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Homeworld
Kushan box cover
Technical Information
Developer
Publisher
Release Date
Classic:  28th September 1999
Remastered:  25th February 2015
Game Information
Story
Kushan prepare to return home
Year
1216 KDS/9510 GSY

Homeworld is a 3D real-time strategy game set in space and focusing on the conflict between the Kushan, the exiled Hiigarans who are attempting to locate their long-lost homeworld, and the Taiidan Empire which is trying to destroy them. The game comprises sixteen single-player missions and a multiplayer mode.

The game won the Game of the Year Award from IGN in 2000 and helped popularise the 3D real-time strategy genre. It was succeeded by Homeworld: Cataclysm in 2000 and Homeworld 2 in 2003. A prequel to the game, Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, was released by Blackbird Entertainment in 2016.

The game was made by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment in September 1999. The game was re-released under the title Homeworld Remastered in 2015 by Gearbox Software.

Opening sequence[]

100 years ago, a satellite detected an object under the sands of the Great Desert.
An expedition was sent.
An ancient starship, buried in the sand.
Deep inside the ruin was a single stone that would change the course of our history forever.

On the stone was etched a galactic map
and a single word more ancient than the clans themselves:
Hiigara.
Our home.

The clans were united and a massive colony ship was designed.
Construction would take 60 years.
It would demand new technologies, new industries and new sacrifices.
The greatest of these was made by the scientist Karan S'jet who had herself permanently integrated into the colony ship as its living core.
She is now Fleet Command.

The promise of the Guidestone united the entire population.
Every mind became focused on the true origin of our people ...
... every effort on the construction of the ship that would seek it out among the stars.

Mission List[]

Background[]

Satellite scans Kharak

In 1106 KDS, a Viin Cal satellite scans Kharak by mistake before self destructing.

110 years before the events of Homeworld, a satellite orbiting the planet Kharak had malfunctioned and instead began scanning the surface of the dying world. These scans revealed the existence of an enormous object underneath the Great Banded Desert. In the years after this discovery was noticed by the Kushan, several archaeological teams were dispatched and the site excavated, revealing the remains of a large city surrounding the wreckage of an ancient ship. Inside the vessel, the explorers discovered much technology, far more advanced than anything seen before. The most impressive piece of technology was the hyperdrive module, which the Hiigarans had taken with them on their journey. The Kushan salvaged this hyperdrive and explored further through the ruins, naming the ship and surrounding city as the Khar-Toba[1].

Khar-Toba wreckage

In 1110 KDS, an expedition sent by Kharak's northern kiithid finds the wreckage of the Khar-Toba

The depths of the ruins held the most important artifact: a piece of rock on which was etched a map of the entire galaxy, showing a path from Kharak to a world known as Hiigara, which translated to "Our Home" in the Kushan language. The Guidestone confirmed Kriil S'jet's XenoGenesis Theory for which scientists had been arguing about for decades: Kharak was not their homeworld and that their origins belonged far across the Galaxy[1].

Guidestone

The Guidestone

With the discovery of the Guidestone, the Kushan were spurred into co-operation. Now certain that they did not belong natively to Kharak, they worked together for the next 100 years to build the ship that would seek out their homeworld. Over the course of that time, a Scaffold was built to house the framework of the Kushan Mothership, a colony ship that would carry 600,000 people from Kharak to act as the progenitors on their destination. The scientists also worked on basic Fighter Drive technology, which would allow them to construct some combat vessels, should their fleet come under attack from hostile forces[1][2].

The most important aspect of the Mothership was the hyperdrive module. The scientists reverse-engineered the technology for later use, then repaired and installed it aboard the Mothership, allowing them to reach Hiigara quicker by performing large span jumps across areas of space. The construction of the Mothership would take 60 years and consumed almost all resources available to the Kushan. The entire race was unified in their efforts and devoted all their time towards it, thinking only of their goal of reclaiming their ancient planet[1].

