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Page 5 of 7

Titans in space

My ramming frigate decided to smack into this enemy processor before using its cannons to finish the processor off.

The Somtaaw do not seem to possess any true corvette-class ships (except for the combined fighters, which are considered corvettes). You immediately move from fighter, microships, and composites straight to frigates and heavier ships. They seem to have fewer frigate-class ships in this game than either side had in the original game, but these seem more effective.

Workers: This is your universal peon unit. They harvest resources, fix things, and salvage other ships. However, they start out as harvesters only, and you have to research repairing and salvaging technology before you can upgrade and use those abilities. Because they fulfill multiple roles, there will be some tactical decision making involved in determining how to use your pool of workers.

Processor: Remember the big resource controller from Homeworld? This is its big brother. Processors are big, slow, and very unwieldy, but they contain four pads where workers can dock and drop off resources simultaneously Make one and have it tag along with your workers on resource runs.

As the Beast, I didn't bother researching these ships; I just infected and recycled.

Ramming Frigate: This guy has a very straightforward attack: run into the target while firing. Ramming frigates have a reinforced front, and when ordered to attack, they close in rapidly while firing off energy blasts. Soon, they get close enough to smash into the enemy with their hammerheads, and while the target is dazed from physical impact, they continue to blast away.

Multibeam Frigate: This ship will probably be a favorite among gamers. The multiple guns on this frigate translate into either multiple hits on the same target or the ability to attack several targets simultaneously. When we sent it alone against three processors, it proceeded to rip them apart with equal and multiple blasts, killing them all at the same time. A group of these can really tear apart a battle group, either by wildly spreading fire all over the place or concentrating on one target.

Take a good look - this is the biggest and baddest ship you can make.

Hive Frigate: Presumably, this is an extension of the drone frigate idea. Alas, we only got to see it use a traditional cannon weapon. It seems as though it houses ten minicraft of sorts and will use them much as the drone frigate or Starcraft's carrier, in that it will sit back and let its "hivelings" do the work. Since each frigate contains ten hivelings, it's safe to assume that each hiveling is more powerful than a comparable drone.

Carrier: This is the same sort of carrier found in Homeworld. They're big, and they can make ships on their own. They are now more important, because with the new support rules, only three things can improve your capacity to support more ships: your mothership, support modules, and carriers.

Dreadnought: This seems like a melding of the missile frigate and the heavy cruiser from Homeworld. This behemoth carries 48 missiles in addition to its main beam weapon, and it has a lot of hit points to spare. Basically, this is the ship you send in to put the hurt on your main targets, while the rest of your fleet backs this guy up or prevents anyone from killing him.

Next: Conclusion
 
 

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