inhuman opponent, Macaan would look like a goldfinch, even if he himself personifies the False Messiah.

According to some theories, the T-Mat, like the bentusi, could have been forerunners, only the bentusi were for Sajuuk, and the T-Mat was against.

Real world analogs: Balrog from "The Lord of the Rings", the forces of darkness :);

Fractions: unknown, most likely, like the bentusi, are united.

11. The Beast

Capital planet: No;

Emblem:

Short story:

A million years before the events of the Homeworld games, a spaceship from another galaxy fell victim to a strange technovirus that consumed and reworked the entire crew of the ship into itself. Unfortunately for the Beast, the crew of Naggarok managed to destroy the ship's engines, and the unfortunate conqueror was left to drift in space.

The only thing he succeeded in was to release an escape capsule with his own strain, which, many, many years later, was first discovered by Turanian raiders, from whom it was recaptured by the brave Hiigaryans of Kiita Somtau. From them the infection went to the whole world, they also pacified it ...

Perhaps somewhere else the undead remnants of the Creature live and pirate.

The origin is unknown, since the Somtau scientists were not sure if this Thing came from hyper-space or from simple space. The peculiarity of the Naggarok hyper-engine, which glides on the edge of space and hyper-space, also complicates the issue of origin. In addition, it is possible that the Thing is a derivative of Naggarok himself, who fell from an unfortunate coincidence of circumstances, like the Space Jockeys ship from "Alien", the film, which, among other things, was inspired by the KVK scriptwriters. Or, latest version, when the particles were sucked in to refuel the hyperdrive, a particle of the Creature was mastered, which manifested itself already during the trip ...

The creature absorbs all animal matter on the ship, transforming it into its elements. To think and react to the outside world, the Creature uses the brains of its victims, but still this does not make it a full-fledged intelligent creature, but only an advanced virus with the same needs - to devour and spread.

The mental potential of the Creature is higher, the greater its mass, the time spent on processing the brains of the former crew of the ship, and, in fact, the quality of the processed brains themselves. Each ship of the Creature is in itself, but it obeys a larger individual that is nearby, acts at the same time with it, and, in the slang of the Creature, is called a Part.

There are certain problems with the translation of the name. One of the translations of The Beast is "The Beast", which, taking into account the English-Russian dictionary and the Biblical theme of the plot (The Beast of the Apocalypse), fits very well. But there is one BUT: the creature shown in the game does not fit the explanatory-dictionary definition of "beast" either in behavior or in essence. Therefore, there are two well-established names for this race - either the Beast or the Creature.

Real world analogs: flu virus :) and others;

Fractions: a single organism.

12. Naltorians

Capital planet: unknown;

Emblem: No;

Short story: / From plot drafts /

Only one specific name is known - the port "Naltor".

It is not clear from the drafts whether the Naltorians are subordinate to Hiigara, or are they just allies.

It is also unclear whether they are people or another race, matriarchy type, with the Queen-Mother at the head.

In plot drafts are the injured party.

Real world analogs: union country;

Fractions: unknown.

13. Naggarok race

Capital planet: unknown;

Emblem: No;

Short story:

A race from another galaxy whose research ship arrived in the Homeworld Galaxy.

They have a special type of hyperdrive technology that requires a lot of fuel to move.

Real world analogs: discoverers like Columbus;

Fractions: unknown.

c) Unknown / others

14. Lavashi

Capital planet: unknown;

Emblem: No;

Short story: / From plot drafts /

In fact, this race does not exist.

When the developers tried to create the T-MAT ​​race, they were faced with the fact that the planned star-shaped ship (which can be seen in the final XB2 mission) could not be implemented on the XB1 engine.

Then they came up with a group of ships of stone design, of which they realized only the flagship, called Lavaship. It is from this name that I derive the name of this, so to speak, race.

T-Mat was not implemented in the game like that; Lavaship, as a representative of the Galactic Council, appears to protect the Hiigaran, which, in general, goes against the specific role of T-Mat. Therefore, a group of ships of the same design, which absolutely does not coincide with the star-shaped ship T-MAT, I identified as a separate race.

Real world analogs: a NATO and UN country;

Fractions: unknown.

