Endless Sorrow, Waves of Corvettes - Let's Play Homeworld!

Homeworld.

What a word - the best portmanteau in gaming history. Elegant, yet evocative of themes both universal and profound. What does Halo mean? Quake? Diablo? All these names are iconic, yet none tells a story like Homeworld does. It remains an absolute wonder that it had never been employed by a game before. Yet this must be the best of possible realities, because the game that does carry title is the only one I can imagine being equal to it.


Developed by Relic Entertainment and released for PC by Sierra in 1999, Homeworld is an epic interstellar real-time strategy game, renowned for its mythic storyline, aesthetic cohesion, and its sheer sense of scale (especially by IGN, who awarded it Game of the Year, and wouldn't shut up about it for several years after). The game was Relic's first project, and it represents one of the most ambitious and creatively successful freshmen efforts in the medium's history. The game arrived at precisely the right time – just as the industry's adoption of graphic accelerators allowed for its transcendent backdrops and its hundred-ship engagements, and just before that same technology proceeded to cut a bloody swath through the PC market. Allegedly, Homeworld began development as a Battlestar Galactica game (we're talking, of course, about the old-school, feathered-hair, Lorne Green-starring version), and its lineage shows, but thank the gods that that license fell through, because what we ended up getting is so much better than whatever would have come of that.

Homeworld stands as one of the few examples of a three-dimensional real-time strategy game – that is to say, an RTS with a Z-axis. Since all the extant instances of this sub-genre have been set in space, they could be said to be tonally similar to, yet distinct, gameplay-wise, from 4X titles like Masters of Orion and Sins of a Solar Empire. Unlike those games, Homeworld's single-player is divided into story-based missions (though you maintain a persistent fleet throughout), the scale is more localized and concrete, and the focus is exclusively on combat and resource-gathering. Its an underrepresented genre – mostly due to the aforementioned hobbling of the PC market – and fans of the game have to content themselves with its two flawed sequels, Flotilla, and perhaps some Eastern European game I'm neglecting because I've never owned a PC that can handle games made after 2004.

To say that Homeworld is an accurate simulation of interstellar warfare would be incorrect. Its physics are non-Newtonian, its vessels always reorient themselves to the galactic plane, and its weapons' ranges are limited to a handful of kilometers – oversights that would send the fine people over at Atomic Rocket into conniption fits. Rather, it evokes several distinct eras of Earth-based naval warfare – galleon, carrier, submarine, etc. – except that planes aren't the only craft to enjoy the advantage of height, and it's been historically rare for carrier groups to hyperspace into the midst of an enemy fleet (though not unheard of). And in deep space, as with on the high seas, there is little in the way of terrain to dictate the course of the battle. Victory in Homeworld is given to the one who can leverage the greater force, and manage it more effectively.

The scope of Homeworld's campaign is nothing short of galactic. It's a story of fleets, of peoples, of entire civilizations. One of the reasons the game holds up so well is that it deals exclusively in spaceships. You never see a human being outside of brief glimpses in animatic cutscenes, and there are perhaps five distinguished characters throughout the entire game – several of which are emotionally-detached ship-entities. But, unlike most games of such breadth, the focus of Homeworld remains its narrative. And what a narrative it is! Informed in equal measure by science fiction and mythology, the story touches on themes of exile, jihad, birthrights, and, perhaps most of all, the elusive majesty of the Universe – heady stuff that many games are content to leave lurking in the background. Far from distancing you from the events of the narrative, Homeworld's wide-angle approach serves only to heighten its impact and the resonance of its themes.


This LP honestly might work at cross-purposes with that approach. It's my intention to deliver a fairly straight-faced recounting of the Homeworld War – like a History Channel documentary on the Kushan's return from exile – with anecdotes provided by those same pilots, captains, and officers Relic kept so carefully undefined. Certainly, there will be moments of levity, and explanations of game systems, but the core will remain a big, sloppy pile of military otaku fan-fiction (though if there's a game criminally under-served by fan-fiction writers, it's Homeworld). The game is wonderfully equipped to handle this type of thing, though! Each of the single player campaign's 16 missions offers a nice, chunky update, and the game's minimal interface and all-range camera allow for peerless screenshots. I don't intend to do anything particularly iconoclastic during my playthrough (I will be using Salvage Corvettes), and the potential for reader input may be limited by such a linear game, but I am, of course, open to suggestions.

For those of you reading along, I'd highly recommend that you check out the Historical and Technical Briefing supplement that came packed-in with the game. It's one of the last great examples of the purely flavorful writing of an earlier, more innocent era in gaming, and indicative of the thought and care that Relic put into its game. For those of you who want to play along, and don't want to deal with warez of decade-old game from a now-defunct publisher, you can download, for free, Homeworld: Raider Retreat – originally a pre-order pack-in with the Homeworld spin-off, Cataclysm – which contains the game's first four missions, a bonus fifth mission, and unlimited multiplayer.

Homeworld, with its hundred-ship fleet actions, used to be an absolute beast of a game, but now can be played on even a modern netbook (albeit choppily). I haven't tested it for OS compatibility, but if you have a non-4:3 monitor, you can set the game to any resolution via registry-editing (this can cause flickering on the main menu and decreased feedback near the sides of the screen), or play in windowed mode using command-line switches. Mind you, Homeworld was programmed for some of the earliest 3D accelerators, so you may encounter minor graphical issues arising from the game trying to utilize work-arounds no longer supported by modern graphics cards.


Sorry for going all Gamespite Quarterly on you guys! Next time, we get down to the nitty-gritty of the game's most basic systems.

God bless you for doing this because I always loved Homeworld in concept, but could never wrap my head around the 3D element to the strategy.