During construction of the Mothership, a problem was identified and no known solution could be found. The mainframe computer, later dubbed Fleet Command, had to control and co-ordinate the entire journey and even the Kushan's limited knowledge of artificial intelligence could not create anything near powerful enough. However, an innovative solution was proposed, one never tested in reality: Karan S'jet was a young and brilliant neuroscientist from Kiith S'jet, who suggested that a cybernetic interface be created, using a living Kushan mind to control it. Karan offered herself for this technology and she was installed into the ship and became Fleet Command[1][2].

With the Mothership nearly complete, a research vessel called the Khar-Selim was dispatched to the very outer limits of the Kharak System. The purpose for this deployment was to provide the Mothership with a target for testing its hyperdrive module[2].

Game Events[]

The Journey Begins[]

The game begins with the Mothership launching from the Scaffold and undergoing basic tests to ensure it was ready before jumping. Construction capabilities were tested with the construction of a Research Ship, for which research teams would work on new technology to enhance the Mothership, should it come across hostile forces. A Resource Collector was used to test harvesting technology, with Scouts testing combat capabilities. With all tests complete, the Mothership prepared to hyperspace to the location of the Khar-Selim.[3]

However, the hyperdrive test would not go un-noticed. Somewhere in the Great Wastelands, the Taiidan Empire detected the use of the hyperdrive and, following the terms of the treaty, called upon the Turanic Raiders to attack the Khar-Selim. Meanwhile, the enemy sent its fleet to attack Kharak and bombarded the planet with Low Orbit Atmosphere Deprivation Weapons, killing everyone instantly[4]. The Khar-Selim sent a demand for the Mothership to abort its test, but this was not received and the Mothership exited hyperspace near the location of the now-destroyed vessel[5].

Fleet Command attempted to signal the Khar-Selim, tracing the automated beacon. A probe was sent, discovering that the Khar-Selim had been destroyed by an unknown enemy. The same enemy sent some fighters to deal with the Kushan people, but they were repelled each time by the Mothership's own technological advances. During the battles, the Kushan salvaged data from the Khar-Selim and decided that it needed to return to Kharak and inform the Daiamid of the threat[6]

Kharak Burning Remastered

Kharak burned by the Taiidan Empire

However, upon re-entry to the Kharak System, they found damage and destruction. Their planet had been burned and the Scaffold destroyed, obliterating all traces of the Kushan people. But the enemy had not finished, for Fleet Command heard the signals of the Cryo Trays being attacked and, knowing that the trays contained the remainder of their people, ordered that the fleet be sent to defend them. When approaching the trays, the enemy ships attacking them were noticed to be different to those they encountered earlier: Fleet Intelligence ordered the retrieval of one ship and the destruction of the rest.[7]

After capturing one of the attacking ships, the data tapes revealed what had happened and the crew aboard also revealed that Kharak was attacked because of an order by the Taiidan Empire[4]. The Cryo Trays were salvaged, stored aboard the Mothership and the Kushan left for an empty area of space known as the Great Wastelands, for which they could prepare a counter-attack against the fleet that devastated their planet[7].

Revenge Against the Taiidan[]

Now out for revenge, the Kushan fleet arrive in a resource rich location known as the Great Wastelands. While they begin harvesting resources and building their fleet with new Capital Ships, based on the technology reverse engineered from the captured frigate, an unknown Mothership vessel appears in the region and is approaching fast. The fleet goes to high alert, but the signal is discovered to be a friendly ship. The arrival calls themselves the Bentusi and wishes to engage in trade, by providing them with an Exchange Unit[8].

Recognising that the Bentusi could be a useful ally, the Kushan purchase Ion Cannons from the Bentusi Exchange. They warn the Kushan of the arrival of the Turanic Raiders, before departing. Shortly after, the Turanic Raiders arrive, but sporting a much larger fleet in an effort to destroy the Kushan. But despite the Raiders using Ion Array Frigates, and even using their Attack Carrier, the Kushan prevail with their own Ion Cannon Frigates and destroy the enemy. The Kushan regroup and rebuild their fleet, ready to exact revenge against the Taiidan[8].

