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Homeworld
Developer(s)	Relic Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Sierra Entertainment
Version	1.05
Platform(s)	Linux Mac OS X Microsoft Windows
Release date	November 15, 1999
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy, Space simulation
Mode(s)	Singleplayer and Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E)
Input methods	Keyboard, Mouse

Homeworld is a real-time strategy (RTS) computer game released in 1999 developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment. It is best known for its full three-dimensional movement, engrossing storyline and unique soundtrack. In the Star Wars fictional universe, the Core Worlds are the known worlds, or planetary systems, that are near the core of the Star Wars galaxy. ... At the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, August 2005 Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey, March 12, 1925 in Stamford, Connecticut) is an American science fiction author who has lived in many parts of the world including Mexico, England, Denmark and Italy. ... Faction Paradox is a fictional time travelling voodoo cult/rebel group/organized crime syndicate created by Lawrence Miles. ... Gallifrey is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... This work is copyrighted. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates video games. ... Relic Entertainment is a game development company that specializes in 3D real-time strategy games and has released a number of innovative PC games. ... Sierra Entertainment is an American computer game developer and publisher headquartered in Los Angeles, California. ... In computing, a platform describes some sort of framework, either in hardware or software, which allows software to run. ... This article is about operating systems that use the Linux kernel. ... Mac OS X (pronounced ) is a line of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ... Windows redirects here. ... is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1999 1999 in games 1998 in video gaming 2000 in video gaming Notable events of 1999 in video gaming. ... Further information: Game classification Video games are categorized into genres based on their gameplay interaction. ... A real-time strategy (RTS) video game is one that is distinctly not turn-based. ... Space simulation is a term used to define a piece of software that simulates space and/or space flight. ... In computer games and video games, single-player refers to the variant of a particular game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. ... Online gaming redirects here. ... A video game content rating system is a system used for the classification of video games into suitability-related groups. ... The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that applies and enforces ratings, advertising guidelines, and online privacy principles for computer and video games in the United States. ... The 104-key PC US English QWERTY keyboard layout evolved from the standard typewriter keyboard with extra keys special to computing. ... A contemporary computer mouse, with the most common standard features: two buttons and a scroll wheel. ... A real-time strategy (RTS) video game is one that is distinctly not turn-based. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... 1999 1999 in games 1998 in video gaming 2000 in video gaming Notable events of 1999 in video gaming. ... Relic Entertainment is a game development company that specializes in 3D real-time strategy games and has released a number of innovative PC games. ... Sierra Entertainment is an American computer game developer and publisher headquartered in Los Angeles, California. ... This article is about process of creating 3D computer graphics. ...

Plot

Note: If the player chooses to play the Taiidan race at the start of the game, the roles of the Kushan and Taiidan are reversed.

The Kushan people have lived on a planet called Kharak, a hot and inhospitable desert world. The northern polar region had been settled for time out of mind. They are organized into a society of kiith clans, each of which embodies unique religious and cultural traits. The major kiithid include Gaalsien, Naabal, Paktu, Soban, S'jet, and Manaan. Kharak's extremely inhospitable climate eventually led many Kushan to question how they evolved on it in the first place, and DNA comparisons between Kushans and other native life eventually proved that, in fact, they hadn't. The question of where they did come from was answered by a malfunctioning satellite which accidentally scanned the surface of the planet, penetrating to a depth of 75 meters, and detected metal in the vast, inhospitable reaches of the equatorial deserts. An expedition sent to the site discovered a huge alien ship, the Khar-Toba. Within the Khar-Toba was found an artifact that would change Kushan life forever: a black stone, etched with a crude galactic map. A dot on a spiral arm clearly represented Kharak; a line connected this dot to another on the inner rim, a dot labeled with a word so ancient that it predated the kiithid themselves: Kharak is a fictional planet from the Homeworld saga. ...

Hiigara. "Home."

The clans were united toward the goal of journeying towards the game's eponymous homeworld and discovering the reasons behind their departure. However, this was far easier said than done. No one on Kharak could decide just what the journey would entail, so the decision was made to construct a ship that could handle anything. The resulting vessel, known simply as The Mothership, is over 5 kilometers on its longest axis and required 60 years to build. It demanded huge advances in science and technology (many of them back-engineered from the Khar-Toba) and every resource Kharak could muster. 600,000 colonists were frozen in cryogenic sleep for the journey, and an internal construction bay and hangar allowed for rapid construction and storage of all fleet auxiliaries. The bridge crew was staffed day and night by the best tacticians, navigators, diplomats and scientists Kharak had to offer. As no computers could be developed that were powerful or efficient enough to coordinate all this activity, Karan S'jet, a young female neuroscientist, integrated her physical body into the Mothership to serve as its living CPU. She now serves as Fleet Command. Cryogenics is a branch of physics (or engineering) that studies the production of very low temperatures (below –150 °C, –238 °F or 123 K) and the behavior of materials at those temperatures. ... Karan Sjet Karan Sjet is the main protagonist in the Homeworld saga. ... Neuroscience is a field of study which deals with the structure, function, development, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology and pathology of the nervous system. ... CPU can stand for: in computing: Central processing unit in journalism: Commonwealth Press Union in law enforcement: Crime prevention unit in software: Critical patch update, a type of software patch distributed by Oracle Corporation in Macleans College is often known as Ash Lim. ...

