Homeworld 3

This smells a lot like the plug was pulled on financing the game development by Embracer and revenue needs to start coming in, no matter the current state of the game. With a publisher that keeps supporting their game for a long time after release that wouldn't be such a big deal, but in the case of Embracer... I'm skeptical. Quite a shame really that this Demo may have killed their preorder revenue stream that could of ensure better support post release. I hope I'm wrong on this, but personally I was extremely hyped for HW3 and now I don't mind waiting until a Christmas sale to play the single player campaign. Nostalgia induced expectations for that campaign may be impossible to satisfy mind you!
 
evhvis said:
The delay is a good thing. The first Homeworld game was amazing at the time and enjoyed the others a lot as well so hope they figure out the UI and controls while making a game worthy of the legacy.
Click to expand...

3 months is still not a lot of time. Seriously, look at Homeworld 2 (not remastered). Copy the camera and menu design. Just rip it off. Add the few new features and elements to it.

The rest of the game looked good. Art work, unit design, general feel and audio seemed Homeworld. The camera/UI ruins the otherwise good experience.
 
Ok, spent 30 mins or so with the tutorial and basic game settings at the start, including like 3 click accept to proceed EULA/TOS screens...for a demo. Thanks Gearbox.

Looks wise, its Homeworld. UI is way to big for 1080p. Camera controls are just confusing. I think I used modern to have the hotkeys available (maybe not worth it) but moving the camera is way way more janky then I remember HW1/2 or HWCata. I played some of Cata again a year or two ago so its fairly fresh in my mind. At least shift still worked for height movement commands of ships/fighters.

Focus doesn't seem to work too well. I could click on the resource collector icon in top right and then hit the focus key and it wouldn't go to the unit. I'd have to hit home or whatever to focus on the mothership near it. WASD and Q/E for up down camera movement is just not great. Not easy or fluid to change Z height of the camera. Trying to get a good angle to look inside the asteroid tunnel was tedious. Just trying to zoom in on the fighters in combat was annoying.

I don't know what they were thinking with this. If it ain't broke don't fix it. I got 30mins in and lost interest in trying the new mode. Maybe later.
 
aeonrevolution said:
My depression the past rolling 12 months of games I looked forward to from my childhood being butchered is getting to be too much.

:dead:
Click to expand...

True for a lot of things in entertainment the last 10 years or so. The RTS genre just can't get a good reboot or modern take that doesn't just fail overall.
 
Sins of Solar Empire 2 is looking and playing real good if you haven't check that out. A modern evolution and improvements on the old formula. The engine alone is amazing in the kind performance it delivers. If we're in luck, and I'm pretty sure we will be, we're gonna get the same kind of awesome mods out of it too. If you're into RTS and liked Sins 1, you can't go wrong with Sins 2.
 

Attachments

  • Homeworld.jpg
    Homeworld.jpg
    388.2 KB · Views: 0
  • H3.png
    H3.png
    517.5 KB · Views: 0
  • H2.png
    H2.png
    1.6 MB · Views: 0
aeonrevolution said:
That collection of ships makes me seriously consider the package....full knowing that the game may suck lol.
Click to expand...

that's one of the more impressive Collector's Editions I've seen- 4 model ships, lithograph, keychain, playing cards etc...$175 at Amazon, GameStop and Target...

The Mothership, Khar-Kushan:
-This lovingly crafted 14” (35.6cm) model features USB-powered LEDs illuminating the ship's engines, ports, and launch bays. Details include a removable bay door capable of displaying the Destroyer and authentic sounds from the game. The Mothership comes equipped with a dual positioned stand to accommodate both vertical and horizontal display options to best fit your set up

https://www.amazon.com/Homeworld-3-Collectors-PC/dp/B09Y2DJJ12/
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
polonyc2 said:
Year One Roadmap, Updated PC Specs, Collector's Edition detailed

https://www.homeworlduniverse.com/collectors-edition-unboxing-year-one-roadmap-reveal/
Click to expand...
The pc requirement's are wacked as always. Rasteration ultra 4k. Vram 12gb but then list the 3080. Same with ray tracing 2k, high. 12 gb then list 3080. lol smh.:rolleyes: I know there was a limited release of 12 gb 3080's. But why not change the vram recommendation to 10 gb from 12 if you're going to recommend the 3080 at those settings/resolution? Why is this hard? :confused:
 
New Nvidia drivers with Homeworld 3 support.
Homeworld 3 Fleet Command Edition playable tomorrow.
No pre-loading.
Reddit page on launch times.
Trying to convert GMG funds to money so selling HW3 Steam in FS/T.
 
I'm impressed so far, at least with the campaign. It's exactly what I would have wanted Homeworld 3 to be. Haven't had a strategy game this good in quite a while.
 
Mchart said:
I'm impressed so far, at least with the campaign. It's exactly what I would have wanted Homeworld 3 to be. Haven't had a strategy game this good in quite a while.
Click to expand...

Did they change the control system? Make it more like classic HW1/2?
 
