Homeworld 2
Rating:  -
Hey all you who play HW or HW2 its Hiigaran|SF.
First, a clarification: Homeworld 2 is NOT Homeworld with better graphics and another story line; it is a completely new game. It has many similar concepts and basic designs from Homeworld, and it integrates the same history, but it is 100 years in the future (reletive to Homeworld) so don't expect it to be the same.
I'll start with the firing-back-at-insults section. Many people claim HW2 sucks, so I'll run you over the truth of things:
Number one insult: "In Homeworld I can control my fighters, in Homeworld 2 I can't"
This is BS. In Homeworld 2 you have a squadron system, grouping your fighters into different size squadrons, depending on the type of fighter. These squads generally range from 9 to 3 fighters in size, the more powerful fighters and corvettes having lower group sizes (but all a similar cost, around 400-700 RU). These squads fight together in formation in battle, providing much more effective firepower and organization.
Now some facts: When will you need a single fighter, ever? What good is a single interceptor or bomber? organizing into units means that I never lose one of my fighters somewhere in a battle. This can all add up to tip the balance on a very small map, especially if all the fighters break up and scatter across the map. So, organizing into squadrons allows you to keep track of them. They do often scatter when opposing area-effect weaponry (like flak turrets) but then they regroup.
Number 2 insult: "Homeworld 2 has no strategy!"
If you say this you deserve to be SHOT. HW2 has many more features which involve strategy, including shipyards, subsystems, more dynamic maps, better and more complex environments... you get the idea. In Homeworld, you often have to worry "how can I move my ships around so they dont get picked off" in Homeworld 2 you worry about "Here are my options, how will they effect the future of the game, will it work? What are the pros and cons?" It's more strategy in Homeworld 2. You can use much more tactics. In Homeworld, you use several basic strategies which I can name right now: swarming, capital ship rush, or a mush of both. Battle tactics: not very sophisticated, just click on a ship and boom its dead.
Homeworld 2: you can surgically strike a ship in battle. Lets say you have barely enough resources to win. You get a few bombers, and go and take out the enemy carrier's resource drop-off point. Kill the collectors. Then get a Marine Frigate in there to capture the carrier. By the time you've captured it, the resource drop-off is repaired, and you probably have enough defense there to ward off attackers. Then you get your own collectors in there to collect using the enemies pocket; there you go. In Homeworld, you just choose which pocket is yours and collect there all game, no attacks on it, its pure fleet-to-fleet. In Homeworld 2, you can get it ALL. You also have an improved diplomacy system, like transferring ships
now modding: modding and mapping for Homeworld is INCREDIBLY easy. Mabye not on the same scale as other games, but its pretty damned easy to do. mapping is REALLY good with its LuaC capabilities, programming a map instead of telling it (in 3D coordinate system) where to place each little pebble.
id go on but i gotta sleep.
btw JOIN TEH SOBAN FORCE (SF) CLAN IT RULEZ
join at: http://soban-force.fragism.com/recruit.html
Rating:  -
I throughly enjoy this game - its everything a space RTS game should be. The battles can be huge - just in my fleet I might have a over a dozen major capital vessels surrounded by 40-50 fighter, corvette and frigate squadrons providing cover across a map where I have to pay attention to 2-3 fronts at once. My only regret is that in tight situations I find myself stuck at a high-level view managing all the activity when I just want to dive down, attach my view to a single corvette, and watch it careen in between frigates and battlecruisers in a major head-to-head clash.
The ships types are balanced, I feel, a bit more than in the first game - unguarded capital ships can be decimated by a well-time attack by bomber squadrons, and constraints on constuction modules make you plan how to best configure your capital assets. Give this game a try..
Rating: -
Alright first off im a big stratagy gamer.
This games graphics and ai are perfect. They create a stunning new look at space. But the big thing with me was the challenge of the game. If you want a big challenge in rts's you need to get this game. I tried the demo before i got it and i was stuck for a couple days figuring out the first levels. Personally if the game isn't a challenge in the single player then it won't be fun at all online. If you need a challenge grab this if you don't then don't grab this ull be crying with frustration.
