After playing HW1 classic and the remastered campaign I have some concerns about the state of the game. It looks great of course and I'm thankful that this is probably the best HD re-release of any game so far except..
There seem to be some fundamental changes that have been made to Homeworld 1's gameplay that make it seem to me as though I'm not really playing Homeworld at all, but a Homeworld 1 flavoured Homeworld 2, and they are quite different games so that presents a problem. If you have any others leave a comment to add to the list.
Formations are useless - Ships go out of formation as soon as they enter combat. Remember setting a wing of interceptors to claw formation with aggressive tactics? You could rip through the enemy. Now they fly off in pairs and are ineffective.
Not possible to set manuevers - This is not the same as the aggressive/passive options we have currently. Setting aggressive vs evasive made a huge difference in how they attacked their current targets and their chances to survive countering fire, not just whether they attacked enemies in range.
Fuel - The fuel mechanic for fighters is completely absent from the game in HW1 remaster. What?? Now support frigates serve no purpose besides repairing and there are issues with that working properly from what I've read. This was a fundamental aspect of the gameplay and strike craft tactics.
Research Costs - Why does it now cost to research in the HW1 campaign? I guess it's a side effect of balancing the combined multiplayer but it shouldn't be there.
UI - I think I was too harsh on the UI. I prefer HW1's minimalist approach compared to the remaster - I just don't need to see half the things that are on the screen, but here's what I said originally: I appreciate an update to a modern UI but it seems too big/intrusive when actually compared to HW1. The original Homeworld had a very minimal UI when in game and it was amazing. You can hide UI elements in the remaster by clicking the arrow at the bottom but that renders it pretty much unusable.
There are also some usability issues/changes. In HW1 in the sensor view you could simply click on any of your green dots/ships and it would zoom in to that location, very useful and simple. Now you have to select the unit, focus on it, and exit sensors. Doesn't sound like much I guess but it's one of those small things that just adds up with everything else.
Construction Queues - In Homeworld each unit type has its own construction queue. You can build interceptors and attack bombers and ion frigates and destroyers all at the same time provided you have enough resources. In the remaster you're limited to 2 queues at the same time per mothership/carrier no matter what class or kind of ship you're building. Why change this?
Group Ordering - Support Frigates - As several in this thread have said:
Originally posted by MrSeagull:
Another item: There doesn't seem to be a way to target multiple items with salvage and repair orders. You used to be able to hold Z and target a bunch of units with a salvager/repairer.
In HW1 if you have a support frigate, you can hold down the Z key, drag a box around some units, and the support frigate will follow these units and heal them automatically. That is no longer possible. You can still band select to heal a group while holding down a key but it's a one time thing. They won't follow and you know, actually provide support.
Some other issues:
Region Locked Multiplayer - Maybe not a concern for a lot of players but multiplay is region locked. I went to join a game and sat staring at an empty games list for half an hour. To see any games I have to change my download region in steam to US or Europe. Maybe not such a big deal but it shouldn't be a problem in the first place! This is splitting the online community for no good reason. Why shouldn't someone from the US be able to join the same game as someone from Europe, RTS games like this don't depend so much on ping anyway.
Can't Play Campaign as Taiidan
Originally posted by Pupazz:
You can't play as Taiidan and their fleet command now sounds like a UT announcer for some reason.
Scouts/Interceptors now go 'pew pew' - They seem to shoot lasers now. The fire effects now don't sound or look as good as the hail of minigun fire in the original.
Turanic Raider missile corvettes seem to have a similar issue - they don't actually fire physical independent missiles anymore, just an orange plasma looking thing that can change direction. Missile destroyer projectiles seem to be fine though?
Screen resolutions - No support for modern screen resolutions like 1920x1080 in HW1 Classic. Come on guys! We can't even do a regedit to change it now.
HW1 Classic Multiplay - Multiplay (even over LAN) has been completely removed from HW1 Classic. Why not bring this into SHiFT as well?? I suppose they don't want to fracture the online community but the HW1 deathmatch mode in remastered... well it's just not Homeworld, because of reasons above.
I'm sure theres other stuff I can't remember right now as well.
I'm not naive enough to think that any of this will actually be changed. They've made it how they wanted to make it, and while most people seem to be happy with it, this has just made me get out my cd and reinstall the original. Looks and sounds great, but too many other changes.