The player receives this information via both an in-game introductory movie (rendered in hand-drawn, black-and-white animations) and, in far greater detail, through the game's manual.

After an initial tutorial mission, the Mothership tests her hyperdrive by jumping to the outskirts of the Kharak system. An assistant ship, the Khar-Selim, has been on its way to the same coordinates for the last ten years using conventional sub light drives, but when the Mothership arrives, only wreckage greets them. The ship has been destroyed by unidentified hostile forces (eventually identified as the Turanic Raiders), which attack the Mothership as well. After defending herself, the Mothership returns to Kharak for repairs. However, in the Mothership's absence, Kharak was attacked by the Taiidan, a large interstellar empire which now controls Hiigara and viciously opposes the Kushan attempt to reclaim their homeworld. The remaining surface population of Kharak, approximately three hundred million in number, is annihilated by atmospheric deprivation weapons. The Kushan race, now reduced to 650,000 people (the vast majority of which are frozen aboard the Cryo Trays), swears revenge and sets off after the Taiidani fleet. This article is about a hypothetical method of space travel. ...

During their travels, the Kushan survivors meet the Bentusi, a benevolent race of traders who provide technology and information. They also reencounter the Turanic Raiders, and discover the enigmatic Kadeshi, who defend their chosen nebula home with fanatical zeal. All the while the Kushan continue to research new technologies and spacecraft advances, eventually amassing a significant fleet, and face increasing hostility from the Taiidan Empire.

After the Mothership and the Kushan rescue a Bentusi tradeship from Taiidan forces, the Bentusi reveal some of their history: the Kushan once ruled a mighty empire from Hiigara, but were overthrown by the Taiidan. The Hiigarans were exiled to Kharak (a small segment of the Hiigaran population stayed in a nebula, eventually becoming the Kadeshi) and were forbidden on pain of death from entering hyperspace again, resulting in the horrific razing of Kharak. The Taiidan Emperor, claim the Bentusi, will stop at nothing to prevent the Exiles from reaching their goal. However, the Bentusi hope to gain sympathy for the Kushan with the Galactic Council; and a groundswell of rebellion within the Taiidani Empire itself, most specifically in the form of military defector Captain Elson, who provides needed intelligence and a supplemental fleet, also aid the Exiles in their quest.

In a final battle above Hiigara, the Kushan fleet, augmented by Captain Elson's forces, destroys the Taiidan Emperor and succeeds in reclaiming their Homeworld.

Gameplay

Homeworld is known both for its massive online community and single player elements.^{[citation needed]} The player may choose to play as either the Kushan or Taiidan, both online and in the single-player campaign. While each unit serves a particular function and represents a tradeoff in strength, offensive power, speed, and cost, the differences between the two factions are mostly in cosmetic ship design. Parallel ships (the "Vengeance"-class Kushan Assault Frigate versus the "Kudaark"-class Taiidani Assault Frigate) look different but have identical armor, speed, weapons power, etc. However, each race does feature two unique units (the Kushan Cloaking Fighter and Drone Frigate versus the Taiidani Defense Fighter and Defense Field Frigate), and equivalent ships often have different gun positioning, usually in favor of the Taiidan.

The screen is devoted entirely to maximize the field of view, so the only toolbar is hidden and appears only when the cursor is moved to the bottom of the screen. Orders such as moving and formations are given exclusively from right-click menus.

Single-player

The single-player campaign includes 16 missions, and focuses on a persistent fleet concept, which causes all ships built during a mission to appear in the next. The ultimate goal of the single player mode is to find the Homeworld of the chosen protagonist race, though the vantage point will remain unchanged regardless of the player's actual choice of race (in this and subsequent Homeworld games, Kushan, called Higaran in "homeworld 2", are the canonical "heroes").

