Homeworld:@(0.2.4.0) P#840 - June Update

[Siber]

0.2.4.0 trailer link

Homeworld:2 was a highly anticipated game, but to many (to us at least) it was largely a disappointment. Discussions about what it could have been, or should have been, have been a familiar sight in parts of these forums since. This project, Homeworld:@, is the realization of one such vision of how it should have been. Starting with two friends idly talking and drawing, it has grown both in scope and contributors. Homeworld:@ now encompases a full total conversion project with plans for an epic new storyline, many new factions and fleets alongside those returning from game 1, gameplay overhauls, and a new campaign.

Completed feature list:

Completed feature list:
* Ship: UNH Interceptor
* Ship: UNH Standard Corvette
* Ship: UNH Heavy Corvette
* Ship: UNH Assault Frigate
* Ship: UNH Ion Frigate
* Ship: UNH Standard Destroyer
* Ship: UNH Heavy Cruiser
* Ship: UNH Carrier(Preliminary)
* Ship: VAY Light Gunship
* Ship: VAY Flare Gunship
* Ship: VAY Assault Frigate
* Ship: VAY Ion Destroyer
* Ship: VAY Battlecrusier
* Ship: CNF Assault Frigate
* Ship: CNF Ion Frigate
* Several new map backgrounds

Downloads and terms:

Downloads and terms:
Please see readme

For latest download, see here Current version at time of writing is 0.2.4.0

Current Development

Current Development:
We're focusing on the Unified Navy of Higaara at the moment, the military arm of the Higaaran faction. Short term development goals include a first campaign mission and playable UNH only skirmish mode.

Ship Exhibitions:

Ship Exhibitions:
Each release has been marked by the exhibition of a new ship, with screenshots and backstory. They will be collected here.

Reconciliation-class Assault Frigate:

Reconciliation-class Assault Frigate:


The modern assault frigate owes much to the Taiidan. When the original Vengeance class was built in 1 B.L. from technology copied wholesale from captured imperial Kudaark frigates wrapped in a distinctively Kushan hull, it became the foundation of the fleet. While some smaller Kiith could not afford it and made due with their own substitutes, all that could license the designs from the Daiamiid made heavy use of the ship, including the unified Navy of Higaara when it took form. In the decades to come the design was repeatedly pushed to, and occasionally past, its limits with extensive updates and refits. Finally in 79 A.L. the retirement of the Vengeance was announced, with a phasing out slated to complete in 88 A.L., to be replaced by the newly commissioned Reconciliation, named to commemorate the ties between Higaara and the Taiidan Republic.

Indeed, the Reconciliation was designed with aid from Republic engineers, renewing the ties to Taiidan technology. Like its predecessor, the Reconciliation became the foundation of a new generation of frigates in the coming years. The vessel fills much the same role as the assault frigates of old, multiple turrets handling strike craft threats, particularly corvette wings that would otherwise make short work of fighters or support craft alike.

The old plasma bombs were removed to make room for two additional turrets, bringing the total up to 6 standard mass drivers, but the framework was left in place for possible increased armament in future refits. This has proven wise with the newly developed cheek-mounted point-pulsar emplacements added to the Mk.4 revision, slated to be brought into combat trials with the launch of the 15th Fleet in 102 A.L. While some argue that the lack of heavier fixed-forward weaponry diminishes the frigate's ability to aid in anti-capital engagements, it can still bring all six primary turrets to bear on a forward target, creating a withering hail of fire when deployed in groups. Still no substitute for ion cannons or larger capital ships, the Reconciliation class is far from useless once strike craft threats are eliminated, and any commander would be a fool to discount them as such.

Spirit-class Standard Corvette:

The Spirit-class Corvette is the main heavy strike craft of the fleet. The Spirit is based heavily on the previous generations of heavy strike craft, although it fills a much broader role than either the Hammer or the Cavalier. The Spirit, a Kiith Paktu design, retains the swiftness and maneuverability of the most advanced first generation corvettes alongside a significantly enhanced armament. The earlier cockpits provided a full 180 degree view of the space ahead; the Spirit instead substitutes ubiquitous sensor arrays to give the same information density to the pilot whilst allowing the pilot coccoons to be buried deeper within the hull. The sleek lines of the Spirit do not betray its thick armor and robust power systems supplying two medium railguns.

Most notable are the Spirit's large aerobraking surfaces analogous to the wings of an aerofighter. These surfaces can be used to rapidly shed speed in an atmosphere, and also serve as excellent locations for powerful attitude thrusters contributing to the unparalleled maneuverability of the Spirit. Additionally these versatile craft are often converted to serve special roles, and these large surfaces can be used to mount various equipment, such as long range scanning probes, additional fuel tanks, or even orbit-to-surface munitions in certain situations.

The Spirit is widely used amongst the vast majority of the Kiith, and is a common sight amongst the Kushan fleets. While a wing of Spirits can be a pricey investment, they are superb escort and harassment craft, and are often tasked to some of the most dangerous missions in combat: escorting the bomber wings. Many of the finest pilots in the Kushan fleets swear by the Spirit as the ultimate synthesis of speed, firepower, and durability; the craft can outpace all other Corvette-class vessels and keep pace with heavy bombers, giving them immense strategic flexibility. Like all Corvettes, the Spirit is large enough to suffer greatly from capital ship weapon turrets, but its speed gives it an edge against other, slower, heavier designs.

Max Velocity: 210 m/sec
Armor: 1300
Firepower: 24
Coverage: 95%
Maneuverability: High
Mass: 750 tons
RU Cost: 190 RUs, build time 20s

Tempest-class Standard Destroyer:

If frigates are the backbone of any fleet, destroyers are the arms. The Tempest-class Destroyer mounts an engine practically the volume of a full frigate, providing it with the greatest speed of any Higaaran ship larger than a Corvette, and a system of thrust vectoring combines with extensive thruster arrays to let the Destroyer kill velocity just as well, and twist and tumble to face any threat.

The Tempest's development cycle was one of the most remarkably smooth projects in the history of inter-Kiith efforts; especially considering the dramatically different design methodologies of the Kiith involved. Initially Kiith Soban proposed phasing out the destroyer-class ship entirely in favor of a heavily expanded frigate hull that would replace both the old Revelation and Firelance lines of Destroyers and Frigates respectively. This was however emphatically opposed by both Kiith Nabaal and Manaan who maintained that a class of ships smaller than cruisers but capable of mounting more complex systems than frigates was necessary. In what may be a first since landfall, Kiith Soban conceded the point immediately and proposed a radical compromise. The Tempest design program was tasked with creating a rapid-response unit that would mount enough firepower and armor to serve as a front-line combatant if necessary, and would have the drive endurance and facilities to conduct commerce raiding and deep strikes. Only recently put into mass production, the five year old Tempest has already won outstanding acclaim and uniform praise from all ship captains and task force commanders alike.

With an array of three large dorsal energy cannon turrets and a pair of medium ion beam turrets, the Tempest brings significant firepower to the table, and has the tremendous thrust necessary to bring that firepower to bear on distant targets quickly. With fighter or corvette escort, a squadron of destroyers makes a highly effective assault force that can outmaneuver the larger cruisers and mothership-class vessels with ease. It is best to utilize these powerful ships against the vulnerable rear and side aspects of target ships, although the excellent coverage of its weapons array gives it utility in the midst of a capital ship brawl as well.

Max Velocity: 145 m/sec
Armor: 38000
Firepower: 451
Coverage: 80%
Maneuverability: Low
Mass: 150000 tons
RU Cost: 1500 RUs, build time 150s

Javelin-class Light Gunship:

(CTL) Javelin-class Light Gunship

A light craft spotted first by our Republican allies to the far galactic south. The Republican pilots that faced the craft dubbed it Javelin-class after its long and narrow central hull and sharp features. The Javelin is one of the first craft fielded by a previously unknown species calling itself the Vaygr and typifies their design philosophy.

An unconventional craft, the Javelin is smaller and faster than any known Corvette-class vessel while significantly outmassing any known Fighter. Like a Fighter it has heavy spinal electromagnetic cannon, these configured like the turreted cannon on the Spirit to propel heavy slugs accurately. These twin spinal guns are quite lethal against any fighter in its path, and can deliver considerable damage to other corvettes or capital ships. These heavy, but primitive guns are supplemented by a trio of turreted vulcan cannon.

