Formations & Tactics
We're working in outer space here. There aren't any obstacles to speak off
and definitely no choke points. Its as purely 3D as strategy gaming can
get. While many maps and games still tend to sit on a flat disk, there has
been some effort to design that extra dimension into gameplay. Homeworld's
shipping has weaknesses from different angles. If you can, attack enemy
fleets from above or better, from below - ship armour is less resistant
to damage from these angles. Unarmed vessels, like Resource Collectors,
suffer almost double damage when attacked from the rear. These weaknesses
should encourage players to work more in three dimensions, rather than just
slug each over the head as though still on the ground.
Formations are the primary means of organising
your fleet. Formations are good because you can issue orders to a large
number of ships all at once, and tailor each group of ships with a formation
that suits them and the situation they're in. Formations can also be bad
because they can sometimes restrict your force's capacity to attack and
defend itself efficiently if you use the wrong formation and tactics at
the wrong time and place.
Ships in a formation behave as one giant "metaship" where all the members
of the formation move and attack as one. Formations can focus fire extremely
well and they can adopt defensive or offensive configurations that enhance
the abilities of the ships within them. But the bigger the formation,
the more cumbersome it becomes. Really big formations can actually be
dangerous to individuals, especially smaller and nimble strikecraft who
become "locked" into place, less able to evade enemy fire because the
entire formation is spending most of its time wombling about slowly rather
than dispersing into small flights that can fly off in all directions
at high speed. Smaller formations can save you manoeuvring time, although
they won't have the striking power of a big formation.
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A
common tactic in many netgames is to bring a small wall of
Light Corvettes guarded by
a couple of Support Frigates
into an early skirmish. Enemy fighters are hard pressed damaging
the Corvettes who are constantly being repaired. This combination
can be very hard to field early in a game if you're not ready
for it or not furiously building a more advanced counter-strike. |
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This is especially true of the capital ships, whose formations tend to
be widely spaced. Their movement and turning speeds are sluggish at the
best of times. Formations travel at the speed of the slowest ship. Some
online Homeworld strategy pages actually recommend that you don't
put capital craft in any kind of formation, leaving each one to flying
independently. Keeping them disorganised also allows big ships to bunch
closer together taking up less space and letting them to collectively
focus on a single target sooner. However, watch out for friendly fire!
Ion beams can rake across friendly ships, causing as much damage to yourself
as the enemy.
At first glance, large formations make organising fighters and corvettes
simpler. Its probably best to split your snub ships into lots of smaller
squadrons, but still group them under the one numbered selection. The
separate formations will still be preserved, and they can chase down different
targets more effectively than a big one alone. There's no point wasting
the firepower of a hundred ships against a small fighter. If there's a
lot of moving targets than a mass of small formations works really well.
The main problem with this approach is that there's a lot of micromanagement
required arranging everybody before the big fight. And, unfortunately,
all that organisation is completely lost when your pilots dock and refuel,
forcing your to redo it by hand afterwards.
Formations and tactics suit different ship classes in different situations.
When setting formations for different types of ships in the same selection,
you'll find unarmed or valuable ships placed centrally, with the others
surrounding it. The pilot AI's in Homeworld are generally adequate for
most situations. They can shoot at more than one target at once, so in
effect, using formations in Homeworld gives you both the perks of "focus
fire" and and wiping out multiple targets all at once.
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Formations |
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No
formation |
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When ships are first manufactured or docked and relaunched,
they are not assigned to any formation. Each ship flies as as
true individual. This does have some perks, and some online
players seem to prefer it. Or more likely - in the thick of
things online they simply haven't got themselves organised enough
to sort out their fleets! When assigned a destination, ships
with no formation all converge to the same single point, bunching
up and seriously focusing some fire in a single direction this
way. Micromanagement, as you might imagine, is a bit easier
since you've surrendered all the formation commands and organisation.
Capital ships can sometimes be a bit easier to manage this way.
The other serious drawback is friendly fire: a tangled group
of ships tend to shoot themselves in the rear a lot - which
is why you use formations in the first place!
However, once you have assigned a formation to your group,
you can't un-formation it unless all the ships are
ordered to redock, or individually selected and assigned their
very own formation. |
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Broad
and Delta |
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About the only uses for these formations are to organise your
ships or have some nice flybys! Broad formation
is commonly used with your big Capital craft, and generally
large numbers of ships in a long chorus line aren't that useful.
Strikecraft and Corvettes will adopt Delta
formation from Support Frigates after they've refueled.
Ships that have refueled from a Mothership or Carrier will line
up in Military Parade Formation in
long lines, sorted into different classes. The wedge shaped
delta formation has been traditionally used in warfare to pierce
the sides of large formations. With the bigger ships you may
want to try this. Strikecraft are usually grouped in X's and
Claws, while Capital ships are often organised into walls. You
would use Broad and Delta with small numbers of Capital craft. |
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X
and Claw |
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Probably the most effective formations for Fighters
and Corvettes when they attack. X
formation is simply a giant X; it's the Strikecraft equivalent
of the Wall formation; packing ships
into a small area to concentrate firepower but still giving
them plenty of space to manoeuvre and shoot.
