| Bonus points for being foreign? brilliant logic, chief. You don't give mexicans telemarketing jobs do you? - The..Scarab
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| Newbie Blitzkrieg: A Homeworld 2 report | | | Author: | | | IP: | cache-rtXXXX | | Date: | 04/13/05 04:04 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 5, Min: 5
Lifetime Rating for RabidMurloc: 6.0000 |  | Well, the ol’ Murloc with Rabies is back. And he’s got another text-only. This is on Homeworld 2, which rocks. I don’t expect anything above a 4 for this, because I threw it together in about 45 minutes. I wouldn’t do that, but this game was just so amazing and so different from my normal HW2 experience that I couldn’t bear to let it fade into my almost nonexistent memory.
Homeworld 2 is just the continuation of the Homeworld storyline. The Kushan from the Homeworld of Dag’s reports have settled on their destined homeworld, Hiigara, and as such, have become the Hiigarans. Unfortunately, a warlord named Maakan of a race called the Vaygr has shown up looking for three artifacts, one of which powers the Hiigaran Mothership. This wouldn’t be a problem, except that Maakan just so happens to have brought a massive fleet with him that is all set to blast the crap out of our double-lettered friends. The Hiigaran and Vaygr fleets then start a battle of Star Wars proportions. This one, however was more of a battle of Imperial sabotage proportions.
Note: All strikecraft (corvettes, fighters) come in squadrons. Hiigaran fighters come in fives, corvettes and scouts in threes. I have no clue what the squadron numbers are for the Vaygr, except that corvettes come in fours. The squadrons move as one unit, just like Dawn of War squads. (makes sense, they’re from the same company)
Now, the only setting I can beat the computer on in HW2 is Easy, and I can only do it as the Hiigarans vs the Vaygr. When I play as the Vaygr, the Hiigarans always kick the crud out of me with their high-powered Ion weaponry. This is a shame because the Vaygr ships are friggin’ cool. Anyway, the Easy Vaygr AI, at first glance, seems totally retarded. This is because it just sits there and mines resources and builds Assault Craft, (basic fighter squadrons) Lance Fighters, (Assault Craft chassis with a plasma lance weapon on the front, basically they get up close and chew up anything stupid enough to show up without a Flak Frigate) and Missile Corvettes (just guess). I’m a’ teching, and all of a sudden I check on the enemy (I always park a probe a few hundred kilometers above the enemy Mothership to spy on them) and there’s a Destroyer floating out of the enemy Flagship. I’m like, ‘Holy crap, where the hell did that come from.” So I change gears, throw up a Capital Ship Facility and start work on my own Destroyer. What usually follow is a long, drawn-out conflict involving Battlecruisers, insane numbers of Heavy Missile Frigates, and hunting down Carriers. I fully expected this to happen again, but- *sounds of fight and indistinct gunfire* Allright, allright, guys! Let’s start the report already.
I start out with My Mothership, a carrier, and six Resource Collectors. After send the Collecters to do what I pay them for, (or do I…) I order construction of a Fighter Facility on my carrier. This lets me build Interceptors and Bombers, and research fighter upgrades. After it’s done, I order three squadrons of Interceptors from the Mothership and two from the carrier. As the cash flows in, (which I don’t use to pay the Resource Collecters) I begin building a Research Module, which will enable me to build a Corvette Facility and Frigate Facility, and opens the door to just about everything else. In addition, I have the Carrier build a Mobile Refinery, I don’t send it anywhere, it’s just used to provide an extra drop point, since collectors in HW gather much faster and this will stop there being a queue to deliver cash.
A Corvette Facility is built on both ships, and soon Gunships (corvettes with dual kinetic anti-fighter cannons on em) and Pulsar Gunships (gunship, but with a lil’ mini Ion Gun on top) are joining the rows of Interceptors. A Frigate Facility begins work, and I send my usual probe to about 600 kilometers above the enemy start location. This map, Jadeth, is two-player, by the way. When the probe arrives, I see the usual, three squadrons of Assault craft and a squadron of Missile Corvettes just leaving the enemy Flagship. No Capital Ship Facility, though. That’s good. My first three Torpedo Frigates begin construction in the Carrier. These are just frigates with two missile tubes on the front. The missiles head for the target and split, sending a quartet of swarmers at the enemy. They can hold their own against enemy frigates decently, can do good damage to fighters, but against the corvettes is where they really shine. ‘Vettes are juuuuust big enough to be a good target for the swarmers.