15. AI

Capital planet: No;

Emblem: No;

Short story:

The "independent" computer idiots of the XB world include, first, the Dutchman, who drifted in space and caught unintentional guests on capital-class ships, and when examined turned out to be a million-year-old uninhabited relic; and secondly, the Junkyard Dog / Dawg, a corvette-class ship with armor like a heavy cruiser that collected the ships scattered across the Karos Cemetery in one place.

Both ships are of unknown origin.

Real world analogs: autopilots and factory robots;

Fractions: no.

&. 13 Unknown

Capital planet: unknown;

Emblem: No;

Short story:

In the prehistory to XB2, it is said that the Galactic Council of old times, even before the expulsion of the Hiigarians to Kharak, was formed by the Hiigarians, Taidans, Bentusi and 14 other unnamed races (among them, obviously, Frern).
As you can imagine, they were quite powerful, although not as powerful as the Hiigara and Taidan Empires. What happened to them later, and what they were called, is again unknown.

Real world analogs: members of the European Union / NATO / UN;

Fractions: 14 fractions :).

I have been waiting for this game (or rather games) for a very long time. True, initially there were hopes for the release of the third part, but it did not work out due to the very sad fate of the developer and publishers. And the project was constantly changing hands. It so happened that at one time I first went through Homeworld 2 (I accidentally got a disc with a demo version that I liked, and I decided to buy the game itself), and only then Homeworld 1 and Homeworld Cataclysm. Almost immediately I singled out this game for myself as the best of what I have seen in my entire life. This is still relevant today. But first things first.

So, for those who are not in the know, I’ll tell you what it is and what it is eaten with. Homeworld - computer game, strategy for space theme... Developed by Relic Entertainment, Published in 1999 by Sierra Entertainment.

In 2000, Homeworld: Cataclysm was released as a standalone add-on.
In 2003, the second part was released - Homeworld 2.
Gearbox Software acquired the rights to the Homeworld series in 2014.
On February 25, 2015, a re-release of the game called Homeworld Remastered Collection was released, which includes the original Homeworld 1 and Homeworld 2.

I must say that the original Homeworld in 1999 caused a real sensation and actually became the ancestor of the space RTS (Real Time Strategy) genre.

The key points of the game were:
1) Well-designed and fully three-dimensional graphics.
2) Implementation of six degrees of freedom of movement of game objects and the presence of well-thought-out fleet management in three dimensions. This is practically the only game of this genre, where units can move not only horizontally, but also vertically, using all the advantages and various tactics.
3) Perfectly traced space landscapes. Each map and location was unique.
4) Diverse gameplay and many options for achieving the main objectives of the mission.
5) Great plot filled with dramatic moments.
6) Sound and musical accompaniment.
All this led to the fact that at the time of the release, the game had no analogues. Yes, even now you can't find them especially, given that this genre has long been rather dead than alive. Although the situation may change in the future.

As a result, the game received the following awards:
E3 1999 - Game Critics Awards: Best Strategy Games
IGN 1999 - Game of the Year
PC Gamer 1999 - Game of the Year
Well-Rounded Entertainment 1999 - Game of the Year
Gaming Globes 1999 - Best Original Score: Paul Ruskay and for Homeworld
Metacritic - Best and Worst Computer Strategy Games, Top 10: Position 3 (2010).

Homeworld 2, released in 2003, included many changes, including improved graphics, etc. The game had both many advantages and some controversial points, for example, the main plot, which went quite far from the canons of the first part. But there was no point in criticizing the game anyway, since there were too few significant and comparable projects in her genre at that time, and the plot in the end turned out to be very good.

For 10 years after the release of the second part, nothing was heard about this universe. Owner companies changed, property changed hands. And finally the long-awaited moment came: they promised to re-release both parts, add cool graphics, re-record all the original voice acting, music, redraw landscapes, finish the engine, etc. Expectations were, frankly, high, although everyone understood that in fact we would see just a re-release, adapted to modern requirements. Have the developers managed to bring the great strategy back to life? Let's talk about this in more detail. About each part separately.

Homeworld 1 Remastered.
Let's start with the positives, namely the graphics. When you see the opening video of the launch vehicle undocking from the space shipyard, it is just as breathtaking as in 1999 from a similar scene. The detail is really amazing, because absolutely all models have been heavily redrawn, plus a lot of small details have been added. I will even say this: today from space strategies few people can compete in graphics quality with Homeworld Remastered. Let the screenshots at the end of this article speak for themselves.

