Homeworld 3 has two factions for players to choose from along with three game modes to play. While the campaign is more linear in terms of who you can play as and what ships you can build and use, skirmishes and War Games offer a lot more freedom to try out the game's various mechanics.

Both factions have different ships with some of them being counterparts that act similar with only a few slight differences. Despite the differences that the factions or game modes present, there are a few things players should do in every game of Homeworld 3.

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8 Find The Right Control Scheme

Each Control System Views The Battlefield Differently

• Custom offers a mix of both controls.
• Active control schemes can be changed at any time.

There are three different control schemes players can choose from: Legacy, Modern, or Custom. Legacy emulates the controls from Homeworld 2 while Modern offers a new experience. Custom may be the most popular option as it lets players mix and match different control elements to make their own.

Control Schemes can be changed in the main menu at any time in case players want to quickly change and try something new. Games of Homeworld 3 can quickly explode and have a lot happening at once that demands the player's attention, and the right control scheme makes it much easier to manage.

7 Maximize Resource Collection

Get The Resources Before Your Enemies

• The amount of resources in Skirmishes can be changed in the menu but not War Games and Campaign.
• The population total of Resource Controllers can be built very early into the game with the starting resources.

Most games of Homeworld 3 have a limited amount of resources that all players will be fighting over. While not always the case, the player with the most resources throughout the game will have a major upper hand against their opponents.

Right at the start of a game players will have some resources that should all be spent on Resource Collectors to go out and start collecting as much right away. Players should always have the population limit of resources collectors to make sure they are getting more than everyone else, while also farming it all quickly.

6 Repair Often

Repairing Ships Is Cheaper Than Building New Ones

• Support Frigates provide healing for Hiigaran players.
• Resource Collectors provide healing for Incarnate players.

With limited resources also means there's a limited number of ships that can be built in-game. Even players who collect the most amount of resources should focus on repairing their bigger ships while also docking smaller ships on a Motorship or Carrier.

Focusing on retreating and repairing smaller ships will give players in total resources throughout the game, as not replacing destroyed Strikecraft can leave more resources for Battlecruisers while still having a support fleet of Strikecraft to decimate enemy ships.

5 Use Cover

Passive & Neutral Stances Utilize Cover

• Passive and Neutral Stances utilize cover better.
• The Aggressive stance will have your ships leave cover to chase enemies.

Debris floating through space is much more than an aesthetic addition to the maps as it actually acts as cover for players to utilize. Line of sight is an important part of how a ship acts depending on their stance. Using cover and keeping out of the line of sight can help players sneak up on more dangerous ships without getting detected until it's too late.

Missiles and lasers fired from a ship are also real objects flying through space, one that would get destroyed if it happened to hit an asteroid before the ship it was initially aimed at. Strikecraft are fast and can dart around cover to mislead volleys of fire into debris to blow them up and render enemy attacks useless while also repositioning to counterattack.

4 Carriers Complete Fleets

Build & Repair Ships On The Front Lines

• Keep Carriers behind backline fighters to protect them.
• Pair Carriers with healing ships to make sure any damage they do receive is quickly undone.

Carriers are the first Capital ships players can research and create. While they may not be the best ship in terms of damaging enemies, they do let players build and repair their ships even far away from the Mothership.

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Carriers can also build units and even build the same ones as the Mothership to double the production speed of a fleet. Carriers are far less important than the Mothership and can be taken to the front lines of battle to be there for repairs while also building new ships to quickly replace those that are destroyed.

3 Upgrades & Abilities

Make Your Ships Even Stronger

• Upgrades and Abilities can be researched after that ship is researched.
• Abilities have cooldowns and need to be activated by the player.

Most ships have a special ability that can be researched and used. These upgrades often have a give and take but are usually worthwhile in boosting a ship's effectiveness for a short while. Researching and using these upgrades can help ships beat out their enemy counterpart in combat, and will overall make your fleet much more effective than the enemy's.

Strikecraft also has an early-game upgrade that boosts their hull strength and can give players a substantial advantage for the earlier sections of the game. These upgrades do cost resources but won't slow the production of ships making them easy additions to your arsenal.

2 Bigger Is Often Better

Always Be Researching Something New To Build

• Frigates are versatile and can cover any role in a fleet.
• Later Capital Ships should be researched and built before resources run out.

Both Homeworld 3 factions start with the ability to only build Strikecraft and should devote a large amount of resources to researching larger ships. There is a set order for what ships need to be researched before later ship types can also be researched.

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A few counters do exist but players will tend to find that the bigger ship has the advantage in single combat. Battlecruisers are the strongest ships in the game and require a good bit of time and resources to unlock and build, but the player who gets one first and uses it will see a clear advantage until the enemy finally wears it down.

1 Control Groups, Formations, & Stances

Micromanage Your Fleet To Make Them More Efficient

• Ships not in a formation will often be quickly destroyed.
• Formations can focus the fire of groups to take down high-priority targets fast.

Control groups let players split up their fleet and groups of ships however they see fit. Once in a Control Group, players can determine the stance of that group along with their formation, which will greatly affect how efficient that Control Group is. The Stance of your Control Group also determines how they act around enemies and cover, making sure they are never lured away from a patrol location by a crafty enemy player.

Using the right formation can see players turn the tide in a losing battle or further apply pressure and quickly destroy ships found on their own. Formations aren't one size fits all as larger ships operate better in different formations than Strikecraft. Knowing which formation and stance is key to using a Control Group and will make them even stronger if used right.

Homeworld 3

Franchise

Homeworld

Platform(s)

PC

Released

May 13, 2024

Developer(s)

Blackbird Interactive

Publisher(s)

Gearbox Publishing