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An isolated Resource Controller falls victim to strike craft
With no valleys to guard or hills to hide behind, Homeworld's space combat puts a new spin on real-time strategy. Now the focus lies on building a balanced force and positioning it relative to the enemy, not to terrain features. This creates an extremely dynamic environment, where winning requires resource management, situational awareness, and really big laser cannons.

Unfortunately, multiplayer games don't just give you those laser cannons. Your only initial offense is the Scout, which has approximately the firepower of a slingshot-wielding ten-year-old. This makes early rushes all but pointless; Homeworld's opening game is a time of preparation for later battles. Immediately start building more Resource Collectors and Research Ships. Keep an eye open for enemy movement; if an opponent does try a Scout rush, you will have enough time to build defenses and repel the attack before he can do much damage.

Keep your forces together, or be annihilated piecemeal
When the Interceptor is developed, offense starts to come into play. Build a group of fifteen to twenty of these, possibly adding some Attack Bombers when they become available. Then, send out some Probes to find where the enemy is gathering resources. The best use of strike craft against lightly defended ships is to group them in sphere formation and set their tactics to aggressive. This way they simply encircle the ship, constantly pumping plasma into it. Attack Bombers, with their added firepower, are great for this technique. Be warned, though: if there is an escort, your ships will be easy targets, so use this tactic with caution.

The technology you decide to research is also critical in the early game. Early on, move up the fighter chain quickly so you can harass the enemy Resource Collectors. Also, research Capital Ship Drive to get a Resource Controller out with your collectors to speed things up. While research is important, don't spend too much money on it. For most games, three research ships are enough. Since most technologies need others to be researched first, having too many research ships is often a waste.

Getting resources
Most multiplayer maps have pockets of resources scattered about. If you simply order your Resource Collectors to start harvesting, they often will go to different pockets, each making a long commute to the Mothership. Worse, when one pocket of resources runs dry, they will move to others, wandering close to enemy ships. A lone collector is an easy target for a group of Interceptors.

If you can't beat them, make them join you: pair of Salvage Corvettes sneak off with an enemy Resource Collector
Instead of spreading them out, keep your collectors together in one well-defended group, and move from pocket to pocket. Also, to keep your ships from making inefficient commutes back to the Mothership, build a Resource Controller as soon as possible. Order it to escort your collectors and your controller will merrily follow them through the entire game, saving you the trouble of managing another ship.

Since collectors are often targeted by strike craft, your defenses should be good against fighters. Defenders, Multi-Gun Corvettes, and Drone Frigates are the most cost-effective way of fending off small craft. Put these ships in sphere formation around the Resource Controller to provide the best coverage. Once you get the technology, the combination of a Cloak Generator and Gravity Well Generator are devastating: attacking strike craft get caught by the gravity well they never saw, and are picked off by your defenses.

Unescorted capital ships make for very expensive fireworks displays
Another tactic for eliminating enemy income is to "salvage" their resource collectors. Try grouping a pair of salvage corvettes with a cloak generator. Find a resource collector (or any isolated ship you want to steal), grab it, and pull it back to your fleet. Often, the enemy won't even know what happened until you're snickering on the way back to your Mothership with part of his fleet.

While sniping away at enemy income, don't forget about your own. In a most games, you'll need five or more collectors running from a resource controller to keep up with a fully developed fleet. Since the game allows you to build different kinds of ships in parallel, the bottleneck for construction is usually resources, not build time. Although a large income does not guarantee victory, the lack of one does guarantee defeat.

Force composition
Building a fleet in Homeworld can be compared to a game of rock-paper-scissors: no matter what your fleet consists of, there is another composition that will beat it in a head-to-head fight. Ion Cannon Frigates, for example, are great for taking out capital ships, but are practically useless against strike craft. Replace those frigates with Multi-Gun Corvettes, and the strike craft don't stand a chance. This is why scouting is critical: if you know your opponent is building paper, grab a pair of scissors and get ready to make confetti.