The number of graphics settings is outrageous, you can set up a lot, even the blur effect in motion (in my opinion, an absolutely useless thing for this genre of games, when most of the operations are performed at a distance from the units, respectively, there is simply no time to enjoy all the beauties). Resolutions are possible up to 4K. I was even pleased with adequate optimization, the game with maximum settings runs smoothly on gtx660 and i3, but of course within reasonable limits. In massive battles, where the number of units exceeds a hundred, fps drops are possible. Although, perhaps the game is still more demanding on the processor than on the video card.

The soundtrack is excellent. The title track Adagio for Strings, as in the past, is an adornment of the game.

The missions and available ships (units) have not undergone significant changes, so if you played the original Homeworld, everything will be familiar to you.

Now we need to talk about the gameplay, as there are some problems here. Some of them are related to bugs (how can we go without them, darlings) and I hope that they will be fixed soon (since I played the game almost from the very first version from Steam). The other part is related to the engine.
The main problem is that the engine in Homeworld 1 Remastered is essentially a doped version of the original Homeworld 2.

The system of formations is almost completely broken. It was relevant in Homeworld 1 due to the fact that small units (fighters and corvettes) were built one at a time, so they could be combined into groups that were programmatically assigned a number for quick access. It was also possible to choose how the smaller ships line up relative to each other. This influenced the way these ships attack: each formation was especially good for a certain type of battle or defense. For example, bombers in the Wall formation could simultaneously fire at a large ship without stopping, and corvettes in the X formation effectively fired off enemy fines. At the same time, it was possible to set the type of tactics (passive, defensive and aggressive), which influenced the behavior of the ships (they could do nothing, attack the enemy only when directly attacking them, or chase any enemy). At the same time, with passive tactics, the fighters consumed the least fuel (yes, the game even provided for this, fighters and corvettes had to be refueled at the docks, either with the help of a support frigate or a repair corvette. This system was abolished in Homeworld 2 and in Homeworld Remastered too ) and maneuvered better, due to which there were fewer hits on them. But in the aggressive mode, the ships flew slower, but they fired faster and more accurately. In general, there were a lot of options. The ships did exactly what was required of them. Moreover, physics was observed in space, namely, the ships could turn right on the move towards the enemy, and without slowing down, attack the enemy flying from behind or from above (below). Homeworld Remastered removed all of this, which is a pity.

The first misunderstandings appeared in Homeworld 1 Remastered, when it became clear that the ships were trying to behave not as single units, but as if each of them was a separate squadron (this is directly related to the Homeworld 2 engine, where ships were built immediately by squadrons and were not united in a formation , and into shock groups). This has led to the fact that the formations now essentially do not affect anything. Fighters or corvettes, being in a formation, when the enemy attacks, simply drop the formation, and everyone tries to build a hero out of themselves, becoming easy prey for the enemy. In Homeworld 2, this was due to the fact that the formation was broken by squadrons, united in strike groups, which was logical, and not by the units themselves. As a result, small ships in Homeworld 1 Remastered are the most vulnerable targets, you need to constantly monitor them, which in the early stages of the game, when resources are sorely lacking and there are no heavy ships yet, turns into a real headache.

Heavy corvettes were greatly weakened in comparison with the original and are no longer able to cause serious trouble to the enemy due to the fact that they shoot slowly and very inaccurately (why from Homeworld 2 they added accuracy to the guns is not clear, and without it it was good). It comes to the ridiculous: the corvette shoots almost point-blank at the enemy target and does not hit! At first it makes you laugh, at the end of the game it gets boring. But it's good that we left the so-called multigun corvette, which I used throughout the game, because he is the only one with a balanced rate of fire, speed and armor. Although in the original Homeworld it was a very specific combat unit.

The boarding corvettes remained. Everything also requires 1 such corvette to capture a fighter or corvette, 2 for a frigate, 4 for a destroyer (in the original, you needed 3), 6 for an aircraft carrier or a heavy cruiser. And most importantly, they paid tribute to the original: there are NO restrictions on boarding!

