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Armor Level 3 (upgrade/capture)
CRUISE MISSILE
Fighter Drive
Missile Tech
Bio-Warhead
Advanced Fighter Drive (upgrade/capture)
Infection Beam (upgrade)
Armor Level 3 (upgrade/capture)
MISSILE CORVETTE
Fighter Drive
Missile Tech
Advanced Fighter Drive (upgrade/capture)
Armor Level 2
******************
4-TACTICS BRIEFING
******************
+Evasive: only Strike Crafts really benefits of this behaviour, as they are the only vessels capable of tigh maneuvers. With evasive tactics, your units will travel toward the opponent without keeping formation, each one using at maximum efficiency its engines and firing only when sure that enemy fire won't hit.
Ideal for high-speed strafing runs on enemy Capital Ships with anti-fighter guns, where tight formations usually result in a single ion cannon vaporing a good number of crafts. Alos, when crafts using Evasive tactic reach red and yellow health status, they immediately return to the nearest support ships for repair
+Neutral: the standard behavior of new units; in Neutral mode crafts will attach only if attached first, and then will return to inactivity until someone fires against. It will be used in the single palyer (see the walkthru below), but I've never seen someone using it in multiplayer games
+Aggressive: units will maintain formations, and when a target is within range, they will fire. The drawback of this tactic is that crafts only do strafing runs or maintain position to have an optimal aim over the targets, and won't dodge any enemy projectile, missile or energy beam. Useful for Capital vs
Capital and Fighter vs Fighter dogfights.
**********************
5-FORMATIONS BRIEFING
**********************
+Delta: vessels will form a 2D triangle. Though it is a very classic formation and very useful for parades, the top craft will be the most vulnarable to damage, effectively broking the formation.
+Broad: an other 2D formations, but this time the vessels will form a straight line. Deadly for crafts, especially for big groups, as the combined firepower of a formation should give is centered around few elements. Quite effective for
Capital Ships as you can use it for positioning them along the enemy's front and sides. I will describe this tactic later on.
+X: one of the best formations for fighters: the X formations allows relatively small groups (maximum 15) to concentrate fire. Drawbacks? As the formations is compact, enemy turrets will enjoy in destroying your fighters.
+Claw: the best formations for fighters, and if you have some Frigates, even for them. Recomended for maximum 15 crafts, like X formation, the Claw maximizes the effects of concentrated fire of an X formation while reducing the compactness of the formation.
+Wall: ideal for large groups of ships and every Capital Ship formation, the wall creates a...wall (ª_ª...) of ships, maximizing firepower. If you have large fighter formations (10+) or at least 4/6 Frigates, the Wall will be THE choice.
+Sphere: though I use this formation mainly for defensive purposes, I know that someone uses it for single Capital Ships with large Fighter escorts. In a
Sphere formation, the bigger ship will be the center of the sphere, while the lighter ones will produce a defensive bubble around it. When usued cleverly, this formation will break any assault.
*******
6-RANKS
*******
Cataclysm records combat kills and experience of single ships; with an higher rank ships will travel faster and their weapons will be more powerful. Ranks are shown by 4 purple stars over the health bar; 0 stars means that the ship in brand new or killed very few crafts; 4 stars indicates that this is an elite ship and survive to a large number of fights. (Note: I have the italian version of the game, and the translaion might be uncorrect, and increase percentages are IMO)
+ 0 stars: Flight Sergeant: all ships start with this rank. Speed and firepower are the standard values liste into Ships briefing
+ 1 star: Lieutenant: this rank is awarded to ships which survived few battles; speed and firepower are pretty the same of the first rank.
+ 2 stars: Squadron Leader: Firepower and speed increased of 20-30%.
+ 3 stars: Wing Commander: Firepower and speed increased of 30-40%; begin to pay attention to your ships: even outnumbered 2:1 Wing Commanders should destroy a Flight Sergeant wing with few or no losses.
+ 4 stars: Air Marshal: the highest rank a ship can achieve, the increase of speed and firepower is about 40-50%.
****************
7-SHIPS BRIEFING
****************
First of all, a brief description of ship classes and main capabilities.