Rating: -
This is an excellent sequel to the other Homeworld games. I found no flaws or problems with the game other than I had to upgrade my TNT2 video card.
Rating: -
There aren't many real time strategy games that successfully employ a true 3-D battlefield, and of those, the Homeworld series comprises the only good ones. Homeworld 2 carries on this legacy, and is largely an improvement over its predecessor.
The most important changes take place in unit balance and the user interface. The latter in particular has been much improved- largely simplified and less reliant on key commands. That is, you can do almost every function with the mouse alone, whereas in the first game you had to remember key bindings. Build and research queues have been added, and tabbed windows to keep the control panels small. There are no longer formation settings for your fleets- instead, they have been reduced to several strike group and posture settings that automatically configure formations. For the most part this is welcome, as it results in a less complicated control scheme and most of these defaults are what you would do in Homeworld anyway.
Balance changes include charging resource units for research (which now makes it an economic decision as well as a time investment), strike craft that are built as a whole unit of ships instead of just one at a time, and truly distinguishable units for the two sides (Hiigaran and Vaygr). The latter is of particular interest, since the original Homeworld had two essentially equivalent forces that only really differed in graphical appearance. Vaygr strike craft are much more suited toward destroying capital ships, while Hiigaran strike craft are suited to destroying other strike craft. Hiigaran capital ships are more suited to defense than their counterparts, and are slower but generally more capable. This non-cosmetic difference actually makes it interesting to play both sides. Additionally, the irritatingly effective salvage corvettes are done away with, replaced by marine and infiltrator frigates. These are much larger targets that are too expensive to be thrown away, and also take a lot longer to capture craft (which they must do in the field). This makes it practically impossible to win just by salvaging enemy ships. Additionally, players will find that certain weapons do tremendous damage to specific unit types. For example, flak cannons will rip fighters to shreds, and capital ship missiles do huge damage to frigates. This makes it far more important to balance your fleets, instead of just pumping out ion frigates. A final, very interesting addition is the capability to build and destroy subsystems. Subsystems allow certain units (e.g. carriers) to build new unit types, conduct research, or add fleet capabilities. There are also basic systems on larger ships, such as engines and turrets. Destroying these can seriously affect the course of a battle.
The game soundtrack follows the flavor of the excellent original soundtrack, and is truly a pleasure to hear. It really sets the mood for a galaxy-spanning, epic campaign, and doesn't get tiresome to listen to.
On an interesting note, the Homeworld 2 graphics are probably not as advanced over the first game as you might imagine. Though the model detail is undoubtedly better, and there are more neat (optional) effects, the look of the game is largely similar. This is in part due to the surprisingly low system requirements, which allows those with older machines to enjoy the game. Additionally, the lack of overly fine detail makes the game run quite smoothly even when there are literally hundreds of ships on the map.
The single play campaign is, as is to be expected, excellent. You'll fight numerous battles all over the galaxy, see many fantastic unique units, and- in latter missions- acquire some of these units. The story is compelling, and the missions are quite challenging. As before, your resources carry over from one to the next, but they are generally far more plentiful than in the original Homeworld. This makes it less likely for a player to end up in a fix that requires restarting the entire campaign. For one thing, larger ships leave debris that are harvestable when destroyed, providing an actual incentive for destroying enemy ships. As a nice touch, resources are automatically collected at the end of each mission, saving you the tedium of waiting for your resource gatherers to pick it all up.
Though the game in general is great, there are a few things that could have been better. It would have been interesting if the game included a campaign of some sort for the Vaygr- even if it just substituted the two sides as in the original. As is, you'll have to explore their units and capabilities in multiplay or skirmish. Additionally, though the UI is less complex than Homeworld, you also have fewer options available. This is probably only an issue for the hardcore Homeworld fanbase, but would have been nice to have as an option.
Overall, Homeworld 2 is an excellent value strategy game sure to please any fan of the series, and to attract new devotees to the genre as well.
|
