Gardens of Kadesh

[mario-2000]

I remember when i was 10 and this level managed to actually scare me. Everytime i left that nebula i had 3 quarters of the fleet fragged, then i grew up became a little less idiot and started thinking a little more strategically.
I'm not a genius i'll be the first to admit that, however with the classic homeworld i managed to beat level 7 and 8 without losses. Now my fighters fall like flies and i feel like an idiot child again, so i need you're advice.

I have 21 defenders sphere formation araound MS, 3 squdrons of 9 interceptors, a wall formation composed of 10 light and 10 heavy corvettes, and 2 groups of capitals and supercapitals for the heavy stuff. The fighters are on evasive, the corvettes on aggressive. My fighters get destroyed very fast and easy by the swarmers, which in the end die thanks to the corvettes.

However i would like not to lose 5k of RU so fast, what do you think i'm doing wrong? What would you have done? Thanks.

[Zarco]

Wonder how to beat this level if fuel consumption is gone.

[Uranium 235]

I play this game like a salvaging ♥♥♥♥♥. I love the Gardens - it's where my multi-beam army grows to unfathomable levels! The final mothership melts in 5 seconds flat. Spoof the AI of the swarmers. They'll target a larger ship (usually) and once you figure out what they're gunning for get 10 support frigrates on it. They melt to drone frigates and multi-corvettes. Salvage ♥♥♥♥♥ the fuel pods for 400 RUs a pop (retire them). At the end of the wastelands I had 12 assault frigates, 6 ion array frigates, 3 ion cannon frigates, 2 destroyers, and a carrier, none of which I built. My fleet was 20 attack bombers, 20 defenders, 20 heavy corvettes, and I retired all of my assault frigates. I built 4 drone frigates at the end of Diamond Shoals (retired ion arrays to make room). At the end of Gardens rebuilt my fighter fleet, boosted defenders to 40 and added a couple more drone frigates. On the Cathedral, I use my ion-equipped ships as my "Battle group" and guard it with defenders. The other strike craft and drone frigates guard it and other vulnerable ships (the Kadeshi AI is really pathetic and sort of targets specific ships at all costs. Once you figure out which just send all the support frigates to it and mop up.) as well as use my massive fleet of stolen support frigates to protect everything. Any leftover attack bombers go out to destroy fuel pods in claw aggressive (the best formation). All the multibeams are salvaged (they single in on the mothership - so the support frigates go to make sure it stays alive). Swarmers leave salvagers alone so long as they aren't targeted by them (usually). The multibeams are added to the battle group and melt the motherships. Once the last one retreats, rebuild anything and keep salvaging fuel pods and swarmers that have run out of gas for free RUs. Grab 14 salvagers, get 2 support frigates to guard them, then all the rest of them to guard your stolen carrier. Get whatever defenders and drone frigates to guard it too. Head for the last mothership. Kill the last swarmers, when the 7 MBFs come, use the carrier as bait and steal them all. There will be a bunch of fuel pods that retreated here too, so grab them. Now with your huge battlegroup with a total of 17 new MBFs, set them to aggressive, guard them with your support frigates and drone frigates, and finish it the level. I lost some strike craft and 1 drone frigate (that I could have saved if I paid more attention). It's all about how you play the preceeding missions - be a salvage ♥♥♥♥♥ and your fleet will be too massive to ever suffer. With 17 MBFs now, nothing is a threat except the radiation in the later mission. Even the junkyard Dawg dies in 20 seconds to them if you trap it in a gravity well. In Bridge of Sighs I captured more than 100 ion cannon frigates, all the destroyers, etc. Playing this way is more challening I feel, but also more satisfying to me.

[SQUID N TROLL OCTOPUS]

I would build multi-gun corvettes, instead of light and heavy ones. They are better at taking out fighters. I also wouldn't bother with defenders in this mission. They are too slow and the kadesh will take them out too easily. Just build intercepters and keep your mothership set to keep building intercepters so your lost interceptors get replaced right away.

[mario-2000]

Thank you for the answers. Yes i also always salvage everything i can especially fuel pods and multis. In the end i made it thanks to the corvettes (at the beginning you can't immediately build multis). What bothers me is that defenders went down so fast, they were supposed to be the fighters meatgrinder but they didn't make much of a difference.

[SQUID N TROLL OCTOPUS]

Ya, in remastered, the defenders seem to be almost completely useless, compared to what they were in the original HW1. I wouldn't bother building them anymore. Kadesh fighters are much faster then interceptors and do more damage, so they can dodge fire easier and destroy slower targets quicker. By the time I was in this mission, I had 70 interceptors and had my mothership set to build more as they got destroyed so they could get replaced right away. Then when the multi-gun corvettes research came up, I started instantly then starting building them the moment they were ready. I didn't have much trouble doing it this way, but you are most likely going to be spending a lot of money in this mission, no matter what you try.

[Kadeshi]

Multi guns and drone frigates are your best choices for this level, taking down fuel pods helps a lot, another tip is keep your collectors docked or even retire them, swarmers have colls as priority targets, they will be destroyed.