Ranulfo said:
Did they change the control system? Make it more like classic HW1/2?
Click to expand...
They give you a choice between a new one and the classic. I’m playing with the new one and it seems to work fine. I didn’t bother playing the beta, but the UI and control seem fine to me here. It seems evident to me that the game went through some decent polish over the past couple months.
 
Glad to hear that they used the delay wisely! Looking forward to try it out on Monday.
 
Ranulfo said:
Performance testing/review:

https://gamegpu.tech/rts-/-strategy/homeworld-3

From what the review shows and what people are saying on Steam, test your peformance settings in game, not using the benchmark. The benchmark uh, well... it doesn't seem to matter what card you have, it will keep things at 60-70 fps max.
Click to expand...
Yeah, for some reason it’s bugged out. Either way, the game seems to run good and honestly looks really good. It does have typical UE4 shader hitching unfortunately, but most of that goes away if you just run the benchmark once.
 
Do the Classic controls actually function like the older games now? In the demo it didn't. How about menus, is the design still essentially the same?
 
What a scam all these companies trying to milk $40 extra for the weekend. Makes me not want to buy games anymore with how much nickel and diming/dlc a lot of the publishers do nowadays.
 
tunatime said:
What a scam all these companies trying to milk $40 extra for the weekend. Makes me not want to buy games anymore with how much nickel and diming/dlc a lot of the publishers do nowadays.
Click to expand...
I paid $50 as a fig backer and have early access. I think the pricing is generally fair given what fig backers paid 5 years ago and are now getting.
 
So the war-games mode is seriously fun with friends. Been playing all day with a few friends and we've had a blast. If you like doing coop comp stomps it's an amazing game mode. I really can't wait to see what more they keep adding to this game mode per their development schedule.
 
I've been playing the campaign and am having a great time. This is very much Homeworld through and through. I did notice that the game is far too easy on Normal difficulty; I got a third of the way through the game realizing I don't actually need to pay attention to ship types, unit strengths and weaknesses etc. Normal is my default on virtually all games, and usually is fine for a first pass, but not here - Hard is much better.

Performance is decent but there are low fps spells during heavy combat and a few stutters. On the one hand I'm playing absolute max settings at 4k, on the other hand it's a 4090 PC. This is pushing my PC more than most recent games. I hope we get better DLSS at some point.
 
sphinx99 said:
I've been playing the campaign and am having a great time. This is very much Homeworld through and through. I did notice that the game is far too easy on Normal difficulty; I got a third of the way through the game realizing I don't actually need to pay attention to ship types, unit strengths and weaknesses etc. Normal is my default on virtually all games, and usually is fine for a first pass, but not here - Hard is much better.

Performance is decent but there are low fps spells during heavy combat and a few stutters. On the one hand I'm playing absolute max settings at 4k, on the other hand it's a 4090 PC. This is pushing my PC more than most recent games. I hope we get better DLSS at some point.
Click to expand...
It’s pretty CPU bound when you get to parts with a lot of units fighting.
 
sphinx99 said:
I've been playing the campaign and am having a great time. This is very much Homeworld through and through. I did notice that the game is far too easy on Normal difficulty; I got a third of the way through the game realizing I don't actually need to pay attention to ship types, unit strengths and weaknesses etc. Normal is my default on virtually all games, and usually is fine for a first pass, but not here - Hard is much better.

Performance is decent but there are low fps spells during heavy combat and a few stutters. On the one hand I'm playing absolute max settings at 4k, on the other hand it's a 4090 PC. This is pushing my PC more than most recent games. I hope we get better DLSS at some point.
Click to expand...

What CPU do you have?
 
Flogger23m said:
What CPU do you have?
Click to expand...
3960X looking at their post history, which is around 20% slower than a 7800X3D in single thread performance. And even though it has triple the cores of a 7800X3D, it's only about 20% faster in multithreading.
 
My impressions:

  • Mission 8 took around 6-8 minutes to finish. No sarcasm.
  • Controls are okay, but UI still a bit problematic.
  • Hard to select/attack certain units. Micro management of units is not as easy as HW2.
  • The fleet command screen zooms in/out too much.
  • Research tree is... simplified and almost irrelevant.
  • Lots of cutscenes in the campaign that make it hard to play at times.
  • Units don't seem quite as intelligent, even with aggressive modes selected. Often they will not autonomously commit even if set to aggressive, but it may be because I have mixed/new production units recently added to a group.
  • Runs okay, minor stuttering.
  • Looks and sounds like Homeworld.
  • Fighter explosions look less detailed and visceral than HW2.
  • Cannot select non-combat ships unless you manually find and click on them. Which makes them almost useless for gameplay purposes. Makes putting them in groups impossible.
 