If anyone does not know, the first Homeworld was still known for the fact that despite the limitation on the construction of the maximum number of ships of each class in the fleet, you were allowed to capture enemy ships as much as you wanted. Inveterate players collected entire collections of rare ships that could only be found by going through the storyline campaign, and some powerful warships were allowed to be captured much earlier than the opportunity to build them was opened up. It got to the point of absurdity: in one of the last missions, with very long and hard work, it was possible to capture more than a hundred (!) Enemy ionic frigates, thus ensuring an almost inevitable victory in the remaining missions. I was personally involved in the capture of cruisers and destroyers, tk. it is these ships that become vital in the last missions, when the number of enemy forces is clearly not in your favor. By the way, this also has one feature of the game. In the original Homeworld 1, after completing each mission, you could start collecting resources and rebuilding the fleet for the next mission. Nobody rushed you, we finished our business and pressed the hyperspace jump button. Homeworld 1 Remastered retains this capability, but raises doubts about the need to rebuild your fleet before jumping. The fact is that the developers introduced an adaptive system from Homeworld 2, where the number of enemy ships in the next mission directly depended on the composition of your fleet and sometimes the difficulty was only in the fact that the enemy fleet was 3-4 times larger than yours.

Several observations on boarding. Firstly, now there is no particular point in capturing enemy aircraft carriers, because they are only suitable for docking and repairing small ships, you cannot build anything on them. So your own built aircraft carriers are many times more useful, it's a pity that they are not given to build as soon as we would like.

Secondly, there is no point in capturing captured Turanian Raider ion frigates (they have increased range and firepower, but in Remastered they were made weaker than your own ion frigates). The same goes for the multibeam frigates of the Kadesh. They are not powerful enough to waste your time on them. For the first time they will come down, and then start up on resources.

Enemy frigates, destroyers and cruisers are definitely recommended for capturing, because they have significantly increased their firepower, and the same captured destroyers can help in the initial stages of the game, when you still cannot build your own. By the way, I still recommend not building your own, but capturing enemy destroyers, tk. they have two twin kinetic gun turrets that allow you to shoot off small items and more effectively deal with frigates (your own destroyers also have two turrets, but single ones). By the way, missile destroyers are now effective only against large ships. In the original, such a destroyer fired a decent number of missiles that could cause significant damage to small items (fighters and corvettes). In Remastered, this destroyer is almost useless against small change.
Be careful! Due to the dynamic difficulty, if you have a large fleet, expect key mission objectives to be guarded by a large number of frigates and other ships. For example, remember the mission "Sea of ​​Lost Souls". This is the location where the alien ship is located, generating an anomaly field, which takes control of your ships from you. He was escorted by about 20 assault frigates, if not more, so the tactic of attacking an alien ship with a trifle that is not subject to his influence will not work, these frigates will simply destroy all your small ships. So you first need to lure out and destroy (or capture) these frigates. Out of surprise (because I began to go through this mission from memory in the old way), I immediately lost almost all the little things. In general, it is easy to lose ships in this mission. And not only in this one. Use probes often. Reconnaissance is always useful here and will help plan an attack and save ships.

Homeworld is generally renowned for its complexity. Yes, this strategy can make you sweat and very often requires non-standard techniques, which is why players love it so much. But missions in Homeworld Remastered can cause even more problems due to the aforementioned shortcomings. And okay, they would be difficult because of the tactics, the number of enemies, etc. But no, all the complexity is due to the fact that your units simply do not perform what you expect from them (this concerns formations in the first place). Support frigates generally behave like resource collectors in Homeworld 2: they stick to the hull with their nose and thus "heal" the ship. The treatment beam is there for show. But if you get used to all this, then playing is quite comfortable, and the graphics and various situations are very pleasing. So, in general, the remastering of the first part was a success, although not without flaws. Just game mechanics turned out to be somewhat different from the original. This does not mean that she is bad, she is just different.

Now I will write about the interesting bugs that I met during the passage of the game.
1) In the Russian localization, some of the texts of the tasks and the names of the ships are missing, instead of them there are links to the translation files. Hopefully they will fix it.
2) Broken system of formations. More likely not a bug, but just a flaw in the game.
3) Glitches with painting ships. Each unit in the game can be painted like other ships (this is all configurable in your game profile). Another thing is that it is strangely spreading to the captured ships. In the original Homeworld 1, they retained their original livery. In Remastered, they can retain their original livery, they can be recolored to match the colors of your ships, or they can even have a random livery. No dependence has been identified. A glamorous pink cruiser? No problem!