Oooh, I'm very excited about this! I didn't have a PC capable of running Homeworld back when it was fresh, but I was really intrigued by the game. It was (and still is) unique and interesting in many ways: scale, mechanics and setting. Thanks for doing this!

You forgot to mention the best part! Yes performed the theme song for the game as the lead track for their best album in more than a decade, and their live performances featured footage of the game.

I feel that never playing homeworld is one of the highest black marks on my gamer card the way I always here people go on about it.

Looking forward to this!

Man, I loved Homeworld. I've never played 2 (never did get around to buying it, and now I'm hoping it'll show up on Steam), but I wouldn't really say that Cataclysm was "flawed". I always found it to be mechanically superior (and just plain more enjoyable) then the original, personally.


I always find it hilarious how so many games after Homeworld was released tried to leverage themselves as having a Z plane as well, when it's hardly been any more then flying units in Starcraft. Or, even better, that they're the first 3D RTS.

It's uncanny how fresh it still is, really. The ships may look a bit blocky nowadays, but only EVE Online, Mass Effect, and Homeworld 2 approach its sci-fi paperback aesthetic. And, as I mentioned, it avoids at all costs the one thing that ages a game more than any other - trying to depict humans.

And, being a space game that doesn't prominently feature space marines, its not like it has much competition, even 10 years after the fact.

That post was long enough already! But, yes, from the spacy ambient pieces, to the Middle-Eastern-flavored battle-hymns, to two of the most effectively-used pieces of licensed music in gaming, Homeworld has an absolutely astounding soundtrack.

I'll be sure to post the appropriate track for each stage and battle as they come up.

I might sneak in and wax eloquent about the game manual if you neglect to, Peach.

I love Homeworld. It's one of the only games that I always have installed, somewhere (right now my XP partition has Homeworld, SMAC, Treasure Planet, and Mass Effect 2).

Also worth mentioning: the game's source code was released, and both linux and OSX ports exist (although, in typical hack-y fashion, you'll have to install it to a win32 disk - or use WINE - first so you have access to the game files). I have no idea about the completeness/bugginess of the ports, though.

I have some fond memories and some not so fond memories of Homeworld. I didn't have the pc for it when it first came out. I do remember getting cataclysm first and then going back to the original. At the time I had played RTS before. Even the 3d didn't confuse me that much. What really came back to bite me more often than not was the persistent fleet. I probably didn't do myself any favors spending more time messing with the camera to get cool looking scenes of battles and just watching ships fly around instead of paying attention to who was winning...

Homeworld manages to pack one of the most emotional moments I've ever experienced in a game into a simple three-word sentence. I'm sure anyone who's played it knows exactly what I'm talking about, and that you'll make it clear for those who haven't.

You spoony bard?

Say 'fuzzy pickles'?

I have fury!?

Sorry, I'm dead?

Would you kindly?

Snake? Snake? SNAAAAAAAAKE!?

I am error?

Itsa me, Mario!?

Ach, mein Leiben!?

Get over here!?

War never changes?

I applaud you, sir

By all means.

"Higaraa. Our home." ?

"Kharak is burning..." ?

"Primary directive achieved." ?

"We're being overwhelmed!" ?

"Heavy Cruiser complete." ?

Homeworld's plot is particularly notable because none of the sequels managed to have quite the same sense of grandeur and importance. While it had been done before, it wasn't typical video game fodder, and the sense of mystery as the game unfolds - trying to work out who this Empire is and why they've bombed your home to a radioactive cinder is incredible. Likewise, the sense of grandeur and scale is really impressive, capturing the best of classic SF and space opera.

Most disappointing were Homeworld's sequels. Cataclysm's plot was a hackneyed retread; Homeworld 2's plot reads like bad fanfiction.

Let me tell you about the game manual.

Homeworld has a pretty great manual.

Construction is perfect bound, the covers are decently stiff; front cover is grey with white lettering and accents and two ship schematics in blue. Very understated and classy. The interior layout follows similarly.

Inside, the first thirty-odd pages are entirely gameworld information; it's the setting bible, more or less, which is impressive both for its breadth and for the fact that none of it is ever used in-game. It's there entirely to 1) provide context and texture to the campaign, and 2) act as fodder for custom missions and fanfictioneers alike. If you've read the WarCraft II or StarCraft manual, it's a lot like that.

It's also really good! There's a complete rundown of all the clans, and the history timeline leading up to the construction of the mothership. There's even a short couple of pages of two admirals debating fleet composition and deployment tactics. It gives you a very clear picture of the people you're shepherding, what they've gone through, and where they are today.

The second half is the actual nitty-gritty of playing the game, with descriptions of the formations and ships, some of which gets mentioned in-game, but a lot of it isn't.

The setting information is the real standout, and is worth reading to increase your enjoyment of the LP; you can read it here.

Oh man, what are you doing to me? I love lore stuff like this and you just gave me how many pages to read?

Actually, it's only like 20-25 or so.

Well that's not so bad. I can totally handle that, which makes it all the more terrifying because I probably will.

When this game first came out (and I was still buying everything with Sierra's logo on it) I remember reading the manual and loving everything about it. I don't know which Scifi author they cribbed the central idea from but its a great one and the graphics accompanied by the operatic score just made my jaw drop.

I never beat it, I think I only every got a 4th of the way through the first game. But I loved just moving the camera around.

Also, this game is how I imagine the battleship "simulator" was in the Card's Ender's Game.

Looking forward to this!

I don't know if anyone's going to be reading along to the plot for the first time, so: Take Dune's fremen, and then have them build the Battlestar Galactica to find the Homeworld. I'm sure there are other sources as well; it's a bit of a mashup.

The absolute best thing about this game: the classic 1970s space opera illustrations that are used for cut-scenes.

If this Let's Play does not feature liberal use of screenshots of them, I will be very cross.

That's the one.

* waits for more updates *