[Roanoke]

I liked the Tiidani voices in Cata. ie;
"Got it! Headin' in!"

HW Salvaging was a highlight tho. I managed to grab some Turanic and Kadesh Fighters using kami-salvage, which was cool.

[phatosealpha]

Pretty big fleet, though in homeworld it's actually closer to medium size.  I've gone through before and salvaged most of the ion corvettes in bridge of sighs before.

Ah, the Turanic fighters are a joke.  The Missile vettes though...nastiest things in the entire game.

[Fineus]

I have to say that if anything consistently annoyed me in HW2 - it was that the game constantly placed you at a disadvantage.

I enjoy a challange as much as the next guy, but it's not fun to finally get the upper hand over the AI - only to have it come back with a completely unrealistic counter attack that you yourself have no hope of defending against, let alone counter-attacking against afterward.

[Blitzerland]

I enjoyed HW2. Despite the poor-story, it was fun, strategy-wise. I never let the AI get the upper-hand, even unrealistic upperhands. If you aren't plotting attacks on enemy resourcing and production sites constantly, you aren't cut out for HW2.

One annoying thing was how the multiplayer n00bs sole-strategy was plat-rushing. I hated that! Completly ruined multiplayer.

[Grug]

I found HW1 was the best story in a game I ever played. Cat was average-good.
Then I played HW2 and was shocked at how the story had been raped. So many things unexplained. etc etc.

Then elorran pointed me to this:
http://www.well-of-souls.com/homeworld/hws/hw2/hiigaran_history.htm

Which is an extract from the strategy guide IIRC. They should of had it in the manual. Notice the size of the story parts in the HW1 and Cat manual? Each have a couple of chapters dedicated to story, in HW2 only a couple of paragraphs.

Anywho, reading that history explains nearly everything. I was inspired enough to start playing through the HW2 campaign again.
It is a MUST read if your a fan of the series. I'd also very strongly advise to read it before you play HW2. Things might actually make sense.
It even goes on to explain why and how they were exiled etc.

Very good read.

Kudo's to elorran for finding and pointing it out.

[adwight]

Originally posted by WMCoolmon
I was pretty salvage-happy. At the start of the very last mission, I had something like
1 Mothership
2 research vessels
1 resource collector
1 resource controller
5 carriers
4 heavy cruisers (I managed to salvage one during the mission as well)
2 missile destroyers
3-5 destroyers
10 multi-beam frigates
8 ion frigates or so
1 drone frigate
6,7 Defenders
11 salvage corvettes

Pretty much all my strike craft died in the previous mission; the only reason my defenders survived was because all they did was guard the carriers, which I usually used to guard my resource collectors (I had 2 at one point) or kept away from the battlezone. Of course, I used them in the last mission as battering rams, so only one actually survived to the end cutscene - pretty much all it did was take part in the initial defense and then guard my collector.

Edit: I played on normal and didn't save at all past the first mission (I wasn't sure if HW would save my progress for me, but it did)

8 ion frigates?  I had over 120 ( i think that's how many u can salvage on the mission where they are all in a sphere.)  Like 10 or so destroyers, and like 6 or so heavy cruisers.  Lets just say I wasted everything in like a millisecond.

[Nuclear1]

Originally posted by adwight


8 ion frigates?  I had over 120 ( i think that's how many u can salvage on the mission where they are all in a sphere.)  Like 10 or so destroyers, and like 6 or so heavy cruisers.  Lets just say I wasted everything in like a millisecond.

Only 120? I had at least 150+ Not to mention the dozen or so destroyers, six cruisers, and 4-6 carriers. As for MBFs, I remember having at the very least 20+ for the majority of the game.

[WMCoolmon]

Originally posted by adwight


8 ion frigates?  I had over 120 ( i think that's how many u can salvage on the mission where they are all in a sphere.)  Like 10 or so destroyers, and like 6 or so heavy cruisers.  Lets just say I wasted everything in like a millisecond.

I kept having a problem where my salvage vetts would latch onto a ship, but they would just freeze in place after dragging the ship to a carrier/mothership.

Not sure what that was all about.

[Nuclear1]

Did you patch it to 1.05? That usually solves the problem. Otherwise, try clearing out any ships that are nearby your carrier/MS launch bays.

[StratComm]

I just loaded up my last savegame.  Only 87 Ion frigates, but complimented with, 27 assault frigates, 17 destroyers, 9 missile destroyers, 8 heavy cruisers, 8 ion array frigates, 19 multibeam frigates, plus 4 assault frigates, 4 ion cannon frigates, 3 destroyers, and one heavy cruiser all under tow and ready to be salvaged.  And that was "after" the first wave of the last mission.  Add another 4 or 5 heavy cruisers, 2 missile destroyers, 6 destroyers, and a host of frigates to that count.

