___ ___ ___ __ __ _____________|___| / \ |\ /| |___ \ /\ / / \ |__) | | \_____________ -------------| | \___/ | \/ | |___ \/ \/ \___/ | \ |___ |__/------------- ____ __ _______ __ ____ _ __ _ ____ _ _ / __ \ / \ |__ __| / \ / __ \ | | \ \ / / / __ \ | \ / | | / \ | / /\ \ | | / /\ \ | / \ | | | \ \_/ / | / \_| | \ / | | | |_| | | | | | | | | | | | | |_| | | \ / | \___ | \ \ / / | | | _ | |__| | | | | |__| | | | _ | | | | \___ \ | |\ \/ /| | | | | | | __ | | | | __ | | | | | | | | | _ \ | | | \ / | | | \__/ | | | | | | | | | | | | \__/ | | |__ | | | \__/ | | | \/ | | \____/ |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| \____/ |____| |_| \____/ |_| |_| (Thanks to OSREVAD) "If you want an ASCII logo, just drop me a line at omohasiosrevad@hotmail.com [or find him on the GameFAQs message boards]" NOTE: YOU WILL NEED WORD WRAP TO VIEW THIS DOCUMENT. IF YOU HAVEN'T, SAVE IT ONTO YOUR HARD DRIVE AND OPEN IT UP IN WORD OR SOMETHING. Version 2.4 24/03/2004 Size: 121,666 bytes (apparently) FAQ By Sebastian Haque Send to: seb_da_web(at)hotmail(dot)com Authors Note: This FAQ may spoil some surprises in the game. If you read this faq, then start yelling at me about how I spoiled the Bentusi speech in Mission 15, through email, this is what you'll get: Dear Didn't you read the note at the start of my FAQ? Don't pester me or I'll take legal action. Goodbye Seb Haque If you don't want anything spoilt, do not read this faq. Damn scripted viruses! I receive about 20 a week and my automated response was changed for a few days to something I will not repeat here. If you want to email me, just put in the '@' and '.' yourself you lazy bugger. NOTE I CHECK MY EMAIL ADDRESS RARELY. IT MAY BE A WEEK OR MORE BEFORE I REPLY. This is my first FAQ, be gentle. I've tried to explain everything here, but if you feel I need more in it, feel free to email me (as long as its not flame, viruses, hate mail, Spam, etc.). EMAILING ME You can email me about -Spelling Mistakes -Other Tips -Praise! -Personal Help (if the FAQ don't have it) -Modding advice (hey, I'm no pro) -Personal FAQ (Homeworld 1, only by request) You cannot email me about -Flame, hate mail etc. -Stuff already in this FAQ -General Spam -Small contributions that will NOT help anyone and are a waste of time (i.e. you can use time compression) -Chain Mail -ASCII (please ask Osrevad) FAQ (c) Copyright 2003 Seb Haque. This faq can be saved onto your hard drive, uploaded onto your site, printed off for PERSONAL use, whatever, only if you promise never, EVER to claim it as your own work. Also, please place a link to www.quakeimpact.freeservers.com in return. Thanks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SITES ALLOWED TO HOST THIS FAQ: GameNotOver (www.gamenotover.com) Gamefaqs (www.gamefaqs.com) IGN Faqs (http://faqs.ign.com) JST Online (http://jstonline.thegamingunion.com) Cheats.de (www.cheats.de) NeoSeeker (www.neoseeker.com) Cheat Code Central (www.cheatcc.com) DLH.net (http://DLH.Net) NOTE TO WEBMASTERS: If I haven't sent you an update, just take one off Gamefaqs.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SITES NOT ALLOWED TO HOST THIS FAQ: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you're looking for a particular point in the FAQ, just hit Ctrl+F on your computer and type the number next to the title. If you miss the introduction, you'll probably find yourself on HISTORY. This is unintentional, and in that case just flick the switch from Down to UP (if you don't know what I'm talking about then don't worry.) Contents: XXI: Introduction XXII: History XXIII: New Features XXIV: Overview XXV: Tactics XXVI: Formations XXVII: Technology XXIIX: Ship Ranks XXIX: Ships XXX: Mission Walkthrough XXXI: Battle Tips XXXII: Easter Eggs XXXIII: Contributors XXXIV: Other FAQ's by me, Seb Haque XXXV: End Credits --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXI: Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homeworld Cataclysm is probably my favourite PC game. It is fun and many different approaches can be tried. I sometimes play it with mods, but it's not as fun as just playing it normally. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXII: History/Logs --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24/03/04 Long time since updates. I added some ASCII (thanks Osrevad!) and spellchecked it. 26/12/03 Almost finished the major updates, (they're not on here), but just blanked the swear words (I thought there were too many). The worst you'll find here is probably 'stupid'. Also adjusted some of the spelling mistakes. 23/12/03 Started major updates, just had a quick look through the FAQ. Remember, you NEED word wrap to view this file. 17/12/03 More changes added, a whole 10 proper updates now! A new section added 'Battle Tips.' Some redesigning planned soon, keep your eyes peeled! 28/11/03 Finished the Tech trees and Ship trees. Changed the things at the top and put some more stuff in it. 5/11/03 Guy Fawkes night! Anyway, quickly tweaked the new settings and Easter eggs before fireworks! HW:C has started working again (no luck with hw2, must be my stupid machine) 18/10/03 As from now, my haque001l@suttonlea.org is OUT. Any emails sent to that address will not be read. Got HW2 but my computer keeps chucking it out so I can't play it... 11/10/03 Oh, this has got to be the biggest update ever... Just changed the Copyright Notice AGAIN. That's it. 8/10/03 Received an email from www.cheats.de, asking if they could put up my faq. Changed the copyright notice to allow them to use it, and sent updates around. That's it. How lazy. 4/10/03 I actually saw my FAQ on Gamefaqs.com, and I decided that I NEED TO EDIT IT! For those of you without Word Wrap capability, I decided to make it slightly easier for you to read this. 1/10/03 Get used to this, sometimes I update, sometimes I don't. Haven't been bothered to do much except add some more to the contributors section. 30/9/03 Received an email from someone called Jeremy about a problem on mission 6. I think I'll put it in to the faq to save some disk space (you can still mail me about it though). Added the overview section and put the contributors thingy in. 12/9/03 Got rid of one of my email addresses (guess what happened to it) and got HW back up again. Only problem is, that I'm only on mission 3 since I played it for 10 minutes before Karate. 11/9/03 September 11... I just wish I could take Bin Laden and rip him a new... Oh hiya! Changed one of my emails (virus) and just put in some stuff, spelling mistaxe, and added some more to the authors note. My HW:C is playing up so I can't complete the research list. I know I could just rip off someone else's stuff but I'm not like that. 1/8/03 Pinch, Punch, first day of the month! Finished the last mission (sorry guys) and added the 'new features' section. 31/7/03 Haven't tweaked the faq in a while, just thought I'd add a couple of things 16/6/03 Off school sick today, did some more spelling errors and changed my font size (I don't think all people have Lego-style font :-p). 13/6/03 Tweaked it a bit, done some spelling errors and started mission 16 and 17. 4/6/03 Done everything except mission 16 and 17. I'll probably take a break and do it l8a. 3/6/2003 Whoah, I'm quick. I've done up to mission 10 and started the Easter Eggs. 1/6/2003 Added More, to the faq. About 1/3rd complete. Estimated time of completion: 19/6/03 (my birthday!). 30/5/2003 Felt bored, so decided to actually start typing up the FAQ. Deemed useless(by me) and barely complete. 15/5/03 Basic design plans written on paper for FAQ: It was started. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXIII: New Features --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Time Compression - Ships (duh) - Moveable mothership - Time setting - Controls (addition of shift +) - Message Screen - Detailed Ship Information - Unique Voices for every ship - New way of researching and harvesting - More intelligent and active AI I'm sure there are more that I've missed out, email me if you know any. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXIV: Overview --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homeworld Cataclysm has a redesigned well... just about everything. It has quite a lot of new things, like the addition of shift and alt etc. Also, there is a totally new way of finding land. Before, the entire map was visible, but now, you have to explore to find more things (this creates a more realistic environment - in 3058 AD in space the enemy probably won't email you with their co-ordinates of their main base - you have to find it). If you have, say 300Ru's worth of rocks on the map, and you have only found 200, the other 100 will not be salvaged until you find them. This means lazy buggers (like my former self) can't just set resourcers to harvest while they go play the PS2 or something. HW:C has many new and improved aspects (such as the mothership) but also some things are downgraded (like the Bentusi Carriers: before they could fly at the speed of light but now they are as slow as hell). Since this game is rather old (older than my GeForce), the graphics and engine aren't as up to date, but now that I will be getting HW2 soon, I expect some bare good improvements. (I'm a grunger/skater so excuse my stupid language). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXV: Tactics --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- F2: Evasive In evasive, your ships will split out of formation (if they have one) and go into pairs. One ship acts as lookout while the other navigates. This is useful when you are scouting, since evasive ships have been known to zigzag to avoid engaging enemies (more explored land!). It's best to keep recons in this tactic so they can spy on enemies then retreat to safety. F3: Neutral A lot of people hate this tactic, but personally, I find it very useful. Ships in neutral will only fire at enemies as they go past, and will not engage in direct combat. This is useful for squads to hunt down enemies, so if anything goes past, it will be fired at but not chased. F4: Aggressive Ships in aggressive are out for blood, and will hunt and chase down any enemy they see. If they are going somewhere, they cancel that order and attack the unfortunate victim. As long as the pilot of the enemy ship is breathing, your aggro ships won't rest until he/she/it (beast) dies. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXVI: Formations --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- F5: Delta Delta formation is best used for a group of 3-7 fighters/corvettes. With frigates, only 3 MBF's or Hive frigates are good. F6: Broad Broad formation is the default stance when your fighters come out of the mothership. I'd say a VERY small group of ships could be placed in this. F7: X X formation is my fave for 5 cap ships. The only problem is that the ships on the outer edges are vulnerable to flank attack since the whole X must turn to attack. F8: Claw This is good for a large group of fighters, since the speed and manoeuvrability (did I spell that right?) of the claw is a serious threat to cap ships. Again, a flank attack on the rear ship is your best bet for disrupting the claw. F9: Wall A rubbish formation, which the computer likes, the ship on the top left is the main dude. It takes an age for the wall to turn on the TL pivot and by that time all ships are probably dead. F10: Sphere A good bet for large groups, since the victims are swarmed and turned into target practice (attack an asteroid with an acolyte!). Just remember that the bottom of the sphere is the most commonly unguarded. F11: Custom Whatever shape the formation is, ships will hold until given other orders. F12: Parade/Command The formation of hyperspace. Never use unless emergency hyperspace looms. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXVII: Technology --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section hosts different types of tech: weapon systems and ship techs. WEAPON TYPES Mass Drivers: Projectile weapons, they have a fast-fire rate but are relatively weak. Energy Cannon: Twice as strong as projectiles, they are slightly slower than projectiles and have a slow rate of fire. The fire noise on fighters is interesting, though. Missiles: Missiles are slow, but deadly. They can be easily seen because of their engine trails. Unfortunately, missiles are not unlimited, and most smaller vessels have only been able to carry a few. Larger vessels are able to carry an onboard manufacturing supply, which doesn't run out. For some reason the Turanics have combatted this and their Missile Corvettes seem to have a never-ending supply of missiles. Plasma Bombs: So far, only the Beast/Taiidani Attack bomber and the Taiidani Assault frigate have plasma bombs. They are slow but devastating to anything that gets in i ts way. One assault frigate destroyed one of my support modules in 3 shots with it's plasma bombs. These weapons also have the longest range (excluding the siege cannon -see below) Fields: Fields are means of defence. They come in the form of Sentinel Force Fields and Defence Field Frigates. Sentinels shield all weapon (fully upgraded) blows while the Defence Field Frigate deflects half projectile weapons. Siege Cannon Shot: The most powerful shot in the game, this projectile travels so slowly that even your command ship could outrun it. The shot will vaporize anything smaller than a frigate class vessel wherever it hits, and will kill anything it hits. Hitting the beast mothership and watching it spin round at 3000rpm is funny. When the shot is fired, you can see sparks coming out of it. These are the things that make the huge impact. When they disappear, the shot has lost power. Infection Beam: The Beast's main, and ultimate weapon. It converts ANY race of ship to it's side, unless the ship cannot be infected/is immune. The infection bean is fired from a claw on all infection-capable ships, and when fired hits everything in sight. Example: when a HC fires an infection beam, it comes out of a claw poking out of the top where the pilot should be. It is simply an Ion beam with sparks on. It has been known to jump from target to target and the screams heard are those of the pilot as he/she is ripped apart and the metal surrounding the ex-pilot becoming the twisted mass that makes up the Beast. Once converted, the pilot's voice is that of a hybrid, who can be seen when you research Infection Vaccine and Infection Organism. Research Lists You'll notice in the research manager that the