Homeworld: Cataclysm

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Homeworld Cataclysm

Developer(s)	Barking Dog Studios
Publisher(s)	Sierra Entertainment
Release date(s)	June 30, 2000
Genre(s)	Space simulation, Strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E)
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Media	CD-ROM

Homeworld: Cataclysm was originally developed in 2000 as an expansion set of the original Homeworld, but was later turned into a stand-alone game. It was produced by Sierra Entertainment, as was the original, but it was developed by Barking Dog Studios instead of Relic Entertainment. The 'proper' sequel, Homeworld 2, is unrelated.

Cataclysm uses the same game engine as the original Homeworld, and is essentially another game's worth of the same kind of content - strategic three-dimensional space combat - with some tune-ups to the original interface.

1 Gameplay
- 1.1 Notable Changes
2 Story
3 Trivia
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Gameplay

[edit] Notable Changes

Numerous small changes and fixes were added, such as the ability to toggle 8X time compression. This quickens the typically slow 'post battle' harvesting of resources and building after a level is finished. Ship upgrades were added, improving armor and adding new abilities, and Command Ships and Carriers were given the ability to add external modules for ship research and larger fleet support. Fuel was completely eliminated from the game, so players didn't have to constantly monitor their corvettes and fighters for low fuel levels. In addition, the sensor display could be used to issue attack orders to friendly units—a very handy feature not included in the original. The game also now includes adjustable difficulty levels from very easy to very hard.

Unlike the original Homeworld, the player's Command Ship is not only capable of movement, but also attack. Although slow and methodical in its movement, the Command Ship is capable of delivering a frightening array of weaponry. Namely, it is capable of deploying an epic scale cannon in battle that can completely eradicate an enemy fleet at extreme range—capital ships and all. As such, the Command Ship is less of a liability and more of a knockout punch, especially late game.

The game is smaller in scale than its predecessor and streamlines the selection of ship types by reducing the number of different ships while enhancing the versatility of the remaining ones. Processors, for example, which seemed to be the modernized version of the Resource Controller from Homeworld, were greatly improved. They were given medium-strength weapons to defend from smaller craft, repair beams to heal damaged resource collectors, and four (rather than one) pads to dock with resource collectors. The game's resource collectors, smaller yet more versatile, perform the same functions that they did in the original Homeworld. However, these craft, when upgraded, are capable of capturing enemy vessels and repairing friendly vessels.

[edit] Story

The story is a new one, focusing on the struggles of the previously insignificant group of miners known as Kiith Somtaaw, a minor clan amongst the Kushan, as they unwittingly release a deadly menace known as The Beast on the galaxy and thereafter seek to contain it. The Turanic Raiders, Bentusi, and Imperialist and Republican Taiidan all appear as well, while the Protectors of the Gardens (Kadeshi) do not.

The game is centered on the journey of the mining vessel Kuun-Lan, which is the player's essential mothership. In the beginning of the game the ship has almost no weapons, no research capability, and no wartime power. Over the course of the game, the ship changes, discarding old parts used in mining operations, and adding new ones for weapons research and ship production. By the end of the game, the Kuun-Lan has transformed from a mining vessel to a fully capable warship, and so did the humble mining kiith.

The Kuun-Lan

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The game opens with the Kuun-Lan conducting mining operations somewhere in deep space. After receiving a distress call from the homeworld Hiigara, the ship returns to the planet to provide assistance in a battle against attacking Imperial Taiidani forces. After the battle the crew of the Kuun-Lan is ordered to find and repair a lost destroyer, the Bushan-Ree. After repairing the destroyer, a derelict ship floating in space is found nearby. After a discussion with clan elders on what to do, it is decided that the Kuun-Lan will seek out the science vessel Clee-San to research the derelict.

After freeing the Clee-San from a Turanic raider minefield, the crew docks with the Kuun-Lan and begins to examine the derelict. During examination, something starts to take over the lower deck section of the Kuun-Lan where the derelict is being researched. The research crew convinces the Kuun-Lan to jettison the lower decks in order to save the rest of the ship. The Clee-San is escorted to the jettisoned lower decks to perform a scan and determine what happened. As the scan is being performed, an energy beam shoots from the decks and hits the Clee-San and surrounding escorts transforming and taking them over. A Turanic Raider fleet arrives and attempts to board the Clee-San, but is also taken over.

After escaping from the battle, research of the subversion entity codenamed "The Beast" indicates that it infects ships using a beam that coats a target in a layer of bio-mechanical nanobots which take over the ship and any organic material onboard. The Kuun-Lan heads to a Bentusi trading vessel for more information.

