What the heck happened to EXPANSIONS?!

[ShibbyWeez]

It seems like every popular game like this has an expansion that comes out to boost the game's popularity. But hey, where's Homeworld's expansion? Relic really really should have thrown us one. I'm just saying, if Homeworld 2 is a huge hit, sales will be up for who knows when, then they'll drop, because the game is dated, Why not throw an expansion in that updates that game and gives us some more goodies. Your comments please.

[CruiserCarrier]

The "expansion" is Cata. I myself like it better in some ways, but not all. Sierra likes to think of it as a sort of "half-expansion" or "half-sequel" since it doesn't require the first HW to play.

[Shaitan]

What CruiserCarrier said :)

I also believe that the way they are designing HW2 it will be an easily moddable game. Of course this would make the game very appealing to creative modders out there, but would also make it easier for Relic at a later date to consider releasing expansions for HW2.

"If you build it, they will come"

Well Relic is building it, expansions will follow... let the good times roll :)

[ShibbyWeez]

I think Cataclysm was a sorry excuse for a release. They dumbed down all the ships and combined all the rest so you only have two combat fighters, one combat corvette a couple of frigates and two super capital class. they gave all the super capital ships missiles which killed any fighter attack/defense strategy. And the 'workers' completely killed it. They should have never combined repairers harvesters and salvagers. It's insane. The thing i loved about Cata was the single player missions. They were really cool. But I thought, with all these 'new and improved' ships, the multiplayer would suck, thus, when i beat it, i went right back to Homeworld. I'm sorry if this seems a bit complainative, But i can't imagine where the game testers were that said 'Hey, what happened to my attack bombers? those were half of my defense plan!'

[CruiserCarrier]

Yes, those are some good and bad points of Cata. I actually enjoyed the SP more in Cata than HW, but not the story. I actually liked the story too, but it wasn't as epic as, say, HW. However, the SU system just killed the game. I didn't mind the ships at all, except for the fact that the Somtaww didn't have decent anti-capital frigates. There were also some other minor imbalances. However, most Cata haters would agree the main problems are the bugs.

[AstroMat1]

Yep. Got to be the bugs that were never looked at. Personally, I loved Cataclysm. But it's just too buggy.

[ShibbyWeez]

What Bugs?

[Shaitan]

The only errors I ever experienced were the almost typical sychronisation errors during multiplayer LAN sessions, and the dumb flight AI that debuted in the orginal release of HW:C that sometimes caused ships to get stuck up against the hull of the MS when trying to dock, or running into each other if two fleet groups were moving towards one another. Thankfully the dumb flight AI was fixed up reasonably well in the update patch.

[CruiserCarrier]

Are you guys trying to seriously tell me that you haven't encountered bugs playing Cata. Please don't tell me you're not serious. . . It has gotten so bad, people were petitioning for a new patch to be made, and thousands signed. Alas, Sierra didn't care or give a crap about us. . .

[Mad Ewok]

I have not had any problems... maybe I'm just not as freakin' picky as you people...

[Bishop Gantry]

I really would liek to have seen an expansion from the Imperial Taiidans point of view im sick and tired of always being forced to play as the goodie toe shoe guys...

aswell they could have added Taiidan as a playable race atleats in multiplayer... and a Taiidan counter to the Dreadnought a Battleship firing Taiidan Cruise missiles > aka CATA Beasts Bio cruise missiles formerly Taiidan missiles

[cyberwarriormm]

I agree with CruiserCarrier. Cata has some problems. Only, the single player is set-up real nice. I haven't had too many problems playing Cata in SP mode. I kinda felt the game was not well balanced out for MP mode. Maybe Cata should have just been SP.

[CruiserCarrier]

Can someone answer these quick quesitions really quick? I know it is slightly off topic, but I'm curious since we got into this discussion about expansions. I want to know how Cata turned out the way it did.

1. Was HW considered a financial success? If not, how bad did it bomb?

2. Was Cata considered a financial success? If not, how badly did it bomb?

3. If HW was a financial success, why did Sierra decide not to properly beta test Cata?

4. I have seen previews of Cata. The previewers were playing a "beta" version. What does this mean?

[ulyssesdraco]

thats nothing, i remember when hw first came out, i rushed out to buy it, and i can still remember the bugs in that baby...
like once my mothership got captured by salvage corvettes in a multiplayer game that had both mothership and capture capital ship to win options avaliable. honestly at least 8 or so sal caps lined up to the side of my mothership and dragged it away, i was retreating with a carrier and whatever ships i had left, so i didnt care if mothership got destroyed. eventually i lost track of what was going on, and it later dissapeared from sensors in the enemy base...
also a few times if an enemy ship hypered, if one of my fighters was to close to it it would be swept into the hyper window and dissapear...
as well as other freaky stuff

[Higaran]

You guys have to get out of your minds that cata was supposed to be identical to hw in game play. HW is a very unique game while cata is more of a standard rts, and I know that if relic made cata, you guys would love it cause it would be identical to hw. None of the diffrences that make it good would be in it either, such as the interface improvements, and time acceleration. It is diffrent and you people have to accept that, cause other wise you wont see it for the good game it really is.

[MakodFilu]

What is the gripe with the Worker? That you must stop collecting with your 5 workers if you want to repair or salvage?

In HW, if you have 5 collector and want to repair/ salvage, you need to build the ships to do that.

In Cata, you can do it as well. It only gives you the chance to not do so if you don't want to build more ships.

Besides, one good point not noticed, is that the Deacon have all the aspect of a ship developed and build in a hurry, as a desperate mean, upon the hull of a Chieftain Ore Processor!. That is something the cute look of Kushan ships don't have: those don't seem to be developments of a desperate race.

...and one bad is the Hive, just the opposite of the Deacon, the Hive being too artificious (why it must mimic a wasp? just to 'fit' the Hive designation? that makes no sense!).