Quoting the_Monk,

reply 24

 

Homeworld (1) is the only homeworld (I refuse to recognize Homeworld 2 as a 'homeworld' game )

Agreed. There can be only Homeworld ONE.

HW2 as a game in itself was pretty good, but the story in the SP campaign seemed way too "Half Assed", and rushed out the door. Plus i didnt like the "glass cannon" frigates.

What is worrying me about HW-RE is that it seems there is more of a focus on HW2 than HW1. I am digging the new UI, and graphics, but the HW2 gameplay seems to remain untouched. While HW1's gameplay is being ported over to work with HW2. Though Gearbox says that HW1 rules will apply. There is a drop down menu to where you can chose what rule sets to use. HW1, HW2, and a new "Balanced" rule set that you can play both HW1, and HW2 eras in the same MP skirmish (this should be interesting).

HW2 modders have been trying to port HW1 into HW2 from the day it was released, and failed, because in HW2 there are HW1 mechanics that just will not work. If the Gearbox code monkeys fail to get this right. This not bode well with HW1 purists. Especially ME, because i am getting this to play Classic HW1 with new graphics.

They combined fighters into groups and radically reduced the survivability of lighter ships along with adding those subsystems on the bigger ones.  It's downright hard to keep frigates alive in 2.  If they did this to HW1, it's not HW1 anymore, it's HW2 with the original campaign ported in.

HW 2 frigates are referred to as "Glass Cannons" for a reason. They pack a punch, but 2 shots from an Ion, or Torpedo Frigate, and they are finished, and Destroyers can wipe out whole squads with ease. In HW 2 frigates were cheap, easily replaceable, cannon fodder.

In HW 1 the Frigates were much tougher, and losing one would hurt. The expense, and build times also made you take care of your frigates, because replacements did not come easy.

Strike craft play totally different too. HW2 the strike craft are in squads. In HW1 the strike craft are single units. HW 1 strike craft use fuel which is all part of the strategy of the game. Especially vs the Kadeshi.

HW1 uses a physics, ballistics, and trajectory system for its weapons Where HW2 is a basic D&D style die roll "hit, or miss" system. As far as combat goes the HW1 engine is far superior than the HW2 engine. If anything HW2 should have been ported to HW1 then a shiny coat of paint put on.

I got HW around the time HW2 was released, but since the GotY Edition only ever had a teaser for Cataclysm, I wasn't really aware of HW2, beyond finding the demo years later, and I didn't obtain Cataclysm either.

The nerfing of support into oblivion by removing support frigates and giving that functionality to resource collectors instead, and of course the "glass cannon" frigates, were my problems with HW2. I actually kind of like the idea of strike craft being squadrons instead of individual ships, subsystems, and the addition of hangars to the new battlecruisers, not that I have ever gotten to use a battlecruiser, since they conveniently aren't in the demo. Well, at least they are bringing back Heidi Ernest to voice HW2 Karan S'jet, which is what fans wanted in the first place, though there were apparently extenuating circumstances that prevented her from doing HW2 all of those years ago.

If you never played Homeworld before. You should play Classic Homeworld. Then you will see where all of the other space RTS's (Including Sins) got their inspiration from.

Graphics are dated now, but game play is still top of the line.

The graphics are indeed dated, but there isn't anything quite like commanding a fleet of equal numbers of Assault and Ion Cannon Frigates, anchored by a pair of Destroyers and a Heavy Cruiser, escorted by eight Multi-Gun Corvettes and squadrons of Interceptors and Attack Bombers, and support by four Support Frigates and a Carrier. The backstory to Homeworld is also excellent, especially the history of Kharak and the design of the starship technology.

I have high hopes for the Sins 2, that its going to improve combat to be more like Homeworld, more dynamic, 3D-ish, less clusterfuckey. Difficult to put into words, but who played both games, shall know what i mean.

Sins did what Homeworld could not do. Sins Gave us "Grand Strategy". Combat on multiple fronts. Exploration. Diplomacy yada yada. These things that Homeworld did not have. What i wanted was a grand strategy game that was "similar" to Homeworld, and Sins did indeed deliver in that respect. So Sins has earned its place among the classics.

Homeworld focus's more on a local Tactical arena. One map. One area. I cant imagine HW as a real time tactics game where you are stuck with the units you have (like Nexus the Jupiter incident).

Still Homeworld is the grand daddy of them all. Nothing can duplicate Homeworld.... Except for Homeworld

Quoting Major Stress,

reply 40

Sins did what Homeworld could not do. Sins Gave us "Grand Strategy". Combat on multiple fronts. Exploration. Diplomacy yada yada. These things that Homeworld did not have. What i wanted was a grand strategy game that was "similar" to Homeworld, and Sins did indeed deliver in that respect. So Sins has earned its place among the classics.

Homeworld focus's more on a local Tactical arena. One map. One area. I cant imagine HW as a real time tactics game where you are stuck with the units you have (like Nexus the Jupiter incident).

Still Homeworld is the grand daddy of them all. Nothing can duplicate Homeworld.... Except for Homeworld

You know, if we get a Sins 2 in the future, I hope the combat is a lot more like Homeworld. I mean, Sins is fun and all, but the combat of Homeworld was vastly superior. Object based weapons and moving turrets etc. Plus no fighters clipping through bigger ships =P

Homeworld 2's system at least still had the chance to miss, as well as being able to shoot down missiles which is a good thing.. so even if they didn't take the full physics approach of homeworld 1, the halfway approach from 2 would be fine by me.

It would make for excellent gameplay and unique balancing style to have a weapon's strength not determined solely by DPS.

The star swarm tech demo looks promising in that regard, so hopefully with the new technologies coming out we shall see RTS games moving into some new territory they could go before.

The way they almost always showed Homeworld 2, besides the Homeworld campaign, had me expecting that. What unit functions did they change, do Support Frigates and Repair Corvettes at least repair? Did the modernization of the UI at least entail things like making the Manager hotkeys work from each of the other Managers instead of just from the standard view and making control groups capable of being disbanded or cleared by deselecting units and reforming the control group?

Well, strike craft refueling was a feature that could be turned off, so they will hopefully at least make it an option eventually. I honestly would too, though definitely with formation options.

I'm not buying it.  Giving it a week or two for buggies to stabilize before I take a crack at it, but I have zero interest in a nerfed Homeworld, a radically improved Homeworld 2 with extra factions will be fantastic, but it's just Homeworld 2.  As it currently stands I wouldn't even bother loading the first up, I've got an original cd and those of us who know how to use our computers can run it just fine even on win7x64.