The vulcan turrets on the Javelin are inaccurate and short-ranged, but quite deadly to small craft. Two are positioned on either side of the main weapons array and one guards the rear of the craft from pursuers. It is suspected that the Vaygr must have a large number of craft with such short ranged armaments if they consider one of these rear turrets to be adequate defense, and cautions pilots to maintain maximum effective range in combat against all Vaygr ships. Javelins are highly vulnerable to rear attacks by large squadrons of interceptors, and standard Corvettes are quite effective against them.

Blaze-class Ion Frigate:

(FFI) Blaze Ion Frigate

When the Reconciliation was unveiled, speculation immediately began on the replacement for the decrepit Firelance III Frigate. The Kiith Council, the Daiamiid finally decided to take control of several Kiith-level enhancement programs and place it under the purview of the UNH. The admiralty of the UNH immediately began embroiled in its most divisive project to date, with several hundred contributing design officers and many thousands of scientists all attempting to steer the project their own way. Kiith nationalists also often tried to manipulate the design to make use of their particular Kiith's specialties, whether it was Kiith Nabaal's lightened compression Ion weapon, or Kiith Paktu's ducted exhaust maneuvering system.

After one year the product was being castigated by outside critics as well as the frustrated designers. The proposed single-beam layout was lambasted for a lack of vision and hide-bound traditionalism. Those proponents of multiple-weapon designs, including a Kadeshi-inspired triple fixed beam and a variant of the Reconciliation with light ion turrets replacing the kinetic turrets were criticized for unrealistic expectations of nascent technology. Cooler heads began to prevail, and in the end the single, fixed, mothership-class beam wrapped in strategically placed armor and engines proved to be the most effective and cheapest option. Extensive field testing showed that this proposal, dubbed "Blaze", could use off-the-shelf technology in a new configuration to save enormous costs in develompent. Shared technology with both the existing Reconciliation frigate and Tempest destroyer allowed production of the Blaze class to begin almost immediately after the design was finalized, enabling a complete replacement of the Firelance III within only a few years time.

The current Blaze is a single heavy energy artillery emplacement with numerous redundant vents and cooling systems installed. These systems can barely keep pace with the massive cannon bulging out of the interior of the frigate; the heat sinks will actually glow cherry-red on firing. Armoring has been reduced for the sake of slightly increased maneuverability and significantly increased firepower and range; this weapon system is capable of devastating larger ships, living up to it's heritage as a giant killer. It has also been criticized in some circles as being a glass cannon, dangerously vulnerable to return fire and strike craft assaults. Standard doctrine includes corvette escort to protect against enemy bombers and larger capital ships drawing opposing ion fire.

• Max Velocity: 100 m/sec
• Armor: 16000
• Firepower: 228
• Coverage: 3%
• Maneuverability: Low
• Mass: 42000 tons
• RU Cost: 650 RUs, build time 60s

Valiant-class Interceptor:

(FTI) Valiant Interceptor

Valiant-class Interceptors are the orphaned flagship of an ambitious 70s-era project to completely hybridize the light units of the Taiidani Republic and the various Kiith. The project was the result of a number of disastrous joint operations between the 3rd UNH battle fleet and two Republic carrier forces near the bandit kingdoms. Massive damage to the UNH mothership's flight decks and docking sleeves forced the 3rd Fleet mothership to attempt to dock its strike wing to the Republic carriers. The Taiidani carriers, however, had unfortunately incompatible internal structure, forcing almost a hundred and fifty UNH strike craft to be ditched and destroyed on the scene.

The Valiant was going to use off-the-shelf engine modules and weapons systems, and was contemporary to the Republic's carrier upgrades. Finally finished in 82 after passing the deadline three times and exeeding the budget by an order of magnitude, the remaining planned ships from the hybridized lines were reluctantly shelved and the Valiant went into testing cycles, and surpassed all expectations both positive and negative.

Firepower is given by two Taiidani-style single-barrel heavy railgun mated to next generation power supplies. The projectiles fired by the Interceptor mass about 7.5 kilograms, similar to the mass of the burster of old Kharakid light artillery guns. These rounds are comprised of a 3 cm x 12 cm high-density penetrator that masses 1.63 kilos; the remaining mass is a lightweight protective foamed material with a light nose charge to absorb micrometeroid impacts and help defeat whipple plating and ablative armor. Three cubic meters of storage provides each weapon with a magazine of 630 rounds. The effects of these weapons on anything smaller than a cruiser are immediate and extensive making the Valiant an excellent choice against any target in the modern battlespace. Energy cannon equipped bombers still have superior performance against large targets, but a mass of Valiant-class Interceptors can furnish excessive firepower.

Test pilots almost immediately complained about the largest change in the Valiant over previous generation models. In order to minimize space demands for life support and other electronics, designers of the Valiant line scaled down the cockpit dramatically and removed the electronics officer's position entirely. ECM and EW duties are handled by the pilot with assistance from onboard expert-systems. Almost all tests were deluged by complaints about the new cockpit architecture, though none faulted the increased power of the craft. Maintainence technicians grumbled about the hideously complicated control feeds and the touchiness of the maneuvering thrusters, but in spite of this all production was authorized after the prototype shredded several drone-piloted Bandit fighters in a single long salvo.

On the Higaaran side, Valiant production took six years to step up to full, and in that time it was the subject of massive controversy. Many line pilots lost control of the overpowered fighter, and shortages of the new ammunition and components caused remote carrier groups to switch back to the previous generation of fighters. The Republic fleet replaced approximately a fifth of its main-line fighters with the Valiant, and assigned those squadrons to the battlegroups operating near the Higaaran zone of control. The next generation of Higaaran pilots have acclimated entirely to the Valiant's hull, and it has escaped its checkered past to become known as one of the most deadly light craft in the galaxy, heavily sought after by bandit warlords who seek to use its powerful cannon to disable larger craft.

Max Velocity: 267 m/sec
Armor: 160
Firepower: 26 (game reports 48 erroneously due to gun slaving)
Coverage: 6%
Maneuverability: High
Mass: 60 tons
RU Cost: 55, build time 18s

Credits:

Credits:
HW@ TEAM ACTIVE MEMBERS (as of 11/2010)
Aralonia: Testing, voice acting, inspiration, enthusiasm, neon green, purple
Avatar II: Concepts, textures, scripting, effects, writing, sounds, motivation, voice acting, teensy weensy bits of .hod-ing, testing
Cerino: Voice acting
Dark Sentinel: Modeling, animating, texturing, voice acting, heresy, terror.
Icefox: .Lua scripting, voice acting, mission scripting
Siber: Modeling, voice acting, .hod-ing, background generation, level design, lua scripting, writing, testing, infinite patience
HW@ TEAM PAST ASSOCIATES
Adhira: Animation, modeling UNH_DRStandard
Doci: Modeling & texturing REP_FTScout, CZA_DDStandard, CZA_FTTag, inspiration, limitless enthusiasm
ericrajuin: Modeling & texturing UNH_CAStandard's energy cannon turrets.
Hades: Modeling VAY_DDStandard
Kaelis: Technical help, VAY_CTGun model and textures.
MachinesInMotion: Modeling VAY_DDStandard
MRecon: Background generation
Schwartz: Modeling VAY_DDStandard
WE COULDN'T HAVE DONE ANYTHING WITHOUT
4E534B: Making a boatload of useful tools
Beelzebuddy: Drone code example
Bobboau: Freespace 2 upgrade project beams provided key inspiration for new ion beam VFX
CnlPepper/B5TC mod team: Awesome tools, tutorials, and shaders
Le Sun Tzu: For answering a whole bunch of questions on modding
Mikael: Numberous scripting examples and modules, such as the starting fleet managment and map production framework
Relic: For making a great game in 1999 and a decent mod platform in 2003
TESTING THANK YOUS
Beast, Lizzie
CONTENT USED
Denny Schneidemesser / Danman87: Battle music "Entering the Stronghold" and many hours of excellent listening to his other tracks. http://dennyschneidemesser.com/
DetonationFilms: Fireburst01 FX from their free package. Free independent professional-quality FX for films and television. http://www.detonationfilms.com/
FatKidWitAJetPak: Ambient music "Ruby Moon", "Dead Snow", "Breathe With Me" http://fatkidwitajetpak.newgrounds.com/
John-Gaden: Menu music "Ennui". http://john-gaden.newgrounds.com/
Nutritious: HW1 remixes "Ancient Enemy", "Fallen", "Deep Space" http://sites.google.com/site/nutriti...utritiousmusic
Sekhem: Ambient music "Cavorite Exterior". http://sekhem.newgrounds.com/
teh_strelok: Vaygr destroyer point defense sound effect. Amazing resource, incredibly professional FX. http://www.fpsbanana.com/members/597879

Contact Information:
Posting in this thread or private messaging either myself or Avatar II is sure to get our attention. We also reside frequently in #HW@ on the Rizon IRC network.