4) In some cases, the ships, due to the introduced firing accuracy system, simply cannot properly aim and shoot at their target, or they are heavily smeared. This is especially true of little things (fighters and corvettes). I recommend using the generators of the gravity well in order to stop small things and slowly methodically shoot them with large ships.
5) An anti-missile (torpedo) fighter can shoot down both enemy and its own missiles (torpedoes).
6) I tried to capture an enemy aircraft carrier. He flew into the dock of the boarding carrier, then the dock opened, he was already captured and began to fly back. Enemy fighters flew from its dock and even 4 frigates got out. By the way, they did not attack, but simply lined up side by side in a linear formation. The frigates were easily captured, did not even resist, and for some reason the fighters did not want to be captured, they had to interrupt.
7) The resource collector, having completely filled the hold, can get stuck in place and refuse to fly to unload to the base. In this case, forced docking helps.

There are credits from Gearbox at the end of the game, but right after them, they paid tribute to the original developers, so the original credits from the first Homeworld follow. By the way, the songs of the Yes group are not in the credits at all, only the title Adagio For Strings plays. Sorry, but this was due to music copyright issues.

The game pah pah never crashed and did not slow down. Only in the last mission there were FPS sagging, which is not surprising, with so many ships. In general, everything was good.
My verdict is this: the re-release was not bad. Bugs will be fixed. There are also enough shortcomings, but we will believe that they will gradually finish everything.
And thanks to the Steam Workshop, the game is provided with a large number of mods.

Homeworld 2 Remastered.
I see no point in writing about graphics, they are of the same level as in Homeworld 1 Remastered. To be honest, in the second part, the new textures are not so noticeable. Yes, they added depth of field (as in the Ultra High Graphics mod for the original Homeworld 2) and more different glows and lighting. And that is all. In Homeworld 1 Remastered, you can clearly see that almost all ships were redrawn and many new elements were added to the hull. In general, I wanted more. Homeworld 2 Remastered doesn't feel so fresh. The same bishop (transport ships from the second mission), in my opinion, were generally left old, only the windows shine brighter.

As for the game itself, the game mechanics have not changed at all, like the missions themselves. Let me just say that they remain as complex as in the original. For example, if you have a problem with the parallel coordination of your ships' actions at various points on the map, problems may arise already in the second mission of this game. Add here the traditional lack of resources at the beginning of the game, the constant numerical superiority of the enemy, a very limited fleet (there is already an honest limitation on boarding, in contrast to the first part). This leads to the fact that in the second half of the game you can actually build only two battle cruisers. The enemy on the map alone can meet eight of them, and this does not take into account the escort of trifles, destroyers and frigates.

In one of the last missions (the 12th in a row and is one of the most difficult in the game), five enemy groups in a row can immediately attack you, as soon as your fleet leaves hyperspace. The first will have about 20-30 small squadrons and a bunch of frigates, the second will be the same, plus destroyers. Etc. Some groups, including cruisers, will try to bypass you outside the sensor range and attack from the flanks or from above (below). It is recommended to build more probes to constantly scan enemy targets. Place Sensor Distortion Probes at the base points of your production ships. It is also recommended to conduct a scouting of the area (Scout). The recommendation in this mission is as follows: organize your own attack as soon as possible (preferably from the flanks, in order to destroy the production shipyards and aircraft carriers of the enemy) and in no case sit in a deep defense. Constantly make up for the losses of your fleet and continuously crush the enemy. Otherwise, you will be overwhelmed with numbers. Boarding frigates must be sent to storm the station only if all ships that can release bombers are destroyed, otherwise this mission will turn into hell. In general, you will need to find and destroy 3 enemy shipyards so that the enemy cannot build new ships.

Don't neglect the dreadnought. He possesses very powerful long-range weapons and is capable of dealing with small things alone. This is the only ship in the game that has good air defense and is capable of shooting down many fighters without an escort.

Now let's talk about the cons. My main complaint, which by the way applies to Homeworld 1 Remastered, is to change the interface. The new interface in both Homeworld 1 Remastered and Homeworld 2 Remastered is terrible. The most convenient interface was in the original second part, it is enough to look at the comparative screenshots (on the first, the interface is from remastered, on the second from the original). It was visual, moderately large and easy to read.

