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Part 14
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak

Part 14

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak Part 14 covers unit costs, combat tips, and research times. Learn the best weapons vs. fighters and more.

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Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak Part 14 covers unit costs, combat tips, and research times. Learn the best weapons vs. fighters and more.

Walkthrough
  1. 1
    You begin in orbit above Kharak for Mission 1. This is a training mission disguised as testing the mothership (MS) systems.
  2. 2
    There are no enemies that fire back. Build as many scouts as your resources (RU) allow.
  3. 3
    Research everything you can before leaving orbit.
  4. 4
    Ensure you have at least 3 salvage corvettes, as they will be needed later.
Tips
  • Pressing the space bar cancels (cutscenes) in the 3D engine. You may want to skip them as time continues during (cutscenes).
  • You can replay some (fleet intel) by clicking on objectives in the objectives menu.
  • Warning: If you lose your MS, you lose the mission instantly, even with a large fleet. (Fleet command) is not transferred to carriers in single-player. Your colonists are aboard the MS.
  • When considering unit purchases, a Heavy Cruiser costs 3700 RU with 1000 firepower. For the same price, you can buy:
    • 105 scouts (1260 firepower combined)
  • 65 Interceptors (1690 firepower combined)
  • 43 Attack bombers (1935 firepower combined)
  • 56 defenders (280 firepower combined)
  • While buying more fighters for the same price offers more firepower, remember that fighters can be lost during attack runs due to collisions or friendly fire. Capital ships are less likely to be lost if properly supported.
  • A kamikaze (kami) attack by 3 scouts requires 2 attack runs to destroy a mine layer corvette, implying 512 damage per scout (1550 RU / 3).
  • A scout (kami) attack deals at least 200 damage, capable of destroying any fighter. The damage factor can vary based on the attack run.
  • Kamikazi attacks on your own ships deal minimal damage to (capital ships).
  • Kamikazi attacks on resource collectors can deal significant damage to your MS. For example, 10 resource collectors kamikazi'd into an MS dealt 30-40% of its armor (approximately 50K-60K damage).
  • When kamikazi'ing a fighter into a bomber, the bomber survived with 80% damage.
  • Best Weapons vs. Fighters (descending order):
    • MD Missiles
    • Corvette missiles
    • Corvette + fighter guns
    • Ion cannons*
    • Plasma bombs**
    • Capital ship guns
    • Mines
    * (Ion cannons) are effective because fighters may dodge bullets, but they can fly back into the continuous (ion cannon) beam. ** (Plasma bombs) have limited homing capability, rating them higher than (capital ship guns).
  • Best Weapons vs. Corvettes (descending order):
    • MD missiles
    • Corvette missiles
    • Capital ship guns
    • (Ion cannons)
    • Corvette guns
    • (Plasma bombs)
    • Fighter guns
    • Mines
  • Best Weapons vs. Frigates (descending order):
    • (Ion cannons)
    • (Plasma bombs)
    • Capital ship guns
    • Mines
    • Missiles
    • Fighter guns (unless stacked)
  • Best Weapons vs. Super Capital Ships: Almost anything is effective due to their size and slow speed. (Plasma bombs) and (ion cannons) have good effect.
  • Note that these weapon rankings are based on general effectiveness and not necessarily maximum damage or hit ratio.
  • Research Times (in seconds) for a single research ship:
    • Fighter Drive: 75
    • Corvette Drive: 75
    • Capital Ship Drive: 100
    • Proximity Sensor: 100
    • Fighter Chassis: 125
    • Defender Subsystems: 300
    • Corvette Chassis: 200
    • Capital Ship Chassis: 320
    • Sensors Array: 400
    • Gravity Gen.: 520
    • Cloak Generator: 520
    • Plasma Bomber Launcher: 300
    • Cloaked Fighter: 400
    • Defence fighter: 400
    • Heavy Corvette Upgrade: 250
    • Fast Tracking Turrets: 300
    • Minelayer: 300
    • (Ion Cannons): 450
    • Drone Technology: 400
    • Field Techno: 400
    • Super Capital Ship Drive: 450
    • Super Heavy Chassis: 250
    • Guided Missiles: 300
    • Heavy Guns: 650
  • Research Times (in seconds) for two research ships:
    • Fighter Drive: 47
    • Corvette Drive: 47
    • Capital Ship Drive: 64
    • Proximity Sensor: 64
    • Fighter Chassis: 78
    • Defender Subsystems: 189
    • Corvette Chassis: 126
    • Capital Ship Chassis: 200
    • Sensors Array: 252
    • Gravity Gen.: 320
    • Cloak Generator: 320
    • Plasma Bomber Launcher: 189
    • Cloaked Fighter: 252
    • Defence fighter: 252
    • Heavy Corvette Upgrade: 158
    • Fast Tracking Turrets: 189
    • Minelayer: 189
    • (Ion Cannons): 283
    • Drone Technology: 252
    • Field Techno: 252
    • Super Capital Ship Drive: 283
    • Super Heavy Chassis: 158
    • Guided Missiles: 189
    • Heavy Guns: 409
  • Rough figures for research speed with multiple research ships:
    • 1 research ship: 100%*
    • 2 research ships: 64%*
    • 3 research ships: 44%*
    • 4 research ships: 37%*
    • 5 research ships: 30%*
    • 6 research ships: 28%*
    *These timings may be 1-2 seconds off. These figures were guestimated using gravity well tech for 4-6 research ships.

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