[severijn]

As someone who closely followed the development of this frigate, I will gladly take it for a spin. Looks like you guys made alot of progress since the last time I checked.

Now where did I put that disc...

[JMScomp]

I'm interested in hearing where you go with this one.

I can't try the frigate out right now, as I have RLPs keeping me from using my desktop, but I am definitely going to give it a try.

[hundeswehr]

that's quite beautiful. the hull design on the first ship looks consistent with the rest of the body.

[Sajuuk333]

Impressing...You guys, are exactly whta the FX Mod Team would need...pity you're busy...contact me if you think you can lend some aid.

[Khar Makaan]

Looks nice...
And adds a little more to the events between the landfall and the Vaygr invasion ^^
I'm really looking forward to its developments

[Siber]

Khar Makaan: For clarity's sake I'll state right now that we are more or less entirely ignoring the events and backstory presented in Homeworld 2. What we are making is intended as a followup to Homeworld 1 and Cataclysm. We do have plans for the Vaygr, but they probably won't resemble the current adversaries much at all.

[HisDivineShadow]

heres a noob question
i downloaded your assault frigate package
now how do i actually get it in game and play with it?

[Siber]

Either unrar the package into your Homeworld2/data directory and run the game with the "-overrideBigfile" flag in the shortcut, or place the .big in the same directory and run with the "-mod AssaultFrigatePackage.big" option. At the moment we have not included the ship in any build lists, you just have the five you start with as Higaarans.

[HisDivineShadow]

excellent it worked.
these ships are pretty awesome
i like them a lot

[queen-bee]

Same here, can't wait to more of those.
Loves the design...

[Sajuuk333]

Would you like considering my previous post, please? I feel ignored

[Siber]

Sorry, Sajuuk, I didn't mean to give that impression. I haven't had a chance to talk to my partner at any length about your comments, but I'm certainly planning to do so. I'll say that yours was one of the most flattering and encouraging posts so far in the thread, and when we have more to say about any possible working with FX mod, we'll likely contact you via PM.

[HisDivineShadow]

i represent a mod as well
slipstream the price of freedom
hit us up if you want to do some collaborating

[Vipey]

I'll be testing thing ASAP.
Will comment after I try it out.

[Vipey]

Wow. It's design takes me back alright. Look completely kushan. I love it.

[Sajuuk333]

You do have understanding of the Homeworld building style and lore! The 9CCN Team appreciates your style and wishes you good luck, regardless you join us or not

[Silver_Wolf#]

That is one hell of a ship, sexy in the Kushan way (I've always loved Kushan assault frigate) , keep up the good job.

[Siber]

Sajuuk333, I have a missive for you, but your PM box is apparently full. If you could clean a bit of space, perhaps we could begin some discourse?

Everyone else, I'd just like to thank you all for your kind words. It's nice to see outside enthusiasm, and it makes me want to get the next ship out that much faster.

[Silver_Wolf#]

Heh maybe someday I'll see the old Kushan Defender resurrected in a new sexier form (that thing looks so cute and defenceless once it rolls out the production line but when the first guy comes into range out pop 3 gun turrets and proceeds to give a new a-hole).
Either way I can't wait to see what's next .

[Siber]

The Spirit-class Corvette is the main heavy strike craft of the fleet. The Spirit is based heavily on the previous generations of heavy strike craft, although it fills a much broader role than either the Hammer or the Cavalier. The Spirit, a Kiith Paktu design, retains the swiftness and maneuverability of the most advanced first generation corvettes alongside a significantly enhanced armament. The earlier cockpits provided a full 180 degree view of the space ahead; the Spirit instead substitutes ubiquitous sensor arrays to give the same information density to the pilot whilst allowing the pilot coccoons to be buried deeper within the hull. The sleek lines of the Spirit do not betray its thick armor and robust power systems supplying two medium railguns.

Most notable are the Spirit's large aerobraking surfaces analogous to the wings of an aerofighter. These surfaces can be used to rapidly shed speed in an atmosphere, and also serve as excellent locations for powerful attitude thrusters contributing to the unparalleled maneuverability of the Spirit. Additionally these versatile craft are often converted to serve special roles, and these large surfaces can be used to mount various equipment, such as long range scanning probes, additional fuel tanks, or even orbit-to-surface munitions in certain situations.

The Spirit is widely used amongst the vast majority of the Kiith, and is a common sight amongst the Kushan fleets. While a wing of Spirits can be a pricey investment, they are superb escort and harassment craft, and are often tasked to some of the most dangerous missions in combat: escorting the bomber wings. Many of the finest pilots in the Kushan fleets swear by the Spirit as the ultimate synthesis of speed, firepower, and durability; the craft can outpace all other Corvette-class vessels and keep pace with heavy bombers, giving them immense strategic flexibility. Like all Corvettes, the Spirit is large enough to suffer greatly from capital ship weapon turrets, but its speed gives it an edge against other, slower, heavier designs.

Max Velocity: 210 m/sec
Armor: 1300
Firepower: 24
Coverage: 95%
Maneuverability: High
Mass: 750 tons
RU Cost: 190 RUs, build time 20s

End Story

Same usage rules apply. Again, not yet built into the build manager and such, so you'll have to modify some files yourself to spawn it into the game. As last time, available in .big and .rar formats, and under the same conditions and terms. Enjoy!

[Sajuuk333]

Again, a piece of high-quality work from you, guys! Keep it up, and chat to you later

[Khar Makaan]

Nice ship, really
(can't find anything else to say )

[7upMan]

Beautiful work, guys! I really really hope you will finish your mod and not abandon it due to RL or something. In my optinion, that would improve HW2 as much as the new shader mod.

[Siber]

Research Databank Entry: Energy Cannons

Most heavily popularized by their portrayal in the 'Cataclysm' saga of entertainment products, the heavy plasma cannon is a refinement of the older exile-era plasma bomb launcher technology. While the development of Kushan equivelants by Kiith Nabaal was popularized heavily as a universal replacement for coilgun. Though this didn't stop the media from creating a number of decidedly dramatized stories where this was so, live-fire tests showed that the lower muzzle velocities and the significant time it took to aggregate enough fusing plasma for a second shot dramatically reduced the Energy Cannon's effectiveness against light craft.

While the basic technology is over eight decades old, the innovations it represents are subtle and quite dramatic. The original plasma bomb launchers were all spinal weapons systems only slightly less bulky and massive then an ion-beam weapon and relied on bulky ammunition to contain the blast. By contrast modern energy cannon use a smaller containment mechanism that can be mounted in large turrets. Unfortunately they still are only built in anti-capital roles, featured on heavy bomber craft and as secondary armament for capital ships. All but the most unrealistic commanders agree that the Kiith fleets must continue to maintain a supply of craft armed with coilguns for their versatility and decent performance against both large and small ships.

Allows production of: Attack Bomber, Cloaked Bomber, Destroyer, Cloaked Destroyer, Heavy Cruiser, Dreadnought

[Siber]

If frigates are the backbone of any fleet, destroyers are the arms. The Tempest-class Destroyer mounts an engine practically the volume of a full frigate, providing it with the greatest speed of any Higaaran ship larger than a Corvette, and a system of thrust vectoring combines with extensive thruster arrays to let the Destroyer kill velocity just as well, and twist and tumble to face any threat.

