Episode 102: Homeworld

Relic Entertainment has a long history of innovating in the RTS space. Both Company of Heroes and Dawn of War are much beloved and respected titles that could hold their heads high even when compared to other goliaths like Warcraft, Red Alert or Age of Empires. But in many ways it was their very first game as a company that pushed the conventions in a weirder direction than anything else. This debut title was called Homeworld.

Homeworld is an RTS set in true three dimensional space, with fleets of ships able to attack from any direction. It features a unique yet bizarrely suited control scheme and UI to fit this space, with orientation being determined around units rather than a fixed camera. Its broader gameplay structure has you keep resources and ships between missions, rather than resetting to base building with each new map. And while its story has a simple premise, it has a lot more dedicated lore around the edges than most games released at the time.

But does strange and bizarre and innovative necessarily translate to an enjoyable experience today? RTS games are close to dead nowadays as is - does throwing all these conventions out the window even make sense? Is Homeworld a unique and underappreciated classic, or has it been forgotten for a reason?

On this episode, we discuss:

Story.

• The Kushan fleet is a professional military force. They speak in clipped tones, don’t disobey orders, and keep their emotions in check. Does Homeworld suffer from its lack of characterisation and cultural identity, or are they simply acting like a sophisticated navy should?

Macro Strategy.

• Homeworld’s strategic imperatives are driven by the decision to have the campaign be a single continuous journey, with resources and ships carrying over from mission to mission. Does this create a tense and immersive experience as you closely monitor your losses? Does this force you down a narrower strategic path?

Fleet Composition.

• To what degree do you need to balance the various ship types in order to create a balanced and effective fleet? Is there a meaningful difference between different ship classes? How important is it to micromanage your forces?

We answer these questions and many more on the 102nd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Homeworld OST: Paul Ruskay

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We played with the Homeworld Splendor Mod. Highly recommended, since the game probably won’t even work without it!

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Is using salvage drones as much as we did truly the optimal strategy? Did you get more use out of cloaking and mine laying? Does Homeworld 2 do anything to address our criticisms of the first game? Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

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