Free Demo version of Homeworld available from Relic

[styrafoam]

http://www.relic.com/news/Sept...d-Raider-Retreat-Demo/

Probably old news for most people since it is 10 years old now but sometimes people get excited over free multiplay so i figured it was worth sharing.

Homeworld was the first decent attempt at starship combat in a fully 3d type of spacial environment. Graphics are of course dated by todays standards but still a fun game. Excellent artwork and a unique soundtrack still make it worth seeing.

Multiplayer has been reworked with a new matchmaking service since the original Won.net is long gone. 5 single player missions are also included.

 

[A5]

I played the beta for this game. I feel so old now

 

[2dt Drifter]

Used to love doing co-op comp stomps in homeworld. The games would be about 2 hours. Thanks for the info.

 

[Aharami]

they really need to make another Homeworld.

 

[Zensal]

Seriously. This was one of my all time favorite games. It's a bummer that the game doesn't take well to Vista, or even XP for that matter.

 

[aequasi]

they did, there was a homeworld 2, and now there is Sins of a Solar empire, a HUGE homeworld lol

 

[QuantumPion]

SoaSE is a decent game but it is NOT Homeworld.

 

[AdamK47]

I remember getting it when it first came out. I was blown away by it. It's in my top 10 all time favorite games.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Little late Relic :roll: Back to work on DoW2 DLC :|

 

[aequasi]

lol i beg to differ, i think it is quite similar to homeworld

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: aequasi
lol i beg to differ, i think it is quite similar to homeworld

The battle aspect of it I felt was much slower paced and less tactical. In homeworld, you had to be tactical and build counters for all the ship classes. For example, a Battlecruiser would actually be unable to take down a single fighter because of the speed and turning disadvantage.

 

[aequasi]

i never had problems with that 0.o, maybe its cause i built 8 or so of them

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: aequasi
i never had problems with that 0.o, maybe its cause i built 8 or so of them

Homeworld 1 right? The Battlecruisers in HW 1 had ion cannons that fire forward only and turrets that do some damage but had something liek a 1-2% chance to hit a fighter class vessel. A mass of bombers could actually take down squadrons of only pure capital ships with frigate or larger targeting weapons only (not counting the small point defense turrets).

I found Sins combat ot be much less in depth. Just order your fleet to attack and sit back to watch the fireworks since everything was so much more sluggish anyways.

As a side note, you might like Sword of the Stars. It's developed by the guys behind Homeworld: Cataclysm and is sort of like Sins. Patch 1.22 fixes a lot of the issues reviews had with the game and it's on Direct2Drive's 5 year sale sale for $5 atm.

I picked it up and played it yesterday and it's pretty fun. It's interesting and does a couple of things well. Streamlines the actual strategic sector of the game to concentrate more on the strategic ship design and combat side. Unfortunately, Homeworld/2 is still the only game with 3D space combat I know of.

 

[SergeC]

Originally posted by: A5
I played the beta for this game. I feel so old now

You and me both.

 

[A5]

Originally posted by: AdamK47
I remember getting it when it first came out. I was blown away by it. It's in my top 10 all time favorite games.

Same here. I read the manual cover to cover - the ~150 pages of back story was simply phenomenal (especially if you're 13 like I was at the time ).

 

[aequasi]

Originally posted by: mwmorph

Originally posted by: aequasi
i never had problems with that 0.o, maybe its cause i built 8 or so of them

Homeworld 1 right? The Battlecruisers in HW 1 had ion cannons that fire forward only and turrets that do some damage but had something liek a 1-2% chance to hit a fighter class vessel. A mass of bombers could actually take down squadrons of only pure capital ships with frigate or larger targeting weapons only (not counting the small point defense turrets).

I found Sins combat ot be much less in depth. Just order your fleet to attack and sit back to watch the fireworks since everything was so much more sluggish anyways.

As a side note, you might like Sword of the Stars. It's developed by the guys behind Homeworld: Cataclysm and is sort of like Sins. Patch 1.22 fixes a lot of the issues reviews had with the game and it's on Direct2Drive's 5 year sale sale for $5 atm.

I picked it up and played it yesterday and it's pretty fun. It's interesting and does a couple of things well. Streamlines the actual strategic sector of the game to concentrate more on the strategic ship design and combat side. Unfortunately, Homeworld/2 is still the only game with 3D space combat I know of.

i might have to check that out, didnt the cruisers have regular guns tho too?

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: aequasi

Originally posted by: mwmorph

Originally posted by: aequasi
i never had problems with that 0.o, maybe its cause i built 8 or so of them

Homeworld 1 right? The Battlecruisers in HW 1 had ion cannons that fire forward only and turrets that do some damage but had something liek a 1-2% chance to hit a fighter class vessel. A mass of bombers could actually take down squadrons of only pure capital ships with frigate or larger targeting weapons only (not counting the small point defense turrets).