+ Micro-Ships: a new class introduced in Cataclysm, Micro Ships are very small ships piloted by AI routines. They have specialized tasks, and are not intended to be used for a stand-up fight.
+ Strike Crafts: Fighters and Corvettes. Fast and Maneuverable, these ships are useful for fast-raiding parties and harras larger ships until rienforcmentes arrives. Fighters lacks the turrets and firepower of the Corvettes, though they are faster.
+ Capital Ships: a group divided into Frigates and Super-Capital Ships.
Frigates features a decent firepower and armor protection while mantaining a decent maneuverability; this class features a large number of vessels, each with differents armaments. Super-Capital Ships are Carriers, Cruisers,
Destroyers and every other kind of ship capable of delivering massive firepower or build Strike Crafts and Frigates. To counteract one of these behemoths, use a similar vessel or a group of Frigates. Worst of all, these crafts are usually accompained by fighter escorts.
+ Non-Combatant Ships: ships dedicated to recor, repair and harvesrting. Bigger ships usually mount only defensive turrets. They are not intended for combant, so use them for their main task.
+ MotherShips: massive ships capable of building any other vessel class, except other MotherShips. Your main task is to defend yours, though the armor and firepower (combined with the possibility to move them) can support attack vessels. However, defend it.
Note: under the coverage section I put the descripton of the weapon, showing caliber (small, medium, heavy), type (projectile, missile, ion; energy will substitute projectile after you develop Energy Cannons) and DPs (Damage
Points); if this depicts two values, the first describes the standard damage, the second the upgraded value; these values are the base for every vessel. The value regards a single weapon, so if a ship has 4 guns, doing 8 DPs, the total damage will 32. I divided turrets into two categories: sponson turrets can track enemies in limited arcs but they aren't fixed nor can turn 360ø. Normal
Turrets are mounted on a fixed mount and can fire in 360ø degrees. Enjoy.
16/10/2002 adittion: while searching infos on HomeWorld 2 (can't wait it!), I stubled on this beautiful website, HomeWorld Shipyard: http://www.well-of-souls.com/homeworld/hws/index.html
It contains very detailed infos on every ship in both HomeWorld and HomeWorld:
Cataclysm. I'm not going to copy them in this document as they are not my work and the site definitively is worth of a visit. Check it out.
-----------------
--SOMTAAW SHIPS--
-----------------
SEEKER class reconaissance fighter
Mass: 41 tons
Armor: 25
Firepower: 40
Coverage: 4% (single forward-fixed small projectile weapon, 7/14 DPs)
Maneuverability: very high
Max Velocity: 1050 m/s
Required Tech: none
Upgrade Tech: Advanced Sensors
Advanced Fighter Engine
Energy Cannons
Armor Level 2
RU Cost: 40
SU Cost: 2
Available from: mission 1
A reconaissance fighter. The fastest and most maneuverable ship in the game, the Seeker is used for scounting missions. Thanks to its sensor array, this fighter has the same sensor range of a Capital Ship, and its low UR cost make it ideal for recon missions in unexplored areas (or where the enemy lurks). It is imperative to withdraw it from any engagement, as the single Mass-Driver cannot deal with any armed ship. Always keep 2 or 3 Seekers: the first will patrol the area around the MotherShips, while the second will scout for your attack force.
ACOLYTE class heavy fighter
Mass: 90 tons
Armor: 70
Firepower: 85
Coverage: 6% (two forward-fixed small projectile weapons, 7/22 DPs; plus two missiles, 420 DPs when upgraded)
Maneuverability: very high
Max Velocity: 825 m/s
Special Actions: Link (requires two Acolytes)
Missiles
Required Tech: Fighter Engine
Upgraded Tech: Energy Cannon
Missile Tech
Linking Technology
Advanced Fighter Engine
Armor Level 2
RU Cost: 75
SU Cost: 2
Available from: mission 1
The Acolyte is the most powerful fighter in your fleet: though armor protection is lower than the Taiidan's Triikor and the Turanic's Bandit, the firepower, coverage and speed will compensate its relativel thin armor. The Acolyte will be your main vessel for the first part of the game, and will continue to serve you througout the entire game as escort for bigger vessels or fast desense force. Two or three groups of 20 Acolytes each can repel attacks form all but the heaviest vessel, and the combined firepower of them can deliver serious damage to everything. Missiles are useful to provide additional firepower against large vessels. Do not use them against fighters and fast-moving corvettes, they are too maneuverable.