technologies are outlined in either green or blue. Blues are the essentials and greens are upgrades. SOMTAAW To research, the Somtaaw build Modules, which are specialized in certain areas. For example, if you want to upgrade your armour level from 1 to 3, you would build an armour module, not a weapons module. Hangar Bay Module FIGHTER DRIVE ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE LINKING TECHNOLOGY FRIGATE DRIVE ADVANCED FRIGATE DRIVE DESTROYER DRIVE ADVANCED DESTROYER DRIVE Armour Module ARMOUR LEVEL 2 ARMOUR LEVEL 3 FORCE FIELD LEVEL 1 FORCE FIELD LEVEL 2 FORCE FIELD LEVEL 3 Engineering Module HOLOGRAPHIC EMITTER SUPPORT SYSTEMS AFTERBURNER REPAIR SYSTEMS SALVAGING ABILITY Advanced Engineering Module MICRO SHIP CONSTRUCTION REPAIR BOTS PHASED TELEMETRY ADVANCED SENSORS INFECTION VACCINE (Only multiplayer) CRYSTAL HARVEST ABILITY INERTIALESS DRIVE (Only single player) Weapon Module ADVANCED ION CANNON MISSILE LAUNCHER SIEGE CANNON ENERGY CANNON E.M.P. WEAPON QUANTUM EXPLOSIVE CHARGE REPULSE WEAPON BEAST Notice that the beast only has 2 unique ships: The Command Ship and the Cruise Missile (actually 1: the Command Ship is the lower deck of the Somtaaw Command Ship). When you research, every ship (you have) is listed and several upgrades are the same. Some need to be stolen off Somtaaw ships, by simply infecting then retiring. An example of this is the ENERGY CANNON, which the Beast does not have itself. Like Somtaaw, essential upgrades (or traits needed to construct the ship) are in Blue, and the upgrades in Green. Genetics Module SUPPORT SYSTEMS BEAST INFECT WEAPON (upgrade) CRYSTAL HARVEST ABILITY (upgrade/captured) Recon(~captured) ADVANCED SENSORS (upgrade) ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Acolyte (captured) FIGHTER DRIVE LINKING TECHNOLOGY (upgrade/captured) ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Interceptor FIGHTER DRIVE ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ENERGY CANNONS (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Cloaked Fighter FIGHTER DRIVE CLOAKING ABILITY ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ENERGY CANNONS (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Attack Bomber FIGHTER DRIVE PLASMA BOMB LAUNCHER ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) ACV(captured) FIGHTER DRIVE LINKING TECHNOLOGY (captured) E.M.P. WEAPON (upgrade/captured) ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Multi-Gun Corvette FIGHTER DRIVE FAST TRACKING TURRETS ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ENERGY CANNONS (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Heavy Corvette FIGHTER DRIVE HEAVY CORVETTE UPGRADE ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ENERGY CANNONS (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Multibeam Frigate (captured) FRIGATE DRIVE ADVANCED ION CANNON ADVANCED FRIGATE DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Hive Frigate (captured) FRIGATE DRIVE MICRO SHIP CONSTRUCTION (captured) ADVANCED FRIGATE DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Ion Array Frigate FRIGATE DRIVE ADVANCED ION CANNON CLOAKING ABILITY (upgrade) ADVANCED FRIGATE DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Defence Field Frigate FRIGATE DRIVE DEFENSE FIELD ADVANCED FRIGATE DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Heavy Cruiser DESTROYER DRIVE HEAVY GUNS ADVANCED ION CANNON ENERGY CANNONS (upgrade/captured) ADVANCED DESTROYER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) BEAST INFECT WEAPON (upgrade) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Carrier DESTROYER DRIVE CRYSTAL HARVESTING ABILITY (upgrade) ADVANCED DESTROYER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ENERGY CANNONS (upgrade/captured) BEAST INFECT WEAPON (upgrade) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Ramming Frigate(captured) REPAIR BOTS (upgrade/captured) AFTERBURNER (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Worker (captured) REPAIR SYSTEMS (upgrade/captured) SALVAGING ABILITY (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Processor(~captured) CRYSTAL HARVESTING ABILITY (upgrade) REPAIR SYSTEMS (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Sentinel (captured) MICRO SHIP CONSTRUCTION (captured) FORCE FIELD LEVEL 1 (upgrade/captured) FORCE FIELD LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) FORCE FIELD LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) ADVANCED SENSORS (upgrade) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Mothership BEAST INFECT WEAPON (upgrade) CRYSTAL HARVESTING ABILITY (upgrade) SUPPORT SYSTEMS (upgrade) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) CuiseMissile FIGHTER DRIVE MISSILE LAUNCHER BIO-WARHEAD ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) BEAST INFECT WEAPON (upgrade) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Missile Corvette FIGHTER DRIVE MISSILE LAUNCHER ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXIIX: Ship Ranks --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When your ships kill/salvage enough enemies, they gain purple stars below their health bar. +0: Flight Sergeant: Default stance, no increase in speed/attack +1: Lieutenant: After killing a few ships, you receive this award. Speed and attack are slightly boosted +2: Flight Leader: After a couple more ships have been slaughtered, you receive this. Slight more attack/speed. +3: Squadron Leader: After lots of ships have been killed, you get a moderate increase in speed/attack +4: Wing Commander: The highest stance, after many battles your attack and speed will be greatly increased. NOTE: When making ships attack out of formation, make sure that you keep an eye on your higher-rated ships, since they go into battle first and are more likely to be slaughtered. For Example, let's take the Command Ship. PROJECTILE +0: 80 damage +1: 83 damage +2: 104 damage +3: 114 damage +4: 123 damage (Details correct for Spanish Version, still doing English) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXIX: Ships --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOMTAAW "Mimic" Class Infiltration ship Mass: 55 tons Firepower: - Armor: 20 Coverage: - Maneuverability: very high Max. Velocity: 750 m/s Special Action: Mimic After encounters with Raider ships equipped with holographic projectors, Somtaaw Tactical command realized the need for their own infiltration strike craft. With little to go on except pieces of pirate wreckage, Somtaaw engineers were able to create a holofield projector that would just fit into the confines of a fighter hull. The Maach-Nar Projection system requires two full laser arrays, spread out on either side of the fighter. While these arrays rob the fighter of all of its conventional offensive power, they are capable of enveloping the ship completely in a hologram that perfectly mimics the form of any strike- or corvette- class ship recorded in the tactical data banks. Mimics have even been known to disguise themselves as harmless asteroids. Additional signal jammers completely remove the Mimic from enemy scanners, while its visual cross section is immune to all but the closest inspection. Mimics were originally used simply to infiltrate enemy fleets and orbital bases, in order to assess enemy strength or eavesdrop on close communication bands. Unfortunately, desperate times have lead to desperate measures, and more and more Mimics find themselves pressed into an offensive role as a suicide unit, especially in circumstances where friendly fleet strength is not high enough to break through to the objective. Pilots for this duty are drawn from the ranks of the Sleepers, those destitute souls who awakened on Hiigara without a single friend or family member left alive after the destruction of Kharak. These pilots have no motivation except revenge against those who took everything from them, and Mimics perform their suicide missions fearlessly and without regret. The last thing that many a surprised resourcer or minelayer will hear is the strangled cry of victory from a Sleeper as he detonates his Mimic against the enemy hull. Required Tech - FIGHTER DRIVE MIMIC TECH Upgrade Tech - ENERGY CANNON LINKING TECHNOLOGY QUANTUM EXPLOSIVE CHARGE ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE ARMOUR LEVEL 2 "Martyr" Class (MCV) Infiltration Corvette Mass: 110 tons Firepower: - Armor: 40 Coverage: - Maneuverability: high Max. Velocity: 550 m/s Special Action: Mimic The Martyr is, in essence, a virtual corvette that is formed when two Mimic strike craft dock to form a larger composite vehicle known as an M.C.V. (Mimic Composite Vehicle). The double-hulled Martyr is capable of generating a much larger holofield than the solitary Mimic, and can disguise itself as various frigate-sized ships or very large asteroids. This greater disguise ability can be used offensively to lull an enemy into thinking that reinforcements have arrived for them, or defensively to make a desperate fleet seem much more substantial than it is, with the addition of 2 or 3 phantom frigates. For more desperate times, the Martyr, like the Mimic, can be used as a suicide craft of devastating power. The overloading of the linked drives can pack enough explosive force to gut a Frigate-sized vessel. Theoretical work on quantum explosives could lead to an increased payload to this subtle and terrifying suicide corvette. When left to their own devices, Martyr teams will often disguise themselves as a friendly damaged frigate and loiter at the edge of a battle, emitting a distress call. When enemy salvagers come alongside to take control of their prize, the Martyr will detonate, trading the lives of the two pilots for those of a dozen or more of the enemy. For revenge-driven Sleepers, there are few better ways to go... Required Tech - FIGHTER DRIVE HOLOGRAPHIC EMITTER LINKING TECHNOLOGY Upgrade Tech - ENERGY CANNON QUANTUM EXPLOSIVE CHARGE ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE ARMOUR LEVEL 2 "Avenger" Class (ACV) corvette Mass: 180 tons Firepower: 170 Armor: 140 Coverage: 6% Maneuverability: high Max. Velocity: 600 m/s Special Action: Unlink, EMP The Avenger was the first breakthrough that Somtaaw engineers made in ship linkage technology. Utilizing some of the remnants of dynamic surface technology passed down through analysis of Bentusi designs, the Acolyte heavy fighter was created with ventral docking ports and control links, so that two heavy fighters could dock to form a corvette class ship. While others had thought this kind of solid link could only be achieved with a full tech team in a hanger bay, the dynamic surface systems of the Acolyte are capable of linking in a matter of seconds while the two ships drift in deep space. Once linked into the Avenger corvette composite craft, one pilot takes over the actual flying of the craft while the other takes over as weapons officer. While both cockpits are capable of assuming either function through the use of virtual displays, it is traditionally the officer with the best combat record who ends up "on top", flying the Avenger. The WO is responsible for managing both the nose-mounted quad mass drivers and the highly advanced Electromagnetic Pulse system, which is capable of overloading the systems of any enemy ships nearby. The Avenger is technically designated as a corvette due to its mass and dual crew, but in reality it inhabits the middle ground between heavy fighter and full corvette. The Avenger has less armor, less firepower and lacks the turret coverage of a traditional corvette, but it is faster and more maneuverable, which allows it to bring its fixed weaponry to bear almost as fast as a turret mount would. Economic considerations and sheer hangar space problems aboard its command and carrier vessels have led Somtaaw Fleet Command to reject a standard corvette design in favor of composite vehicles such as the Avenger and the Martyr MCV. This has resulted in the Avenger being the workhorse of the Somtaaw fleet, and in any combat situations, Avenger wings will be deployed directly from their command ships to guard against incoming strike craft, or even engage enemy frigates en masse. Their ability to split into high speed Acolytes and rejoin at the target area for heavy firepower makes them one of the most adaptable weapons systems in Hiigaran space. Required Tech - FIGHTER DRIVE LINKING TECHNOLOGY Upgrade Tech - ENERGY CANNON E.M.P. WEAPON ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE ARMOUR LEVEL 2 "Dervish" Class Multi-Beam Frigate Mass: 10200 tons Firepower: 3900 Armor: 4000 Coverage: 90% Maneuverability: medium Max. Velocity: 370 m/s Special Action: None The Ion Beam Frigate has long been the mainstay of any offensive star fleet. The only drawback to these powerful beam weapons is that they are so large that frigate-sized craft can only support them in a spinal mount configuration... and this restricts combat coverage. Somtaaw Fleet Command, unwilling to make the jump to the heavy cruiser chassis just to incorporate ion cannons in turret mounts, instead decided to research advanced ion beam technology jointly with Kiith Paktu. This change in initiative resulted in the development of the helix bundle, which allows charged streams to be accelerated in a tightly curved configuration. The Dervish class frigate is built around just such an accelerator helix, and uses a multi-path beam-splitter to direct the charged ion stream to any or all of its five focusing turrets. The turrets themselves are solid state devices that use magnetic fields to focus and direct the ion beam in a large firing arc. Using the cold vacuum of space to keep functioning at super-cooled temperatures, the focusing turret is highly efficient and capable of a high rate of fire. While these ion beams are not as powerful as the ones fired from a traditional Ion Frigate, this lack is more than made up by the increased coverage and decreased fire time. Dervishes function best in the anti-strike craft role, where their rapid tracking ability allows them to tag enemy fighters with devastating firepower. The sight of a single Dervish plowing through a cloud of enemy strike craft with all beams firing is often enough to cause even the most dedicated fighter pilot to reconsider his options. When faced with enemy capital ships, especially other beam frigates such as the Taiidani Sajuuk Cor, the Dervish is forced to rely on its maneuverability to keep turning out of the enemy's strongest firing arc, while still bringing at least 2 or 3 turrets to