Homeworld’s Next Patch Reworks Ship AI and Formations

A new patch for Homeworld Remastered aims to fix problems with the game’s fleet formations, which didn’t behave correctly in either Homeworld or its sequel due to the modified game engine. In the original games, the way formations worked were drastically different. The new remastered versions use the same engine for both games, resulting in some incompatibilities and dumbing down of AI behavior.

According to Fists of Heaven, here’s how the new update changes things:

“Rather than simply fixing the formations that we’re familiar with from the original games, the Homeworld team have taken things several steps further. First, ships are all being treated by the game engine as one unit, so, for instance, Hiigaran strike craft won’t always be locked into the squadrons they’re produced in and instead and can enter larger formations with the same class of ship (but will reform into their original squadrons if removed from the formation).”

“Targeting behavior has been completely reworked, and ships now prioritize targets much more intelligently than before.  Stationary ships will be more appealing targets, and ships that dramatically affect the battle (such as gravwell generators) will become high priority targets when activated, causing ships in the vicinity to break off of previous targets to face the new threat.”

The update has been in development for six months in collaboration with the game’s online community. It’ll be out soon.

You can check out our review of the game here.