Last edited:
It gets a bit worse the more you play. The first 10 or so missions are very easy. The next missions get harder, not because the game is hard, but because the UI actively fights with the player. It is almost impossible to click on things like high speed missiles. By the time a click registers the missile is hitting your mothership. You can pause time and issue commands, but that seems to work maybe 50% of the time. You also cannot make units move and attack. It is one or the other. So as you build ships they will just pile up there, never able to commit to the fight. Even with aggressive AI. RU collectors sit there half the time. My impressions went from being a 6/10 to more like a 3-4/10. Basic controls should work.

There is also no way to specify a specific target with things like fighters. Either that or it just straight up does not work. Larger ships have less of an issue but it is still problematic.I've had my capital ships just casually not commit to the fight, while surrounded, on aggressive. I'm not sure if it is intentional and there is supposed to be a 5-8 second delay but it is awkward. It is not like HW2 where orders were instant. If you clicked on a unit, clicked attack and selected a unit, it would be done in one go.

Edit: Seems like to get a solid click you really need to zoom in. And any type of map object will "block" a click. So if my RU collectors are below space debris/objects, I have to manually move my camera to zoom right up to them and then press the harvest button. That works reliability. You can't just high light from sensor view and click harvest on two units. I can't imagine this is intentional...
 
Last edited:
Armenius said:
3960X looking at their post history, which is around 20% slower than a 7800X3D in single thread performance. And even though it has triple the cores of a 7800X3D, it's only about 20% faster in multithreading.
Click to expand...
Yup, 3960X. Tried it on my wife’s 14900k with a RTX3080 and it’s also reasonable but some stutter at times. It’s playable on both.
 
The reviews have not been kind on Steam or in the forums. 45% positive. The story clips I've seen online are pretty bad. Cliche writing and acting.
 
Ranulfo said:
The reviews have not been kind on Steam or in the forums. 45% positive. The story clips I've seen online are pretty bad. Cliche writing and acting.
Click to expand...

The story is bad. I am not too sure what it is even about, except bad person comes and you have to kill them. The bigger problem is the unnecessarily bad UI/controls. When you drag a box it does not show all units. You can go to population, but it never stays open so you can never get a full view of your fleet. So I may have 3 repair frigates just floating around doing nothing because they don't show in anywhere. I guess this is where the "difficulty" comes from. Hiding your units from you. From an intelligence standpoint it isn't hard. But you will want to save frequently in the event units just sit around doing nothing. Reloading 2-3 minutes back and you can figure out which units get stuck and attempt to make them commit properly, which can turn the tide.

Lots of other general failures for controls. Like clicking on an objective to capture may not work and you may need to click it 3-4 times. Add in one or two command failures and they add up quick. Last mission I could not get the mothership to capture its objective, it just kept flying in circles around it. And the repair frigates would not repair it. Instead they would decide to repair a random frigate on the other side of the battle. You'd think you specifically target the mothership for repair for a reason, so they don't repair every non-necessary thing that happens to float along its path. Campaign would be 8 hours if the controls worked. It will take about 10 due to constant reloading in later missions. The more clutter = the more likely commands seem to fail.

The skirmish mode is also a sad joke. The game will be dead in a few months online with how.. simplistic it is. With a singular build path, no ship subsystems and whatnot I can't see a whole lot of options and breathing room for that thing called strategy. Unless they add a lot of content and give the UI a proper facelift quickly this game won't last.

This is better than Deserts of Kharak, by a big margin, but it is still more or less in turd category. HW2/Remastered is the only RTS I ever liked so I am disappointed to say the least.
 
Flogger23m said:
The story is bad. I am not too sure what it is even about, except bad person comes and you have to kill them. The bigger problem is the unnecessarily bad UI/controls. When you drag a box it does not show all units. You can go to population, but it never stays open so you can never get a full view of your fleet. So I may have 3 repair frigates just floating around doing nothing because they don't show in anywhere. I guess this is where the "difficulty" comes from. Hiding your units from you. From an intelligence standpoint it isn't hard. But you will want to save frequently in the event units just sit around doing nothing. Reloading 2-3 minutes back and you can figure out which units get stuck and attempt to make them commit properly, which can turn the tide.

Lots of other general failures for controls. Like clicking on an objective to capture may not work and you may need to click it 3-4 times. Add in one or two command failures and they add up quick. Last mission I could not get the mothership to capture its objective, it just kept flying in circles around it. And the repair frigates would not repair it. Instead they would decide to repair a random frigate on the other side of the battle. You'd think you specifically target the mothership for repair for a reason, so they don't repair every non-necessary thing that happens to float along its path. Campaign would be 8 hours if the controls worked. It will take about 10 due to constant reloading in later missions. The more clutter = the more likely commands seem to fail.

The skirmish mode is also a sad joke. The game will be dead in a few months online with how.. simplistic it is. With a singular build path, no ship subsystems and whatnot I can't see a whole lot of options and breathing room for that thing called strategy. Unless they add a lot of content and give the UI a proper facelift quickly this game won't last.

This is better than Deserts of Kharak, by a big margin, but it is still more or less in turd category. HW2/Remastered is the only RTS I ever liked so I am disappointed to say the least.
Click to expand...
The wargames mode is where it’s at for multiplayer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top