MIMIC class Infiltration ship
Mass: 55 tons
Armor: 20
Firepower: none
Coverage: none
Maneuverability: very high
Max. Velocity: 750 m/s
Special Action: Mimic
Link (requires two Mimics)
Required Tech: Fighter Engine
Mimic Tech
Upgrade Tech: Linking Technology
Quantum Explosive Charge
Advanced Fighter Engine
Armor Level 2
RU Cost: 70
SU Cost: 3 (2 in version 1.00)
Available from: mission 2
Developed after Turanic raiders nearly fooled the Soomtaw fleet, the Mimic is capable of mimicking (ª_ª...) enemy or friendly Fighters or Corvettes, as well as small asteroyds. The main purpose of the Mimic is to gather intelligence, as the fighters ahs no weapons. The only way a Mimic can inflict damage is to slam it on a enemy ships, but this will destroy the Mimic. This kamikaze tactic is most efficent when Quantum Charges are installed on Mimics. However, I've never found suicide attacks a good way to win.
SENTINEL class defense pod
Mass: 21 tons
Armor: 350
Firepower: 290
Coverage: 15% (single small projectile on sponson turret, 21/42 DPs, forward)
Maneuverability: high
Max Velocity: 250 m/s
Special Action: Force Shield
Required Tech: Micro Ship Construction
Upgrade Tech: Energy Cannon
Force Field Level 1
Force Field Level 2
Force Field Level 3
Armor Level 2
Armor Level 3
Advanced Sensors
RU Cost: 70
SU Cost: 3
Available from: mission 5
The smallest manned class in your fleet, the Sentinel is basically a point-defense craft, capable of generating stron energy shileds capable of
CRUISE MISSILE
Fighter Drive
Missile Tech
Bio-Warhead
Advanced Fighter Drive (upgrade/capture)
Infection Beam (upgrade)
Armor Level 3 (upgrade/capture)
MISSILE CORVETTE
Fighter Drive
Missile Tech
Advanced Fighter Drive (upgrade/capture)
Armor Level 2
******************
4-TACTICS BRIEFING
******************
+Evasive: only Strike Crafts really benefits of this behaviour, as they are the only vessels capable of tigh maneuvers. With evasive tactics, your units will travel toward the opponent without keeping formation, each one using at maximum efficiency its engines and firing only when sure that enemy fire won't hit.
Ideal for high-speed strafing runs on enemy Capital Ships with anti-fighter guns, where tight formations usually result in a single ion cannon vaporing a good number of crafts. Alos, when crafts using Evasive tactic reach red and yellow health status, they immediately return to the nearest support ships for repair
+Neutral: the standard behavior of new units; in Neutral mode crafts will attach only if attached first, and then will return to inactivity until someone fires against. It will be used in the single palyer (see the walkthru below), but I've never seen someone using it in multiplayer games
+Aggressive: units will maintain formations, and when a target is within range, they will fire. The drawback of this tactic is that crafts only do strafing runs or maintain position to have an optimal aim over the targets, and won't dodge any enemy projectile, missile or energy beam. Useful for Capital vs
Capital and Fighter vs Fighter dogfights.
**********************
5-FORMATIONS BRIEFING
**********************
+Delta: vessels will form a 2D triangle. Though it is a very classic formation and very useful for parades, the top craft will be the most vulnarable to damage, effectively broking the formation.
+Broad: an other 2D formations, but this time the vessels will form a straight line. Deadly for crafts, especially for big groups, as the combined firepower of a formation should give is centered around few elements. Quite effective for
Capital Ships as you can use it for positioning them along the enemy's front and sides. I will describe this tactic later on.
+X: one of the best formations for fighters: the X formations allows relatively small groups (maximum 15) to concentrate fire. Drawbacks? As the formations is compact, enemy turrets will enjoy in destroying your fighters.
+Claw: the best formations for fighters, and if you have some Frigates, even for them. Recomended for maximum 15 crafts, like X formation, the Claw maximizes the effects of concentrated fire of an X formation while reducing the compactness of the formation.