Jumping from the site of their battle, they arrive in a much more resource rich location. However, the Taiidan can't be detected due to the vast number of resources, so probes are sent to find them. With the enemy found, the Kushan battle against the larger and more powerful fleet, but still manage to prevail, even capturing some Destroyers to use in their fleet[9].

The enemy destroyed, the Kushan push further towards their goal: however, their attack on the fleet that destroyed Kharak has alerted the Taiidan to their existence and many outposts have been strengthed. Knowing that they do not have the attack strength to power their way through these outposts, Fleet Intelligence decides to bypass many of the outposts by passing through the nearby nebula[10].

Arriving on the outskirts of the nebula, the Mothership is stranded in an asteroid field and many asteroids are on course with the Mothership. The fleet is scrambled to protect their colony ship and survive the field. On the other side, the Bentusi return with another trade for the Kushan, but the Kushan asks whether they can guide them through the nebula. The Bentusi leave, only providing a cryptic warning that "no one returns" from the nebula[11].

The Great Nebula[]

The Kushan enter the Nebula, unaware of the enemy dwelling there. Needing resources, they begin to harvest and an enemy mothership appears nearby. They call themselves the Kadeshi and explain that the nebula is a sacred location and by harvesting, the nebula had been defiled. The Kushan had an ultimatum: join the Kadeshi or be destroyed. Negotiations failed and the Kushan were thrown into another battle[12].

The Kadeshi launched many Swarmers from their Mothership, who mercilessly began to attack the fleet. But the Kushan held their own and managed to repel the many attacks, even developing the Multi-Gun Corvette to deal with the threat. But the problems were far from over, for the Kadeshi Mothership emitted a strange hyperspace inhibitor that prevented the Kushan from leaving. The Kushan continued their attack and the enemy left, leaving the Kushan free to hyperspace[13].

During the hyperspace jump, Fleet Intelligence examined their enemy and noticed something strange: the hyperspace signature used by the Kadeshi Mothership is identical to their own, raising many questions as to the Kadeshi's origin. They decide that they need to leave the nebula, but their plans are thwarted again by the Kadeshi, who laid a trap to stop them leaving[14].

Utilising three Motherships with the same inhibitor technology, the Kushan were forced out of hyperspace and into a large trap. Again, the Kadeshi tried to negotiate, but Karan uses their knowledge to suggest that the Kadeshi were related. Their enemy, however, would have none of it, clearly frightened of the Taiidan Empire, determining that the Kushan would fail in their task. With that, the Kadeshi swarmed the Mothership, bringing their strongest frigate to defeat them: the Multi-Beam Frigate[15].

However, the Kushan were prepared and managed to deal with the enemy, even choosing to capture some of the enemy frigates for their own. They also managed to wipe out two of the enemy motherships, before the assault was over. While the remaining mothership moved out of battle, it was noticed they were moving to a point with a consistent reading and which had a friendly signature. The Kushan regrouped and prepared the final attack, but when they reached the enemy, the truth was discovered: the enemy had hidden near similar Khar-Toba wreckage, proving that the Kadeshi were related. Unfortunately, the enemy had to be destroyed so they could leave the Great Nebula and continue their journey[15].

Pushing Ahead[]

The Kushan exit hyperspace in an empty area of space to regroup and prepare for the enemy. During their preparation, an enemy signal is detected and is investigated. When investigated, several enemy vessels are seen to be surrounding the signal and only attack when the Kushan go near it. Almost immediately, they order an attack on the Ghost Ship to disable its field. After hard losses, the gravitational field is disabled and the enemy ships become available to the Kushan, including an enemy Missile Destroyer. The Ghost Ship is salvaged and the Kushan learn that it's very old, but they don't know the purpose of it: after this, the Bentusi arrive to obtain this knowledge as a free gift for Super Heavy Chassis, who also promise to go to the Galactic Council for help[16].