Attacking from multiple directions guarantees hitting a ship's weak side
As a general rule, capital ships with high coverage are great against strike craft, but not so effective against other capital ships. The major exception to this is the Heavy Cruiser, which is incredibly powerful (and should be, for its price). Also, the Missile Destroyer is very effective against almost all units. As the game progresses, shift your force to heavier craft. Strike craft simply do not have enough firepower to take out a large fleet of capital ships.

Fleet engagements
Eventually you will find yourself going head-to-head with the enemy fleet. When this happens, the most important rule is to aim all of your units at one target, moving from enemy ship to ship as they are destroyed. This way their net firepower drops the fastest, minimizing the damage your own fleet takes.

The next most important factor is your formation. Position your vessels so they all come within range together, not spread out to be chewed up by enemy forces. When attacking an enemy formation, use the wall formation and target the nearest enemy first. Also, remember that the armor is weakest on the back and sides of ships and firepower is concentrated forward, so try to get your fleet behind an enemy. Capital ships can move and fire at the same time, so after you begin attacking, keep your ships moving to better positions.

Hyperspace jumps: for when your fleet absolutely has to be there on time
When using frigates to attack Destroyers or Cruisers, use the extra maneuverability to keep your ships out of the direct line of fire. An enemy destroyer targeting a frigate will face it to use its ion cannons, but at close range the frigate can strafe left or right faster than the destroyer can turn. Simply order your ship to slide around, and the destroyer will keep turning towards it, not doing any damage to your fleet. If the destroyer targets a different frigate, order that vessel to slide. Although this kind of micromanagement may be difficult in huge engagements, it is devastating in battles with only a few ships on each side.

Attacking the Mothership
Eventually you will have to attack the enemy Mothership. The final attack itself is easy: just get everything you have firing away. The hard part is knowing when to attack. Don't go after it until you have enough firepower to take it out. Any damage done by a failed attack will probably be repaired before a second strike can be sent in. Use several Ion Cannon Frigates and a couple Destroyers to strike (unless the enemy is so weak that your fleet is under little pressure when attacking).

Vertical attacks can disorient opponents so badly they forget which way is up
A premature attack can cost you ships, but a more serious risk arises if you attack too late. Homeworld fleets get so big and have so much firepower that virtually no amount of defenses can stop them, including an equal fleet. Consider two players with identical fleets. In a straightforward battle, these fleets would cancel each other out. However, one player sends his entire fleet to the enemy Mothership. Even with the enemy fleet pounding on it, the force will destroy the Mothership before it is wiped out, and that player wins the game. Scout the enemy forces; if you are confident you can win with a strike, do it. Waiting could cost you the game.

If you notice an enemy fleet heading towards you early enough, the best strategy is often going after their Mothership and destroying it before they destroy yours. A few tricks can help in this strategy. First, lay a minefield between your Mothership and their strike. Most players are very hesitant to send a fleet through a bunch of mines, so you buy time by forcing them to go around. Second, user hyperspace to get your ship out of enemy fire. It is too expensive to jump any distance with your Mothership, but the ship spends several seconds in hyperspace when it jumps, so do short hops away from the enemy fleet. This is time when you are inflicting damage upon the enemy, but they are doing no harm to you. Be careful where you jump, though: if the Mothership materializes in the same position as one of its attackers, it explodes and the game is over.

Of course, hyperspace can be used offensively as well. Jumping a large group is very expensive, but a fleet of ships appearing next to one's Mothership makes for a very bad day. Again, be careful not to jump on top of anyone. Also, try to jump in behind the enemy Mothership and attack while her escort slowly turns around. And one final tip about jumps: ships come out of hyperspace in the same direction and formation they were in before, so orient your fleet to attack as soon as they reappear.

In the end, Homeworld strategy boils down to having your fleet in the right place at the right time. Spend a lot of game time in the map mode, keeping track of the location of your ships and the enemy. The most powerful ships are also the slowest moving, so anticipate movements. By doing this and following the above tips, you'll be a match for armchair fleet commanders anywhere

mmorphon00@yahoo.com

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Page Updated Mon Feb 28, 2000 8:25pm EST