Unreadable unit icons (why did the developers spoil what was in the original Homeworld 2?). The ship selection panel in the lower left corner is generally something with something. The interface designer had to play THIS himself. Not only are the icons small and you have to look closely, but also no signatures, plus the icons themselves for some reason made them more detailed because of what they merge, and the same types of frigates are generally very difficult to distinguish. Very annoying when forming groups, you have to select a square in the old fashioned way right on the battlefield. The color scheme of the interface often does not allow to see anything normally against the background of the beauties of space, the same applies to the pale icons of the main actions, which, moreover, are mixed in an incomprehensible way. The tabs in the construction and research manager are completely overlooked, it is not clear what is available, pressed, etc.

Didn't like the music. It seems to have been updated, the old recordings were re-recorded, but the music turned out to be completely different, different instruments and voices. I will not say that it is bad, just for my taste, the original was better, especially the one that sounds in cut scenes. It is enough to listen and compare battle keeper in the original and remastered. The original is better in my opinion.
Also, I didn't like some of the sound and special effects. For example, interceptor animation and sound. The original was better. It can also be noted that in the video before the last mission, when Karan is shown and how she is watching the opening of the hyperspace window, you can hear the sound of an ion frigate firing (instead of the sound of opening this very window) and some kind of stupid breathing.

I also caught my eye: the game videos were remade for a high screen resolution, but not for the better, it would be better to leave the original ones, they looked good anyway. The thing is that the videos have lost their volume and immersiveness. It seems that they were not just drawn, but as if they were some early sketchy versions without volume and depth of field. I didn't really like this approach, especially since the original videos from the second part look quite good on high-resolution screens. Even in the opening cutscene, the game killed a smooth transition from a drawn image of a hyperspatial core to its game 3D model, there is now just a sharp jump and decrease in size.

As for the gameplay, now definitely resource collectors heal ships many times faster, and boardmen seize faster. Because in the original Homeworld 2 boarding was just for show, it was very difficult to carry out due to the low survivability of boarding frigates. But now it is not such a problem and it is definitely like it.

The voices of the fleet command and units were re-recorded using the old voices from the first part (Homeworld 1 Remastered). This is really cool, you immediately feel that both parts of the game are continuously connected by the atmosphere, etc.

Unexpectedly, I did not encounter any serious bugs, except that in one moment I caught the disappearance of textures (in the screenshot, two parts of the ship's hull are bright white, which should not be).

Bottom line: everything is fine, but it could be much better. I liked Homeworld 1 Remastered much more than Homeworld 2 Remastered.

The redrawn backgrounds in missions are simply of some unearthly beauty, absolutely every one of them I want to capture and set as a desktop picture. Fortunately, every player has such an opportunity thanks to the built-in function of capturing screenshots from the screen. You don't have to go far for examples, just see my screenshots below. By the way, the planets are now perfectly modeled, they rotate, you can even see the movement of cloud layers in the lower atmosphere. In general, the game just in the graphic details has added a lot. Even when firing with lasers, they illuminate ships; very realistic holes, holes, etc. remain on the hull.

I have nothing to say about multiplayer yet. I have not had time to evaluate yet, tk. it is still in beta status, and they say that there are enough bugs, plus there is a certain imbalance between the ships of the first and second Homeworld. But I will definitely play it when it comes out of beta status, and I will write a separate article about the multiplayer part, which is no less important here than the main storyline campaign.

I also plan to write a separate material about Homeworld Cataclysm, since there are rumors that this part is not going to be redone due to the lost source code.

Homeworld Remastered is exactly what PC owners can be proud of. There are no such games and will not be on consoles (but there are also interesting projects of their own). She deserves to be in everyone's collection. After the renovation, she shone with new colors and did not lose her charm at all. And this is despite the disadvantages that I am sure they will try to fix, because I was not the only one who noticed them and unsubscribed to the developers. Fans of strategies, especially space ones, should definitely consider buying this game. Fans of the Homeworld series are strongly recommended to purchase. And let's be honest, most modern AAA class projects cost from two thousand rubles. Homeworld Remastered costs some 599 rubles. For this you get two parts at once: Homeworld 1 and 2 Remastered, plus the original versions of the games (1999 and 2003 respectively), multiplayer and all Steam Cloud related buns.

I think the game is worth buying.

P.S. This article will be supplemented and changed if any errors or fixes are found.

