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Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak - prequel from ex-Relic devs

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,885
I tried Skirmish vs Hard AI after the campaign and I don't understand how that works. AI does crazy early aggression with 2x more units than you can possible have and I survived barely and then after that it disappears and makes almost no units for the rest of the match and lets me win.
 

DeepOcean

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
7,394
While they nailed the presentation and the feels of Homeworld's universe, they drop they ball hard on the plot. On the original Homeworld, the meeting with the Bentusi ship on the second mission, the burning of Kharak on the third mission, the revenge against the fleet that destroyed Kharak out of deperation and having nothing better to do, the Gardens of Kadesh mission by the halfway point of the game. On Homeworld Desert of Kharak, the first half of the game goes like this... "Those generic sci fi middle eastern guys hate us and want to kill us but we need to keep the expedition going.", really, you get to know this on the fucking trailer and nothing of importance happens, the first half of the game could be summed up on a single longer mission and nothing would be lost.

I remember Homeworld's manual and how cool the story of Kharak was with the big religious conflict and how the only places there could be life were the poles and how people that lived on the north pole didn't even know there was people in the south pole, I imagined how cool would be to explore that story, the disappointment is that Homeworld Deserts of Kharak doesn't do that, the Gaalsien conflict with the coalition is way too abstract and you have very little reason to care. The game wastes too much time playing with nostalgia for Homeworld instead of having his own thing going on what is a shame as they nailed the presentation, there is just something of substance lacking on the campaign.
 

Idiott

Arcane
Joined
Mar 4, 2011
Messages
490
Location
Potatoland
Campaign is way too short. At least in the first missions resources weren't overly abundant so you had to be careful with units. Some missions should be merged in one longer mission,
Like the first wreckage mission with sensors deployment and then next mission with breaking the scanned parts apart or the two missions with plateau.
and a bunch of new missions added to make it better. The hardest difficulty (was it named Classic?) should just be renamed to normal.

Last two missions were just a pile of derp in terms of gameplay
There is no point even trying to get near enemy carriers with regular units since you'd get overwhelmed by all the shit they start spawning. I just used airstrikes (9 strike craft and 3 bombers) to wreck carriers while bunch of cruisers sat on a dune killing everything else that came my way. The last 'boss' carrier was just airstrike/cruise missile/ion cannon spam until it croaked.

Still, it was short but quite enjoyable and had that HW feeling. Definitely not worth the full price though. Will play 7 times over after some patches and maybe when multiplayer games don't take forever to get into (skirmish AI is dumb and cheats hard).
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014

Lagi

Savant
Joined
Jul 19, 2015
Messages
726
Location
Desert
i just watch dune, and im hyped for some desert rts.
But there is no way im paying for this 30 pounds (i would rather buy another board game i will never play).

any suggestion?
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
Patron
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
33,052
Location
KA.DINGIR.RA.KI
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
i just watch dune, and im hyped for some desert rts.
But there is no way im paying for this 30 pounds (i would rather buy another board game i will never play).

any suggestion?

I got it in a bundle a long time ago.

So either wait for sale or bundle.
 

Storyfag

Perfidious Pole
Patron
Joined
Feb 17, 2011
Messages
15,897
Location
Stealth Orbital Nuke Control Centre
i just watch dune, and im hyped for some desert rts.
But there is no way im paying for this 30 pounds (i would rather buy another board game i will never play).

any suggestion?

The old Westwood Dune RTS games are abandonware due to disputes between the Herbert estate and EA. As of now, nobody can legally sell them. So... you know where to go. And both Dune 2000 and Emperor: Battle for Dune are still top notch.
 

WhiskeyWolf

RPG Codex Polish Car Thief
Staff Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2007
Messages
14,755
i just watch dune, and im hyped for some desert rts.
But there is no way im paying for this 30 pounds (i would rather buy another board game i will never play).

any suggestion?
Get a cheaper steam key on some local site? I can buy one here for like 3$.
 

Raghar

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Jul 16, 2009
Messages
22,503
i just watch dune, and im hyped for some desert rts.
But there is no way im paying for this 30 pounds (i would rather buy another board game i will never play).

any suggestion?
PIRATE IT. Buy a new board game you'd never play. (And you could also get it later on steam sale. Or not depends if 30$ is pocket money for you.)
 

Lagi

Savant
Joined
Jul 19, 2015
Messages
726
Location
Desert
I love games with good collision system
i was looking for my 2nd salvager :D
kVTJ8iY.png

voice acting is cool.

edit:
gameplay wise Total Annihilation (Escalation/BAR/Supreme Commander) is a much better game. Desert of Kharak would have a niche over them, if you could not reproduce more units to replace the loses. Like with the 2x bombers you received, you lose them - your bad. Because lets be honest TA-esque games are macro fest, set rally point and build as much as possible - which stop being fun after some time.

AND ducking collision system need to be there... otherwise whats the point of units positioning, just make death stack of all 3x types. There is no formations (like in Homeworld).

Graphic, units and the game atmosphere is great, but it doesn't matter, cause like always true gameplay looks like this :/
bslCNWl.png
 
Last edited:

Blutwurstritter

Learned
Joined
Sep 18, 2021
Messages
875
Location
Germany
I have also finished it just now. The art design is excellent, the vastness of the dessert and the general feeling of the size of things is well done. Cutscenes are also visually impressive. The ai is limited and the challenge comes from the number of units that you face rather than actual tactics. It is the sheer amount of units thrown at you that keeps you busy. The campaign starts out good but the story goes nowhere. Its not too long to overstay its welcome but I don't feel that any more missions would have improved it unless the missions themselves were better designed. I liked how air units were integrated as strike force and the moving carrier as base also works fairly well. The general feeling of combat is good and overall enjoyable. Units are neither bullet sponges nor do they die without any chance to react. It also easy to get a feel how a fight will turn out and when you should retreat or not. It feels a bit underdeveloped in content but overall it improved my perspective for Homeworld 3. They seem capable of making an enjoyable strategy game and I'm willing to assume that Dessert of Kharak fell short due to a limited budget. It had much more fun with this title than Iron Harvest, which I dropped after a few missions due to its poor gameplay.



 

karoliner

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Oct 31, 2016
Messages
5,083
Location
Most skilled black nation
7 YEARS LATER AND STILL NO KEY REBIND INSTEAD ENJOY PREVIEW SCREEN FOR VAPORWARE GAME.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/281610/Homeworld_Deserts_of_Kharak/

What is in the beta patch?

Details of what’s in the Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak 1.4 Update is as follows:
  • Adds cross-platform online multiplayer between Steam and EGS players
  • Updates game credits to include additional departments and individuals from Gearbox and Gasket Games who contributed to the game
  • Adds a preview screen for Homeworld 3
  • Includes no gameplay or balancing changes
 

Alfgart

Augur
Patron
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
390
Divinity: Original Sin 2
This thing will be free on Epic Store next week if anyone is interested

1692305372232.png
 

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