What’s Next for Homeworld 3?

An Updated Roadmap:

Content Coming in November:

Free Player-Requested Features Coming in Nov:

Free Content:

New Paid DLC:

• Increase Strikecraft survivability, especially when they’re taking fire from larger ship classes
  
• More granular control over unit combat behaviors and rules of engagement
  
• More intuitive attack priority when using the bandbox to attack groups of enemy ships

Homeworld 3 Update 1.2 Notes

New Content for Multiplayer

• Added two new maps to Skirmish!
  
  
  
  • Tears in Rain
    
    • Expanding further on the open-style map first introduced in Karos Graveyard, Tears in Rain provides a similar open battlefield for skirmish combat with a refined focus on providing a minimal amount of scattered terrain pieces to serve as additional tactical options, ideal for certain playstyles and fleet compositions. With resource distribution tending either towards the perimeter or centralized, ventures across open space to strike your enemies are a gamble.
    
    
  • Arran Perimeter
    
    
    
    • In the Arran Perimeter, a fragmented piece of very large terrain is the foundation that leads players into making high-level decisions that can lead to victory or failure. The large vertical pieces and symmetrical arrangement are populated with resources and surrounded by open space, offering more than just a backdrop for fleets to clash.

Updates

• Repositioned and reduced the size of the Hyperspace button to better allow players to continue playing after it appeared
  
• Added retiring and scuttling to the command panel
  
• Increased weapon damage for capital ships of all factions
  
• Updated special attack feedback to indicate ability range
  
• Limited research to one at a time to increase the importance of strategic choices
  
• Updated the “Taiidan” fleet customization preset’s inverted colors
  
• Corrected splat damage texture improperly appearing on capital ships after completing a mission and loading a new one
  
• Added a rebindable hotkey to select all undamaged ships to complement the hotkey for selecting all damaged ships

Mod Tools & Editor

• A new version of the Editor has been deployed on EGS.
  
• In order to avoid any compatibility issues, we highly recommend fully uninstalling the previous version of the editor before installing the new one.

Gameplay

• Frigates could occasionally back away further than required from approaching targets
  
• Battlecruisers in a group would sometimes not move or attack when ordered to attack a group of ships
  
• Erratic or unintended frigate movements could occur when trying to acquire line-of-sight and/or get in range after receiving and order to attack a new target
  
• Non-leader frigate in formation would occasionally try to get back into formation position instead of attacking
  
• Incarnate Smart Missile Frigates could occasionally not track their targets properly, causing them to miss if the target was moving
  
• Hiigaran destroyers would sometimes not attempt to target enemies horizontally, which resulted in their turrets remaining mostly idle
  
• Ion Cannon frigates would sometimes turn backward during and after attacking a target
  
• Increased the damage of the Barrage frigates ability
  
• Recon ships set to Aggressive stance and Guarding a ship would occasionally change command on their own to Attack and would not return to Guard after the target was destroyed

Multiplayer

• Host migration could fail in some instances in matches of three or more players
  
• In two-player War Games matches, one player leaving could occasionally result in the remaining player not loading to the next stage
  
• Matches could receive a desync error after hyperspacing to the second stage in War Games
  
• Incursion points in War Game Production Bay map sometimes ceased to function based on the player’s location
  
• Objective markers were not consistently localized in Production Bay and New Galaxy War Games maps
  
• Added an error message informing a player if they cannot join a lobby due to a mod mismatch between players and the lobby host
  
• The “Move Carrier to location” objective marker could sometimes detach from its location and move erratically through the map
  
• Enemy probes could stop kiting away when their faction’s Mothership was destroyed, causing long probe hunts in “Destroy All Ships” Skirmish matches
  
• Carrier would sometimes not be centered in its hyperspace window when moving between stages in War Games
  
• The Incarnate AI would sometimes not use the Smart Missile frigates in Skirmish, leaving them inactive at the side of the Titanship

Tech / Performance

• Addressed a few crashes observed through user reports
  
• A new round of optimizations have been done to significantly increase framerate in many situations around combat
  
• Further improvements to Dynamic Splat Damage system for increased readability and performance
  
• Steam Deck users are no longer in a separate multiplayer pool and are able to create and join multiplayer matches with PC players
  
• Resolved the framerate hitch that happened after completing a War Games challenge on EGS
  
• Implemented improvements to the Experimental Camera Collision feature. There is still more work planned for upcoming patches
  
• Benchmark level seed was adjusted to make results more consistent
  
• An issue could occasionally cause the game to crash when trying to load replays from previous versions of the game. This adjustment has invalidated all previous existing replays but prevented new replays from becoming corrupted from future patches
  
• Fixed an issue causing contextual movement orders to behave incorrectly in modded Skirmish maps created with the Homeworld 3 Mod Tools & Editor
  
  • New maps created with the new version of the editor will not contain this bug anymore
    
  • Existing mods will need to be manually fixed by changing the Collision Presets in the SimUniverseBoundsVolume from “overlapAll” to “NoCollision”.

