Suddenly units that shouldn’t stand a chance can not only survive, but actively take down ships they typically wouldn’t. That’s still true of Homeworld 3, but the cover opportunities offered by terrain adds ‘soft’ counter tactics to your overall strategy. Akin to a game of rock, paper, scissors, each unit has always had a ship it is strong against as well as one it struggles to fend off. Historically, the Homeworld series has always been about hard counters. The cover opportunities offered by terrain adds 'soft' counter tactics to your overall strategy. The rocket ships were floating scrap before they were able to swing around and target their new aggressors. While the enemy ships fired salvos of missiles at those Interceptors, who survived thanks to their new cover, I was able to send a squad of bombers in from behind. I had a unit of Interceptors draw the attention of the enemy and then fly behind what developer Blackbird Interactive call a “lily pad” (effectively a floating sheet of metal). But through use of cover and flanking tactics I was able to flip the tables. In a head-on fight, my units weren’t going to stand a chance. The mission featured a number of hefty enemy ships that were able to unleash lengthy barrages of homing missiles, which tore my little Recon and Interceptor ships to pieces. This all makes for map design that’s far more rewarding to navigate than just an empty void, but it's when combat breaks out that terrain really comes into its own. It’s almost like re-creating the Death Star trench run. Better yet, you can even send groups into the wreck’s engine exhausts, which act as direct tunnels to the map’s mid-point, where your ships can then re-emerge from a fracture in the hull. Naturally for an RTS played in 3D space your fleet can travel above or below it, but the chunks the colossal ship has split to provide ‘lanes’ that fighter ships can fly through. At distance it’s clear to see the routes your units can take around this massive terrain piece. But zoom out and you can see the mechanical logic at play in its construction. It’s an astonishing sight to behold, up-close you can see that it is painstakingly detailed with dead machinery, blinking lights, and mechanical ‘guts’ that leak out of its twisted and torn hull. A huge, fractured Star Destroyer-like ship acts as its foundation. The map design of Kesura Oasis is the star of this particular show.
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