#Homeworld 3 gameplay mods#

#Homeworld 3 gameplay mods#

There are mods for Homeworld 1 and 2 that outright inject Battlestar GalacticaвЂ™s fighters and capital ships into the game, but theyвЂ™re all but unnecessary. Normally, IвЂ™d be grumbling at being told when IвЂ™m done, but itвЂ™s a mechanic that exists to bolster the gameвЂ™s atmosphere. Thankfully, Homeworld 2 stepped up and forced you to hyperspace to the next level. Those hurried jumps create a real sense of momentum, but being able to hang around at leisure undermines it to no end. The original Homeworld does have one glaring flaw, which is that, if you beat a level, you can hoover up any remaining resources. Just keeping the enemy busy till the mothership is ready to jump is a trial. And вЂњwinningвЂќ doesnвЂ™t necessarily mean beating the enemy to a man like the Galactica, youвЂ™re surviving from jump to jump. Every ship thatвЂ™s destroyed is a vessel that wonвЂ™t be around at the beginning of the next level, so choosing whether or not to commit a ship to a battle can be agonizing. ThatвЂ™s true, but like in a lot of RTSes, you donвЂ™t get a clean slate at the beginning of each mission. Still, you can always build new ships in Homeworld, right? ThatвЂ™s got to count for something, right? ThereвЂ™s no fleet size that guarantees you canвЂ™t be annihilated by your foes. Enemies could hyperspace in at any moment, bringing with them an unknown number of ships.Д«attlestar Galactica avoided stating just how large the Cylon fleet was, and the Homeworld games do the same. As vast as space is, HomeworldвЂ™s levels are anxiety-inducing because, again, thereвЂ™s really nowhere to hide. Even if the system youвЂ™re jumping into isnвЂ™t swarming with enemy ships, theyвЂ™ll be along shortly. Your foes are right behind you or, in some cases, one step ahead of you. Remember that episode of Battlestar Galactica where Cylon agents all but destroyed the fleetвЂ™s water supply? ThatвЂ™s how fragile your situation is.ДЄnd like Battlestar Galactica, Homeworld never lets up.

Homeworld wants to remind you of your lowly status, so it has you gathering up gas and debris, like some starving puppy hunting for scraps. You donвЂ™t have the luxury of mining glowing green minerals or cracking open whole planets.

The few seconds it takes to hyperspace in can feel like minutes as you gaze at this massive metal ark, the one thing preventing your species from being a memory.

Most missions begin with your mothership hyperspacing into another barren sector. ThatвЂ™s the entirety of the Hiigaran species, and youвЂ™re the one tasked with keeping them breathing. Homeworld sees the HiigaransвЂ™ home planet razed, leaving only 600,000 Hiigarans alive. ItвЂ™s this hopelessness that pervades the Homeworld games and gives them an entirely different energy to most other RTSes. Battlestar GalacticaвЂ™s fugitives, on the other hand, have nowhere to go, and staying still is a death sentence. Star WarsвЂ™ rebels can, at least, lay down their arms and hide amongst the subjugated populace. Sure, both shows have their stars, but thereвЂ™s no Luke Skywalker, no Force, no Yavin IV, nothing other than the vague scrap of a prophecy. When the Twelve Colonies are annihilated, mankind is forced to take to the stars, with the Cylons nipping at their heels. Instead, itвЂ™s the sense of loneliness and desperation that pervades both shows. But the more I played, the more I saw the parallels, and when the 2004 Galactica reboot came along, I started ploughing hour after hour into Homeworld 2.Д«ecause as impressive as they were at the time, it wasnвЂ™t the ships or the space battles that made Battlestar Galactica (either the original or the reboot) appeal to me. When I first got into Homeworld, I was blissfully unaware that this space-based RTS had been influenced by the original pre-reboot Battlestar Galactica. But IвЂ™m more than happy for them to recycle chunks of plot as long as Homeworld 3 has the same big Battlestar Galactica energy as its predecessors. After Homeworld, Homeworld: Cataclysm (re-released as Emergence), and Homeworld 2, theyвЂ™ve got to come up with a fourth way for the Hiigarans to be exiled to the stars. I donвЂ™t envy whoeverвЂ™s writing the story of Homeworld 3.