I rummaged around here, and dug up more interesting jokes.
If you look for the line "ship \" in the Homeworld2.big file, then you can draw for yourself not only all sorts of Sajuk, but everything that is in the game. Well, for example, you can make a Keeper like this:

{
tactic = 1,
type = "kpr_destroyerm10",
subsystems = (
},
buildjobs = (
},
size = 1,
shiphold = (
},
name = "NIS_Squad",
teamColourHandle = 0,
hotkey = 0,
},

If there are a lot of problems with the fleet and a bunch of small ones rushing at you, just place a maximum of ionic platforms next to the mother ship, better denser, and flatten the enemy, effectively at the level after capturing the Oracle and after the last jump at this level, there are many enemies, and the fleet in a few seconds destroys.

Do not build assault frigates, they die quickly and the power is not very good. build more torpedo tubes. wet the left carrier and quickly the right one, if you are lucky you will have time, no, then the enemy frigates will also be attached. over quickly. we nailed, we jump, the enemy's fleet is at the station, ours should be sent there too, I think further it is clear.

About building ships.
Build fighters and bombers equally.
Depending on the missions. If a mission where you need to bring down mostly small ships, then build fighters as they are maneuverable.
But keep in mind against large frigates, they will not help much, because they do not have enough power.
Build bombers against large ships, these ships are not so maneuverable, but they have more powerful fire.

The tactics of Battle cruisers + fighters rule very much. I tested it on a small map against an expert's computer, albeit with a lot of resources. The main thing from the start is to go to battles, and build fighters with a cruiser (only fighters!). In the compartment of the battlecruiser, 5 fighters each enter, when they are loaded - you can do a hyperjump under the enemy's mother ship and immediately release interceptors. At the same time, there is no need to build frigates or other nonsense - we save money for jumps.

In the mission where you need to save Soban (13), the author talks about a weak point. You will find, you can consider yourself a great strategist. I did not find. And I left in such a way. In the previous mission (fortunately, it is quite calm), fully build up the fleet (Battlecruisers, Ion frigates, pulsar corvettes, bombardiers) and, after spawning, sweep the area with a scout (did you get this upgrade for him?). Despite the dust, they will quickly find you. Immediately set production on all ships and control it. And the entire fleet in the front, on the enemy. Not up to Soban now. Control the battle every second, otherwise the fleet will spread out, start firing at fighters, not heavy ships. concentrate fire on the ships most dangerous for you, and so on. Constantly build reinforcements. Beauty: Ion frigates and Battlecruisers bring down the enemy destroyer in one gulp! You probably won't pass the mission the first time, but with the help of a frontal attack (oddly enough) I won the mission. Like this.

In mission 13, take your time to save Soban, first deal with the attack of the vygrs. Oddly enough, but a forehead attack helped me to pass the mission. You just need to control it personally every second and constantly build new ships. After that, deal with the Vaigr Flagship and save Soban. Do not expect that you will go through the mission immediately without straining. On about the third try, you will understand all the intricacies of the attack. And further. I passed the mission with a head-on attack, but how you get through, whether my advice will help you, does not depend on me.

Someone neglects corvettes - in vain. Especially Vaigry, whether they are there. Their laser corvettes can take down any frigate on full grades from one or two approaches. So a stratum appeared against Higar - we are rapidly developing laser corvettes, and in parallel we are multiplying missile corvettes. When the research on Laser corvet is ready, we reproduce both types in parallel, so that they are equally divided. Don't try to do it with one corvette plant. This stratum can become useless if the enemy Higar and flooded into the masses. pulsar corvettes. Don't forget about upgrades (your armor will approximately double.)

The mission where you need to save Soban, (13, it seems) I went like this: in the previous mission, when the Bentusi exploded, and it was necessary to collect their hyper-core, I collected 2 pieces, waited for the Vaigers, gave them the opportunity to collect more resources, waited for them to install on a battle cruiser, a hyperspace module (sometimes it takes a long time to wait), destroyed the entire fleet, except for the battle cruiser, built three landing frigates, destroyed his heavy rocket battery and engines with bombardiers, started the landing from the sides (I do not advise them in the forehead, since their bow gun quickly burn) and captured him. You just need to constantly monitor the missile battery so that it does not shoot. Difficult, but possible. Then, when he rescued Soban with the hyperdrive module, he quickly jumped to the carriers, shipyards, mobile resource bases and destroyed them. The main thing is that the group has enough resources for jumping.