Homeworld 2 Strikecraft

HW2 Shipping

Strikecraft

Frigates

Capital Class

Motherships

Utility Class

Platforms

Strikecraft are the cheapest, lightest, fastest, and most numerous ships in the game. Like many of the new generation RTS games - at least those that haven't been shrinking their unit counts - Homeworld 2 lets you control small Squadrons of units rather than hundreds of lone individuals. Strikecraft enjoy a free reinforcement philosophy: when badly battered Squadrons dock, the surviving ships are not just repaired, but lost wing men are replaced free of charge. Ships still dogfight and circle as individuals like they always have, but now each squadron is a mini-formation, and each Squadron's formation is only set just to let you see what Tactics you set.

You can easily find yourself controlling well over a hundred Strikecraft in a typical skirmish and its not that hard to max out their unit caps; but controlling and managing them is a snap. The small groups are easy to select and assign orders to, and the pilot AI's competently do the rest. Many old Homeworld netgamers used to group their Strikecraft into small groups with lots of messy micromanagement, and it looks like Relic simply took this popular netgaming strategy and made it the Homeworld 2 default. The practical upshot of all this is that Fighters and Corvettes feel much more powerful than they used to, and running into an organised Strikecraft cloud can be as traumatic as running into a wolf pack of Destroyers. Squadrons naturally focus fire on targets: this lets them pack a little bit of a wallop against big ol' slowpokes and extract several Fighter kills or the odd unlucky Corvette per strafe.

The game engine makes some special provisions for Strikecraft in combat. All weapons have an Accuracy modifier that determines how often they miss when taking a shot. You'll notice the point defences on a Mothership will chase Fighters all over the place, in spite of the fact that the game engine is probably quite capable of calculating a direct hit every time. While other ship classes will get plugged by every single round, Strikecraft can zip around and last a little longer. Usually, the smaller the gun, the more likely it will successfully hit a smaller target. As the weapons get bigger, it gets more difficult. By the time you progress to the monster weapon systems on a Battlecruiser, the giant ship won't even bother aiming at them: it must rely on its small point defences instead. In this way, Strikecraft, especially Fighters, can fly under the big guns of a large ship and still be useful. You'll find that despite all the touch-and-go unit trumping in Homeworld 2, all shipping, both big and small, remain useful right throughout the course of a game.

As a rough rule of thumb, the pissy point defences of capital shipping will only hit Fighters 10% of the time and Corvettes 40%. The static Gun Turrets might manage 15% and 20% respectively, and even anti-Strikecraft units like the Gunship will be lucky to manage hit ratios of 10-15% with each shot. Anti-Strikecraft Missiles, on the other hand, will score a kill nearly every time, unless the target doubles back or manages to get out of range.

But for all that, they are still insubstantial - the cutting edge of a Strikecraft swarm quickly goes blunt as the losses start to stack up. Keeping a constant eye on your Strikecraft and remembering to pull them out of trouble and topped up with fresh squadrons is essential. Even the biggest cloud can abruptly collapse on you if its members accumulates too much damage, leaving other shipping wide open and without cover. And while a swarm can comfortably nibble even a Battlecruiser to death, it does take time and all of your Strikecraft to do it - again leaving other parts of your fleet dangerously exposed.

Strikecraft come in two basic chassis sizes: Fighters and Corvettes.

Fighters

Fighters are Homeworld 2's infantry; light, fast, cheap and numerous. They execute hit and run passes, strafing their target before flying off to attack from another angle. They rely on their small size, manoeuvrability, and speed to stay alive. The effectiveness of each Fighter squadron is progressively degraded as they take losses, but since these can be replaced when docked its a little easier and cheaper to maintain your Fighter forces than other types of shipping - provided you remember to pull them out in time.

The key to their success is in their numbers. You can have a screen of Fighters up before a Research Facility, and its usually a sensible idea to have a small pool of Fighters handy to field any early rushes. They're the cheapest warship class to set up and develop. Their high mobility is ideal for intercepting enemy units far across the map or getting help to remote outposts in a timely fashion. Their only drawback is their lack of armour and the need for frequent docking to maintain their effectiveness.

All Fighters have 30 hit points each and wear Light Armour. There are no armour upgrades for Fighters, but their speed upgrades are impressive. As a general rule, most weapon systems miss them far more often than not, but any kind of hit is usually instant death for a Fighter - or at least brings it to Death's door. They can only be manufactured at a production vessel with a Fighter Facility

A lot of things can wipe out Fighters: Interceptors and Assault Craft are naturally, the best anti-Fighter units in the game; Gunships and Missile Corvettes can easily overpower them unless seriously outnumbered; Assault Frigates and the Light Platforms are a worry in numbers; Torpedo Frigates are a real problem, and Flak Frigates are utterly lethal.

Corvettes

Corvettes are small gunboats, slower than Fighters and easier to hit but still agile, packing heavier armour and heavier weapons. Most Corvettes make use of turrets, and can cruise around the target, subjecting it to a constant barrage from all angles without the need to line up attack runs. Corvettes add weight to your Strikecraft swarms, providing some heavier muscle where Fighters find themselves outclassed. For old Homeworld vets, Homeworld 2 Corvettes are no longer the missing link between Strikecraft and Capital craft; they're now classified as a subspecies of Strikecraft. They tend to outlast FIghters thanks to their armour, but are slower to move and re docking them can take a bit of time. Frigates can give them headaches, and they are susceptible to any anti-Strikecraft systems. Corvettes can only be produced at a production vessel with a Corvette Facility.

Individual Corvettes have about 400 Hit Points, upgradable to 640 points, and wear Light Armour. As a general rule, most weapon systems miss a little bit more than hit, but not by much. They have to rely on their stronger armour to see them through. The pissy point defences you find on your standard Capital and Mothership tends to only hit a Corvette 40% of the time, and need about ten to twelve shots to actually destroy a single one. Fighter squadrons always seem to hit Corvettes more than they miss, but like those point defences they've got a lot of health points to work through, so Fighters are frequently trumped by Corvettes by virtue of their armour alone.