Upon arriving, the Bentusi vessel is under attack by Beast forces. The forces of the Kuun-Lan fight off and destroy the enemies with the help of the Bentusi vessel and reinforcements from the carrier Caal-Shto. During the battle the beast tries to take over the Bentusi ship but the Bentusi self-destruct rather than be taken over. Research conducted after the battle on the data that was in the alien derelict reveals that the beast originated over a million years ago when an alien vessel, the Naggarok, picked up an unknown entity in hyperspace. After trying to research this entity the Naggarok and her crew were taken over. In an attempt to prevent The Beast from escaping, the drives of the ship were destroyed, but this automatically released a beacon pod with a distress signal, the same pod that contained The Beast.

After saving a Republican Taiidani refugee convoy from the beast it is learned that the Imperial Taiidani are developing a bioweapon similar to the beast. The Kuun-Lan meets up with a Republican spy who informs them that the weapon is being developed in a research base on the planet Gozan 4. After capturing enemy resource collectors to serve as a strike team on the base, the Kuun-Lan heads for the planet.

The plan to destroy the base is carried out and the information is obtained, and the Kuun-Lan escapes to hide in a debris field far away from the battle site. While in the debris field, the Kuun-Lan discovers the wreckage of a siege cannon, and fits it to the ship. The Kuun-Lan comes under attack from pirates wanting the siege cannon as well. During the battle, the Caal-Shto (which has been subverted by The Beast) arrives and destroys or takes over the pirate force. What used to be the lower deck section of the Kuun-Lan hyperspaces in, but it is now the Beast Mothership. The siege cannon is fired at the Mothership, but it fails to do any significant damage. The Kuun-Lan flees, and decides that in order to be able to harm the beast effectively; a sample of the original is needed from aboard the Naggarok. The Kuun-Lan seeks out its sister ship, the Faal-Corum, for assistance.

The Kuun-Lan arrives to find the Faal-Corum under attack by Beast forces. After fighting off the Beast ships and destroying the supporting carrier, the Faal-Corum transfers its astrogation team to the Kuun-Lan. The area that the Naggarok is in is pinned down a certain area of the galaxy, however this area is still too big to be able to search, and the Kuun-Lan heads to a Turanic Raider base in order to gain access to their advanced star charts to more accurately locate the Naggarok. After harming the Raider base enough to force them to surrender, the Kuun-Lan acquires the Raider navigation personnel and heads for the location of the Naggarok.

In mid-hyperspace the drives of the Kuun-Lan are damaged by a saboteur and the Kuun-Lan drops out of hyperspace in the middle of an ambush by Imperial Taiidani forces. The Faal-Corum arrives and aids the Kuun-Lan in battle, transferring command of its fleet. After fighting off the enemy and repairing the ship, the Kuun-Lan departs for the Naggarok.

The Naggarok is discovered and is being repaired by the Imperials. The Kuun-Lan attempts to reason with them, but the Beast has promised them half of the galaxy in return for helping them to regain power. The forces of the Kuun-Lan fight off the Imperials and Beast ships, and obtain a sample from the Naggarok. After capturing a fleeing Imperial vessel, interrogation reveals that the Imperials are trying to capture a Republican ship yard, where a new weapon codenamed "Nomad-Moon" is being developed, and that the beast is trying to obtain the weapon.

After modifying the siege cannon with the sample obtained, the Kuun-Lan heads to a Bentusi fleet for assistance in overcoming the heating issues with the siege cannon. Upon arriving it is discovered that the Bentusi are trying to escape the galaxy through a huge hyperspace gate. After destroying the gate and reasoning with the Bentusi, they agree to help and modify the siege cannon to work properly.

The Kuun-Lan departs to destroy the Clee-San, hoping this will make it call the Beast Mothership. After a long battle, the siege cannon is fired and destroys the Clee-San, but not before it sends out a distress signal. After firing the siege cannon again and destroying the Beast Mothership, the Kuun-Lan and fleet prepare to attack the Naggarok at the Republican ship yard.

Upon arriving, the Kuun-Lan finds the base under attack by Beast forces, and the weapon Nomad Moon under the control of the beast protecting the Naggarok. After assisting the remaining Republican forces, the Nomad Moon is destroyed by the Kuun-Lan. The Naggarok begins to move at an incredible speed, and research indicates that it is using an intertialess drive. A Bentusi vessel arrives and transfers plans for an ion fighter to the Kuun-Lan, the Kuun-Lan destroys the Naggarok and the beast once and for all.

After the ending sequence we can see the Somtaaw crest turning itself in a similar crest but shaped into some kind of sword thrusting into some beast-like open maws. This give us the idea of how a humble mining people turned, trough valor and against the odds, to be the slayers of the biggest threat the galaxy ever faced.

Spoilers end here.

Although the events of the game are canon, they are not mentioned in the other sequel, Homeworld 2.

[edit] Trivia

The Mothership from the original Homeworld game can be seen in the opening and ending cut scenes.

While not stated in game, the manual says that the crew of the Kuun-Lan was part of the group that was in cryogenic freezing in the original Homeworld.

In the mission where the player must destroy a Bentusi hyperspace gate, the Bentusi mention Karan S'jet, the woman who merged herself with the Mothership to serve as its computer.