Homeworld

The box art of the first game.

This is a /v/ related article, which we tolerate because it's relevant and/or popular on /tg/... or we just can't be bothered to delete it.

"100 years ago, a satellite detected an object under the sands of the Great Desert. An expedition was sent. An ancient starship, buried in the sand. Deep inside the ruin was a single stone that would change the course of our history forever.

On the stone was etched a galactic map and a single word more ancient than the clans themselves: Hiigara. Our home.

The clans were united and a massive colony ship was designed. Construction would take 60 years. It would demand new technologies, new industries and new sacrifices. The greatest of these was made by the scientist Karan S'jet who had herself permanently integrated into the colony ship as its living core. She is now Fleet Command.

The promise of the Guidestone united the entire population. Every mind became focused on the true origin of our people ... ... every effort on the construction of the ship that would seek it out among the stars."

– the prequel elaborates on how that happened

Perhaps the greatest true 3D space RTS, Homeworld was what Relic made before they started their work on Dawn of War. Released in 1999, it was their first project and boy did they make it happen - in addition to being set in true 3D space, it also featured physics-based damage model, extensive formations to your ship groups and even fuel system for your fighters and bombers.

A quick rundown of the plot, in case you missed the game or haven't played the remaster: You are Kushan people, the inhabitants of a desert planet Kharak, and you have just finished building a mothership so that you can leave your adopted world and go back to your original homeworld (as described in quote at the top of the page). After testing out the hyperspace core on the mothership, as well as encountering unfriendly neighborhood space pirates, you come back to Kharak to find it burned down by asmospheric deprivation munitions. Out of 300 million people, only 650,000 survived by virtue of being stuck in cryopods in orbit. After defending them from the mop-up fleet left behind and interrogating one of the ship crews, we learn that Kharak was burned down by the Taiidan Empire because we have violated a 4000-odd treaty on hyperspace tech ban. Naturally, our first priority becomes catching and destroying the fleet that burned down Kharak, then getting to Hiigara (a matter complicated by the fact that it is now the throneworld of Taiidan Empire). Along the way we encounter the Bentusi (nomadic traders that used to be Galaxy Police before stepping down), the Kadeshi (raiders inhabiting the Garden of Kadesh nebula and who descended from the same people as us) and eventually the Taiidani Republic rebels (because burning down a planet on the galactic fringes to enforce an ancient treaty is a surefire way to make your population like you more /s).

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak

Homeworld crossed with Dune. A prequel set at the "100 years ago" part of the Homeworld backstory. Instead of commanding ships in space, you command crawlers in the desert. Two words: desert carrier. Overall a solid RTS that (sadly) illustrated that the RTS genre in general is starting to feel a bit dated in the 2010's. Very much a rock-paper-scissors affair, meaning multiplayer gameplay was about forming a deathball more efficiently than your opponent.