This is the article on the mobile drop-off in Homeworld. For the similar ship in Homeworld Mobile, see Resource Controller. For other uses, see Resource Controller |
The Resource Controller was a non-Combat Ship designed to speed up resourcing operations used by the Kushan and Taiidan Empire in Homeworld.
Background[]
Over a decade ago, while scientists were researching alternate methods of faster-than-light travel, a curious micro-wormhole effect was achieved by charging two quantum plates and then separating them. While particles would pass instantaneously from a hole in the center of one plate to the other regardless of distance, the research led to a dead end. The first problem was one of power; even with large ground-based fusion reactors linked to the system, the wormhole effect could only be expanded to something the size of a fist. While this might have made for an interesting weapon delivery system, the other drawback was that whatever entered the wormhole emerged as a stream of undifferentiated molecules.
Logged in the data-banks as nothing more than a curiosity, the wormhole pipe lay unexploited until fleet logistics began trying to find a way around the weakness of extended supply lines. Since the Mothership was vulnerable to attack if it came too close to contested resource fields, logistics asked for a resource controller ship that could handle and process shipments from multiple Resource Collectors. Unfortunately, while setting a resource controller at the edge of the resource rich area would reduce the trip time for the collectors, it did little to speed up the transit of the raw materials to the Mothership's foundry. Luckily, a fleet engineer stumbled across records of the wormhole effect and suggested this as the perfect mode of transporting resources from the collector to the Mothership, since collectors already had reduced the resources to a stream of elemental atoms. Using a capital ship hull to support the massive power plant needed to maintain the quantum tunnel, engineers created what was, basically, a slow-moving mobile base that would speed up re-supply by an order of magnitude.
A welcome side effect of the large reactor system was that the resource controller could also serve as a refueling base for 6 fighters and 2 corvettes at a time.
Overview[]
Resource Controllers are designed to make it easier to conduct a remote resourcing operation by providing a single docking pad for resource collectors to use, thereby speeding up the amount of resources that are gathered. As a non-Combat Ship, the Resource Controller possesses no weapons and must be defended by a meaningful guard fleet, as invariably it will come under attack from enemy forces trying to slow down a resourcing operation.
While controllers were seen during the Homeworld War, they fell out of fashion relatively quickly after the advent of Carriers, which had two docking ports, could field a meaningful attack force to defend its operations, had significantly stronger armour and could even build additional collectors if more collection was needed. Over time, efforts were made to reduce the size of controllers and provide them with weapons or healing abilities, such as the Processor used by Kiith Somtaaw. Eventually, the Mobile Refinery became the de facto resource controller, being much smaller and more useful in dense asteroid fields.
Trivia[]
- In the Homeworld: Cataclysm manual, the Kushan ship is codenamed Redemption and the Taiidan ship is codenamed Siim Salla.[1]
- The refuelling feature of the Resource Controller is not included in Homeworld Remastered, as the game does not have a fuel mechanic, but such a minor feature does not change the functionality of the ship.
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ Homeworld: Cataclysm manual