The Tempest's development cycle was one of the most remarkably smooth projects in the history of inter-Kiith efforts; especially considering the dramatically different design methodologies of the Kiith involved. Initially Kiith Soban proposed phasing out the destroyer-class ship entirely in favor of a heavily expanded frigate hull that would replace both the old Revelation and Firelance lines of Destroyers and Frigates respectively. This was however emphatically opposed by both Kiith Nabaal and Manaan who maintained that a class of ships smaller than cruisers but capable of mounting more complex systems than frigates was necessary. In what may be a first since landfall, Kiith Soban conceded the point immediately and proposed a radical compromise. The Tempest design program was tasked with creating a rapid-response unit that would mount enough firepower and armor to serve as a front-line combatant if necessary, and would have the drive endurance and facilities to conduct commerce raiding and deep strikes. Only recently put into mass production, the five year old Tempest has already won outstanding acclaim and uniform praise from all ship captains and task force commanders alike.

With an array of three large dorsal energy cannon turrets and a pair of medium ion beam turrets, the Tempest brings significant firepower to the table, and has the tremendous thrust necessary to bring that firepower to bear on distant targets quickly. With fighter or corvette escort, a squadron of destroyers makes a highly effective assault force that can outmaneuver the larger cruisers and mothership-class vessels with ease. It is best to utilize these powerful ships against the vulnerable rear and side aspects of target ships, although the excellent coverage of its weapons array gives it utility in the midst of a capital ship brawl as well.

Max Velocity: 145 m/sec
Armor: 38000
Firepower: 451
Coverage: 80%
Maneuverability: Low
Mass: 150000 tons
RU Cost: 1500 RUs, build time 150s

Story Ends
Same terms of use stuff, slightly different download situation. Now all three ships and a starting fleet for them come packaged together, still in loose files and .big options, though both .rared this time, for rudimentary readme inclusion. More documents will probably be included in later releases. The frigate and corvettes got slight facelifts this time too. Enjoy!

[gthompsn]

I like the destroyer. There are definately Kushan design elements there. What about fire coverage on the underside? You have three turrets topside, but none there.

[Siber]

The energy cannons can't fire down, its true. Both ion cannons can, though, which is a considerable amount of firepower there. The destroyer should orient to bring those topside guns to bear anyway.

[Dragonfury]

hmmm that looks a lot like the HW1 Kushan destie lol >_> or it is LOL just me probably

[Avatar II]

The resemblance is quite intentional.

[gthompsn]

...and well done. It does look like a logical progression from the Kushan version.

[-=[F@LC0]=-]

Hi, I really like your ship design. Especially because I liked Hw1 stile ships.

As you may remember, no Hw1 Kushan ships had a sharp nose or arrow style front. -
They were all rounded

- So in my opinion the Corvette could need a little bit more flat nose but thats it - the rest of the model is just fine.

[Vipey]

Sauce PLZ?
I demand MOAR!

:P

great job so far man
really like your work =D

[Vipey]

You should do some strike craft. You've got a corvette, a frigate, and a destroyer... >_>

[Ammon Ra]

The corvette doesn't look very "homeworldish". The front part is too rounded, not that curves are bad, just that the geometry is too indeterminate since it all seems to be one smoothing group. Otherwise, really good ships

[Avatar II]

Demonslayer: >.> strike craft are insanely hard. One thing that's really troublesome about attempting to capture the aesthetic of the old strike craft is their damnable simplicity. See, with bigger ships you can always throw in funky little detailmabobs, like the whole assault frigate armored-hood dealie. We tried to evoke the lines of the old assault frigate whilst doing some new stuff. Certain aspects turned out a bit better than others (hey, it was a learning experience), but it was pretty decent. That was based off of the first and only batch of higaaran assault frigate concepts I did. The corvette took a bit of sketching, but I was actually inspired by a modified twin-gun pulsar corvette posted a million years ago. I have no recollection of the name of the poster, but it inspired the whole sleek motif. For those offput by the sharp pointy nose, we'll have a beefy heavy 'vette out at some point.

Where was I? Strike craft. That's the thing; redesigning capital ships can be done by a process of reduction; which is to say figuring out which bits made it that ship and not some other ship. Then you doodle instead of paying attention during lectures and slap on those reduced elements, doodle some more, and you have a design. Since I think the kushan destroyer had to be my favorite kushan craft I took extra time to try and get everything just right on the destroyer concept (and to a similar extent the texture). But, it's not impossible. You can always grind away at a capital ship concept just because you have enough little detailmabobs and doohickies you can use to signal "hey, this is a carrier/cruiser/missile destroyer/shoryuken frigate".

The homeworld 1 interceptors stubbornly refuse to be reduced, because they're already so simple and beautiful. Tonight I think I've finally scratched out what we'll try for the higaaran interceptor, but saying I've been through fifty to seventy concepts for the little bastard already is not an exaggeration. I've got pages and pages filled with indecipherable pen sketches that are me wrestling with the problem of taking the flattened shape, offset sensor vane/cockpit, and central gun and trying to make something new that doesn't suck.

So... I guess what I'm trying to say is : Rest easy, we've got some little guys coming for the Higaarans, at least one. And depending on how fast I come up with a set of views for Siber to model, maybe a second. And maybe a few things for one of the other factions, though who knows.

Next on our general agenda is filling out the two critical missing slots in our burgeoning fleet (besides strike craft), which is a production ship (carrier) and a harvester, so we may back-burner the interceptor and other ships in favor of that.

---

Regarding the corvette: Siber's been grumbling a bit about the nose, he will probably revisit it. Also, we added some goblins on the cockpits that help add a bit more shape there; lazy us not taking updated screenshots. Thanks for all the feedback, and we hope to get some new stuff to you before the end of time itself.

[Adhira]

Woah, i admit i didn't catch the value of these ships at all just from the screenshots!
It's simply awesome, as soon as i started the first skirmish i just paused and couldn't stop myself from admiring every ship over and over!

I'm actually a Kadeshi design fan and always snobbed the P1, but your models and textures are just on another level.
They also respect the Kushan design almost perfectly, the strong nostalgic feel i get from them speaks unmistakeably about how well you worked on evolving the old ships into the new ones.

(okay, lets consider the corvettes' nose adjusted already XD)

Anyway, some in-game feedback:

Skirmish: Hiigarans - Vaygr -------------------------------

Spirit-class Corvettes: i tried various things (love their slick profiles) and i noticed that they are taken out quite easily by Lance Corvettes (i got distracted by noticing the new cool sounds the Desty's guns do and when i checked back the 'vettes were no more :/ ). in my opinion, they look too "big" (literally) to be annihilated that quickly. I would still use interceptors or hyperspace in a frigate or two to create ruckus before send a wave of bombers in.
For now they look more reliable than original HW2 corvettes, but are not...:x

Reconciliation-class Frigates: ("baby Makaans" as my silly girlfriend calls them...that Vaygr freak...)
These are way, way better than flak frigates in terms of attack (tracking, mostly), but again, it's a shame how fast they go down to bombers and in my opinion "a shame how fast" means "too fast". The little pulsars you put on them seem to miss fighter-class ships every time.

Tempest-class Destroyers: These seem pretty balanced, but i have yet to send them into a serious situation, involving battlecruisers and that other weird stuff the Vaygr usually throw in. They keep a a really close range compared to normal destys so i suspect my usual "disturbance tactic" with intys and spare bombers will not work as cover for them.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Seriously guys, i can't submit this "reply" without saying again how cool your ships are, please do more, now the old Hiigarans look really too ugly and meaningless to play with :/

PS: Are you implementing the fuel system from HW again? It's not that important for the P1, but i know there is a script for that around here... (and i refuse to play mods like the FX one until the Fuel Pod stops pretending to be a Mobile Refinery >_>)

[Khar Makaan]

Well, the problem is that the removal of fuel consumption is pretty well hardcoded into the game...
That means that whatever you do you'll never have that sort of thing like fuel (or at least i think ).

FX Team had used a little trick to give some drawbacks in the mod (cause they're otherwise very effective ^^) by replacing the fuel consumption with a drop of speed (to 50% if i'm not mistaken, look in the recent updates of the mod in their thread) when not in a certain radius of a fuel pod (named command pod in the mod) or of a Needleship.

Just my

[Adhira]

FX Team had used a little trick to give some drawbacks in the mod (cause they're otherwise very effective ^^) by replacing the fuel consumption with a drop of speed (to 50% if i'm not mistaken, look in the recent updates of the mod in their thread) when not in a certain radius of a fuel pod (named command pod in the mod) or of a Needleship.