Claw formation is an X with the
arms of the X swept forward in three dimensional space. Targets
are "enveloped" by the attackers, a little bit like
a high speed Sphere formation. This is easily the most commonly
used formation for Strikecraft in Homeworld. It gives armchair
admirals a nice combination of concentrated firepower and
a high degree of mobility.
Both these formations are highly mobile; Strikecraft and
Corvettes in X or Claw formation are constantly on the move.
Strikecraft will run passes across their targets, picking
several at a time until there are none left; Corvettes will
slowly circle around the target, maintaining a constant barrage. If
you opt for the micromanagement of small wings of Strikecraft,
then formation becomes largely secondary to tactics. The advantages
you get with different formations becomes minor with only
half a dozen members or so.
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Wall |
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Think of this either as an artillery line in space or a useful
way to organise small groups of bigger ships. Wall
formations are primarily designed to unleash a vast amount
of concentrated firepower in a specific direction. As a result
they're often used with Capital ships or Heavy Corvettes, since
these slower moving ship classes can concentrate on just shooting
stuff rather than wasting time getting into position. Since
there aren't any ships in Homeworld with really long ranges,
walls have to move into the action most of the time. Some players
set they're walled ships to Evasive and hand-pick their
targets. Ships set to Aggressive tend to get distracted
by whatever attacks them - not a desirable situation in a slow
moving wall.
A wall with only less than half a dozen members in it those
is fairly concentrated, and a convenient way to group a few
ships together.
There's also a limit to just how big a wall can be before
it starts becoming too cumbersome; capital ships in particular
have a habit of becoming widely space when in position. Walls
with many ships can get so big that ships on the periphery
are simply out of firing range for much of the time and the
formation will start meandering as vessels try to get into
range.
Wall formations can be devastating, but things can get muddled
very quickly if the formation suddenly gets flanked and has
to suddenly move around and defend itself. Initiative can
be quickly lost and leave many ships disadvantaged as they
find themselves blocked by their fellows beside them, or worse,
getting hit by friendly fire traveling lengthwise along the
wall. Like any heavy position, it will need escorts, defenders
and due vigilance.
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Sphere |
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Ships arrange themselves into a ball. When they stop moving,
their all orientate themselves to face outwards. This is a defensive
posture that can fire in all directions, while the guarded host
is protected in a cloud of ships. When used in attack, the formation
envelopes the target and faces inwards, all ships blazing away
non-stop. Its fantastic for continuous firepower applied to
a single target, but the Sphere formation, unless moving from
one location to another or guarding a mobile target, is essentially
a static formation. If the target isn't moving, then
all the attacking ships are sitting ducks once in position,
especially strikecraft. Any enemy guns in the vicinity will
cut your attackers to shreds in next to no time. Use this defensively
guarding a mobile host, or wield it only against a vulnerable
target. Set the defending formation's tactics to Aggressive
to get the most out of it. |
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Military
Parade |
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This is the default configuration for anything that has emerged
from a Mothership or Carrier's dock. You can set it without
ordering ships to dock by selecting your ships and the Mothership
or Carriers concerned and pressing
F10. The ships will return to base
and park in their allotted slot. In Cataclysm,
Military Parade has been given its
own key, F12.
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Tactics
Tactics in Homeworld switch your
vessels from either defensive, foolishly aggressive, or somewhere
in between. |
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Evasive |
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Power is taken away
from weapons and shifted to engines. Ships travel a bit faster,
ducking and weaving to avoid damage. Fuel consumption rises
slightly. Formations are dispersed as ships split up into
pairs, ducking and weaving to make it harder for the enemy
to hit them. Achieving goals will take a bit longer, but the
enemy will have to do a bit more work. Evasive works best
for strikecraft and corvettes. Capital ships set to Evasive
won't automatically challenge everything that hassles them.
This lets you direct them on specific targets in a battle
with them becoming sidetracked by feints or hard to hit enemy
scouts.
For unarmed ships, like Resource Collectors or Repair Corvettes,
they will stop what they're doing the instant they are fired
upon and try to take evasive action. This can be bad for you,
since a single pissy scout can effectively stop a harvester
harvesting just by annoying it, or Salvage Corvettes will
run away at the first sign of trouble and basically let the
ship they were hijacking to escape. |
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Neutral |
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This is the default
that all ships are manufactured in. They'll take a little evasive
action when attacking enemies, and will automatically take potshots
at anything that strays into range, but won't pursue them. Ships
generally hold position, do what they're told and take shots
at whatever hassles them. If you can't think of anything else
for them to do, leave your ships on this setting. |
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Aggressive |
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Power is switched
to weapons at the expense of engines. Ships attack anything
and blast away, unconcerned for individual safety. Formations
are stuck to, no matter what, while the attackers become less
manoeuvrable and more vulnerable to defensive fire. Capital
ships set to Aggressive will snap at anything, which means
they'll all turn around and engage the nearest target that
strays into view instead of carrying out their original orders.
Aggressive is good for any defensive craft guarding an unarmed
vessel, and initial attack runs. Some expert players flick
between different tactics settings when micromanaging ships
in battle. Unarmed vessels, such as repairers or Salvage Corvettes,
will persist with their orders with suicidal zeal. |
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Homeworld Ships
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