Now prepared to attack the Taiidan Empire, the Kushan decide to attack a lightly defended Research Station which is studying a supernova. The attack is not easy, for the supernova is emitting intense radiation, forcing the Kushan along tight corridors of dust to reach the station. The station and its garrison is easily wiped out by the Kushan fleet, allowing them to progress further towards Hiigara[17].

However, progress is halted again. The Kushan must save a Bentusi Exchange, which is under fire from some Taiidan vessels, for now the empire knows the Bentusi have been helping the exiles in their journey. The Kushan scramble to save their allies, capturing an enemy Heavy Cruiser in the process. With the Bentusi saved, they decide to tell the Kushan more about what happened, promising to go to the Galactic Council[18][19].

As the Kushan travel in hyperspace, they are pulled out of it in another trap, this time set up by the Taiidan Empire. Using some Gravity Generators and various support ships, the Kushan Mothership is assaulted, with no access to their Strike Craft as a result of the field. But the Taiidan were underprepared, because the trap had actually been set up for a different person entirely. Elson arrives, just after most of the enemy trap fleet had been destroyed, also under attack from the Taiidan. Fleet Intelligence orders for the protection of Elson, even though it could be a trap[20].

After protecting the defector, he reveals that he is a member of the Taiidan Rebellion, a large task force who opposes the current Empire. He asks that the Kushan direct him to the Karos Graveyard to send a coded transmission to the other leaders of the Rebellion, for which they agree[21].

In the graveyard, the Kushan push through the many automated defences, destroying the Junkyard Dog and many Auto Guns placed around to protect the derelicts from harm. Using their own Strike Craft, the Junkyard Office is activated and the transmission sent. Before leaving, Elson provides important co-ordinates to the Kushan, promising to rejoin them later[22]

The Final Battle[]

Now so close to Hiigara, the Kushan push on, but are stopped by a large Field Generator that forms part of the inhibitor network surrounding their homeworld, for Hiigara is actually the capital of their enemy. Elson gave co-ordinates for the most vulnerable generator, although the Kushan realise that the generator is still heavily protected. Through cunning and a tactical mind, helped by the improvement of the sensor grid through a Sensors Array, the generator is destroyed and all enemy ships captured or destroyed[23].

With the generator down, the Kushan have full access to reach their homeworld and proceed at full strength towards it. However, they had to assume that the generator's destruction wouldn't go un-noticed and had to prepare for the final battle. The Kushan were momentarily stopped in their tracks on the very outskirts of the Hiigara System: through a last ditch attempt, the Taiidan pulled them from hyperspace and sent the Headshot Asteroid to destroy the Mothership. But the Kushan had a strong fleet, able to destroy the small fleet and the asteroid, now ready to fight the Taiidan Emperor at Hiigara[24].

However, their final battle would not be easy. During the jump to Hiigara, the Taiidan Emperor disabled Karan S'jet and placed the fleet into disarray. Without Fleet Command, it would only be a matter of time before the Kushan's attempt would be foiled. But Fleet Intelligence directed the fleet to defeat all the attackers while they focused on Karan's well-being. Captain Elson, as promised, arrived in the system and helped the Kushan to defeat the Emperor and the Taiidan fleet[25].

In the final seconds S'jet comes back online at last and witnesses the death of the Emperor. With the war over and the Kushan victorious, the Galactic Council arrives and allows the Kushan access to Hiigara. Their exile at an end, the Kushan begin landfall and celebrate. Karan S'jet insisted to be the last person to set foot on Hiigara, who had survived the extraction from the Mothership[26].