Art Updates

• Bukhari Support Ships lights that were unusually bright in War Games

Audio Updates

• The “Battlecruiser lost” voiceline would sometimes play when an enemy battlecruiser was destroyed.
  
• Some SFX feedback was missing when performing various ship actions

Kalan Raiders Fleet DLC Content

• Added support for new War Games content for those that own the Kalan Raiders Faction DLC
  
  
  
  • Two new War Games fleets
    
    • Raider Fleet: This fleet has extensively raided Hiigaran space, and can produce a mix of Hiigaran and Kalan ships
      
    • Capture Fleet: This fleet specializes in capturing enemy units, and can produce a mix of Incarnate and Kalan vessels
      
    • Both fleets include Kalan Raider ships seen in the campaign, as well as 3 brand new ships
      
      • From the campaign:
        
        • Command Carrier
          
        • Barrage Frigate
          
        • Pursuit Fighter
        
        
      • New Kalan ships:
        
        • Swarm Fighter
          
        • Mine Launcher Corvette
          
        • Capture Frigate
    
    
  • 11 NEW Challenges specific to the Kalan faction
    
  • 40 NEW Artifacts specific to the Kalan faction
    
  • New Kalan Raiders emblem and fleet customization preset featuring unique color pattern & emblem
    
    • Fleet customization emblem and preset usable in War Games & Skirmish

NEW DLC: Kalan Raiders Fleet Pack

Raider Fleet

Capture Fleet

Additional War Games Content

1.2 Patch Preview

Need-to-know on the Patch Preview:

• We suggest that players using the preview branch stay on it until the 1.2 patch official releases before moving back to the main branch.
  
• Alternatively, if you intend on switching between the two, make sure to back up your “version 1.11” save game folder before switching to the preview branch.

How to access the preview branch:

1. In Steam, right click on the Homeworld 3 App and select Properties
   
   
2. In the Betas section, enter the beta access code “Homeworld3Preview” and click “Check Code”
   
   
3. You will see a “Success! Beta unlocked.” message and be given the ability to opt in.
   
   
4. If you do, Steam will queue a game update for you to download the contents of the preview branch, same as a patch.
   
5. Switching back to the official branch of the game is easy, in the same “Betas” section, choose “None” in the “Beta Participation” dropdown
   

Download the 1.2 Patch Preview on EGS

• Additional improvements to Homeworld 3’s Chinese localization (further improvements to Chinese localization will arrive in future updates)
  
• Added a menu option to toggle an experimental camera mode that causes it to collide with terrain and ships
  
  
  
  • This new toggle will now allow players to enable camera collisions if they choose, with the default setting being turned to off (allowing the camera to float through objects)
    
  • This feature is experimental and we will continue to iterate on it in future updates. We welcome feedback from players to help us improve this new collision-enabled camera
    
  
  
• Motion blur sometimes worked incorrectly after using Tactical Pause on the Kesura Minor map in solo Skirmish and War Games modes
  
• Effects of 7 new artifacts introduced in Update 1.1 would stack additively instead of multiplicatively, causing unintentional ship behavior
  
• The 5120x1440 screen resolution was not selectable in the settings menu in some cases
  
• Data Spires were sometimes destructible or would spawn in the wrong location or not at all in War Games
  

For modders:

Not sure where to get started?

• Modding: Unreal Engine – This guide covers the essential features and functions of the Unreal Engine 4 Editor, providing instructions and tips to help beginners navigate and use the tools effectively.
  
• Modding: Create a Skirmish Map – Your first steps in creating your Skirmish Level, giving an overview on how to get started and references for the various sub-levels.
  
• Modding: Publishing and Updating a Mod – A guide on how to distribute your mod on mod.io.
  

For players:

Enjoying a created mod?

New Free Content for War Games and Skirmish!

A New Skirmish Map: Karos Graveyard

Update 1.1 - Bugfix and Improvement Highlights

Tactical Pause & Time Dilation in Solo Skirmish & War Games

General Gameplay Fixes & Improvements

• After using an ability on a target, ships could occasionally start attacking other enemies instead of the initial target.
  
