Part 3

Learn about ship orders (Evasive, Neutral, Aggressive) and formations (Delta, X, Claw, Wall, Sphere) in Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. Master fleet tactics.

Ship Orders:

1. Evasive: Ships will not move or fire to defend themselves. Strike craft split into pairs and engage the entire enemy group. Evasive increases fuel consumption and speed for strike craft only; capital ships are unaffected in speed.
2. Neutral: Similar to Evasive, but ships will fire to defend themselves without moving to attack. Engaging squads, they will attack the entire group.
3. Aggressive: Ships will not evade enemy fire. They will attack, move into attack positions, and follow nearby enemy ships. When engaging a group, they will attack one ship of the group.

Orders can be changed mid-combat. For example, you can use aggressive inbound, then change to evasive to turn fighters quickly, then change back to aggressive.

Formations:

• Broad: Generally considered useless.
• Delta: Best for attack bombers.
• X: Only good for fighter engagements.
• Claw: Useful only against single ships.
• Wall: Best for corvettes as anti-fighter walls and for support frigates to support an entire group. Very vulnerable to burst weapons if using for fighters.
• Sphere: Useful for escort. In multiplayer (MP), this modifies the rate of fire of all fighters.
• Custom: Locks ships into their current formation. Can only be set, not called.

Capital ships should generally not be formatted as they act better and the whole group can fire at the same time. Support craft can effectively support the entire fleet when in a tight group, only needing slight movement to use repair beams instead of flying long distances.

Fighters often work better unformatted. Interceptors set to aggressive will move as if in evasive when attacking an enemy wing, turning faster as they do not need to maintain neat lines. Be careful of heavy fighters, as they can be a runway for enemy fighters if you approach them.

Formation Effectiveness Against Specific Targets:

• Claw: Best versus capital ships.
• Delta: Best for bombers versus capital ships.
• Broad: Useless.
• Wall: Defenders only.
• Sphere: Best for defenders and defense.
• X: Appears good for fighters versus fighters, though this is debated without evidence.

Heavies are an exception; placing them in walls allows nothing to get through, and support craft can easily support them due to their small space requirement compared to capital ships. Mixed-up heavies also work well, though support frigates might have difficulty reaching them.

Additional Formation Notes:

• If fighters must be in formations, keep groups small. Mixing 75 bombers into an X formation created a gigantic, slow-turning, and highly vulnerable formation where the edges often didn't get a chance to fire. Turning is worst as formations turn collectively, not individually, except in small groups. This applies even more to capital ships; putting 100+ frigates in an X, Claw, Broad, or Delta makes the formation too big and horrendous to turn, limiting fire of edge ships and making support difficult.
• A single gigantic Claw formation of 75 bombers was effective but vulnerable, moving extremely slowly and taking ages to turn. This allowed bombers to float above the victim ship for a long time, killing capital ships extremely quickly, though the tips of the Claw could not fire.
• Larger unformatted fighter groups (25+ fighters) have a high possibility of shooting each other, though it is rare to lose fighters this way, often only resulting in yellow damage. This does not happen often in smaller groups.

Fighter Maneuvers:

Fighters are fast units capable of extreme maneuvers, avoiding enemy fire easily. They are weak alone but powerful in wings of 15-20, and obscene in wings of 60+. They require fuel, with consumption varying between combat and normal cruising. Fighters cannot hyperspace without aid from hyperspace gateways or other ships, and most need to be pointed in the direction of the target. Their capable extreme maneuvers include:

• 180-degree pitch
• Strafe in any direction
• Continually fly in directions opposite to their engine block. Capital ships can do this but not continually; fighters in a Sphere guarding another can move in one direction and fire in another indefinitely. Capital ships do this, then turn to the horizontal axis before moving off.
• Pull off the wheel of death (though this is more associated with corvettes).
• Rapidly change direction.
• The defender 2 rake.

Glossary:

• Capital ship: Large, high-crew ships that self-repair, cannot dock, and leave no trails.
• Wheel of death: The front of the ship points towards an enemy ship while going in a circular orbit around its target.
• Lt corvette: Light corvette.
• Multi vett: Multi-gun corvette.
• Mini missiles: Corvette-based missiles.
• Normal missiles: MD missiles.
• Furball: A messy ship-to-ship fight.
• Defeat in detail: Using massive and overwhelming force.