bear. Required Tech - FRIGATE DRIVE ADVANCED ION CANNON Upgrade Tech - ENERGY CANNON REPAIR BOTS ADVANCED FRIGATE DRIVE ARMOUR LEVEL 2 "Hive" Class Advanced Drone Frigate HIVE FRIGATE FIREPOWER: 1400 COVERAGE: 12% MANEUVERABILITY: MEDIUM ARMOR: 3800 MAX VELOCITY: 390 m/s MASS: 9900 TONS Special Action: Swarm During the Homeworld wars, the Puppeteer class drone frigate was an excellent idea that arrived ahead of its time. While the Puppeteer could surround itself in a sphere of remote turrets, the drones lacked maneuverability, and once they were destroyed, the unarmed Puppeteer either retreated or was destroyed as well. This lack of adaptability quickly relegated the Puppeteer to light anti-strike craft roles and rear area guard duty, where its weakness would not prove quite so deadly. Seeing potential in a design that other Kiith were quickly abandoning, Somtaaw engineers went back to the drawing board both with the frigate itself and the drones. The major breakthrough in drone design came from studying the attack swarms used by the protectors of Khadesh. Using that technology as a baseline, engineers were able to design and build their own Swarmer drone fighter, which retained the firepower of the old static drone but combined it with full maneuverability and a combat AI. Now that the drones were able to control themselves, the space aboard the command frigate that was being used for drone techs and their equipment could be utilized for weaponry. The result of all this design work is the Hive class ADF, a heavily armored frigate armed with twin medium mass drivers in a fixed forward mount and having the capacity to launch and maintain six Swarmer class attack drones. The Hive's mass drivers are not powerful enough to handle another capital ship all by themselves, but are very effective in supplying heavy fire support for the Swarmer wing. While the Hive is a much more rounded combat craft than the Puppeteer, it is still vulnerable to massed strike craft attacks if its compliment of Swarmers is destroyed. Hive squadrons will often enter combat first and use their drones to draw fire away from more valuable manned strike craft, and then retire for a few minutes to rebuild their Swarmer compliment before returning to battle. Required Tech - FRIGATE DRIVE MICRO SHIP CONSTRUCTION Upgrade Tech - ENERGY CANNON REPAIR BOTS ADVANCED FRIGATE DRIVE ARMOUR LEVEL 2 ARMOUR LEVEL 3 "Sentinel" Class defence pod Mass: 21 tons Firepower: 290 Armor: 350 Coverage: 15% Maneuverability: high Max. Velocity: 250 m/s Special Action: Shield The Sentinel has the dubious distinction of being the smallest manned craft currently serving in any Hiigaran fleet. Microships were developed by Somtaaw engineers to function purely as remote drone craft, like the Swarmer attack drone or the Leech breaching pod; the Sentinel was originally intended as an advanced mobile sensor platform. Unfortunately, as more and more design features were added to the Sentinel's specs, it quickly outpaced the control capability of even the most advanced AI. The final breaking point came when energy scientists came up with a compact force-field generator and added it to the Sentinel's systems. Flight AI's were unable to cope with the distortions created by the polarized gravity fields, and this finally had tragic results during a live test, when drone Sentinels created a full strength field and slipped out of position, slicing a Dervish frigate in half with a loss of all hands. The Sentinel project would have been cancelled at this point if not for the efforts of a certain Aart ne Somtaaw, a rather vertically challenged junior member of the engineering team. After installing a rudimentary cockpit into the prototype and donning the lightest vacc suit he could find, Aart put the Sentinel through a punishing set of trials, using all the Sentinel's advanced systems and proving that powerful guns, long range sensors and a field generator could all function in one very small craft. As a reward, Aart was put in charge of assembling the first Sentinel Squadron. Dubbed the War Dwarves by the rest of the fleet, these small pilots have one of the most dangerous and unglamorous jobs in the fleet: standing guard in tiny cans of plasteel, keeping an eye out for incoming threats and protecting thousands of their Kiith mates aboard the larger ships of the fleet. Required Tech - MICRO SHIP CONSTRUCTION Upgrade Tech - ENERGY CANNONS FORCE FIELD LEVEL 1 FORCE FIELD LEVEL 2 FORCE FIELD LEVEL 3 ADVANCED SENSORS ARMOUR LEVEL 2 "Leech" Class breaching pod Mass: 26 tons Firepower: - Armor: 30 Coverage: - Maneuverability: very high Max. Velocity: 1250 m/s Special Action: Leech The Leech is the most sophisticated drone in the Somtaaw fleet, and is designed to get in and heavily damage enemy ships in situations where a conventional attack craft would be destroyed in seconds. The Leech is designed to be stealthy and evade all conventional sensors, so that it can come right up to an enemy vessel and clamp on. The drone is unarmed except for a payload of molecular acid, which it uses to bore through enemy hulls so that it can access the plasma drive conduits. Once bonded to the enemy ship, the Leech uses the enemy ship's own drive plasma to melt through the hull, damaging it slowly. The Leech's AI is designed to infiltrate the enemy ship's systems and relay false messages, silencing damage alarms and repair routines; in general, the crew of an enemy vessel doesn't realize anything is wrong until it is too late. The Leech carries a resource pod as well, so that it can actually absorb the mass of the enemy vessel instead of simply venting it into space. This mass can be returned as raw materials to the Command ship, if required. In order to stay in contact with the Command ship, but avoid having its transmissions picked up by enemy ships, the Leech uses a phased telemetry system that actually shunts part of the signal through hyperspace. It is rumored that Taiidani scientists are already working on a system that would detect these signals, but this would require a massive upgrading to advanced sensors. Required Tech - PHASED TELEMETRY Upgrade Tech - ARMOUR LEVEL 2 "Deacon" Class Destroyer Mass: 28,000 tons Firepower: 8500 Armor: 16,000 Coverage: 30% Maneuverability: low Max. Velocity: 325 m/s Special Action: None When the great Crusade against the Beast was in its darkest days, Kiith Somtaaw found itself desperate for heavier firepower and the capital ships to carry it. While research into Bentusi design philosophy would eventually bear fruit in the awe-inspiring Dreadnought, it would have not come in time had the Deacon class Destroyer not been pushed into service. The Deacon was originally intended to be a new generation of heavy transports, but when the demands of war hit the Somtaaw fleet hard, the design was quickly modified while still on the drawing board. The Deacon's loading booms were scrapped and replaced with heavy ion beams in a fixed forward mount, while the 4 side-mounted point-defense turrets were replaced with medium rail guns to give all-around firepower. The most innovative addition was the dorsal mounted missile turret, which gives the destroyer a full 360 degrees of long-range hitting power-capable of tearing apart enemy frigates before they can get into range to return fire. The Deacon's baptism of fire came at the battle of Coruc Farr, when two Somtaaw destroyers were left alone to hold off a Beast Heavy Cruiser and a full flight of infected strike craft. In the thick of battle, the lead destroyer, the Naar-Tel, closed with the beast cruiser and was raked by an infection beam. As deck after deck of the Destroyer fell to the Beast infection, the Naar's Captain made a desperate decision to vent drive plasma into the infected areas and then out into space. At the cost of gutting a quarter of his own ship and killing a sizable percentage of his own crew, the Naar's Captain was able to keep his ship in the battle and help destroy the beast Cruiser. From that day on, the Naar Directive, as it became known, became the standard response from Allied heavy capital ships to Beast infections. And, while the price in Hiigarian life is always high, instant death in a blast of high-energy plasma is preferable to the twisted immortality of becoming part of the Beast. Required Tech - DESTROYER DRIVE MISSILE LAUNCHER ADVANCED ION CANNON Upgrade Tech - ENERGY CANNONS ADVANCED DESTROYER DRIVE REPAIR BOTS ARMOUR LEVEL 2 "Shaman" Class Carrier Mass: 129,000 tons Firepower: 4200 Armor: 65,000 Coverage: 80% Maneuverability: very low Max. Velocity: 300 m/s Special Action: None The Shaman class Carrier had been in development for some time before it was finally brought into battle. This Carrier was based on Kiith Somtaaw's first foray into heavy ship construction, the Chieftan class Ore Processor, and retains the same no-frills approach to capital ship building; engineers arrived at the design by upgrading the Chieftan's main power plant to support a military-class drive system and a PDA construction bay. The Shaman is not an elegant Carrier, but it is durable, efficient and crewed by the best that Kiith Somtaaw has to offer. The two outboard bays are capable of launching and retrieving multiple strike craft, while the inboard Frigate bays are guarded by heavily reinforced doors, capable of taking multiple ion beam strikes and still protecting the fragile construction and maintenance equipment within. The Shaman was originally designed as the second phase of Kiith Somtaaw's expansion into deep space. With the two main Command Ships exploring and exploiting a sector, Shamans were meant to consolidate and help harvest multiple resource sites while the Command ships moved on. Their construction bays were never intended for anything more than building a couple of recon squadrons and acolytes for survey/guard duty; the frigate bay was there simply to build and maintain Worker class vessels. With the advent of full-blown war, however, the Shaman's bays were upgraded to full production ability, and room was made in what was supposed to be a resource hold for sleeper bays to support spare pilots. In their combat role, Shamans will often construct a wing of Sentinel defense pods and operate behind their forcefields while supporting a fleet in direct combat. The Shaman's medium turrets are not meant to operate offensively, but they can still cause considerable damage to any slow-moving target that wanders into range. With repair bays so close to combat, Hive and Dervish frigates can afford to quickly pull back behind the Shaman's Sentinel shield and dock with relative safety. Required Tech - DESTROYER DRIVE SUPPORT SYSTEMS Upgrade Tech - ENERGY CANNONS CRYSTAL HARVESTING ABILITY REPAIR BOTS ADVANCED DESTROYER DRIVE ARMOUR LEVEL 2 "Archangel" Class Dreadnought Mass: 152,000 tons Firepower: 24,000 Armor: 85,000 Coverage: 80% Maneuverability: very low Max. Velocity: 280 m/s Special Action: Repulse Desperate wars require desperate measures, and the development of the Archangel class dreadnought was no exception. Even though Kiith Somtaaw was struggling valiantly, it eventually became clear that the fleet had no answer to the Beast version of the Taiidan Heavy Cruiser. And, while it would obviously take another full cycle for Somtaaw to research and develop the technologies needed to build the Hiigaran Avatar Heavy Cruiser, it was equally obvious that there would be nothing left of Kiith Somtaaw by the time a cycle of research could be completed! Taking deep penetration scans of Bentusi tradeships, Somtaaw engineers tried to duplicate the radial binding design that give Bentusi ships their incredible durability and energy control. The experiments were less than successful, and dozens of engineers died as experimental alloys gave out under the incredible pressure to which they were subjected. Finally, as losses were threatening to push the Hiigaran fleet back into their home system, Somtaaw engineers were able to produce a hybrid design that had some of the durability and power of a Bentusi craft and was still manageable with Hiigaran crews and technology. The Archangel combines the best attributes of the Avatar Heavy Cruiser and the Taiidani Missile Destroyer, and shields it all in a hull of curved, bonded armor plate that deflects more damage than it absorbs. With 4 heavy turrets backed by 2 full missile banks, the Archangel initially had a powerful offensive punch, but was still vulnerable to flanking maneuvers that brought enemy fire in from the rear, where the heavy mass drivers couldn't reach. This problem was solved rather dramatically with the addition of two heavy ion turrets, which covered the top fore and bottom aft firing hemispheres. Once released into active service, the Archangel has proved devastating to Beast and Imperial forces alike, despite the fact it takes a crack crew to keep her power systems under control. Required Tech - ADVANCED DESTROYER DRIVE MISSILE LAUNCHER ENERGY CANNONS ADVANCED ION CANNON Upgrade Tech - REPULSOR WEAPON REPAIR BOTS ARMOUR LEVEL 2 "Chieftan Mk3" Class Ore Processor Mass: 89,000 tons Firepower: 2500 Armor: 45,000 Coverage: 80% Maneuverability: low Max. Velocity: 250 m/s Special Action: None Next to the Worker resource collector, the Chieftain is one of the most venerable designs in the Somtaaw fleet. As its designation implies, the Chieftain is basically a massive ore processing and refinery unit, designed to take in cargo from workers in deep space and process it. While it is almost as large as a carrier, the Chieftain is mostly composed of vast storage bays and long processing lines. Duty aboard a Chieftain is hard, dirty work, but most of Kiith Somtaaw is more comfortable with the honest work of mining than the killing and dying of war. The first Chieftains produced were strictly industrial ships; with 4 high-speed transfer docking pads for Workers, they could strip an asteroid pocket bare in days. It was only after a series of attacks from Turanic raiders that the Chieftain was fitted with 4 medium mass driver turrets. As full war broke out, the Chieftain was yet again modified with 4 automated repair beams. Since there are no excess officers to manage these systems, the repair beams are under AI control, and automatically begin to repair any friendly unit in range. Despite these changes, which have led to the Mark 3 version, the Chieftain is one of the few pre-war ship designs that has never brought aboard combat officers to help with managing ship systems and fleet