| This is the article on the ship used by the Kushan and Taiidan. For a similarly purposed ship from the Turanic Raiders, see Standard Corvette. |
The Heavy Corvette was a corvette-class combat vessel used by the Kushan and Taiidan Empire in Homeworld.
Overview[]
As the name suggests, Heavy Corvettes are a stronger and more versatile version than the Light Corvette. Despite being designed to be used against strike craft, Heavy Corvettes can very easily go up against frigates as a stronger distraction than fighters. In fact, the strength of a Heavy Corvette is such that it can be hit by an ion cannon and survive, although badly damaged. It is therefore more advantageous for a player to build heavy corvettes and skip the construction of light corvettes, simply because they are more resilient until reaching capital ship class. Heavy corvettes trade their better firepower and durability with lower speed, although they are still nimble enough to outpace frigates and dodge slower moving attacks.
Heavy Corvettes have a special "Burst Attack" move which launches a cone of ammunition in front of them that does more damage to their targets. While it is best suited to taking out clumps of strike craft very quickly, this can be used to deplete the armor of a frigate more quickly.
Lore[]
The heavy corvette is an obvious evolution from the original design of a corvette and was not originally intended for wide use but rather as a more expensive backup for the Light Corvette. As such the sacrifice they made for their two frontal projectile cannon turrets was immense.
Nicknamed "coffins" by their small three-man crews the Hammers sacrifice almost all crew space to make room for the extra armor and weaponry of the Heavy Corvette that is essentially stuffed into the cramped chassis leaving only enough room for a moderately fast engine and the crew space. The crew space is in the form of three cockpit "cocoons" which require a technician's help to enter. The only way for a Hammer crew member to exit without the help of a technician is to eject the cocoon.
Fortunately for the crew it is a fair payoff. The Hammer is the best armored and armed strike craft in the entire Mothership Fleet and its projectile cannon turrets (piloted by one gunner each) have enough coverage to promise death to any enemy strike craft within range that doesn't have the most extraordinary engine power (such as the rather unusual Kadeshi Swarmer that the Tempest was invented to counter) as well as, in the right numbers, any slow-moving Capital Ship. In addition the projectile cannons are capable of unleashing explosive projectiles known as "burst fire" that can prove deadly to either a single unprepared frigate or a surprised Interceptor wing.
As such, the Hammer's operational limits are more often measured in crew endurance than damage, fuel loss, or ammunition. Unfortunately, Hammers do prove ineffective unless moving quickly and in groups of five or more against capital ships equipped with anti-strike craft weaponry. In these cases the preferred strike craft is often the Attack Bomber.
Because of the large area of space that has been converted from crew space to weapon space leaving a vast gap of area unexploited, the Hammer has often been remodeled for diplomatic purposes. What is done is simply a cutting out of all the unneeded weaponry and armor, leaving a vast amount of space for an ambassadorial entourage. One of these modified Hammers was used during the Homeworld War as the diplomatic shuttle for the ambassador who dealt with new alien lifeforms, most notably the Bentusi and Kadeshi.
Legacy[]
After the Homeworld War, the Heavy Corvette fell out of fashion, although some kiith did continue to utilise the vessel as some were infected by the Beast during the Beast War. Most had transitioned to using the Multi-Gun Corvette, which achieved the same effect with more guns mounted on it.
Trivia[]
- In the Homeworld: Cataclysm manual, the Kushan ship is codenamed Hammer: the codename for the Taiidan equivalent is unknown and is one of the few ships not to have such a codename given.[1]
- The Ambassador Corvette used in the single-player campaign is a weapon-less version of the Heavy Corvette. The Taiidan version of the said ship only exists within the original Homeworld when playing as the Taiidan, because Homeworld Remastered removed the ability to complete the campaign using the Taiidan.
- The Kushan Hammer-class Heavy Corvette should not be confused with the similarly named Vaygr Hammer-class Missile Corvette
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ Homeworld: Cataclysm manual