Anyway, the first frigate is out when I check on the Vaygr again. Their ship count now stands at three squadrons of Assault Craft and another three squadrons of Missile Corvettes. However, a Capital Ship Facility now stands next to the hangar. If a Destroyer emerges from t he Flagship, I’ll be in trouble. I don’t even have an Advanced Research Module built, and without that and the Ion Frigates it provides, I can’t do crap if a Destroyer does show up. Vaygr Destroyers, by the way, are powerful things. The back is just command deck, engines, blah blah. In the middle, there are a pair of heavy turrets that launch nasty flak at anything that gets too close. But on the front is a set of four heavy fusion missile batteries that pummel the hardiest of ships with withering rockets. A single one of these ships could probably take out my entire standing fleet. I start the Adv. Research Module. But as the minutes tick by, I have an idea. A crazy idea. A totally insane, almost no chance of success idea. Let’s do it. With a mad gleam in my eye that only shows up in situations like this (and when I have too much sugar) I pause work on the Adv. Research Module, order up three bomber squadrons, a hyperspace module for my carrier, and the Improved Bombs upgrade, which causes bombers to do extra damage to subsystems. This will drain my resources, but if my plan works I won’t be giving a hoot. The orders roll off the line, one after another. I leave behind two Interceptors, knowing that there will be a lot of anti-fighter firepower flying around where we’re going. I pack the first Bomber squadron, all my Corvettes, and the three other Interceptors into the carrier. The three torpedo frigates are ready. My carrier is full. The hyperspace module is ready. All I need now is…about 700 more RUs. Come on, come on, every second we wait is another rivet into that Destroyer…Got it! As a parting token, I restart work on the Adv. Research Module, and click the button. Four hyperspace portals open and swallow my frigates and carrier whole. There is no going back now….
The portals open once more…right behind the Vaygr Flagship! The swarm of Vaygr craft whirl about and charge toward my still materializing ships. Fighters and Corvettes of my own begin exiting the carrier. In the immortal words of Luke Skywalker, “May the Force Be With us.” Execute, plan zero, seven, beta, oh, screw it. ATTACK!
And attack we do. Fire begins stitching space, flying from my carrier and the mighty guns of the enemy flagship. (just for the record, those mighty guns are mighty by anti-fighter standards, but otherwise they about as much damage as a lawyer with a peashooter on Evil Eye Laser Man) The strikecraft begin a furious dogfight that would brig tears to Admiral Ackbar’s massive, bulbous eyes. Another bomber squadron, newly finished, paint gleamin’, rush out of the carrier, and they join the first one pummeling the enemy Capital Ship Facility, which is leveled in short order. The bombers are soon wiped out by the guns of the Flagship, but the enemy fleet is gone, and all my firepower (three missile launchers and a bunch of half-strength corvette squadrons) turns to the enemy. The captain of the opposing carrier shows off his strategy school degree by running away like a little wussy. A few passing shots from my corvettes dent his paint job, but I let him live for now. The Adv. Research Module is done, and three Ion Frigates are ordered up in the carrier. Swarmer missiles and pulsar blasts are constantly hitting the enemy hull, but full-on Iony goodness will soon be brought to bear. But for now, the wussy carrier is sending groups of Lance Fighters and Bombers after me. My Gunships break off to engage them, and a little camera manipulation puts me in the pilot’s seat. It’s awesome. The first Ion Frigate arrives, moves into position, and the first of many Ion beams connects with the enemy hull. The battle, although horribly, horribly lopsided, is enjoyable, particularly when the foghorn-esqe sound of a ship’s reactor core rupturing rings out, and the Vaygr flagship detonates in a firey blast that consumes half of the map yet damages nothing else whatsoever. After that, all I had to do was put down a few pesky bombers and corvettes, and my Ion Frigates were clear to slice the enemy carrier into nice, even slices, that will possibly be served between bread and cheese for a giant alien’s lunch on Thursday. Victory is mine!
This may have seemed long for the slightly annoying intro, but had this been a normal-length game for me, this report would take a good half-hour to read and longer to type. I’m up far too late as it is, my back and neck hurt, and I have school in the morning. Please comment, and for the love of God, someone tell me how to use the web editor! I want to add pics to my reports so I can get decent ratings!
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