+Wall: ideal for large groups of ships and every Capital Ship formation, the wall creates a...wall (ª_ª...) of ships, maximizing firepower. If you have large fighter formations (10+) or at least 4/6 Frigates, the Wall will be THE choice.
+Sphere: though I use this formation mainly for defensive purposes, I know that someone uses it for single Capital Ships with large Fighter escorts. In a
Sphere formation, the bigger ship will be the center of the sphere, while the lighter ones will produce a defensive bubble around it. When usued cleverly, this formation will break any assault.
*******
6-RANKS
*******
Cataclysm records combat kills and experience of single ships; with an higher rank ships will travel faster and their weapons will be more powerful. Ranks are shown by 4 purple stars over the health bar; 0 stars means that the ship in brand new or killed very few crafts; 4 stars indicates that this is an elite ship and survive to a large number of fights. (Note: I have the italian version of the game, and the translaion might be uncorrect, and increase percentages are IMO)
+ 0 stars: Flight Sergeant: all ships start with this rank. Speed and firepower are the standard values liste into Ships briefing
+ 1 star: Lieutenant: this rank is awarded to ships which survived few battles; speed and firepower are pretty the same of the first rank.
+ 2 stars: Squadron Leader: Firepower and speed increased of 20-30%.
+ 3 stars: Wing Commander: Firepower and speed increased of 30-40%; begin to pay attention to your ships: even outnumbered 2:1 Wing Commanders should destroy a Flight Sergeant wing with few or no losses.
+ 4 stars: Air Marshal: the highest rank a ship can achieve, the increase of speed and firepower is about 40-50%.
****************
7-SHIPS BRIEFING
****************
First of all, a brief description of ship classes and main capabilities.
+ Micro-Ships: a new class introduced in Cataclysm, Micro Ships are very small ships piloted by AI routines. They have specialized tasks, and are not intended to be used for a stand-up fight.
+ Strike Crafts: Fighters and Corvettes. Fast and Maneuverable, these ships are useful for fast-raiding parties and harras larger ships until rienforcmentes arrives. Fighters lacks the turrets and firepower of the Corvettes, though they are faster.
+ Capital Ships: a group divided into Frigates and Super-Capital Ships.
Frigates features a decent firepower and armor protection while mantaining a decent maneuverability; this class features a large number of vessels, each with differents armaments. Super-Capital Ships are Carriers, Cruisers,
Destroyers and every other kind of ship capable of delivering massive firepower or build Strike Crafts and Frigates. To counteract one of these behemoths, use a similar vessel or a group of Frigates. Worst of all, these crafts are usually accompained by fighter escorts.
+ Non-Combatant Ships: ships dedicated to recor, repair and harvesrting. Bigger ships usually mount only defensive turrets. They are not intended for combant, so use them for their main task.
+ MotherShips: massive ships capable of building any other vessel class, except other MotherShips. Your main task is to defend yours, though the armor and firepower (combined with the possibility to move them) can support attack vessels. However, defend it.
Note: under the coverage section I put the descripton of the weapon, showing caliber (small, medium, heavy), type (projectile, missile, ion; energy will substitute projectile after you develop Energy Cannons) and DPs (Damage
Points); if this depicts two values, the first describes the standard damage, the second the upgraded value; these values are the base for every vessel. The value regards a single weapon, so if a ship has 4 guns, doing 8 DPs, the total damage will 32. I divided turrets into two categories: sponson turrets can track enemies in limited arcs but they aren't fixed nor can turn 360ø. Normal
Turrets are mounted on a fixed mount and can fire in 360ø degrees. Enjoy.
16/10/2002 adittion: while searching infos on HomeWorld 2 (can't wait it!), I stubled on this beautiful website, HomeWorld Shipyard: http://www.well-of-souls.com/homeworld/hws/index.html
It contains very detailed infos on every ship in both HomeWorld and HomeWorld:
Cataclysm. I'm not going to copy them in this document as they are not my work and the site definitively is worth of a visit. Check it out.