Gameplay[]

Hw1 interface sensors

Sensors Manager during gameplay

The original Homeworld is played from a 3D perspective: the view is always focused on a particular ship or a group of ships. The ships can be moved in any of the six geometric directions. (At the time, this was an unprecedented feature.) Despite the game being played in the void, there is an arbitrarily established plane in reference to which there is a sense of up and down.

Ships are divided into various classes: Fighters, Corvettes, Capital Ships, Super Capital Ships and Non-Combat Ships. Each ship is strong against one or more type of ships while being weak against other types, so it is up to the player to decide which ships to use.

Single Player[]

Hw1 interface singleplayer

Fleet selector for single-player campaign.

The single-player campaign consists of 16 missions. The player can choose to play as either the Kushan or the Taiidan. Every level starts with a monochrome cinematic to advance the story. The Mothership drops out of hyperspace into a particular part of the map, from which it cannot be moved, and may need to be defended. Fleet Intelligence would give a situation report and highlight mission objectives before relinquishing control to the player.

There are a small number of ways to lose a mission:

  • The first, and most obvious, is if the Mothership is destroyed by enemy forces. This can happen in some missions like the Cathedral of Kadesh, where the Mothership can easily be overwhelmed.
  • All Resource Collectors are destroyed and the player cannot afford new ones. This usually occurs if the player has been mismanaging resources and not attempting to preserve the fleet.
  • Failing to destroy a ship that isn't allowed to leave the map. This condition only occurs on two missions: the attack on the Turanic Raiders in the Great Wastelands and the attack against the Research Station near an active supernova.

Despite these ways of being able to lose a mission, an autosave is made at the beginning of any mission, allowing the player to go back and replay previous missions if they've made any mistakes to their fleet. However, some failures may result in having to backtrack at least 2 missions to preserve more resources.

Any ships built in the previous mission carry on to the next, along with any obtained resources and technology. This allows for the player to gain tactical advantages by building a large fleet to defeat the enemy in the next mission and preserving resources for when they may be needed. However, the persistent fleet concept forces players to be strategical, because early missions have very limited resources, with mistakes likely to result in problems further in the game.

A player who starts with a weak force and limited resources is more likely to reach a point in which they cannot continue, simply as a result of poor fleet management. Examples of missions which could be difficult without a proper fleet include the Cathedral of Kadesh and Chapel Perilous, where a small fleet of weak ships are likely to result in mission failure. Despite the pitfalls, the benefit of the concept means that the game becomes progressively easier if the player is skilled enough to finish a level with a larger fleet than was intended.

The game's prominent feature is the ability to capture enemy ships for use in the player's own fleet. Salvage Corvettes can capture most other ships and deliver them to a Mothership or Carrier, ultimately bringing them under the player's control. This ability allows the player to obtain ships used by unique races (the Multi-Beam Frigate used by the Kadeshi is a regular target for ship capture) that they wouldn't be able to build themselves, or obtain powerful vessels without expending resources. Ship capturing bypasses the fleet limit rules, expanding the fleet even when its capacity is full. The enemy AI, however, always prioritises firing on Salvage Corvettes, making ship capturing a challenging endeavour for beginners.

Ultimately, the campaign's purpose is to play out the story and reach Hiigara. The vantage point is the same, even if the player chooses to select the Taiidan as the choice of race. The only difference is that certain "unique" technologies and dialogues change. For example, the player is offered Defense Field technology instead of Drone Technology in Diamond Shoals, if the Taiidan has been selected.

Unlike its successors, the original Homeworld does not have a timeskip function, meaning that end of mission harvesting could take a very long time depending on map size and quantity of resources. For this reason, many players would leave the game running to harvest the many resources on a map before continuing.

Multiplayer[]

The multiplayer aspect of Homeworld started with an online lobby operated by WON. However, the lobby was disabled in 2004.

The steps for playing online consisted only of creating a new player account from inside Homeworld's own user interface, and patching the game itself to the newest version. The majority of players take part in games using network created with Hamachi.