coordination. Every Chieftain that has ever been launched and every one that has been lost in combat to this date has been crewed by nothing more or less than the ancient soul of Kiith Somtaaw: the Miners. Required Tech - HANGAR MODULE Upgrade Tech - CRYSTAL HARVESTING ABILITY ENERGY CANNONS REPAIR SYSTEMS REPAIR BOTS ARMOUR LEVEL 2 "Explorer" Class Deep Space Mining Vessel Mass: 613,000 tons Firepower: 5400 Armor: 98,000 Coverage: 70% Maneuverability: very low Max. Velocity: 110 m/s Special Action: Siege Cannon The epic voyage of the Mothership proved that in order to survive the threats posed by a hostile Galaxy, you had to have a vessel that was prepared to handle anything. Once it became obvious that politics on Hiigara would favor the most powerful families, lesser Kiith like Somtaaw realized that their only hope to achieve some sort of political and social autonomy lay in the stars. Already experienced in deep space mining techniques from their work in the Kharak system, Somtaaw engineers began to design the kind of deep space mining vessel they knew would be able to spend a year or more on the circuit, harvesting, refining and trading while supporting a crew of nearly a thousand engineers, miners and flight crew. A ship of this size and power exceeded even the construction capabilities of the Imperator class Carrier, and so Somtaaw petitioned for access to the shipyard facilities of the orbiting Mothership herself. Through many political trials, (see History of Kiith Somtaaw) the New Daiamiid finally granted Somtaaw access to the Mothership for a mere 45 days. The Explorer Class design was finished within days when Somtaaw Engineers gained control of the Mothership's PDA, and construction began immediately; all parties involved knew full well that this was probably the only time Somtaaw would have access to the massive construction facility. Accordingly, no expense was spared! The first Explorer was dubbed the Faal-Corum and launched on day 20, to the rousing cheers of thousands of Somtaaw watching from monitors planetside. Even before the Faal-Corum cleared the docks, engineers were modifying the design of the second Mining ship to incorporate the lessons learned in constructing the first. The Kuun-Lan launched on day 35 with more powerful engines, an extra layer of armor, and a 30% greater module capacity. It is these modules that are the core of the Explorer class design philosophy. Knowing that this was the only chance they had to create a near-Mothership class vessel, Somtaaw engineers designed the Explorer to adapt to almost any situation through the use of modules that could be constructed by the Explorer herself while still in deep space. The hard lessons of the Homeworld War were also not forgotten, and, though intended for exploration and mining, the Explorer carries a full compliment of heavy and medium turrets for self protection, and is capable of constructing both the Seeker class reconnaissance fighter and the Acolyte heavy fighter. Pirate corvettes expecting an easy prize have often realized their error too late as an Explorer's heavy rail guns come on-line; Worker class resourcers will always retreat to the protection of the Command ship's guns at the first sign of trouble. Both the Faal-Corum and the Kuun-Lan require a crew of 1150, and during long missions they carry an additional 2000 crew members in cold sleep, to help man the ship in 3-month shifts. Currently the Faal-Corum is on a deep space survey mission, while the Kuun-Lan is on the second leg of a 9-month mission to mine the star systems surrounding Hiigara. Required Tech - NONE Upgrade Tech - ENERGY CANNONS CRYSTAL HARVESTING ABILITY REPAIR BOTS SIEGE CANNON WEAPON SUPPORT SYSTEMS ARMOUR LEVEL 2 "Seeker" Class Reconnaissance fighter Mass: 41 tons Firepower: 40 Armor: 25 Coverage: 4% Maneuverability: very high Max. Velocity: 1050 m/s Special Action: None The Seeker class of deep reconnaissance and survey vessels was one of the first original designs produced by the Kiith Somtaaw Engineering families. The first priority of the Somtaaw mining fleet was to find and process the rarest and most valuable resources to be found in deep space, especially exotic volatiles and super-stable elements. To this end, Somtaaw purchased the manufacturing rights to the Heavy Neutrino scanning array from Kiith S'jet. While the unusual size of the scanning array means it is usually placed on research platforms or Frigate-sized explorers, Somtaaw needed the array to rapidly search entire systems at relatively close range. To that end, Somtaaw Engineers have basically wrapped a simple cockpit and maneuver drive around the array. While the shakedown period for this design was extensive, due to the unorthodox approach, the result is a high speed recon platform that has the attributes of a standard light fighter and the sensor abilities of a ship 20 or 30 times the size and expense. While the initial prototype was unarmed, repeated encounters with Turanic raiders convinced Somtaaw Fleet Command that the Seeker needed to carry some sort of weapons system. In the end, a light mass driver was jury-rigged on a belly mount, which gives the Seeker a limited self-defense capability that can usually deter raiders until the recon ship can use its superior speed to escape. While the main function of the Seeker's array is to scan for minerals and radiation signatures, it is quickly reconfigured to track vessels. As a result of the fact that most recon patrols require spending long periods of time in a small cockpit, many Seekers pilots are young, single women of smaller stature. This has led to deep recon missions being referred to as "Heartbreak Patrols"...but whether this is more to do with the stress they put on fledgling relationships or the disruptions caused by these pilots making up for lost time upon their return is not known. Required Tech - NONE Upgrade Tech - ADVANCED SENSORS ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE ENERGY CANNON ARMOUR LEVEL 2 "Acolyte" Class heavy fighter Mass: 90 tons Firepower: 85 Armor: 70 Coverage: 6% Maneuverability: very high Max. Velocity: 825 m/s Special Action: Link The Acolyte class of heavy fighter/interceptor is unique to Kiith Somtaaw. While other Kiith have worked to advance the traditional Blade series of interceptors, Somtaaw found itself unable to afford the various patents and maintenance licenses being charged by the martial Kiithid to participate in the upgrade program. Instead, Somtaaw struck a deal with the enigmatic Bentusi. The Bentusi trade-ships are some of the most powerful vessels in the Galaxy, but there are some conditions that even they are unable or unwilling to take their ships into. In return for the services of the mining vessel Faal-Corum in retrieving certain artifacts from very compact asteroid belt, the Bentusi "handed down" an advanced fighter and drive system, which eventually was back-engineered into the Acolyte fighter. While the relatively pacifistic Bentusi would not transfer any weapons technology along with the Acolyte design, they seem to have no long-term objections to the Somtaaw arming the Acolyte with duel rapid-fire mass-drivers. With the inherent advantages of an being based on adaptive Bentusi technology, the Acolyte lends itself easily to modification, and Somtaaw engineers are still working on expanding the full potential of this fighter design. The ultra-efficient fusion drive allows the Acolyte to function without refueling, and this technology has been integrated into other Somtaaw strike craft. While Kiith Somtaaw is a mining Kiith by trade, it does require protection against Raiders and Imperialist patrols, as its two Command ships, the Kuun-Lan and the Faal-Corum, range far from the protection of Hiigaran space in their exploration and resourcing missions. Acolyte wings are manned by a relatively small group of hardened combat veterans that began their careers during the Homeworld War. These pilots are not easily surprised after 15 years in the cockpit, and are the equals of any fighter pilots found in the martial Kiithid...as many a pirate scout has discovered to his regret. Required Tech - FIGHTER DRIVE Upgrade Tech - ENERGY CANNON MISSILE TECH LINKING TECH ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE ARMOUR LEVEL 2 "Worker" Class resource collector Mass: 5200 tons Firepower: - Armor: 1500 Coverage: - Maneuverability: medium Max. Velocity: 425 m/s Special Action: Harvest, Repair, Salvage While most Kiith still use the primary resource collector design created nearly 50 years ago during the Mothership's construction, Kiith Somtaaw has been forced by circumstance to radically redesign the entire resourcer concept. Somtaaw fleets often work deep inside dense asteroid fields, where the massive resource collector cannot maneuver fast enough to avoid disastrous collisions, and so a completely different vessels design was needed, in order to function in more complex environments. While various hi-maneuver resourcer/frigate hybrids were attempted, none of the prototypes survived actual field-testing as the turn-rate was disastrously compromised by the full loads a resourcer is expected to carry. Then, deep in the Mothership's main databanks, a Somtaaw engineer came across a hull design for a heavy cargo re-entry vehicle. It had been used 120 years earlier on Kharak to haul crews and raw components to and from low orbit during the construction of the Mothership Scaffolding. While the original purpose of the ship was no longer relevant, the shaped, blunt-projectile hull shape that had been crucial to re-entry was now ideal for providing a compact center of gravity. When refitted with modern engines and control systems, this new resourcer design can haul almost as much as the old one, but can rotate quickly on its center of gravity and easily avoid collision, even in the most congested flight spaces. The first production model is just now being accepted by Somtaaw mining teams, though there is some resentment to the ship's class name, the "Worker"... as it seems to make an already mundane task seem even less glamorous than it was before. Engineers argue that as they devise new applications for the ship, such as repair or possibly salvaging, the multi-purpose nature of the word "worker" will become readily apparent. Required Tech - NONE Upgrade Tech - INFECTION VACCINE REPAIR SYSTEMS SALVAGING ABILITY REPAIR BOTS ARMOUR LEVEL 2 "Minion" Class Heavy Tug [Ramming Frigate] Mass: 12900 tons Firepower: 2500 Armor: 4700 Coverage: 6% Maneuverability: medium Max. Velocity: 398 m/s Special Action: Ram The Minion class of heavy tugs is another pre-landfall design, which has been resurrected and adapted to the unique needs of Kiith Somtaaw. The original Minion design was used for moving massive modular sections of the scaffold and Mothership into position for final lockdown. For the Somtaaw, this frigate class hull with a massive bow section, a heavy engine module and built-in grapple capabilities was exactly what they needed in an asteroid tug. With extensive modifications to the high-output fusion drive and a redesign of the armor layering, the newly christened Minion was ideal for pushing very large asteroids out of dense, dangerous belts of debris for fast processing close to the command ship. In circumstances where a larger mass needs to be broken down in order for Workers to harvest it, The Minion employs a short-range fusion torch to carve up the target rock. Since the Minion is a relatively simple vessel to fly, the 5-man crew is usually composed of non-combat flight officers fresh from training, in order to give them experience in the field. While this "on the job training" is highly efficient, and frees experienced personnel up for more complex vessels and tasks, it does lead to some unusual interpretations of the Minion mission profile. Recently, the mining fleet headed by the command-ship Kuun-lan was under attack by a Turanic Raider fleet, backed up by a Chieftain Class carrier. Standard Somtaaw procedure has all non-combat vessels, including Workers and Minions, retreating to the command ship at the first sign of battle, but two Minion crews took it upon themselves to ignore this command. Realizing that the pirate Carrier would eventually overwhelm the Somtaaw Acolytes and Seekers, forcing a retreat from a highly valuable belt of radioactives, the Minions drove straight into battle and rammed the Chieftain broadside. After grappling on and giving maximum power to their fusion drives, the Minions were able to push the Pirate Carrier deep into a fast-moving pack of asteroids, where the larger ship was battered and finally destroyed by rock impacts. From this event on, Minion pilots have jokingly referred to their ships as "Ramming Frigates" and have begun painting kill markers on their crash helmets. Required Tech - AFTERBURNER Upgrade Tech - ADVANCED ION CANNON REPAIR BOTS INFECTION VACCINE ARMOUR LEVEL 2 The Beast Mothership Mass: 565,000 tons Firepower: 4600 Armor: 94,000 Coverage: 80% Maneuverability: very low Max. Velocity: 110 m/s Special Action: Infect Based on parts of a Somtaaw Explorer Class Mining ship, the Beast Mothership is more mutation than starship. How the Beast can warp plasteel and plasma conduits across nearly a kilometer of hull isn't truly understood, but the results are obvious. High-speed deep scan passes by Seeker class fighters have revealed the outer hull to be some kind of organic armor, laced with depleted uranium and superconductor fiber. This duplicates the best anti-kinetic armor we have and combines it with enough energy dissipation capability to seriously downgrade the damage of ion beams and plasma-based weaponry. Analysis of combat behavior seems to indicate that the Beast Mothership behaves like a living thing, concentrating its strength in certain areas for a limited time before "exhausting" itself. So, like an athlete pushing himself hard, the Beast Mothership seems capable of shunting power to its maneuver drives and other systems: it can build ships faster, research faster, or even fire faster, for a limited period of time. During this time the hull appears to degrade slowly, as if the Beast is weakening somehow from the strain of shunting power to these subsystems. The Beast Mothership is a full-fledged construction class vessel. It is capable of simultaneously building over a dozen different types of strike craft and frigates, along with being able to build super capital ship hulls externally. Current intelligence indicates the