Yeah, i was joking XD I do play the FX mod, but not being able to to use the Fuel Pods as their original counterpart bugs me a bit.

I don't know much about LUA, but i found this script posted by Belzebuddy for Tefeari's "Homeworld: Empires" mod (it has been dead for long time, apparently) and wondered about what it did, since it's named "Fuel Pod Management"

Belzebuddy's Fuel Pod Management

[Blah]

Adhira: The link to the file is dead. Would you mind posting the script?

[Whisper2Me]

@Blah, adhira knows its dead, hes asking what that link was for.

[Siber]

Adhira, I really appreciate quality feedback, and also knowing that someone bothered to download and examine these babies in game. I know Avatar will be pleased that you like the sounds. However, something to keep in mind as your giving them a spin: We plan on removing all of HW2's ships and replacing them by the end, and our idea of how ships should be balanced is fairly different, emulating HW1 more than anything else. Commentary on balance won't be truely useful until we've at least got a skeleton skirmish fleet to pit against itself. A great example of this is that a decent wing of corvettes can make fighters evaporate, largely because our fighters will have in the neighborhood of five times the HP of HW2 fighters.

We won't be using the fuel burn script. I've heard its something of a performance drag, and honestly, managing fuel levels is always a pain. We have uses planned for support frigates, fuel pods, and so on, that hopefully will sufficently justify their continued existence.

That aside, some ship specific points.

Spirit: These are only the lightest of corvettes that will be available, and it's worth noting that they've been scaled down since last release following a review of relative sizes. Lance corvettes are probably Super Effective against them, so it's not too surprising that they went away. Don't worry, lance corvettes will be going away, themselves.

Reconciliation: Baby Makaans? Sterange. Regarding the pulsars, those are ultimately supposed to be anti-missile point defense. If that can be made to work properly is yet to be seen, and we don't have any missile firing ships built in our lineup yet, so proper testing of that feature hasn't really been undertaken in full.

Tempest: I'll tell you from experience that one on one, a Tempest will lose to a stock destroyer, because the destroyer and BC firepower levels are out of control. They're still pretty effective against frigates, though.

Have you noted the independent hyperspace ability for frigates and destroyers?

Your anticipation is encouraging. In return for getting my day off to a happy start, I'll give you a present, a peak at one of the tweaks that'll be in our next release.

[Adhira]

Euh, maybe i live in another dimension, because it's not dead for me, but here you go:

Data\leveldata\multiplayer\Kadesh Deathmatch.lua

--By Apollyon470
GUID = 
    { 110, 91, 157, 190, 18, 23, 250, 78, 144, 20, 41, 246, 181, 128, 214, 12, }
GameRulesName = "Kadeshi Swarmer Control"
Description = "Fuel Pods manage themselves"
GameSetupOptions = 
    { 
    { 
        name = "resources", 
        locName = "$3240", 
        tooltip = "$3239", 
        default = 1, 
        visible = 1, 
        choices = 
            { "$3241", "0.5", "$3242", "1.0", "$3243", "2.0", }, }, 
    { 
        name = "unitcaps", 
        locName = "$3214", 
        tooltip = "$3234", 
        default = 1, 
        visible = 1, 
        choices = 
            { "$3215", "Small", "$3216", "Normal", "$3217", "Large", }, }, 
    { 
        name = "resstart", 
        locName = "$3205", 
        tooltip = "$3232", 
        default = 0, 
        visible = 1, 
        choices = 
            { "$3206", "1000", "$3207", "3000", "$3208", "10000", "$3209", "0", }, }, 
    { 
        name = "lockteams", 
        locName = "$3220", 
        tooltip = "$3235", 
        default = 0, 
        visible = 1, 
        choices = 
            { "$3221", "yes", "$3222", "no", }, }, 
    { 
        name = "startlocation", 
        locName = "$3225", 
        tooltip = "$3237", 
        default = 0, 
        visible = 1, 
        choices = 
            { "$3226", "random", "$3227", "fixed", }, }, 
    }
dofilepath("data:scripts/scar/restrict.lua")
dofilepath("data:leveldata/multiplayer/lib/SobArray.lua")
dofilepath("data:leveldata/multiplayer/lib/SobGroupFunctions.lua")
Events = {}
Events.endGame = 
    { 
        { 
            { "wID = Wait_Start(5)", "Wait_End(wID)", }, 
        }, 
    }
function OnInit()
    MPRestrict()
    SobArrayLibInit() --initialize the SobArray functions
    Rule_Add("MainRule")
    SobArray_Create("EscortArray") --create the array we're going to use
    EscortArrayType={} --make a table for extra data
    EscortArrayTimer={} --and another for timing data
    Rule_Add("EscortRule")
end

function EscortRule()
    print("EscortRule Active")
    Rule_AddInterval("UpdateEscortRule",5)
    Rule_AddInterval("ManageEscortRule",5)
    SobGroup_Create("Orphan0")
    SobGroup_Create("Orphan1")
    SobGroup_Create("Orphan2")
    SobGroup_Create("Orphan3")
    SobGroup_Create("Orphan4")
    SobGroup_Create("Orphan5")
    Rule_AddInterval("watchOrphans",180);
    Rule_AddInterval("checkDistance",5)
    Rule_Remove("EscortRule")
end

function MainRule()
    local playerIndex = 0
    local playerCount = Universe_PlayerCount()
    while  playerIndex<playerCount do
        if  Player_IsAlive(playerIndex)==1 then
            if  Player_HasShipWithBuildQueue(playerIndex)==0 then
                Player_Kill(playerIndex)
            end 

        end 

        playerIndex = (playerIndex + 1)
    end 
    
    local numAlive = 0
    local numEnemies = 0
    local gameOver = 1
    playerIndex = 0
    while  playerIndex<playerCount do
        if  Player_IsAlive(playerIndex)==1 then
            local otherPlayerIndex = 0
            while  otherPlayerIndex<playerCount do
                if  AreAllied(playerIndex, otherPlayerIndex)==0 then
                    if  Player_IsAlive(otherPlayerIndex)==1 then
                        gameOver = 0
                    else
                        numEnemies = (numEnemies + 1)
                    end 

                end 

                otherPlayerIndex = (otherPlayerIndex + 1)
            end 

            numAlive = (numAlive + 1)
        end 

        playerIndex = (playerIndex + 1)
    end 

    if  numEnemies==0 and numAlive>0 then
        gameOver = 0
    end 

    if  gameOver==1 then
        Rule_Add("waitForEnd")
        Event_Start("endGame")
        Rule_Remove("MainRule")
    end 

end

function UpdateEscortRule()
    --get a group of all ships to use as a reference
    Update_AllShips()
    
    --get the ships we need to have escorts for
    SobGroup_Create("ShipsToEscort")
    SobGroup_Clear("ShipsToEscort")
    SobGroup_Create("tempSob")
    SobGroup_FillShipsByType ("tempSob", "AllShips", "hgn_carrier")
    SobGroup_SobGroupAdd("ShipsToEscort","tempSob")
    SobGroup_FillShipsByType ("tempSob", "AllShips", "hgn_mothership")
    SobGroup_SobGroupAdd("ShipsToEscort","tempSob")
    