Multi-Player plays in a similar method to single player, but with some differences. For example, Motherships can move and most capital ships can perform a tactical hyperspace jump at will. The player can choose to disable the aspect of harvesting entirely, opting only for resource injections, changing the amount of starting resources, and whether the player can use the Mothership or not.

The map size determines the number of players allowed and some maps are larger than others. As a result of other players being able to use the resources, they regenerate over time, essentially creating infinite resources.

Changes in Homeworld Remastered[]

In 2015, 16 years after the release of the original Homeworld, Gearbox remastered the game with the sole aim of improving balance, graphics, and music. The new Homeworld Remastered introduces the following changes:

  • The player can no longer play as the Taiidan in the single-player campaign. Therefore, campaign-specific changes that occurred if the player was playing as Taiidan are not included: Taiidan ships can only be found in the multiplayer aspect of the game.
  • Researching is no longer free of charge. Each research has a resource cost. To accommodate this, and the higher cost of building ships, more resources are added to the missions.
  • As a result of an internal game engine bug that would cause the game to crash, the single player mission Kharak System gives two starting resource collectors instead of one.
  • At the end of each mission, all resources are automatically collected. Unlike Homeworld 2, however, the game does not notify the player of this event. Rather, an increase in the resources can be observed when the mothership initiates its hyperspace jump.
  • Enemy ship that are not within the sensors range of a friendly ship do not show up on the sensors manager in any way. Before research and producing a sensors array, commanders must be on alert for enemy surprise attacks.
  • The camera is no longer restricted to rotating around one ship. It can pan in each of the six geometric directions.
  • The concept of limited fuel for fighters and corvettes has been removed. They no longer need to refuel. However, a fuel logic is artificially added to Swarmers in the Great Nebula missions, but upon running out, they become stationary instead of blowing up.
  • The new UI allows viewing the statistics of both friendly and enemy ships. For example, it is now possible to observe that multi-beam frigates are only 33% more powerful than Kushan ion cannon frigates while the Turanic Raiders ion array frigates are 25% weaker.
  • With both the Turanic ion array frigates and the Kadeshi multi-beam frigates, their attack power has been significantly nerfed.
  • Turanic Raider missile corvettes had a glitch with the action button, causing it to fire an absurd amount of missiles at selected enemies. This no longer happens in Remastered.
  • The RU cost of most ships changed. For example, a probe in Classic required only 30 RUs to construct. In Remastered, the cost is now 150.
  • Salvaging enemy ships has been very heavily nerfed to try and prevent players amassing so many enemy ships they end up with an obscene fleet well beyond the normal build limits in every ship class. Players are still capable of doing so, but the following issues are now present:
    • The number of salvage corvettes players are allowed to build has been limited to a maximum of 14.
    • The number of salvage corvettes needed to capture certain ships has increased. Ships that originally needed three salvage corvettes to be captured now need four. Ships that needed five now need six.
    • Salvage corvettes no longer attempt to capture certain ships, including fighters, most corvettes, probes, proximity sensors, and certain capital ships. However, it is possible to capture enemy motherships and shipyards in Multiplayer.
    • Salvage corvettes are also now affected by gravitywell generators.
    • Salvage corvettes are more fragile than before, and enemy ships now consider them an extreme priority target and will constantly focus fire on them.
    • Ships no longer freeze in place when the salvage corvettes sent to catch them get close. This can prove to be tricky to catch some ships, like the Kadeshi multi-beam frigates when they barrel-roll.
    • Frigates as a whole are more fragile than before, so much so that only specialty types are worth stealing like multi-beam frigates
    • Captured carriers are incapable of building ships.
  • Collision and ramming logics have been removed. Even the largest of ships now elastically evade any collision.
  • Ships can now assume formations that were introduced in Homeworld 2: Fighter Screen, Frigate Line and Capital Phalanx.
  • Military parade formation is no longer supported.
  • The game no longer renders ships in wireframes. In the original Homeworld, this would happen when the camera would go through a ship or when the ship was cloaked. In the remastered version, cloaked ships have a properly cloaked look and camera would not go through any ships.
  • Drone Frigates now need an explicit order to deploy their drones. If not given, they only attack with their sole gun.
  • The multiplayer aspect was updated to run through Steamworks and the factions and ships from both Homeworld and Homeworld 2 were combined into one large multiplayer mode. It is thus possible to have Kushan, Taiidan, Hiigaran and Vaygr ships in the same match. However, you can set the game solely for Kushan vs. Taiidan or Hiigaran vs. Vaygr matches.
  • Kushan cloak fighters can no longer stay cloaked indefinitely.
  • While lossless sound effects and vocals were introduced to the Remastered versions, a different version of some music tracks and voice lines were used, thus resulting in some tracks being either significantly shorter or entirely different to the Classic version.

