Anyone remember their Homeworld 2 Build Orders?

[Starclopsofish]

So after tinkering with command line parameters and getting my copy of Homeworld 2 (mostly!) running on Windows 8 in all of its pseudo-fullscreen glory I was anxious to try a few skirmish games with the sequel in particular.

While I remember pouring literally thousands of hours into Homeworld 1 and Cataclysm multiplayer (Cataclysm in particular) for whatever reason I never got into Homeworld 2's. I could be remembering incorrectly, but I remember Homeworld having fairly standard starting conditions in terms of starting resources. The default settings for the maps in HW2 seem to vary wildly from 0 (!) RUs to thousands. Unsurprisingly, when I sat down to start developing build orders in preparation for Remastered, I was surprised and frustrated by the schizophrenic nature of the game's modes and maps.

Does anyone who played HW2 multiplayer back in the day remember if any kind of standard emerged regarding starting resources for competitive play? Or is HW2 the type of game where build orders don't make a whole lot of sense and it's best to develop a good game sense and wing it? Of course it's been a decade or so for me, so HW1 and Cataclysm could have been the same way. These were the first RTS games I played competitively (besides perhaps C&C), so I might not have noticed the stark contrast between these games and something like Starcraft, which I've played more recently.

I've been working on a torpedo frigate build, but unfortunately it only seems to work well on maps with ~3k starting RUs and a nearby secondary resource patch. I'd love to start a dialogue with veteran players and newcomers alike so that we can all hit the ground running come the 25th.

Anyone remember your BOs? Post 'em if you got 'em! Can't wait to get in there and start slugging it out with you guys in multiplayer!

[Done]

Build Orders make a lot of sense but most of the time I was reacting to what my opponent was doing.

Triple Probe or Double Scout

If he built corvette module - go frigates

if he built fighter module - go corvette or mass fighters

If he built frigate module - rush for destroyer

kind of thing.

Though I almost forgot almost all of my build orders by now and it probably won't work with their new balance patch to make the 4 factions play together.

[Starclopsofish]

So would you wait to build construction modules and pump RCs until you had scouted the enemy? Or techswitch once you'd figured out what kind of build he had chosen?

I suppose when you have a guaranteed hard counter to the enemy's units you don't need as many units out when the battle begins :)

[Done]

Originally posted by Starclopsofish:

So would you wait to build construction modules and pump RCs until you had scouted the enemy? Or techswitch once you'd figured out what kind of build he had chosen?

I suppose when you have a guaranteed hard counter to the enemy's units you don't need as many units out when the battle begins :)

HW2 battles were often slow; even if the enemy player started his fastest to get a fighter module and pump out bombers to rush your resource collectors. Your scouts would have spotted the module being built or at least saw the bomber squadron coming out of the flagship/mothership. I often keep my scouts running around his mothership to see if he completed the module and isn't just juking me into falling for a trap (happened to me once, couldn't help but GG early when I realised my interceptor/bomber mass was fighting a bunch of flak frigates with ion cannon frigates in the back).

After that - you can take the slow approach which is just getting a second resource base up (more resource collectors with a mobile refinery on a second point) and then go for the hard counter.

Or - you can go for the hard counter and rush the enemy before he can make his own counter and hopefully kill most of his resource collectors in the process.

Most of this depends on map width/length though. Since larger maps = I have to hyperspace my destroyers into his resource teams to kill them. Since I play Vagyr most of the time, I have hyperspace gates to help me out with most of this (they are insanely amazing once you get two-three setup since all hyperspaces between them is FREE). But that costs more research and module upgrades which I prefer spending on getting a carrier to get a frontal production base going to help my ongoing attack.

Of course, most of my plans here fail if my opponent is as smart as me and knows what I'm trying to pull. Hence why I'm more of a reactive player than a hardlined BO-strict type of guy.

[Slamminslug]

Mobile refinery -mothership
Collectorx6 -mothership
Collectorx6 -carrier
Wait...
Wait...
Carrier -mothership
Fighter Facility -Both carriers
Research module -mothership
Frigate facility -mothership
Wait...
Wait...
Quell first wave
Advanced Research Module -mothership
Corvette and Frigate facilities -both carriers
Destroyer(s) -mothership
Hyperspace Module -mothership

FIGHTER FOCUS
Shipyardx2 -mothership
Capital Ship Facility -shipyards
MOAR CARRIERS
Position carriers for pincer
Make tons of stuff with carriers
as stuff dies make more
drown your enemies in their own blood

CAPSHIP FOCUS
Shipyardx5 -mothership
Capital Ship Facility -shipyards
Destroyerx6 -2 of the shipyards
BCx6 -3 of the shipyards (they take longer...)
CRUSH ENEMY UNDER IRON HEEL