    SobArray_GetAll("EscortArray")
    SobGroup_Create("EscortsToBeAdded")
    SobGroup_Clear("EscortsToBeAdded")
    SobGroup_FillSubstract("EscortsToBeAdded","ShipsToEscort","EscortArrayAll")
    
    if (SobGroup_Empty("EscortsToBeAdded") ~= 1) then
        --we have new ships to add
        --split them up and add them
        local NumNew = SobGroup_SplitGroupReference("NewEscortShips","EscortsToBeAdded","AllShips", SobGroup_Count("EscortsToBeAdded"))
        local i=0
        while (i<NumNew) do
            if ( SobGroup_Count("NewEscortShips"..i) <= 1) then --if this fails, two or more ships must be docking (i.e. just built).  Wait till next round
                --rules for EscortArrayType table: 
                --1: swarmer escort
                --2: adv swarmer escort
                if (SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("NewEscortShips"..i, "hgn_carrier") ==1)then
                    --fuelpods get 12 swarmers (2 squads)
                    local index = SobArray_Add("EscortArray","NewEscortShips"..i)
                    EscortArrayType[index]=1
                    EscortArrayTimer[index]=0
                    local index = SobArray_Add("EscortArray","NewEscortShips"..i)
                    EscortArrayType[index]=1
                    EscortArrayTimer[index]=0
                end
                if (SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("NewEscortShips"..i, "hgn_mothership") ==1)then
                    --Needleships get 42 swarmers and 6 adv swarmers
                    local index = SobArray_Add("EscortArray","NewEscortShips"..i)
                    EscortArrayType[index]=1
                    EscortArrayTimer[index]=0
                    local index = SobArray_Add("EscortArray","NewEscortShips"..i)
                    EscortArrayType[index]=1
                    EscortArrayTimer[index]=0
                    local index = SobArray_Add("EscortArray","NewEscortShips"..i)
                    EscortArrayType[index]=1
                    EscortArrayTimer[index]=0
                    local index = SobArray_Add("EscortArray","NewEscortShips"..i)
                    EscortArrayType[index]=1
                    EscortArrayTimer[index]=0
                    local index = SobArray_Add("EscortArray","NewEscortShips"..i)
                    EscortArrayType[index]=1
                    EscortArrayTimer[index]=0
                    local index = SobArray_Add("EscortArray","NewEscortShips"..i)
                    EscortArrayType[index]=2
                    EscortArrayTimer[index]=0
                end
            end
            i = i+1
        end
    end
    --we've cycled through all the ships and added them to the list if need be.
    --now go through the list and add any escorts that need to be recreated.
    local i=1
    local tempSob2 = "temp"
    while (SobArrayStatus["EscortArray"..i] ~= 0)do --cycle through all the elements in the escort list
        SobGroup_Create("asdftempsob2")
        SobGroup_Clear("asdftempsob2")
        SobGroup_Create("asdftempsob3")
        SobGroup_Clear("asdftempsob3")        
        if ( ( EscortArrayType[i] == 1 ) and ( SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("EscortArray"..i, "hgn_interceptor") ~= 1 ) ) then
            if (EscortArrayTimer[i] == 0) then
                tempSob2 = SobGroup_CreateShip ("EscortArray"..i,"hgn_interceptor")
                SobGroup_SobGroupAdd("EscortArray"..i,tempSob2)
                EscortArrayTimer[i] = 60
            else
                EscortArrayTimer[i] = EscortArrayTimer[i] - 5;
            end
        end
        if ( ( EscortArrayType[i] == 2 ) and ( SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("EscortArray"..i, "hgn_attackbomber") ~= 1 ) ) then
            if (EscortArrayTimer[i] == 0) then
                tempSob2 = SobGroup_CreateShip ("EscortArray"..i,"hgn_attackbomber")
                SobGroup_SobGroupAdd("EscortArray"..i,tempSob2)
                EscortArrayTimer[i] = 90
            else
                EscortArrayTimer[i] = EscortArrayTimer[i] - 5;
            end
        end
        
        i=i+1
    end
end

function Update_AllShips()
    local playerIndex = 0
    local playerCount = Universe_PlayerCount()
    SobGroup_Create("AllShips")
    SobGroup_Clear("AllShips")
    while  playerIndex<playerCount do
        SobGroup_SobGroupAdd("AllShips","Player_Ships"..playerIndex)
        playerIndex = playerIndex + 1
    end
end

--this function cycles through all the ships in our ships list and tells them what to do
function ManageEscortRule()
    local i=1
    local tempsob2
    SobGroup_Create("TempSob3")
    SobGroup_Create("TempSob4")
    while (SobArrayStatus["EscortArray"..i] ~= 0)do --cycle through all the elements in the escort list
        SobGroup_Clear("TempSob3")
        SobGroup_Clear("TempSob4")
        if SobGroup_Empty("EscortArray"..i) == 1 then
            SobGroup_Clear("EscortArray"..i)
            SobArrayStatus["EscortArray"..i] = -1
        end
        if (SobArrayStatus["EscortArray"..i] ~= -1) then --if we aren't at an invalid index
            if ( ( EscortArrayType[i] == 1 ) and ( SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("EscortArray"..i, "hgn_interceptor") == 1 ) ) then
                tempsob2 = Player_GetShipsByType(SobGroup_OwnedBy ("EscortArray"..i),"hgn_interceptor")
                SobGroup_FillCompare("TempSob3",tempsob2,"EscortArray"..i)
                SobGroup_FillSubstract ("TempSob4","EscortArray"..i, "TempSob3")
                if ( SobGroup_Empty("TempSob3") ~= 1) then
                    if( (SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("EscortArray"..i, "hgn_carrier") == 1) or (SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("EscortArray"..i, "hgn_mothership") ==1))then
                        --the mothership is alive, assign the escorts appropriately
                        if  (SobGroup_HealthPercentage ("TempSob3") < .5) then
                            SobGroup_DockSobGroup ("TempSob3", "EscortArray"..i)
                        else
                            if (SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("EscortArray"..i, "hgn_mothership") ~=1) then
                                SobGroup_GuardSobGroup ("TempSob4","TempSob3")
                            end
                            if ( SobGroup_GetTactics ("TempSob3") ~= AggressiveTactics)then
                                SobGroup_SetTactics ("TempSob3", AggressiveTactics)
                            end
                        end
                    else
                        --the flagship is dead, slow the escorts and reuse the index
                        SobGroup_SetMaxSpeedMultiplier ("EscortArray"..i, .5)
                        SobGroup_SobGroupAdd("Orphan".. SobGroup_OwnedBy ("EscortArray"..i),"EscortArray"..i)
                        SobArrayStatus["EscortArray"..i] = -1
                    end
                end
            end
            if ( ( EscortArrayType[i] == 2 ) and ( SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("EscortArray"..i, "hgn_attackbomber") == 1 ) ) then
                tempsob2 = Player_GetShipsByType(SobGroup_OwnedBy ("EscortArray"..i),"hgn_attackbomber")
                SobGroup_FillCompare("TempSob3",tempsob2,"EscortArray"..i)
                SobGroup_FillSubstract ("TempSob4","EscortArray"..i, "TempSob3")
                if ( SobGroup_Empty("TempSob3") ~= 1) then
                    if( (SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("EscortArray"..i, "hgn_carrier") == 1) or (SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("EscortArray"..i, "hgn_mothership") ==1) or (SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("EscortArray"..i, "Hgn_Battlecruiser")==1))then
                        if  (SobGroup_HealthPercentage ("TempSob3") < .5) then
                            SobGroup_DockSobGroup ("TempSob3", "EscortArray"..i)
                        else
                            if (SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("EscortArray"..i, "hgn_mothership") ~=1) then
                                SobGroup_GuardSobGroup ("TempSob4","TempSob3")
                            end
                            if ( SobGroup_GetTactics ("TempSob3") ~= AggressiveTactics)then
                                SobGroup_SetTactics ("TempSob3", AggressiveTactics)
                            end
                        end
                    else
                        --the flagship is dead, slow the escorts and reuse the index
                        SobGroup_SetMaxSpeedMultiplier ("EscortArray"..i, .5)
                        SobGroup_SobGroupAdd("Orphan".. SobGroup_OwnedBy ("EscortArray"..i),"EscortArray"..i)
                        SobArrayStatus["EscortArray"..i] = -1
                    end
                end
            end
        end
        i=i+1
    end
end

function watchOrphans()
    local playerIndex=0
    local playerCount = Universe_PlayerCount()
    while (playerIndex < playerCount) do
        print("Player " ..playerIndex.. " Orphans: "..SobGroup_Count("Orphan".. playerIndex))
        if (SobGroup_Empty("Orphan".. playerIndex) ~= 1)then
            SobGroup_Create("CurrentOrphans")
            SobGroup_Clear("CurrentOrphans")
            SobGroup_SobGroupAdd("CurrentOrphans","Orphan".. playerIndex)
            