Reception[]

Homeworld was given high marks by most of the gaming community, and earned numerous awards, including E3 "Best Strategy of the Year", PC Gamer's "Game of the Year" award, IGN's "Game of the Year" award for 1999, USA Today "Top Game of the Year".

In its first three months on release, Homeworld sold over 250,000 copies. In its first year the game sold over half a million copies.

"So rarely does a computer game take such great strides to forward innovation while maintaining stellar standards of playability... Congratulations to Relic Entertainment and Sierra Studios for resetting the bar for others to follow" — PC Gamer

Voice Cast and Characters[]

Design Team[]

  • Director - Alex Garden
  • Lead Designer - Erin Daly
  • Lead Programmer - Luke Moloney
  • Art Director - Rob Cunningham
  • Lead Artist - Jon Aaron Kambeitz
  • Designers - Adam Bullied, Quinn Duffy
  • Programmers - Jason Dorie, Drew Dunlop, Keith Hentschel, Bryce Pasechnik, Falko Poiker, Gary Shaw, Darren Stone
  • Artists - Andy Lang, Kelly O'Hara, Erin Olorenshaw, Arthur Shimizu, David T. Cheong, Art We
  • Music and Sound Effects - Paul Ruskay, Roger Savoie
  • Sound Programming - Shane Alfreds, Janik Joire
  • CFO - Curtis Terry
  • IT Support - Frank Roberts
  • Manual Story - Montgomery E. Crabapple (pen name for Martin Cirulis and Arinn Dembo)
  • Manual Design - Rubber Oven Design (David Kirby, Jon Pensa)
  • Story Concept - Dave Williams
  • Detailed Story and Dialogue - Martin Cirulis (uncredited)
  • Manual Illlustrations - Thomas Graham, Rob Cunningham, Jon Aaron Kambeitz
  • Astronomy Consultant - Jaymie M. Matthews
  • Deep Space Dry Methane Martinis - Jaymie M. Matthews

Trivia[]

  • Homeworld was originally meant to be a game adaptation of the space opera television show Battlestar Galactica but Relic Entertainment failed to obtain the rights. The story concept was designed later. Homeworld voice actor Campbell Lane was later cast on the 2003 reboot of Battlestar Galactica, playing the First Hybrid in the TV movie Razor.
  • Captain Elson is named after Peter Elson, a cover artist for the Terran Trade Authority books whose art helped inspire the ship designs and art style of Homeworld.
  • The original story for Homeworld 2 was already outlined in 1999, the year Homeworld was released.
  • It is possible to make Homeworld run on higher resolutions, such as 1600x900, 1600x1200. However, this requires that you modify your registry and therefore, there is a risk of the game being corrupted and require a reinstall. Follow the instructions in this thread (ignoring Step One)

Promotional Items[]

There are a number of associated promotional discs for Homeworld.

Fleet Archive[]

Homeworld Fleet Archive

Fleet Archive CD

Fleet Archive, subtitled "A Multimedia Journey Into The Homeworld Universe", was distributed with a 1999 issue of PC Gamer Magazine.