Multi-player

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Homeworld can also be played in a deathmatch mode where the player can choose the number of opponents, the map, enabling or disabling researching and fuel consumption. These games can be played with up to seven computer-controlled opponents, which have an adjustable difficulty setting and a setting that allows you to determine whether they attack the human player or other computers more often. The multiplayer community for Homeworld was large from its very beginnings in 1999. At its peak in 2000 and 2001 there were more than 18,000 players registered to the Ladder. Several dozen clans were active at the peak, since its release more than one hundred individual clans have been founded. There are still hundreds of active players and a handful of large clans. Today the original community of dedicated players still survives at the official yet community operated Relic forums, the publishers official forum for the game, and on IRC. Many terms are used during multi-player online play as well. For a comprehensive list of these see Homeworld Terms. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... IRC redirects here. ...

Homeworld's original multiplayer lobby system still functions and remains in use. Lately, however, due to the release of HomeWorld 2, the large group of multi-player HomeWorld enthusiasts has been reduced drastically. To play online the player must create an account and download the latest patch (or version). Both the latest patch and the Homeworld Archive can be obtained from Jst-Online. This patch may not work with the new Windows Vista or the security programs that come with it. Alternative patches can be found at other reliable websites.

Musical score

The soundtrack CD-ROM

With the exception of a song by the rock group Yes entitled "Homeworld", most of the music in the game is ambient. Also worthy of note is the inclusion of Samuel Barber's Agnus Dei, the choral version of his Adagio for Strings, performed by Santa Barbara's Quire of Voyces. A 13-track CD soundtrack was bundled with the Game of the Year Edition of Homeworld and features the original soundtrack by Paul Ruskay. The re-release of the Game of the Year Edition, marked by a "Best Seller Series" stripe, does not contain the soundtrack. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Ambient music refers to a kind of music that envelops the listener without drawing attention to itself [1] // The term ambient music was first coined by Brian Eno in the mid-1970s to refer to music that can be either actively listened to with attention or as easily ignored, depending... Samuel Barber, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1944 Samuel Osborne Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer of classical music ranging from orchestral, to opera, choral, and piano music. ... A lamb holding a Christian banner is a typical symbol for Agnus Dei. ... Samuel Barber, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1944 Adagio for Strings is a work for string orchestra, arranged by the American composer Samuel Barber from his first string quartet. ... Paul Ruskay is an award-winning sound designer and composer of several video games and films. ...

Mods

Homeworld's source code was released in late 2003, which allowed fans to port the game to other platforms (such as Linux and Mac OS X). [1][2] Because of the modular nature of the file system almost every aspect of the game can be altered, including: the basic models and textures, the in-game interface, music and effects. Notable mods were based on well known sci-fi series such as Babylon 5, Star Trek, Macross and Star Wars. This article is about operating systems that use the Linux kernel. ... Mac OS X (pronounced ) is a line of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ... Babylon 5 is an epic American science fiction television series created, produced, and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. ... This article is about the entire Star Trek franchise. ... The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (Japanese: 超時空要塞マクロス, Chou Jikuu Yousai Macross) is an anime television series. ... This article is about the series. ...

Sequels

• In September 2000, Barking Dog Studios released a stand-alone expansion, Homeworld: Cataclysm. Taking place 15 years after the events of Homeworld, the story centers on Kiith Somtaaw and its struggles to protect Hiigara from a parasitic entity known as the Beast.
• A full sequel, Homeworld 2, was released in late 2003. The game pits the Hiigarans against the Vaygr, a powerful, nomadic raider race.

Barking Dog Studios was a video game company founded in May 1998 by several former employees of Radical Entertainment. ... The original Homeworld: Cataclysm box. ... Homeworld 2 is a real-time strategy (RTS) computer game, the sequel to Relic Entertainments Homeworld from 1999. ...

Reception

Homeworld was given high marks by most of the gaming community, and earned numerous awards, including IGN's game of the year award for 1999. The game was praised for its eye-catching, movie-like graphics engine, large battles, appropriate soundtrack, compelling storyline, and revolutionary 3D interface. IGN - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Game of the Year is a distinction awarded by various magazines and websites to a deserving PC or console game. ... 1999 1999 in games 1998 in video gaming 2000 in video gaming Notable events of 1999 in video gaming. ...

Awards

• E3 1999 Game Critics Awards: Best Strategy Games
• IGN 1999 Game of the Year
• PC Gamer 1999 Game of the Year

E³ logo The Electronic Entertainment Expo, commonly known as E³, was an annual trade show for the computer and video games industry presented by the Entertainment Software Association. ... The Game Critics Awards are a set of annual awards held after the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E³) since 1998 to current. ... IGN - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... PC Gamer is a magazine founded in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future Publishing. ...

References

• Homeworld
• Homeworld Historical and Technical Briefing (Manual)

External links

• Official Relic homepage
• Homeworld wiki on wikia