            
            local orphanNum = SobGroup_SplitGroupReference("NewOrphan","CurrentOrphans","AllShips", SobGroup_Count("Orphan".. playerIndex))
            print(orphanNum)
            if (orphanNum >= 2) then
                tempSob2 = SobGroup_CreateShip ("Player_Ships"..playerIndex,"hgn_carrier")
                local index = SobArray_Add("EscortArray",tempSob2)
                SobGroup_SobGroupAdd("EscortArray"..index,"NewOrphan0")
                if ( SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("NewOrphan0", "hgn_interceptor") == 1 ) then
                    EscortArrayType[index]=1
                    EscortArrayTimer[index]=60
                else 
                    if ( SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("NewOrphan0", "hgn_attackbomber") == 1 ) then
                        EscortArrayType[index]=2
                        EscortArrayTimer[index]=90
                    end
                end
                SobGroup_SobGroupAdd("EscortArray"..index,"NewOrphan1")
                if ( SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("NewOrphan1", "hgn_interceptor") == 1 ) then
                    EscortArrayType[index]=1
                    EscortArrayTimer[index]=60
                else 
                    if ( SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("NewOrphan1", "hgn_attackbomber") == 1 ) then
                        EscortArrayType[index]=2
                        EscortArrayTimer[index]=90
                    end
                end
                print(SobGroup_Count("EscortArray"..index))
                SobGroup_FillSubstract ("Orphan".. playerIndex,"CurrentOrphans", "EscortArray"..index)
                print(SobGroup_Count("Orphan".. playerIndex))
            end
        end
        playerIndex = playerIndex + 1
    end
end

function checkDistance()
    local i=1
    local tempsob2
    SobGroup_Create("TempSob5")
    SobGroup_Create("TempSob6")
    while (SobArrayStatus["EscortArray"..i] ~= 0)do --cycle through all the elements in the escort list
        SobGroup_Clear("TempSob5")
        SobGroup_Clear("TempSob6")
        --if SobGroup_Empty("EscortArray"..i) == 1 then
         --   SobGroup_Clear("EscortArray"..i)
        --    SobArrayStatus["EscortArray"..i] = -1
        --end
        if (SobArrayStatus["EscortArray"..i] ~= -1) then
            if ( SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("EscortArray"..i, "hgn_carrier") == 1 ) then
                tempsob2 = Player_GetShipsByType(SobGroup_OwnedBy ("EscortArray"..i),"hgn_carrier")
                SobGroup_FillCompare("TempSob5",tempsob2,"EscortArray"..i)
                SobGroup_FillSubstract ("TempSob6","EscortArray"..i, "TempSob5")
                SobGroup_Clear(tempsob2)
                if (SobGroup_Empty("TempSob6") ~= 1)then
                    SobGroup_FillProximitySobGroup (tempsob2, "TempSob6", "TempSob5", 4000) 
                    if (SobGroup_Empty(tempsob2) == 1)then --tempsob2 != nill if the ships are close enough
                        SobGroup_SetMaxSpeedMultiplier ("TempSob6", .5)
                    else
                        SobGroup_SetMaxSpeedMultiplier ("TempSob6", 1)
                    end
                end
            end
            if ( SobGroup_AreAnyOfTheseTypes ("EscortArray"..i, "hgn_mothership") == 1 ) then
                tempsob2 = Player_GetShipsByType(SobGroup_OwnedBy ("EscortArray"..i),"hgn_mothership")
                SobGroup_FillCompare("TempSob5",tempsob2,"EscortArray"..i)
                SobGroup_FillSubstract ("TempSob6","EscortArray"..i, "TempSob5")
                SobGroup_Clear(tempsob2)
                if (SobGroup_Empty("TempSob6") ~= 1)then
                    SobGroup_FillProximitySobGroup (tempsob2, "TempSob6", "TempSob5", 4000) 
                    if (SobGroup_Empty(tempsob2) == 1)then --tempsob2 != nill if the ships are close enough
                        SobGroup_SetMaxSpeedMultiplier ("TempSob6", .5)
                    else
                        SobGroup_SetMaxSpeedMultiplier ("TempSob6", 1)
                    end
                end
            end
        end
        i = i+1
    end
end

function waitForEnd()
    if  Event_IsDone("endGame") then
        setGameOver()
        Rule_Remove("waitForEnd")
    end 

end

Data\leveldata\multiplayer\lib\SobArray.lua

function SobArrayLibInit()
    SobArrayStatus={}
end

function SobArray_Create(SobArray)
    SobArrayStatus[SobArray..1]=0
end

function SobArray_Add(SobArray, SobToAdd)
    local i=1
    while ( SobArrayStatus[SobArray..i] ~= 0 ) do
        SobGroup_Create(SobArray .. i)
        if ( SobArrayStatus[SobArray..i] < 1 ) then
            --reuse this index
            SobGroup_SobGroupAdd (SobArray..i, SobToAdd)
            SobArrayStatus[SobArray..i]=1 --set the index as used
            newSobIndex = i;
            return i
        end
        --there must be a valid sob at this index.  move down.
        i=i+1
    end
    --we're now at the first blank sobgroup.  create one at this index.
    SobGroup_Create(SobArray..i)
    SobGroup_SobGroupAdd (SobArray..i, SobToAdd)
    SobArrayStatus[SobArray..i]=1 --set the index as used
    SobArrayStatus[SobArray..(i+1)]=0
    newSobIndex = i;
    return i
end

function SobArray_Remove(SobArray,index)
    SobGroup_Create(SobArray .. index) --create a sobgroup to avoid errors for out of bounds indices
    --set the index to be reused
    SobArrayStatus[SobArray..index]=-1
    return 1
end

--not yet implemented fully
function SobArray_Set(SobArray,SobToAdd,index)
    SobGroup_Create(SobArray .. index) --create a sobgroup to avoid errors for out of bounds indices
    --TODO: empty Sob
    
    SobGroup_SobGroupAdd (SobArray..index, SobToAdd)
    --set the index
    SobArrayStatus[SobArray..index]=61
    return 1
end

--not needed
--the sobgroup can be accessed directly
function SobArray_Get(SobArray,SobToAdd,index)
    SobGroup_Create(SobArray .. index) --create a sobgroup to avoid errors for out of bounds indices
    return SobArray..index
end

function SobArray_GetAll(SobArray)
    i=0
    SobGroup_Create(SobArray.."All")
    while ( SobArrayStatus[SobArray..i] ~= 0 ) do
        SobGroup_Create(SobArray .. i)
        SobGroup_SobGroupAdd (SobArray.."All", SobArray..i)
        i = i+1
    end
    return SobArray.."All"
end

--not yet fully tested
function SobArray_Find(SobArray, SobToFind)
    i=0
    while ( SobArrayStatus[SobArray..i] ~= 0 ) do
        SobGroup_Create(SobArray .. i)
        --sobgroup_
        i = i+1
    end
    --we didn't find it.  Return 0
    return 0
end

--prints out the number of ships in each index
function SobArray_List(SobArray)
    i=0
    while ( SobArrayStatus[SobArray..i] ~= 0 ) do
        print(SobArray..i..":")
        print("     Ships: "..SobGroup_Count(SobArray .. i))
        i=i+1
    end
end