Beast Mothership can build its own variants of the Taiidani Qwaar-Jet Heavy Cruiser and the dreaded Saarkin-Cho Carrier. When the Beast takes over a new kind of vessel, encountering technology It has never seen before, It brings the ship in to dock and basically absorbs it, seemingly to learn the new design or technology. From that point on, It can incorporate those technologies into new designs-or even order Its ships in the field to grow the new parts themselves. Offensively, the Beast Mothership has 6 heavy turrets in excellent coverage positions. The heaviest fire can be directed below and to the sides of the Mothership, while strike craft will have the highest chance of surviving a pass from head-on and slightly above. Of course, should an allied ship survive the defensive turret fire, an even deadlier fate awaits any ship closing in past 10 kloms; this is the estimated maximum range of the Beast Mothership's infection beam. The Beast seems to be able to fire this beam approximately once every 90 seconds, and can use the beam to infect a mass equivalent to two frigate hulls. Given that the charged beam can leap from ship to ship across hard vacuum, an entire flight of fighters can be taken over in one shot. This attack is so devastating that many allied pilots have equipped their strike craft with deadman switches that cause the drives to overload and detonate before the beast virus can tear the pilot apart. The Beast Heavy Cruiser and Carrier also carry Infection beams, though they seem to be lesser versions with shorter ranges and longer recharge time. With all this power at its disposal, there is no question that the Beast Mothership is currently the most dangerous vessel in the Galaxy. It is not just a starship. It is a plague come for us all. Required Tech - NONE Upgrade Tech - BEAST INFECT WEAPON CRYSTAL HARVESTING ABILITY SUPPORT SYSTEMS ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Beast Cruise Missile Firepower:- Coverage: - Maneuverability: HIGH Armor: 68 Max. Velocity: 650 m/s Mass: 490 TONS Special Action: None The Beast cruise Missile was first seen in Seera Tel system, when a Kiith Manaan frigate squadron sent a frantic message that it was under attack by unknown drone craft. When no further word was received, Manaan Fleet Command sent in a full carrier group to investigate, but initially all that was found was the wreckage of one assault frigate; the remaining four ion beam frigates were nowhere to be found. Eventually a lone escape pod was found with one alive but nearly insane Manaani bridge officer aboard. When an psi-tech was finally able to piece her psyche back together again, the mystery was finally solved. It seems that soon after issuing the report, the incoming drones closed at ramming speed too fast for the ion beam frigates to track. As the drones impacted, it became obvious they were huge missiles carrying a warhead of Beast plasma; the missiles blew through the frigate's hull, the plasma warhead burst, and the infection spread through the ship in seconds, subverting the ship and dissolving her crew. The battle took less than 2 minutes, as the three infected ion frigates turned on the one assault frigate that had managed to destroy the cruise missile targeted on it before impact. The lone surviving officer had been shoved into an escape pod by her Captain, along with the battle telemetry; she was ejected moments before the last frigate was cut to pieces. The Beast cruise missile is nearly the size of a corvette, and packs a high thrust drive capable of pushing the missile to near fighter speeds. While not a threat by itself, the Beast tends to use these missiles in massed attacks, either forming multiple vectors or one vector which is likely to be missed in the middle of a massive battle. Both tactics minimize the chance of successful interception, and any fleet that does not keep up constant combat patrols can find itself in deadly danger. Sentinel shields are no defense against the Beast missiles; the drone's organic tip absorbs the field charge and allows the missile to slip through. Required Tech - FIGHTER DRIVE MISSILE LAUNCHER BIO-WARHEAD BEAST INFECT WEAPON Upgrade Tech - ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Beast Interceptor FIREPOWER: 65 COVERAGE: 5% MANEUVERABILITY: VERY HIGH ARMOR: 85 MAX VELOCITY: 810 m/s MASS: 90 TONS Special Action: None Required Tech - FIGHTER DRIVE Upgrade Tech - LINKING TECHNOLOGY (upgrade/captured) ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Beast Cloaked Fighter FIREPOWER: 75 COVERAGE: 5% MANEUVERABILITY: VERY HIGH ARMOR: 80 MAX VELOCITY: 750 m/s MASS: 90 TONS Special Action: Cloak With cloaking sails active, the Kushan Cloaked Fighter is the stealthiest ship around. Highly useful for simple surveillance, the Cloaked Fighter is also a good attack craft. It must, however, de-cloak to fire, making it vulnerable for a short period of time. Required Tech - FIGHTER DRIVE CLOAKING ABILITY Upgrade Tech - ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ENERGY CANNONS (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Beast Attack Bomber FIREPOWER: 86 COVERAGE: 5% MANEUVERABILITY: MEDIUM ARMOR: 90 MAX VELOCITY: 640 m/s MASS: 60 TONS Special Action: None A technological advance created plasma bomb technology small enough to fit in a Fighter-sized craft. The Taiidan Attack Bomber was born. While its slow-moving plasma bombs can be outrun by Fighter class ships, they make short work of Frigates and other Capital Ships. Required Tech - FIGHTER DRIVE PLASMA BOMB LAUNCHER Upgrade Tech - ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Beast Multigun Corvette FIREPOWER: 380 COVERAGE: 78% MANEUVERABILITY: MEDIUM ARMOR: 730 MAX VELOCITY: 570 m/s MASS: 750 TONS Special Action: None Following advances in turrets and auto-targeting, the Taiidan Multi-Gun Corvette was conceived. It sports a full six articulating turrets. This allows it to track numerous fast-moving targets at once, making it especially deadly against large groups of Fighter class ships. Required Tech - FIGHTER DRIVE FAST TRACKING TURRETS Upgrade Tech - ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ENERGY CANNONS (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Beast Heavy Corvette Mass: 750 tons Firepower: 200 Armor: 1700 Coverage: 50% Maneuverability: Medium Max. Velocity: 550m/s Special Action: None More armored than its light cousin, the Kushan Heavy Corvette adds a second high-powered turret to an already powerful craft. Its turrets allow the Heavy Corvette to track two Fighters at once and also make it a moderate threat to Capital Ships. Required Tech - FIGHTER DRIVE HEAVY CORVETTE UPGRADE Upgrade Tech - ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ENERGY CANNONS (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Beast Ion Array Frigate FIREPOWER: 3,500 COVERAGE: 6% MANEUVERABILITY: LOW ARMOR: 5,100 MAX VELOCITY: 230 m/s MASS: 13,550 TONS Special Action: Cloak Required Tech - FRIGATE DRIVE ADVANCED ION CANNON Upgrade Tech - CLOAKING ABILITY ADVANCED FRIGATE DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Beast Defense Field Frigate FIREPOWER: - COVERAGE: 100% MANEUVERABILITY: LOW ARMOR: 4650 MAX VELOCITY: 310 m/s MASS: 13,000 TONS Special Action: None Like the Defense Fighter, the Defense Field Frigate has no attack capability. It can, however, deflect almost 100 percent of all oncoming enemy fire, with the exception of ion beams, mines, and missiles. Required Tech - FRIGATE DRIVE DEFENSE FIELD Upgrade Tech - ADVANCED FRIGATE DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Beast Heavy Cruiser FIREPOWER: 20,000 COVERAGE: 30% MANEUVERABILITY: VERY LOW ARMOR: 77,000 MAX VELOCITY: 245 m/s MASS: 131,000 TONS Special Action: Infect The goliath of Capital Ships, this bruiser carries four twin-mounted ion cannons and six heavy turrets, each almost half the size of an entire Frigate. When a Heavy Cruiser shows up on the scene, things get really quiet really fast. Required Tech - DESTROYER DRIVE HEAVY GUNS ADVANCED ION CANNON Upgrade Tech - ENERGY CANNONS (upgrade/captured) ADVANCED DESTROYER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) BEAST INFECT WEAPON ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Beast Carrier FIREPOWER: 4,000 COVERAGE: 75% MANEUVERABILITY: low ARMOR: 65,000 MAX VELOCITY: 290 m/s MASS: 121,000 TONS Special Action: Infect A veritable feat of engineering, the Carrier incorporates an entire construction center, capable of building up to Frigate-class ships. In addition, a huge docking array provides space for up to 50 Fighters and 25 Corvettes. Its rapid-fire deck guns give it adequate defense. Required Tech - DESTROYER DRIVE Upgrade Tech - CRYSTAL HARVESTING ABILITY ADVANCED DESTROYER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ENERGY CANNONS (upgrade/captured) BEAST INFECT WEAPON ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Beast Missile Corvette FIREPOWER: 320 COVERAGE: 60% MANEUVERABILITY: HIGH ARMOR: 1400 MAX VELOCITY: 490 m/s MASS: 775 TONS Special Action: None Required Tech - FIGHTER DRIVE MISSILE LAUNCHER Upgrade Tech - ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Beast Recon FIREPOWER: 40 COVERAGE: 4% MANEUVERABILITY: VERY HIGH ARMOR: 30 MAX VELOCITY: 1000 m/s MASS: 41 TONS Required Tech - NONE Upgrade Tech - ADVANCED SENSORS ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Beast Acolyte FIREPOWER: 85 COVERAGE: 6% MANEUVERABILITY: VERY HIGH ARMOR: 80 MAX VELOCITY: 800 m/s MASS: 90 TONS Required Tech - FIGHTER DRIVE Upgrade Tech - LINKING TECHNOLOGY (upgrade/captured) ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Beast ACV FIREPOWER: 170 COVERAGE: 6% MANEUVERABILITY: HIGH ARMOR: 160 MAX VELOCITY: 580 m/s MASS: 180 TONS Required Tech - FIGHTER DRIVE LINKING TECHNOLOGY (captured) Upgrade Tech - E.M.P. WEAPON (upgrade/captured) ADVANCED FIGHTER DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) Beast Multi-Beam Frigate FIREPOWER: 3900 COVERAGE: 90% MANEUVERABILITY: MEDIUM ARMOR: 4200 MAX VELOCITY: 330 m/s MASS: 10200 TONS Required Tech - FRIGATE DRIVE ADVANCED ION CANNON Upgrade Tech - ADVANCED FRIGATE DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Beast Hive Frigate FIREPOWER: 1400 COVERAGE: 12% MANEUVERABILITY: MEDIUM ARMOR: 4000 MAX VELOCITY: 345 m/s MASS: 9900 TONS Required Tech - FRIGATE DRIVE Upgrade Tech - MICRO SHIP CONSTRUCTION (captured) ADVANCED FRIGATE DRIVE (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Beast Heavy Tug [Ramming Frigate] FIREPOWER: 2500 COVERAGE: 6% MANEUVERABILITY: MEDIUM ARMOR: 5,100 MAX VELOCITY: 378 m/s MASS: 12900 TONS Required Tech - AFTERBURNER (upgrade/captured) Upgrade Tech - ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) REPAIR BOTS (upgrade/captured) Beast Worker FIREPOWER: - COVERAGE: - MANEUVERABILITY: MEDIUM ARMOR: 1,800 MAX VELOCITY: 365 m/s MASS: 5,200 TONS Required Tech - NONE Upgrade Tech - REPAIR SYSTEMS (upgrade/captured) SALVAGING ABILITY (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Beast Processor MASS: 89,000 TONS FIREPOWER: 2500 ARMOR: 45,100 COVERAGE: 80% MANEUVERABILITY: LOW MAX VELOCITY: 235 m/s Required Tech - NONE Upgrade Tech - CRYSTAL HARVESTING ABILITY REPAIR SYSTEMS (upgrade/captured) ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) Beast Sentinel FIREPOWER: 290 COVERAGE: 15% MANEUVERABILITY: HIGH ARMOR: 400 MAX VELOCITY: 225 m/s MASS: 21 TONS Required Tech - MICRO SHIP CONSTRUCTION(captured) Upgrade Tech - FORCE FIELD LEVEL 1 (upgrade/captured) FORCE FIELD LEVEL 2 (upgrade/captured) FORCE FIELD LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) ADVANCED SENSORS ARMOUR LEVEL 3 (upgrade/captured) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXX: Mission Walkthrough --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is for VERY EASY, don't know about the others Mission 1: Hiigara | Difficulty Easy You start off with 3 recons and 2 workers. Immediately set your Workers to Harvest the resources in front of your force, and set about building 15 acolytes like fleet command said. Send 2 of your recons to the little area behind the main battle (use waypoints if necessary), and observe the resource actions going on there. By this time, some, if not all of your acolytes should be done, so send 8 to the flailing ion frigates, and 6 to the resource operation. Keep the other 2 there because some enemy interceptors will be coming your way soon. You may also need to build a processor and 8 more workers. The other recon may be retired (or scuttled if you're feeling heartless). Once the Ion Frigates have been sorted, and the Resourcing operation dealt with, Tactical will say there is an attack fleet harassing the Proxy net. I don't think there is a way to save the Interceptor Patrols there. Nevertheless, set about with your Acolytes destroying the Multigun corvettes, and the interceptors. Then, you receive news of a retreating Heavy Cruiser. Blow it back to Kharak and watch out for it's defenders. Research Linking technology if you need it, but if you swarm it with Acolytes (acs) it'll go in a while. Destroy the 6 defenders, then finish your resourcing operation. If the main battle is still going on, try to avoid it (last time all my Acolytes were slaughtered and I got a destroyer on my mothership's tail.). Mission 2: Outskirts of Hiigaran System | Difficulty Easy You arrive from Hyperspace, and are told to find a destroyer, the Bushan-Re (what kind of stupid name is that?). You need to jettison the upper Ore cannister to make room for an engineering module, which will help you with your workers (and plenty more). If you time it right, you can actually click on the cannister to see it's quite weak, 4000 health. I tried to blow it up, but my acs were too weak. Once engineering has been built, you can research repair and salvage technologies. Harvest while researching, and be sure to guard your workers and processor (if you have one). When upgraded fully, send 5-7 workers to the Bushan-re to the blips in your sensors manager. About 30 kms away, you see a badly damaged destroyer. It's the Bushan-re. Order your workers to assist it. Also send 10 acolytes, you'll need them. After about a minute, you'll see 4 support frigates coming towards you, stating they wish to help you in the repair of the B-re. Something seems wrong. They have engine trails. AS they close in to the destroyer, FC blurts out the obvious, somethings wrong. They change into Raider Standard Corvettes, a hybrid ship which looks like my cat's backside. After this wave, another group of Missile