I found Sins combat ot be much less in depth. Just order your fleet to attack and sit back to watch the fireworks since everything was so much more sluggish anyways.

As a side note, you might like Sword of the Stars. It's developed by the guys behind Homeworld: Cataclysm and is sort of like Sins. Patch 1.22 fixes a lot of the issues reviews had with the game and it's on Direct2Drive's 5 year sale sale for $5 atm.

I picked it up and played it yesterday and it's pretty fun. It's interesting and does a couple of things well. Streamlines the actual strategic sector of the game to concentrate more on the strategic ship design and combat side. Unfortunately, Homeworld/2 is still the only game with 3D space combat I know of.

i might have to check that out, didnt the cruisers have regular guns tho too?

They did but I remember in Homeworld 2, the larger the turret, the lower the tracking and thus the lower chance to hit. The Vagyr Destroyer, 2nd biggest ship in the game had 4 turrets as point defense and had only 1% chance to hit a target fighter/bomber sized. A Vagyr Battlecruiser had 5 of these same guns. Either way, massed strike craft against cap ships is pretty effective an cheaper (~12 squads of bombers = cost of 1 battlecruiser with upgrades)

The Vagyr battlecruiser main weapon, triple cannons are forward, narrow arc weapons only and will target smaller ships, but also miss a lot and have a extreme reload time.

I'm not sure either of the Hiigaran Destroyers or Battlecruisers can even hit fighter class vessels.

Basically if you find a expensive, large capital class ship alone. Strike craft and corvettes should win the battle if you use the right ones.

I usually don't have much of an issue, but that's because I always protect my ships with flak frigates (Hiigaran) or Missile Corvettes(Vaygar), with stacked fire control towers on the battlecruisers for increased accuracy. Anything Frigate to Destroyer sized usually dies to bombers before you can hyperspace your units if you don't have any support vessels.

 

[Zensal]

Originally posted by: A5

Originally posted by: AdamK47
I remember getting it when it first came out. I was blown away by it. It's in my top 10 all time favorite games.

Same here. I read the manual cover to cover - the ~150 pages of back story was simply phenomenal (especially if you're 13 like I was at the time ).

The first one was awesome with the novel/manual. It was incredible the amount of time they put into the back story and universe. HW2 had an okay but not great story and it kinda bummed me out. It could have/still can go places if someone decides to pick it up again.

When the horseshoe shaped ship (bentusi maybe?) gave the whole story, I was like "OMG!!!"

The only levels I really hated were the junkyard dog one, and the last one.

 

[aequasi]

lol i just rushed their mothership and eliminated them, then ran away

 

[Zensal]

I think that is what I ended up doing after many, many defensive attempts.

 

[aequasi]

haha yeah, i gave up being defensive, best defense is a good offense

 

[manko]

Originally posted by: SergeC

Originally posted by: A5
I played the beta for this game. I feel so old now

You and me both.

Same here. Good times.

Congratulations, you have been selected for the Homeworld Beta (2).
This Beta will include 5,000 people and focus on gameplay and network
issues. This Beta will be multiplayer only over Won.net, and you do
get all the technology and ships available to you. The Beta will have
3 maps, including one 8 player map.

As of today, the Beta is still in testing at Sierra. As soon as
the CD is approved for release, I'll post a message to the Homeworld Beta
page, so check it often. The URL is
http://www.won.net/gamerooms/strategy/homeworld/beta
Keep in mind that the CD will need to be replicated and mailed out, so
some of you may receive your CD earlier than others.

Remember when they used to mail out CDs for beta tests? Remember when games were still on CDs and most people where still on dialup?

 

[Liet]

Ah, Homeworld... It really was one of the finest computer games ever created, IMNSHO. Not many games have come close to being such works of love and beauty.

 

[43st]

Homeworld was indeed awesome.. I remember being disappointed the HW2 (WTF timer on every level?!?!), and actually going back and replaying the first one. I think I've only replayed one or two games in my life, HW1 being one of them.

 

[JJ650]

Originally posted by: 43st
Homeworld was indeed awesome.. I remember being disappointed the HW2 (WTF timer on every level?!?!), and actually going back and replaying the first one. I think I've only replayed one or two games in my life, HW1 being one of them.

Same here. Epic game. Was awesome back in the day and still is pretty tight today. The story was great ( I loved the pencil drawn cut scenes. It just felt right).

It was always entertaining to build a mass of resource collectors and then smash them into opposing MS. Also, can't forget the huge battle ball formations. Bombers + multigun ships would annhilate fleets of much greater size...until you ran into battle balls of other multigun corvettes.

Ahhh. Good times.