[Liberator]

Why salvage, it's easier to just blow them to hell.

[Nuclear1]

Exactly. More skill required in salvaging

Stratt, do you remember where you got the 8 Heavies? I'm assuming you're including some of the Elite Guard Heavies in the last mission, right? That's where I can think of getting 8+.

[StratComm]

Nope.  I think I built one or two, but I had the cap in the first mission that they were available.  I entered the last mission with 7, and captured one right off the bat.  I'm pretty sure I had three by Karos, got two in Bridge of Sighs, and another in Chapel Perilous.  The last I can't remember where I got, though it's in one of those two as well.  There are at least 6 heavy cruisers in the last mission alone, and with enough resources you can salvage all of them.

[Nuclear1]

Ah. Number just sounded slightly iffy to me.

It's been a while...

[StratComm]

I know.  Too long, it seems.











*Goes to play Homeworld*

[Yogert]

Homeworld was an epic game with incredible depth (I still glance through the stories in the manual from time to time), great voice acting, haunting music, and incredible strategy.

Homeworld 2 was trying too hard to be epic. Had the story been developed more and the manual more detailed and informative, the game might have been more enjoyable. Voice acting was decent, but lacked emotion in some places (no one seemed to care what happened to the Pride of Hiigara). Music was, again, decent. Missions, as stated before, were far more difficult than should be on a game with no difficulty setting.

[Terorist]

Ah... Homeworld was lovely, just lovely.

That music, those cutscenes... also the graphics were, and still are, awesome. I still keep the box on that shelf right where I can see it (the side of it anyway). Must play it again soon. I've yet to even see Cataclysm or HW2 though, don't know why exactly. Maybe I didn't trust they could live up to the original. I remember anticipating HW:C somewhat enthusiastically at first, but then the impression I got made me uninterested. Maybe I'll try it one of these days anyway.

Edit: And yeah, those background stories captivated me as well. Great stuff.

[Dough with Fish]

Alright, at the end of Homeworld I had:

1 Mothership (duh)

7 Carriers

6 Heavy Cruisers

9 Destroyers

6 Missile Destroyers

137 Ion Cannon Frigates

16 Multi Beam Frigates

6 Ion Array Frigates

56 Assault Frigates

12 Support Frigates

2 Drone Firgates

2 Defense Field Frigates

And too many damned Corvettes and Fighters to try and count, and yes, I did salvage enemy Fighters and Corvettes. Why? Because I could, thats why, and it is really funny to watch an emeny Scout try to run take on a swarm of 16 salvage vettes, and then run outta fuel and get captured.

EDIT: That count was right before I killed the Tiidani (sp) MS, and I just felt like going in and seeing how long it took to kill it with my massive fleet all in Sphere formation around it, and well, it took about half a second, talk about pwnage.

[FireCrack]

Tanis sabbah=poo


Seriously, unlimited waves of battlecruisers and destroyers!

[Flaser]

I don't see why everyone cries for the lack of capture rush in HW2.
It was actually quite lame in HW1 and required little skill - the combat AI was quite a simpleton, for they always focused on a single objective and kept pounding on it no matter what...disregarding the puny salvage corvettes.
The whole huge fleet was a product of everyone exploiting the AI's weakness.

I think HW2 went overboard with the dynamically scaled forces, but never the less cured most of the issues I had with the game aspect of the game itself.

Strikecraft were rendered once again useful - admit it, in HW1 they were useless once frigate's arrived on the scene. Bombers are among the most potent forces in the game and thereby interceptors have an important role.
The EMP ability on the scouts also revitalized a class that was otherwise never used - now they are tactical fighters with a deadly blow to players who don't have corvette support.
Frigates were rebalanced and considerably weakened - you can't frigate rush the enemy any more, they must be used like cavalry: supporting the heavy ships of the line.
Destroyers are truely heavy ships that can "hold the lines", ionstead being overpowered frigates.
The Battlecruiser is the only ship that is somewhat overpowered IMHO, but it takes quite the resources and isn't as much of a killing machine and more of an ultra-hard ship of the line.

The Vayger are very balanced compared to the Hiigarans, but they require a very different style of management - something that ofsets many.

Strike groups are smg. I haven't seen implemented in any other RTS, and I always lacked.
Your units are no longer sheep you have to lead step by step, they finally have some semblance of knowledge of their potential and role in your fleet - fighters won't ruch capital ships any more, but instead will hang back and provide fighter screen against bombers and 'vettes.

...as for the whole "too much subsystems" tyrade: Didn't you ever find it odd, that a ship with 10% of its hp can still function at 100% capacity?
These subsystems are also what makes strike craft usefull.

From a strictly strategy point of view, HW2 is vastly superiour over HW1.
I think the story was on par, but not enought time was spent on flashing it out and the manual really lacked those pages.