corvettes will appear. The Bushan Re can handle itself, send your workers back to resourcing, except 1. Keep this repairing the B-Re. Keep 2 acs as well. (If you've been using ACV's halve the values I've given). Soon, FC will pick up another signal on the emergency channel (after all this time? My timer read 0:26:52). The b-re states its probably a derelict. Tactical suggest you go salvage it, the worst order anyone could give. Turanic Raiders will try and intercept the derelict, fight back. IF you allow the raiders to capture it, a standard corvette will use it's nose to push the derelict. Unfortunately, my ships attacked the derelict instead and destroyed it. Take it from me, MAKE SURE THAT WORKER SALVAGING THE DERELICT IS PROTECTED, AT ALL COSTS. Once docked, all you have to do is destroy the raiders. Research Mimic Technology, and build a mimic (retire an ac if you need the Su's). After the 3rd or 4th wave, the raiders will retreat. If you haven't finished your resourcing operation, do so. Mission 3: Coruc-Tel System | Difficulty Easy/Low Medium To further analyze the derelict, you need the help of the Clee-San. A frigate class vessel, it's name means Truth-Seeker (see the manual for full details). You pick up a signal from the C-S, but it's garbled. Order your mimic to 'change' into a fighter or something, and send it towards the clee-san. Harvest, guarding your workers with the processor and the processor with ALL BUT TWO of your acs. Instruct your command ship to move towards the clee-san, and have the two acs/the one acv bring up the rear. The fighters are there in case raiders arrive. The command ship can withstand the mines. When your resourcers are done, KEEP THEM THERE, since some mines move place. Your mimic should have seen the clee-san by now, instruct it to guard it so you can see the mines. When the command ship gets within 15kms, send your Acv to the mines, and destroy the mines. It doesn't really matter what you use, because the ACV is stronger (weapon-wise) and two acolytes mean two targets. When available, build your weapon modules and research missile technology. The mission should have ended, and so should your resourcing op. If you're sane, you wouldn't want a considerable turanic fleet hyperspacing on your head, so hyperspace using (quick dock) with your engine module intact. Don't worry about upgrading, that'll happen when you dock. MAKE SURE THAT AUTO DOCK IS OFF (in the systems manager)! Mission 4: Deep Space (Tel Sector) | Difficulty Medium This is the turning point of the whole game, and so I'll write exactly what command says. Bridge: Research Module, this is the Bridge. We've got power fluctuations in your area and the hangar bay. Are you running any tests? Research Module: Not that I know of bridge, let me check (screaming and beeps are heard in the background which continue through the rest of the transmission) Bridge: What was that? What's going on down there? Fluctuations spreading to Lower engine Module. Research Module: Uhh, don't know, give me a sec. We were examining surface material from the alien probe when- Bridge: What is going on? Now we've got biohazard warnings going off across the lower decks. What have you done? Research Module: Something's... loose! It's killing us. (at this point the lower decks of the Kuun-Lan turn a nasty shade of red) You've got to save the rest of the ship! Jettison the lower decks! Bridge: Kharak forgive us! Bridge to all stations: Emergency jettison protocols engaged. Research Module: CUT US LOOSE! The research module tumbles away, sparking and screaming. Notice the engine, which has turned red. The kuun-lan has been cut in half, and has had 2 jettisons (Ore Cannister and Lower Decks). You have to rebuild your hangar module, and any ships that were docked in it. The Clee-San will perform some close range-scans, but with all the raider activity going on, they'll need 10acs/5Acvs as escort. Do NOT do this yet, istruct your workers to harvest using the usual escort (processor guarded by a few fighters). Once complete, instruct your resource wing to move about 30 kms down, towards the pinged location or directly ahead of the Kuun-Lan and more resources will be discovered. When this lot is done, RECALL your resource wing back to the Kuun-lan. Do not attack the wierd infected module unless you wish to die. Now, order 10 acs/5acvs to guard the Clee-San, and it will move towards the research module. As soon as you hear 'holding position', instruct your escort to dock. The clee-san will try and download the module's data recorders (black boxes?). Immediately, the module fires an ion beam, with sparks around it. The clee-san describes it as a particle beam, and the last thing you hear is 'stay clear Kuun-Lan, stay clear!' Screams are heard, then the module jumps to life and speaks it's first words: (not mama/dada, but) We live. Hopefully your ships have escaped this fate if they were told to dock/retire/scuttle. A group of enemy acs will arrive, beat it, and prepare for more. This is what came to me: 1st Wing: 8 acs 2nd Wing: 6 acs 3rd Wing: 6 acvs 4th Wing: 15 acs 5th Wing: 1 ram frig. 6th Wing: 8 acvs FC says that an attack wing (many turanic missile and standard corvettes, 5 fighters, a taiidani Heavy cruiser, and 6 or so turanic IAFs) have tracked you down and demand the clee-san (be gone or be destroyed!) You plead to them not to go to the Clee-san but they ignore your warnings and carry on. If you have good luck, the module will stay where it infected the clee-san, if so good, read on. If not, restart the map and try again. The R.module has unlimited infection power, and each shot to the Kuun-Lan takes away 15% of it's health. The module will soon be approached by the imperial attack wing and it will infect it in approximately 7.33 seconds. Hyperspace quickly before they arrive, because the research module can now build HCs and IAFs. Eek. In an act of stupidness, I decided to stay back and watch what came to me. After the Turanic fleet, a HUGE group of IAFs came crashing towards me, followed up by 3 HC's. My words were then: "Oh S***." and Mission 5: Aiowa System | Difficulty Medium The infection has been codenamed the Beast. You need to know if anyone has ever fought this thing before, so you track down a Bentusi Exchange. As soon as you exit hyperspace, set about harvesting with the usual group (if you don't know the group, read the past missions.) Once all the available resources have been consumed , go to the pinged location. As soon as the cinematic ends, recall your ships. As if a Bentusi ship needed help. Pretty soon, a carrier and 2 ion frigates will answer the Bentusi distress call (snort). An enemy Heavy Cruiser soon appears and fires it's infection beam from the claw at the front (email me if you want a screenshot). The Bentusi will not be Bound. They self-destruct, killing everything and damaging badly the Caal-Shto and the HC. Quickly engage it with your fighters before it can recharge it's beam. More enemies will engage combat. Leave a couple of your fighters there, and follow the path from where the hostiles came. When you see the enemy carrier, use missiles on it. After that, wipe out whatever's left of the attack fleet. Order your group to harvest (normal guard stance) and research anything needed. Make sure you have over 50000Ru's at the end of this mission (don't worry about the odd 1000). Jump when ready. Mission 6: Kadiir Nebula | Difficulty Medium/Hard HARD way | Big fleet gain | Longer This mission can be played as a stealth mission, but I prefer to engage enemies. It gains me more stars and salvageable ships. First, you can send a mimic towards the base. Make sure it has transformed so it does't get engaged. Then, keep it there and send a recon to the NAV points and guard the CAAL SHTO with your command ship. Once you get to the third, STOP unless you are being chased. If so, dock. Send as many acolytes as you have towards the flower-shaped pattern at the end of the map, but keep 5 of your highest-rated at your command ship. NOTE: THESE MUST BE ACOLYTES. You may harvest, but I wouldn't recommend it since there are so many mines and enemies. Once you get to the end with your acoyltes, one will say that an imperial HC is blocking the nebula. Resarch Phased Telemetry ASAP but do NOT build Leeches. Instead, engage the cruiser with your acolytes and destroy the defenders. Then, fire missiles at the cruiser so it booms. I think this actually makes the Caal Shto go faster. Make your acs/ACVs guard the COMMAND SHIP, not the caal shto. Research support systems and build all 12 support modules, you'll need them. Now, recall your resourcers. Be prepared for a large fight, since the Taiidan have been alerted to your presence. You get 30 defenders, 8-12 Ion Cannon Frigates, 10 Assault frigates, 3 Defence field Frigs, a couple of support frigates and 2 destroyers on your tail. All my acs had been killed, but I managed to capture both destroyers, 3 assault frigs and 2 ion cannon frigs. I had a defence field frig but it got blown up as i was registering it (the wierd shieldy bit when your workers let go.). Be aware that groups of 5 interceptors will sometimes come to see the nebula. At this point, use your acs to blow them up. Once the enemy has been obliterated, make sure the caal shto gets through safely. I know it's hard, but that's part of the game. MEDIUM way | No fleet gain | About 15 standard minutes As soon as you exit hyperspace, get your attack wing of frigates guarding the mothership from behind. Get the mothership guarding the Caal-shto, and a group of around 10-15 acolytes (not ACV's) about 10 kms to the left of the MS, looking from behind it. Send a mimic or recon to the pinged location. Now,as soon as Tactical says to avoid the base, SCUTTLE your mimic/recon immediately. For some strange reason the Taiidani base see through mimic designs and send their force at you. Same with recons. If you dock/retire/move your scout ship, out comes the attack fleet on your tail like a dog after a bone. Now, build and/or send a recon towards the pinged path. Once you get to the 4th ping, stop. Dock. Avoid the patrols. Getting back to the kuun-lan may be tricky, so set it on Evasive. Your acolytes isolated from the K-L should be ready to fight soon. Set them on F4 (aggressive) and wait for them to kill the interceptor patrols that annoy you every 5 minutes or so. Make sure you hunt them down, or you get the fleet on your tail. If so, either restart the mission, or have your fleet attack each ship one by one. It's quicker because the ship blows up faster, rather than all getting slightly damaged. Now, replace your losses, and send a recon to the last pinged location. An HC and about 30 defenders are in your path, now, send you attack wing (should have about 10-20 ac's in it) towards it, and blast those damn defenders. Attack the cruiser (salvage it if you want it) and fire your ac's missiles on it. Something should be researched by now, research it and build the outcome (12 Copies). Now, if the HC hasn't been defeated, you can build more ships (I reckonm about 300 SU's worth) and finally kill it. If any more enemies come, use your new ships to kill them and finish the mission. They probably will, but if you're quick they probbly won't catch up with you (except the fighters). Mission 7: OUTSKIRTS OF KADIIR NEBULA | Difficulty Medium What is it with Sierra and the word 'Outskirts'? They seem to have levels with outskirts in their name somewhere... Anyway, you exit hyperspace to receive a distress call from Republican Convoy DX-307. They are under attack by unknown missiles, but a quick look at the shell and engines reveal it is a beast fleet. They are unarmed and have lost their escort. Do not harvest yet, send all your attack fleet to the pinged location. A few colony ships are moving, and two are badly damaged. Send a couple of ships to where the last ship is (looking left from the Kuun Lan) and a few to the extreme right. The rest can be assigned guard duties to the ships. Now, there are two ways of doing this: ---ONE--- Cruel and heartless way Guard ONE and only ONE colony ship and destroy the rest along with any frickin' enemies that get in your way. ---TWO--- Nice way Split your forces up into 8 groups which you think have even firepower i.e group 1 20 acolytes group 2 2 assault frigs 3 acs group 3 a destroyer and an ACV. Guard each colony ship with each group (there will be 2 or 3 left over, don't worry about them yet). Pretty soon more colony ships will slipgate in, keep an eye on them. Assign your groups to guard them. Do NOT exit the sensors manager because you will see everything.After about the 7th wave of enemies, the enemies will eventually retreat. As soon as you hear FC say 'stand down,' exit the manager. Note that when colony ships reach their target slipgate your ships will flounder uselessly or just sit there like prunes. Therefore, assign them to the unguarded colony ships. Finally, when all ships are destroyed, replace your losses (look at the kuun lan) and harvest. If any research is still incomplete, do it. When you are satisfied with what you have done (don't be afraid to retire/scuttle [ª_ª...] ships and build others: i had a full a ssortment of turanic IAFs, Taiidani HC and Assault frigs and a few ACVs when I redesigned t he whole thing :-0 Mission 8: DEEP SPACE (KORETH'S RIFT SECTOR) | Difficulty Medium As soon as you exit hyperspace, make full use of the 3 minutes you are given to harvest resources: the usual thing (10 workers guarded by Processor guarded by a few ACVs or acs). Send a fast ship (acolyte/mimic/recon) to the two purple blips: they turn out to be crystals, which give you 6000 and 10000 RU's each. Research Crystal Harvesting but don't go to salvage them YET. The spy's Multi-Gun Corvette arrives with... 800% health? Don't bother going to help him, even a bentusi ship would take about a minute to destroy him (most Multigun corvettes don't survive 5 seconds). Soon the enemies come and they are easy. The spy will marvel at your work and tell you about some research planet. He says he has to move on (kun laan?) He does one circuit round the kuun lan then a carrier arrives to pick him up (why don't he just hyperspace?) Meanwhile, an imperial resourcing convoy has arrived, call back yours since they don't actually eat any resources (or if they do i's one RU per minute) and send your acs workers all the way to the blips. The processor can go 1/2way. Salvage 3 resource collectors and a frigate. Here's what you get: Support Frigate: Nothing Assault Frigate: Energy Cannon Ion Cannon Frigate: Advanced Ion Cannon It requires 2 workers for everything except the Support Frigate which needs 4. Wierdo. If you're like me, you'll want to destroy the unsalvageable ships (Gravwell generator and fighters) and capture 3 workers and as many assault frigates as you can get. Once I captured the whole salvageable convoy. Once complete, use your workers to salvage the 2 crystals. Send 6 workers and have the other lot harvest. If you ain't got 6 workers, you need to build at least 8. Resources are very important in the later missions. Harvest all resources and replace losses. If anything still is unresearched research it! Do I have to tell you to research?!? Sometimes, if you capture more than one ship, then unfortunately you don't get research granted for that ship (if you get an Ion Frig and an Assault Frig then you probably don't get credited for the second one (your SU's still go up though - ;-;)). Mission 9: CLOSE ORBIT GOZAN IV (TAIIDAN RESEARCH PLANET) | Difficulty Medium/Low Hard Apparently, the ships are used as transports to destroy the Taiidan Research Planet and retrieve important data. This involves sending your resourcers (captured) to the pinged location. There are only two rocks on this mission, harvest them if you want. Once your captured ships are at the beacon, you need to begin a diversion attack on the proximity sensors. Do not guard them, just send your mothership through the net (make a hole, duh) and leave it there. Anything bigger than a corvette can stay with the mothership. Pretty soon a cutscene will come up with the resourcers going to the planet. Use this as a cue to send your ACV's (acolytes are too weak) about 15 kms away from the MS. You will soon be attacked by roughly the same size fleet as from Misson 6 (Outskirts of Kadiir Nebula). As soon as you see 3 blue dots in the sensors manager far away from your MS, send your ACV's to guard them. As soon as they near the MS, turn REMAIN DOCKED dock your ACV's, workers anything smaller than a frigate and put the rest in Command formation (F12). Once they are all destroyed, you are left will a huge enemy fleet. Hyperspace immediately unless you like being blown to bits. Mission 10: DEBRIS FIELD (KORETH'S RIFT SECTOR) | Difficulty Medium Why do Somtaaw like Koreth's rift so much ;-)? You exit hyperspace into a debris field (wouldn'ta guessed) because the load of metal trash keeps your hunk o' junk hidden (kuun lan). Recon Two-One-Four (I'da called it Bob) spots a siege cannon derelict. You decide to salvage it (better than the message pod) to blast the beast with. First, harvest. Second, if you didn't get an ion frigate in mission 8, research ion cannons (from the research planet?) and build MBF's. Once resourcing is done, send 4 workers and an escort of MBF's to the pinged location. Be prepared to cover the workers since the raiders are disguised as wreckage. You may find it easier if you destroy some wreckage. I know for a fact that mimicked wreckage is the battery-style thing and the wierd antenna thing that looks like this: ____________. |__---: There are 4 standard corvettes mimicking and after that a wing of missile corvettes will appear. Sometimes fighters appear too. Once the siege cannon has been fully salvaged, research it and build it. Taiidani forces enter the region and join the assault. They send a huge fleet towards you. Thankfully, before you meet your friends from Kharak, the Caal-Shto arrives. Is it just me or do they sound wierd? The pirate attack wing changes course to intercept the Caal-Shto. You are left with the Taiidani fleet. Destroy as much as you can, it'll prove helpful. Whenever the Siege Cannon research is complete buiild the Cannon. You need to destroy the HC first, then the destroyers. The reason soon becomes imminent: the Caal-Shto had a little scuffle with the Beast and lost. Your former Ally says 'feed soon' and then something hyperspaces in. (I didn't notice this because I was facing the other way and I got a nasty surprise when the camera changed). It's your old Lower Deck Section. The Beast has grown an entire mothership around it. The claws look freaky. It still sparks. Wonder why. The Turanics are converted and the Imperials go after them. If you didn't kill them do so QUICKLY. You only want to chase them for about 10kms. Fire your Siege Cannon at the blip. it doesn't have to be at 100% range, I did it from 5% and it still worked. Quickly recall your forces and prepare for emergency hyperspace jump. Mission 11: SYSTEM AZ-23769 | Difficulty Easy Finally! A break from all those hard missions and a nice relaxer. A cop-out mission if you ask me. You exit hyperspace to find the Faal-Corum under attack by the Beast and shooting anything (even their own forces). Eliminate the beast fleet, and the faal-corum will apologize. Repair the Faal-Corum, and preety soon you can research Destroyer drive. at's wat Im talkin bout. A beast fleet will hyperspace in, comprised mainly of Raider and Imperialist forces. This shouldn't last long. Once complete research whatever you want, and build some carriers. Scuttle your Processor, you won't need it and it's just a waste of 13 SU's. Build Support Modules on your carriers, and enjoy having 444 Su's available. Build about 5 Destroyers and keep anything else. Your fleet should consist of the following: 1 Kuun-Lan Ý:-p 2 Carriers 15 ACV's 5 MBF's 5 Destroyers 10 Workers 1 Mimic Various Captured Ships = Depends SU's SU's available: Depends Therefore A Variable Number of SU's Free Harvest, guarding your workers with BOTH carriers. Hyperspace when ready. Saddists: You can destroy the Faal-Corum's ships for fun, but they attack you back. Additionally, I think the Faal-Corum has unlimited ships. Given the chance they'll build up their fleet to the maximum possible. Mission 12: TURANIC OUTPOST | Difficulty Easy With the help of your destroyers, this mission should be a walk in the park (s'long as you don't get mugged). You exit hyperspace, and ask a Turanic Outpost for access to their starcharts. You state that you come in peace, despite the fact you have a large attack fleet about 5 metres away from you (NOT that far in space at all). the Turanic's don't respond. You ask again, and they respond by throwing a full attack force into your face. How kind. It shouldn't take long, move your MBF's and Destroyers to the location of that stupid Turanic Outpost, and give 'em hell. BLow up their stupid carrier then start on the Outpost. When it goes red, an imperial fleet hyperspaces in. Ignore it and continue battering the outpost. Soon, the I mperials retreat (that wierd robotic scream you hear is a coded signal) and the outpost surrenders. Now, use your mimic to mimic a turanic ship and go scouting. In all the resource patches there are mines. Use your carriers to kamikazi the mines and clear the way for the resourcers. If there isn't any research complete do it now. Harvest till you're happy, then turn QUICK DOCK on and put ALL corvettes and fighters safely into THE CARRIERS (except maybe the Mimic). You'll find out why very soon. Mission 13: LOCATION UNKNOWN | Difficulty Medium You exit hyperspace to find yourself with no engineering module and a broken support module. Your hangar module has bad malfunctions and the ship is in a great disarray. Turn QUICK DOCK off and have your workers repairing the Kuun-Lan and ACV's join with the MBF's and destroyers. The first wing will be 1 HC and 1 Destroyer. Two more wings like this will arrive then finally 4 or 5 destroyers will arrive. They actually hyperspace in, I've seen them. Once these have been obliterated you can launch fighters. If you have any captured ships retire/scuttle (ª_ª...) them now. The Faal-Corum hyperspaces in and transfers to you: 2 Kushan Destroyers 2 Ram Frigates 8 ACV's 2 or 4 Ion Frigates (Kushani) A couple of enemies arrive (Missile Destroyer 2 Destroyers and a HC) then you can build from the Kuun-Lan. The Faal-Corum discovers a Carrier group that's been there for a while. Under the comined pressure of the 2 forces, the carrier doesn't last long. Once all enemies have been obliterated, harvest whatever you need and research. If any crystals are in the region (doubt it) salvage them too. Get rid of your MBF's and if you want, ACV's. Build a mimic and a few Acolytes (unlink your ACV's?). This should be your fleet: 1 Kuun-Lan 2 Carriers 10-15 Acolytes 1 Mimic 1/2 Kushan Destroyer(s) Research anything that needs to be researched. Mission 14: GALACTIC RIM (GULF SECTOR) | Difficulty Medium After exiting hyperspace, you are told to dock a mimic in with the Naggarok. To do so, you need to destroy ALL the proximity sensors in a 2D circle around the Naggarok. Use Acolytes, since their speed and Maneouvrability are a good feature for this. Once the proximity sensors are with the old Immortal Emperor, ask your mimic to project a false image of any taiidani ship. I chose interceptor. Send it towards the Naggarok (pinged location). Build about 2-3 Dreadnoughts, they are good. If any other SU's remain, build Destroyer and MBF's. You should have 5 Destroyers, a few more, a few MBF's and 2/3 Dreadnoughts. Your mimic should have reached the Naggarok by now (wonder why the GravWell didn't trap it) and have docked. Notice the Naggarok 'eats' your mimic's technology, so it only has armor level 1, and mimic ability (no Quantum Explosive Charge or Linking Ability). Stupid pr*ck. Dock to Upgrade, if you want a mimic. If not retire it. Soon, the Naggarok will hyperspace out and you are left with 12-36 Assault frigates, a destroyer and a missile destroyer. Retire an MBF if you have used up more than 438 SU's. Capture an assault frigate then scuttle/retire it. Build whatever you got rid of again (if you did). Harvest resources, just be careful of the mines. Hyperspace when ready, 'cos the next mission is the best one there is In My Opinion (IMO). Mission 15: DEEP SPACE (GULF SECTOR) | Difficulty Easy/Low Medium After hyperspacing in, move ANYTHING with firepower except the Kuun-Lan towards the pinged locations. The Bentusi are trying to flee, and they don't care who gets in their way. Destroy the gate (watch out for the Ion fighter named 'The SUPER ACOLYTE') then attack anything that gets near the Kuun Lan. I managed to kill a Bentusi Exchange. The argument between Fleet Command and the Bentusi (see below) gets dangerous with death threats, and then finally the Bentusi agree to help you. Any surviving Super Acolytes will have to be docked with the Bentusi (strange procedure) then harvesting is able. Research anything you haven't and then replace your losses. Mostly modules. ARGUMENT BETWEEN FLEET COMMAND AND BENTUSI (Start attack on the Gate) Bentusi: Do not attempt to stop our Translocation. Cease your attacks or be destroyed! Do you not understand what has happened? We will not be Bound! Tactical Officer: Strike Craft launching from the Bentusi Trade Stations. They are similar to Acolyte-Class vessels but their configuration... It's like nothing we have ever seen before! (The slipgate blows up) Bentusi: You are mad! It will take irrecoverable time to repair the slipgate. The devourer will find us by then. Each of us consumed takes the story of a thousand bound worlds with them! The creature will devour all our songs! All our knowledge will serve it's hunger! Fleet Command: Listen to us! We are not here to harm you, but if you run away now, the Beast will win. You helped us to find our Homeworld. You cannot run away now! Bentusi: We aided the S'Jet personna who was newly Unbound. You are not S'Jet. Your Bound bodies and flicker-lives make you blind to reality. And now, we will all pay for your Blindness! Tactical Officer: Kiith's Blood! More stations coming out of hyperspace! They're powering up main weapons; we don't have a chance! Prepare to engage emergency Hyperspace Jump! Fleet Command: Negative! Without that cannon working we're as good as dead! Better to be blown to atoms now than wait for the Beast to hunt us down. (After the Kuun-Lan goes to red health, or a frigate or something gets destroyed, the next sentence of the argument begins) Fleet Command: You people are killing us! You and your precious stories! Who will remeber the crew of that ship? Or are flicker-lives (the Bentusi's nickname for 'Bound' Humans) not worth remembering? Bentusi: You seek to trap us in a diseased galaxy. This cannot be. Desist now and we will allow you to leave. We... regret the loss of your memories. (At this point all ships cease fire. DO NOT try to fire again, just heal your ships.) Fleet Command: REGRET?!? We regret the loss of the whole sand-cursed galaxy. Stop murdering us and help us kill the Beast! Tactical Officer: They've stopped firing. Keep it up. You're getting through to them. Bentusi: The Devourer cannot be stopped. We must flee, or even memory will die! We will not be Bound. Fleet Command: Yes, Yes! You will not be Bound -- whatever that means. Well guess what: We won't let you go. It doesn't matter how we die. One ancient monster is as good as another! Bentusi: We...are...not...monsters. Fleet Command: Aren't you? Look around - Look what you've done to our fleet (for some class focus on your most damaged ship ;-))! All because we dared to get in your way. Look at yourselves: the Aloof and the Mighty Bentusi! Slaughtering the people who ask for your help. You're worse than the Beast. At least the Beast doesn't pretend to be righteous! Bentusi: We fear. F-for the first time in countless orbits... we fear. Fleet Command: Join the Kiith! We're not Blind, just scared. As scared as you. Now, are you going to help us? Or are we going to have to ram this mining ship down the throat of the first station that approaches? Bentusi: That will not be necessary. We see our own Madness reflected in yours. We will do what we can to help. Mission 16: SOJENT-RA SYSTEM (FAR REACHES SECTOR) | Difficulty Medium The Bentusi inform you that they are Unbound. This supposedly means 'connected' to your vessel, as if you were controlling it with your mind (ª_ª...). They send you designs for Superconductor Heat Sinks (or something) which allow you to fire your siege cannon repeatedly. Add this to the Beast designs fitted and the Beast should be gone in one shot. To check if this works, you need to test it on a Beast major ship, and the Clee-San is your first thought. You ask Kiith Manaan to help you locate the Clee-San. They oblige, and encourage you. I thought that there was some sort of feud going on