The Salvage Corvette was a non-Combat Ship used by the Kushan and Taiidan Empire in Homeworld.
Overview[]
Despite being a non-combat ship type, salvage corvettes are incredibly powerful ships in the fleet, because they are capable of capturing enemy vessels and expanding the fleet well beyond its normal limits (although some limitations apply). Captured ships are towed back to the Mothership and then retro-fitted with a brand new crew on the side of the capturer, allowing that fleet to gain access to specialised weapons systems and vessels that it would have been unable to build itself. However, the power of these ships makes them priority targets for enemy fleets: those who can detect these ships will almost certainly turn their weapons against these fragile ships and stop them from attempting a capture routine, which means they often need support to complete their operations. Employing Repair Corvettes, Support Frigates, Field Frigates and/or Defense Fighters can greatly increase their longevity. Oftentimes, the best way to protect salvage corvettes is to attack elsewhere, to divert attention and enemy fire.
A specific number of salvage corvettes must be used to capture enemy vessels. If too few are used to capture a ship, the enemy ship will still be able to fire weapons that might be able to damage the corvettes and cause them to relinquish control over them, although it won't be able to move until all the corvettes are destroyed. Larger ships require more salvagers:
| Ship Type | Number Needed | |
|---|---|---|
| Homeworld | Homeworld Remastered | |
| Fighters | 1 | Cannot be captured |
| Corvettes | 1 | 1 |
| Frigates | 2 | 2 |
| Destroyers | 3 | 4 |
| Carrier | 5 | 6 |
| Heavy Cruiser | 5 | 6 |
| Non-Combat Ships | 2 | 2 |
| Gun Platforms | ? | Cannot be captured |
Certain ships in the game cannot be captured, primarily due to them being unique vessels which would be too powerful for the players' arsenal. Motherships of any faction and all unique non-combat ships belonging to enemy factions (such as the Ghost Ship, Junkyard Dog, the Research Station and the Field Generator) are examples of vessels that are not able to be captured.
In the original Homeworld, fighters and corvettes were able to be captured with some difficulty, often relying upon the need to use the kamikaze function on salvage corvettes to get them close enough to latch on. This made it possible to capture ships such as Standard Corvettes, Missile Corvettes and even Swarmers. The ability to capture enemy strike craft was added in Homeworld Remastered in a later version.
Homeworld Remastered made some changes to the gameplay that somewhat reduced the effectiveness of the salvage corvette:
- In the original Homeworld, the number of salvagers allowed was the same as the corvette unit cap, but in Homeworld Remastered, only 14 salvagers are allowed.
- In the original Homeworld, captured vessels ignored any ship type caps, but in Homeworld Remastered, these caps were respected, making it very difficult to capture unique vessels in the game.
Lore[]
Tactically indespensible, salvage corvettes -- in sufficient numbers -- could incapacitate and move almost any enemy vessel to the Mothership or a carrier to be taken over for use within the fleet. Capable of taking ships many times its size when operating in packs (such as carriers or heavy cruisers), enough of them could neutralize entire groups of frigates, destroyers, and cruisers, with the desirable effect of bringing the target vessels under their fleet's control.
It was decided to convert many of the heavy tugs used in the construction of the Kushan Mothership into the new heavily armored, battle-capable vessels that would be able to survive combat and dock with an enemy vessel, gain important information from it and finally tow it back to the Mothership for capture. The Porter, as this particular tug was known to the Kushan, was pulled back to the Mothership and the Scaffold for refitting and it became the basis for the corvette design used for combat corvettes such as the Light Corvette and Heavy Corvette.
Salvage corvettes operate alone, as to draw little attention, and only on rare occasions will carry even a scout escort. A tour of duty aboard these vessels is hence, much like in the case of the Taiidan equivalent, considered disciplinary duty in most cases.
Legacy[]
The use of a dedicated salvage corvette fell out of fashion by the time of the Beast War, where Workers combined the attributes of resourcing, repairing and salvaging into a single-multi purpose ship. By the time of the Vaygr War, the corvette had been replaced by the Marine Frigate, which boarded vessels in place, rather than dragging them back to a Mothership to be retro-fitted with new crews.
Bugs[]
- When capturing ships, the salvage corvette may latch onto a targeted ship at the wrong angle, which can sometimes lead to movement of the ship back to an appropriate dock location being impeded significantly.
- Cloaked ships are harder to capture and will likely result in the corvette colliding with their targets in unusual manners, causing their destruction, despite the fact that to capture a cloaked ship, a Proximity Sensor would have been used to reveal their presence.
- Due to Multi-Beam Frigates spinning when they go through their attack animation, a glitch sometimes occurs where salvage corvettes trying to latch on it spin with it indefinitely, causing all ships involved to be stuck in a loop. Ordering the salvage corvettes to abandon the attempt and trying again fixes this issue.
Trivia[]
- In the Homeworld: Cataclysm manual, the Kushan ship is codenamed Porter and the Taiidan ship is codenamed Tiirshak .[1]
- This ship is not used by any enemy faction during the Homeworld and Homeworld: Cataclysm campaigns, despite them being part of the appropriate factions' ship rosters. However, in certain unique circumstances, it is possible for a small group of them to be launched during Mission 12.
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ Homeworld: Cataclysm manual