The Fleet Archive disc contains a Homeworld demo, as well as demos for Caesar III and Half Life (both of which were distributed by Sierra at the time.) There were also screenshots, concept art, sound effects used in the game as well as samples from the sound track and Quicktime movies that showcased gameplay. The disc also included wallpapers, two screen savers, a unit viewer and a QuickTime installer.

The full disc contents are available on archive.org here.

Armada Meltdown[]

Homeworld Armada Meltdown

Armada Meltdown CD

Armada Meltdown was a pre-order bonus for people who purchased the game from Elecheretronics Boutique. This was the first pre-order bonus that was made available through the company: Homeworld: Raider Retreat would later be offered through them as a bonus for people who pre-ordered Homeworld: Cataclysm. [27]

Armada Meltdown saw very limited release due to it only being offered with pre-orders. It is most likely the rarest promotional CD as a result. Unlike the other promotional CDs, all of the Homeworld content on the disc was included in the Homeworld source code release and is available online.

The Armada Meltdown disc contains two multiplayer maps, "Rings of Plazmodeus" (2-7) and "Rumble in the Ionosphere" (2-6). In addition to being included in the source code release, they can also be downloaded from machomeworld.

It also has a demo for Pharaoh.

Patches[]

Homeworld received five patches, the last of which was the version 1.05 patch released on March 27, 2000, resolving many bugs and balance issues. The patches can be found on sierrahelp.com here.

Bugs[]

After the patches, a partial list of known remaining bugs is below:

  • Capital and Super-Capital Ships that are in formation nearest the mothership will have their exhaust bubble behind them, as though they are not in place.
    • This can be fixed using the "Cancel Orders" option.
  • A periodically common glitch where two or more ships (a friendly and an enemy) will pass through one another. it is commonly seen in salvage corvettes trying to run off with a capital or super-capital ship, and sometimes salvaging a fighter or corvette.
  • On a few occasions, frigates will go belly-up after leaving the mothership. They will turn back up when they reach their destination.
  • A rare glitch in the case of frigates moving out of formation while in the process of exiting hyperspace. If it happens, you need to press 'cancel orders' to stop the movement after exiting is complete.
  • Sometimes, the capital ship hangar door of the Kushan mothership gets stuck open, causing any capital ships produced inside it to be trapped inside as a result. The only way to fix this is to capture a large enemy ship, like a destroyer or resource controller.
  • If the Junkyard Dog grabs a Heavy Cruiser and you try to attack it, your ships will not shoot at it but instead get very close to it and attempt to push it. Sometimes your Heavy Cruiser will start to roll around.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Opening Sequence of Homeworld
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Historical and Technical Briefing
  3. Events of Mission 01
  4. 4.0 4.1 Captured enemy Assault Frigate
  5. Data recorder from the Khar-Selim
  6. Events of Mission 02
  7. 7.0 7.1 Events of Mission 03
  8. 8.0 8.1 Events of Mission 04
  9. Events of Mission 05
  10. Data retrieved from the enemy frigate
  11. Events of Mission 06
  12. Communications with the Kadeshi Ambassador
  13. Events of Mission 07
  14. Data of the Kadeshi Mothership
  15. 15.0 15.1 Events of Mission 08
  16. Events of Mission 09
  17. Events of Mission 10
  18. Events of Mission 11
  19. Bentusi story explaining the Kushan's origins
  20. Events of Mission 12
  21. Communications with Captain Elson
  22. Events of Mission 13
  23. Events of Mission 14
  24. Events of Mission 15
  25. Events of Mission 16
  26. Ending sequence of Homeworld
  27. http://www.ign.com/articles/2000/07/21/new-homeworld-level-for-free-well-sort-of

See Also[]

External Links[]

Homeworld Series
Homeworld Homeworld: Cataclysm Homeworld 2 Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak Homeworld Mobile
Homeworld Remastered
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