between the two Kiiths, so why are the Mannani being so helpful (probably cause they want the Somtaaw to die). Exit hyperspace, and immediately turn your attention to the pinged location. Do not Harvest yet, move your attack fleet towards the pinged location. There is a huge Beast fleet, use your attack fleet to wipe 'em out. After a long and tiresome battle, the Clee-San should be the only Beast ship still left functioning. Blast it up the nostril with a siege cannon shot at 50%. Quickly get a worker and move it towards the Clee-San. It will soon dock with the Clee-San. Won't it get infected? Anyway, they send a fake distress call to the Beast Mothership. A trap. Harvest for a bit, and move your command ship to the crystal towards your right (from the clee-san). Salvage it if you want. The Beast Mothership hyperspaces in. Blast it with the Siege Cannon, then send in a strike fleet to wipe the survivors out (Burn, you Monstrosity! BURN!). Once Tactical has made her self-contented speech (snort), harvest and salvage whatever you want, and build at LEAST 6 Leeches. The next mission is the hardest. Mission 17: NAVAL BASE ALPHA | Difficulty High Exit hyperspace and watch the Taiidani fleet get hammered. Send your acs/ACVs up as far as they can go until you find a ring of Proxy Sensors. Once they are obliterated, stop. If the cinematic happend, watch it. If not, moved your acs/ACVs forwards away from the Kuun-Lan. The cinematic should happen unless your game is buggered. Now, send those Leeches of yours towards the NOMAD Moon. Make sure there aren't any recons or microships (or even hive frigates) around or your leeches will be spotted and destroyed. Excellent. Another research item should be available, research it. Upgrade your dreadnoughts, select one, hit Alt+R and watch the fireworks! Your leeches should have arrived at the NOMAD Moon by now, take out the repulsors one by one. Once they are down, move AS MUCH AS YOU CAN WITH FIREPOWER towards the NOMAD Moon. The Naggarok is behind it. Attack it, but make your ACV's stay out of reach of enemy fire. Dock 'em with the carrier. Soon, you should be ready to take out the NOMAD Moon. Once it's in the red, get your fleet attacking the Naggarok before the NOMAD Moon blows. Get a destroyer or summat on the NOMAD oon to make sure that the Naggarok loses it's annoying invincibilty. Once the destroyer destroys the NOMAD (Irony), have it attack the Naggarok too. Now, this is the time to launch your ACV's. Put the game into SLOWEST mode (Ctrl+-) till about 1/4 speed. Send your ACV's to the nagga, making them EMP it (nagga), as fleet command says(the research function, people...). Soon, the Bentusi will pop up out of nowhere (does this scene remind you of Captain Elson from Homeworld 1 [my other FAQ!]?), and transfer you the design plans for their holy SUPER ACOLYTE. They hyperspace out. What a waste of all those RU's, we could have used them ;_;... After a while, the Taiidani decide to attack the Naggarok, since they were told they would be given the NOMAD Moon (OK, maybe that was us) and they were told the Bentusi were neutralised. LIAR AND SLAVE! With the combined forces, the Naggarok send ALL their force to you and the Taiidani. HELP ME! Eh, well with the EMPing going on (don't forget to refuel and rebuild) the Naggarok should stop moving. Have your squad with a couple of those invincible birds (Super Acolytes) attack the Naggarok. Forget the enemy reinforcements. Forget everything else. KILL THAT DAMN NAGGAROK. It will say noooooooooooooooooooooo... for about 10 minutes with about 500 different voices and then the game will end in a cinematic (something about the Beast annoying future fleets). Congratulations, you just won the game! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXXI: Battle Tips --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since you'll be starting battling from training, I made this section just to help those who have problems battling. Main Strategy. There are only a few points to make here. The first is to make sure that you don't overdo the battles. This basically means that you shouldn't send a million acolytes against only 5 recons. Next, we come to the lovely BEAST. Remember to keep an eye on your infection, the thing that could turn the tables in your favour. Finally, remember that in multiple battles (things that go on all over the map), keep an eye on which battles are obviously won and which are struggling. If you see that your large army (3 Dreadnoughts, 2 Destroyers and a few MBF's) has only got 3 destroyers left to wipe, send a few to a struggling battle (your Destroyer against 2 Heavy Cruisers). Sending a fleet in. When you send a fleet in, check to see what you are up against. There is NO point in sending 50 MBF's against 6 or 7 Beast Heavy Cruisers since they'll infect you pretty quickly. Below is a table of what you should send. ENEMY - YOU (take it you are on opposing fleet ie Beast vs. Somtaaw) Beast Fighters - MBF's Beast Frigates - Super-Capitals (cue music: Muse: 'Butterflies and Hurricanes') Beast Super-Capitals - Super-Capitals or Mimics Somtaaw Fighters - Anything with infection/MBF's Somtaaw Frigates - Anything with Infection Somtaaw Super-Capitals - Attack Bombers set on EVASIVE. Small skirmishes. If you are involved in a small scuffle (ie a few frigates) and you are evenly matched, then concentrate your fire on ONE ship at a time: that way the ship is destroyed quicker (rather than slightly damaging enemies and then watching them reheal). Also, if you are outmatched, PAUSE or Alt-Bandbox all ships and find the weakest ones to take out. That way, when your reinforcements get there, they'll have a slightly smaller load. If you think you can take out a stronger ship, then try, but be careful. Large Skirmishes. When you get to a large skirmish, watch out for friendly fire. Also, take out the STRONGEST SHIPS FIRST (goes against what most people say) so in case your Wing Commander-class Dreadnought gets wiped, then you don't have to face the other Goliath. If you want, assign each class of ship to different groups, such as fighters: group 1 attacking other fighters, frigates, group 2, attacking enemy flanks, etc. Finally, wtach out for those annoying flank attacks, which can cause your ships to take much more damage (DREADNOUGHT REPULSOR!!!). Remember this, and you should be alright. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXXII: Easter Eggs --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is where I list all the wierd things in HW:C and shamelessly expose Sierra's mistakes. General Damage a Carrier (Taaw or Beast) to the extent where it's health is below 5%. Then, click on the carrier a few times. It should say 'Carrier Status: Full Green'. I swear it's health was really low... Also, when you jettison the lower decks, the Kuun-Lan's speed does not go down. Could it be that the Ore Cannisters (the one you jettison in Mission 2 and the one you see workers dock with in the opening cinematic ) weighed so much that the ship's lower engine was added to move them? Look at the front of the Kuun-Lan, below the resource Pads. There should be 4 straight lines. Zoom out a bit, and they will start dancing around. Change the view angle for different dances. When you watch the opening cinematic for each mission, it normally shows ships that you don't have. Also, when Tactical sends Recon Two-One-Four out to scout, why isn't the land already explored for you when you start the mission? Apparently, Workers can harvest THROUGH ships (the beam goes through ships). They also do not care at what angle they harvest at: some harvest upside down. Opening Cinematic When I bought this game, I downloaded the patch when it came out. From then on, instead of addressing the Kuun-Lan as Kiith Somtaaw Mining Vessel Kuun-Lan, it now calls it the Kiith Somtawwhttp Minning Vessel Kun-Laan. Dodgy. Email me if it is different too, I'll list all the variations here. Variations Kiith Somtaaw Mining Vessel Kuun-Lan (original) Kiith Somtawwhttp Minning Vessel Kun-Laan (mine) Kiith Somtawwhttp Mining Vessel Kuun-Lan (my other one) Mission 1 When the cruiser is destroyed BEFORE the objective, Tactical still announces the elimination. Also, in the opening cinematic, with the Kushan Ion Frig blowing, they say 'rerouting stabilizer control.' This means resetting the stabilizers. If you're about to blow up, then why would you want to make sure your ship is perfectly in line with Hiigara? Mission 2 When you bandbox click one of the the allied support frigates, then RIGHT click one of your fighters/corvettes, the support frigate will mimic it. Never knew that was possible. Mission 3 I've hit the Clee-san with plenty of mines (lure a mine to chase after you but then move your ship behind the Clee and watch it take the mine). but it doesn't take damage. Also, the clee san has 1500% health. Mission 4 The Module has unlimited infection power. When you play as Beast in the Multiplayer, it must recharge. Also, the clee-san can be destroyed as it says 'holding position.' It appears again later, though. Mission 5 The Bentusi ship is invulnerable. Also, if you send a recon to the top of the map (from your ship) and turn left, you find some enemy ACVs. For some reason the Bentusi is also seen. Mission 6 At the opening cinematic, there is a typo. When the Caal-Shto acknowledges your beam, they say 'aknoledged, Kuun-Lan'. Oops. The HC at the other slipgate appears out of nowhere (it don't exit the gate, hyperspace or move in, it just goes -pik and its there.). Whatever ship you send towards the HC at the end turns itself into recon fighter(?) two-one-four (not really but it sounds like a recon and addresses itself as one as well even though you can clearly see whatever ship you sent getting beat up by the HC.) no matter what it is. (Kuun Lan too ª_ª...) Mission 7 Colony ships can receive combat stars, because missiles kamikaze. I've tried in multiplayer to kamikazi my 54 acolytes into my friend's HC (1v1) and 2v2 (allied) and nothin happened (no stars). Wierd. Mission 8 800% health on Multi-gun corvettes? Is this the new fashion?!? Mission 9 Look at your captured resourcer engine trails. If they aren't red, good. If they are, this is false info. When patrol vessel Vigilance asks for the recognition codes, the resourcers look exactly like Taiidani ships, with red trails and yellow paint and all that. Mission 10 If you destroy the wreckage then send in a worker, the game will still focus on where the old battery thing used to be. Plus, the siege cannon housing is invincible. Yeesh. When you fire the Siege Cannon NOT at the beast, it still works. Hmmmm........................... Mission 11 Listen to the Faal-Corum's apology speech. You can hear beast screams going on in the background. Also, sometimes the Faal-Corum's ships will begin to attack any ship you captured (even from past missions). I had 3 HCs and a destroyer which were destroyed. I responded by handing the Faal-Corum it's engine module on a plate to it. Mission 12 When the Taiidani fleet hyperspace in, STOP attacking. They don't fire on you, and sometimes they never come. It's good, though: 2 destroyers and a couple of frigates for free. Then, when the outpost surrenders, click on it. You can see all modules attached to the Kuun Lan and carriers. Some other ships are available too. You can scuttle the parts of the Kuun-Lan (Beast: Partss.. Join uss...) if you want, email me for a picture of the kuun lan without an engine or a front (just modules). Mission 13 After the mission, sometimes the faal corum decides to attack you for no reason. Since i had a mod (unlimited siege cannon shots [lost at the moment {doh!}]) I gave the faal-corum a siege cannon blast right up the anus (the gap between the upper and lower engines!) Mission 14 If you attack the Naggarok, (it's invincible [if this continues I'll scream]) it starts to spin. Unfortunately it never stops. Sending a mimic results in your game jamming because the mimic will try and dock with the naggarok forever. Also, some Beast ships do not go into hyperspace: some MBF's and a few corvettes. They are near where the Beast MS hyperspaces in. Mission 15 The Bent-usi can be attacked with MBFs or Mimics. Unfortunately, the Bent-usi respond by hyperspacing 32 more stations. Eep. Mission 16 The worker doesn't take any damage from the clee-san explosion. According to Kiith Manaan it is a frigate class vessel. When I explode a recon next to a worker it takes 5% damage. An ACV does 20%. Super-capital does 75-80%. Frigate 50%? Mission 17 Before you attack the Nomad Moon, the naggarok is invincible [aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa] and cannot be crippled with the siege cannon. When it comes to eat, you hear screaming, right? Well, when you attack it again, listen to it. It screams as if it is in pain when you attack. Give 'em hell, boys... When the Taiidani fleet come in to help the Beast, they address themselves as fleet VIGILANCE. I swear in mission 9 the Taiidani destroyer was called Vigilance too... Multiplayer Beast: Research Menu: 'Mutligun Corvettes' for Multigun Corvettes. Also, when you scuttle ram frigs you hear them say 'curse you back to Kharak.' But, how does the beast know of Kharak, and anyway, why should it care about it? It's enemies lost their home planet so it should be happy, not cursing you back there. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXXIII: Contributors --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everyone below helped me in some way, either by mailing me about problems, spelling mistaxe (intended) and other stuff. Thanks to: Scott from JST online (jstonline@thegamingunion.com): Encouragement Jeremy (xrossfire@softhome.net): Notifying me about a problem CJayC (www.gamefaqs.com): A great site, and fantastic message boards Osrevad (omohasiosrevad@hotmail.com): ASCII at top. You can usually find him on the GameFAQs message boards. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXXIV: Other FAQ's by me, Seb Haque --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homeworld: Cataclysm (this one, stupid) Homeworld 1 FAQ (under construction) I am planning to do a PS2 FAQ, but I'm not sure on which game (probably a weapons/strategy FAQ for Red Faction 2. Homeworld 2: Incomplete, probably never will be Deus Ex weapons: Lost due to a stupid virus --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXXV: End Credits --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) Seb Haque 2003 End Faq Goodbye!