Data\leveldata\multiplayer\lib\SobGroupFunctions.lua

function SobGroup_SplitGroup(SobGroupOut, SobGroupToSplit, NumberToSplit) 
    -- function created by Apollyon470 
    local index = 0 
    local distance = 0 
    local bool = 0 
    local SobNum = 0 
    SobGroup_Create("TempSobGroup") 
    SobGroup_Clear ("TempSobGroup") 
    SobGroup_Create("TempSobGroup1") 
    SobGroup_Clear ("TempSobGroup1") 
    SobGroup_SobGroupAdd ("TempSobGroup", SobGroupToSplit) 
    if ( SobGroup_Empty (SobGroupToSplit) == 1 ) then 
        return 0 
    end 
    if ( NumberToSplit > SobGroup_Count(SobGroupToSplit) ) then 
        NumberToSplit = SobGroup_Count(SobGroupToSplit) 
    end 
    while (index < NumberToSplit ) do 
        bool = 0 -- in the interests of resource saving, we start with a search band of 625 
        interval = 625 
        while (bool == 0) do 
            distance = distance + interval -- something went wrong. Please tell me, or have a go at fixing it yourself. 
            if (interval > 3000000) then 
                bool =1 
                return SobNum 
            end 
            SobGroup_FillProximitySobGroup ("TempSobGroup1", "TempSobGroup", SobGroupToSplit, distance) 
            if (SobGroup_Empty("TempSobGroup1") == 1)then 
                -- get the next interval 
            else 
                if (SobGroup_Count("TempSobGroup1") > 1) then -- too many ships, reduce interval 
                    if (interval == 1) then -- Screw it! chunk 'em all in the same sobgroup 
                        SobGroup_Create(SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum)) 
                        SobGroup_Clear (SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum)) 
                        SobGroup_SobGroupAdd (SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum), "TempSobGroup1") 
                        SobGroup_Create("tempsob") 
                        SobGroup_FillSubstract("tempsob", "TempSobGroup", SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum)) 
                        SobGroup_Clear ("TempSobGroup") 
                        SobGroup_SobGroupAdd ("TempSobGroup", "tempsob") 
                        bool = 1 
                    else 
                        distance = distance - interval 
                        interval = interval / 5 
                    end 
                else -- we got one! add it to the list! 
                    SobGroup_Create(SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum)) 
                    SobGroup_Clear (SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum)) 
                    SobGroup_SobGroupAdd (SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum), "TempSobGroup1") 
                    SobGroup_Create("tempsob") 
                    SobGroup_FillSubstract("tempsob", "TempSobGroup", SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum)) 
                    SobGroup_Clear ("TempSobGroup") 
                    SobGroup_SobGroupAdd ("TempSobGroup", "tempsob") 
                    bool = 1 
                end 
            end 
        end 
        index = index + SobGroup_Count(SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum)) 
        SobNum = SobNum + 1 
    end 
    return SobNum 
end

function SobGroup_SplitGroupReference(SobGroupOut, SobGroupToSplit, ReferenceSobGroup, NumberToSplit)
	-- function created by Apollyon470
	local index = 0
	local distance = 0
	local bool = 0
	local SobNum = 0
	SobGroup_Create("TempSobGroup")
	SobGroup_Clear ("TempSobGroup")
	SobGroup_Create("TempSobGroup1")
	SobGroup_Clear ("TempSobGroup1")
	SobGroup_SobGroupAdd ("TempSobGroup", SobGroupToSplit)
	if ( SobGroup_Empty (SobGroupToSplit) == 1 ) then
		return 0
	end
	if ( NumberToSplit > SobGroup_Count(SobGroupToSplit) ) then
		NumberToSplit = SobGroup_Count(SobGroupToSplit)
	end
	while (index < NumberToSplit ) do
		bool = 0
		-- in the interests of resource saving, we start with a search band of 625
		interval = 625
		while (bool == 0) do
			distance = distance + interval
			-- something went wrong.  Please tell me, or have a go at fixing it yourself.
			if (interval > 3000000) then
				bool =1
				return SobNum
			end
			SobGroup_FillProximitySobGroup ("TempSobGroup1", "TempSobGroup", ReferenceSobGroup, distance)			
			if (SobGroup_Empty("TempSobGroup1") == 1)then
				-- get the next interval
			else
				if (SobGroup_Count("TempSobGroup1") > 1) then
					-- too many ships, reduce interval
					if (interval <= .2) then
						-- Screw it! chunk 'em all in the same sobgroup
						SobGroup_Create(SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum))
						SobGroup_Clear (SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum))
						SobGroup_SobGroupAdd (SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum), "TempSobGroup1")
						SobGroup_Create("tempsob")
						SobGroup_FillSubstract("tempsob", "TempSobGroup", SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum))
						SobGroup_Clear ("TempSobGroup")
						SobGroup_SobGroupAdd ("TempSobGroup", "tempsob")
						bool = 1
					else
						distance = distance - interval
						interval = interval / 5
					end
				else
					-- we got one! add it to the list!
					SobGroup_Create(SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum))
					SobGroup_Clear (SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum))
					SobGroup_SobGroupAdd (SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum), "TempSobGroup1")
					SobGroup_Create("tempsob")
					SobGroup_FillSubstract("tempsob", "TempSobGroup", SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum))
					SobGroup_Clear ("TempSobGroup")
					SobGroup_SobGroupAdd ("TempSobGroup", "tempsob")
					bool = 1
				end
			end			
		end
		index = index + SobGroup_Count(SobGroupOut .. tostring(SobNum))
		SobNum = SobNum + 1
	end
	return SobNum
end

AND an alternative link: 2Shared - Belzebuddy's Fuel Pod Management Script

Now, to avoid digressing to much about the FX mod here, a production unit for the HWAT would be the best, i'm ready to dump the higgy Carrier anytime~

Do you also plan on making a new Mothership? The original Kushan version was supposed to be an emigration model and was mainly designed to be a safe vessel for the cryogenic chambers, so the new version should be more battle-oriented.

The Pride of Hiigara is basically a fatter copy of the old one and its engines don't match with your new Kushan-style ones.

[Siber]

Don't worry, our planned mothership is rather different from the Pride, while still touching on its roots, and will be able to do the Kushan proud in a fight. We'll probably have a carrier soon, at which point the releases will get a bit more meaty and playable, and we'll have to do things like build lists and stuff. I look forward to that day with great anticipation, but there are a few ships to get out of the way before we get there.

[Adhira]

Oops, i was writing my previous post when you posted, Siber

Anyway, thanks for the clarifications, i'm really looking forward to the next update!

Regarding the "baby Makaans" thing, it's because the frigates vaguely resemble Makaan's (vaygr admiral ship) design, i think you called it "coated". Just ignore that XP

i indeed noticed the independent hyperspace ability, but thought it was just for testing purposes. I used it to HS my frigates around the Vaygr main fleet to stay out of the range of heavy fire and at the same time mow down all those careless corvette and fighter classes. (6 guns really get the job done fast)

Just another question popped in my mind, any thoughts about the old salvage system? That and the tactical use of repair frigates and corvettes (for quick docks in the middle of battle) were two really tactical features in HW.

The infiltration system of HW2 is sure good, but seeing a multibeam frigate be captured and slowly delivered inside the mothership just to re-emerge with loyal Kushan crew adds a little more realism to that.
Mainly because i find it hard to imagine that a unit could be able to retain full operative power and capacities after having a bloody battle going onboard...
A captain knowing his ship is going to be conquered and used against his own fleet would better destroy it himself than letting that happen.

[Siber]

Not to mention infiltration frigates having enough crew onboard to capture theoretically endless battlecruisers, eh? We've not hammered out how we want to do salvaging, or even what is possible in the engine, so that's still pretty up in the air. Repair ships are going to be making a comeback, I'm fairly certain.

And yeah, freely hyperspacing frigates and up is intended. Feature, not a bug! We may have to adjust the cost and such before all is said and done, but at least in skirmish that should stay in.

[gthompsn]

Adhira: the code would be much more readable if you put them in tags and formatted it.

[Adhira]

Siber: That's indeed a good feature for strategical action. I wonder if the AI will be able to make full use of it too, eventually. And yay for repair ships!

gthompsn: too much for a forum noob like myself, but i'll try to sort it out. EDIT: fixed!

Meanwhile you can use one of the two download links, the file is as small as my lack of modesty.

Then again, since that post i got engrossed into figuring out how Lua works and i'm sure that script has nothing to do with a fuel system. It just sorts out some kind of formation involving the Kadeshi fuel pod and swarmers.
I guess it's related to the Hive Carrier mod that Belzebuddy made and which involved completely automated escort formations for capital ships, if i'm not mistaken.

[Darknessesbane]

Excellent ships.The destroyer is particularly neat. Its a real pleasure to see original ships that aren't either a box with turrets strapped on, or existing ship models distorted and merged, and yet fit visually within the Homeworld universe. They are also a pleasure to see considering that a disproportionate number of truly original designs are invincible monolithic supercapital ships. Keep up the good work!

[Avatar II]

Hey guys, thanks for all your kind words. It really means a whole lot to us
Make sure to stick around, we have some rather interesting stuff in the pipeline. Unfortunately, my inspiration in ship concepts has been straying rather far from the original gameplan. So, expect the unexpected.

(edit) And with that last line, I mean our original plan was clear up a harvester and a carrier for the Higaaran faction and get them into play. Not that I was suddenly and dramatically changing ship styles. (/edit)