-----------------
--SOMTAAW SHIPS--
-----------------
SEEKER class reconaissance fighter
Mass: 41 tons
Armor: 25
Firepower: 40
Coverage: 4% (single forward-fixed small projectile weapon, 7/14 DPs)
Maneuverability: very high
Max Velocity: 1050 m/s
Required Tech: none
Upgrade Tech: Advanced Sensors
Advanced Fighter Engine
Energy Cannons
Armor Level 2
RU Cost: 40
SU Cost: 2
Available from: mission 1
A reconaissance fighter. The fastest and most maneuverable ship in the game, the Seeker is used for scounting missions. Thanks to its sensor array, this fighter has the same sensor range of a Capital Ship, and its low UR cost make it ideal for recon missions in unexplored areas (or where the enemy lurks). It is imperative to withdraw it from any engagement, as the single Mass-Driver cannot deal with any armed ship. Always keep 2 or 3 Seekers: the first will patrol the area around the MotherShips, while the second will scout for your attack force.
ACOLYTE class heavy fighter
Mass: 90 tons
Armor: 70
Firepower: 85
Coverage: 6% (two forward-fixed small projectile weapons, 7/22 DPs; plus two missiles, 420 DPs when upgraded)
Maneuverability: very high
Max Velocity: 825 m/s
Special Actions: Link (requires two Acolytes)
Missiles
Required Tech: Fighter Engine
Upgraded Tech: Energy Cannon
Missile Tech
Linking Technology
Advanced Fighter Engine
Armor Level 2
RU Cost: 75
SU Cost: 2
Available from: mission 1
The Acolyte is the most powerful fighter in your fleet: though armor protection is lower than the Taiidan's Triikor and the Turanic's Bandit, the firepower, coverage and speed will compensate its relativel thin armor. The Acolyte will be your main vessel for the first part of the game, and will continue to serve you througout the entire game as escort for bigger vessels or fast desense force. Two or three groups of 20 Acolytes each can repel attacks form all but the heaviest vessel, and the combined firepower of them can deliver serious damage to everything. Missiles are useful to provide additional firepower against large vessels. Do not use them against fighters and fast-moving corvettes, they are too maneuverable.
MIMIC class Infiltration ship
Mass: 55 tons
Armor: 20
Firepower: none
Coverage: none
Maneuverability: very high
Max. Velocity: 750 m/s
Special Action: Mimic
Link (requires two Mimics)
Required Tech: Fighter Engine
Mimic Tech
Upgrade Tech: Linking Technology
Quantum Explosive Charge
Advanced Fighter Engine
Armor Level 2
RU Cost: 70
SU Cost: 3 (2 in version 1.00)
Available from: mission 2
Developed after Turanic raiders nearly fooled the Soomtaw fleet, the Mimic is capable of mimicking (ª_ª...) enemy or friendly Fighters or Corvettes, as well as small asteroyds. The main purpose of the Mimic is to gather intelligence, as the fighters ahs no weapons. The only way a Mimic can inflict damage is to slam it on a enemy ships, but this will destroy the Mimic. This kamikaze tactic is most efficent when Quantum Charges are installed on Mimics. However, I've never found suicide attacks a good way to win.
SENTINEL class defense pod
Mass: 21 tons
Armor: 350
Firepower: 290
Coverage: 15% (single small projectile on sponson turret, 21/42 DPs, forward)
Maneuverability: high
Max Velocity: 250 m/s
Special Action: Force Shield
Required Tech: Micro Ship Construction
Upgrade Tech: Energy Cannon
Force Field Level 1
Force Field Level 2
Force Field Level 3
Armor Level 2
Armor Level 3
Advanced Sensors
RU Cost: 70
SU Cost: 3
Available from: mission 5
The smallest manned class in your fleet, the Sentinel is basically a point-defense craft, capable of generating stron energy shileds capable of
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- Homeworld - Cataclysm trainer by System on 14/03/2006, 06:30
Trainer for v1.01 - Homeworld - Cataclysm document by System on 14/03/2006, 06:30
- Homeworld - Cataclysm trainer by System on 14/03/2006, 06:30
Lets you change RU and SU - Homeworld - Cataclysm trainer by System on 14/03/2006, 06:30
Lets you change RU and SU - Homeworld - Cataclysm FAQ by System on 09/03/2006, 09:50
- Homeworld - Cataclysm FAQ by System on 09/03/2006, 09:50