• Ships would occasionally fail to resume the Guard command after engaging in combat.
  
• Frigates sometimes moved to match their target’s height when given an Attack order.
  
• Giving deployment orders to multiple turrets at once while in Tactical Pause could cause an issue where only one turret was deployed.
  
• The In-Game HDR option in Video settings could sometimes be turned on despite the Windows' HDR option being set to Off in the Monitor's settings.
  
• VO for all units was missing when selecting ships while playing as the Incarnate fleet.
  
• Added a "More Info" button to mod detail modal that links to the mod URL.
  
• Kala Terminus 2-6 player Skirmish map has been updated. There are new player starting positions and more resources to support larger and longer PVP and PVE matches.

A Look Ahead: Mod Tools Incoming

Homeworld 3 Update 1.1 Notes

New Content for Multiplayer

• Added new content to War Games!
  
  • 9 NEW challenges
    
  • 13 NEW Artifacts
    
  • NEW Heavy Suppression Frigate
    
  • Unlock the Heavy Suppression Frigate with artifacts
  
  
• Added a new map to Skirmish!
  
  • “Karos Graveyard” Skirmish map has been added. Long-time fans should recognize this map’s open, spacious inspiration from previous Homeworld games.
  
  
• Added support for Time Dilation & Tactical Pause in Solo War Games & Skirmish matches.

Updates

• Chinese localization has received many fixes. We are continuing to investigate further improvements here.
  
• Gameplay
  
  • Achievement “Destruct Sequence Alpha-One” would not always be granted in campaign missions after using the Scuttle command on any ship.
    
  • Achievement “Untouchable” would occasionally be incorrectly awarded to players that were receiving damage.
    
  • After using an ability on a target, ships could occasionally start attacking other enemies instead of the initial target.
    
  • Ships would occasionally fail to resume the Guard command after engaging in combat.
    
  • Attack Move orders could unintentionally change to a Move order when multiple strike groups were created after changing formations.
    
  • When the first Move order of a unit still in Parade formation was queued, it was possible that the ship would reference their build location.
    
  • Changing formations to one that would “split” the current group into multiple smaller groups could result in some units stacking with other ships.
    
  • Units set to Sphere formation could fail to approach the enemy Incarnate Mothership when ordered to attack.
    
  • Changing the formation of Strikecraft or Corvette units from Parade formation with the Production ship would occasionally cause them to fly in circles.
    
  • Ships switched to a Passive stance while they were attacking targets would continue to engage and attack until all targets in sight were destroyed.
    
  • Frigates sometimes moved to match their target’s height when given an Attack order.
    
  • While a Torpedo Frigate’s range ability was active, missiles could explode before reaching their target after a certain distance.
    
  • Suppression Frigates would cancel their ability when ordered.
    
  • In some instances, Support Frigates would stop repairing the Mothership.
    
  • Battlecruisers would exhibit unintended behaviors with stationary targets and not consistently attack them.
    
  • Carriers would occasionally allow large salvage to be taken that should have been brought to the Mothership.
    
  • Starboard and Port cannons on Incarnate Battlecruisers did not always deploy before firing.
    
  • Capture Corvettes and Resource Controllers were observed to move towards enemy ships that could not be captured when players right-clicked on them.
    
  • Railgun Corvettes would charge their ability but wouldn’t fire on a Titanship. We’ve reassured them that it’s for the best to use it.
    
  • Strikecraft would occasionally get stuck inside and near the Titanship’s dock.
    
  • Some Incarnate ships wouldn’t flash to indicate when directional damage was received.
    
  • Units outside of the player’s field of view would sometimes be added in Box selection.
    
  • Guard Turrets were not always included in bandboxes.
    
  • Giving deployment orders to multiple turrets at once while in Tactical Pause could cause an issue where only one turret was deployed.
    
  • While the game is in Tactical Pause, it was possible that the queued unit limit (100) of the Build/Research Panel could be exceeded.
    
  • Some Asteroids could be missing Navigation data for ships.
    
  • Commands using special symbols (such as /, ], or [) were default bound to the symbol keys for a QWERTY keyboard layout, even if the player used a different keyboard language layout.[/list]
    
  • Multiplayer
    
    • In some instances, players would encounter network errors that could prevent them from joining multiplayer games.
      
    • Linux users could desync in multiplayer (Linux players must use Proton 9 for fix to apply).
      
      • War Games
        
        • Players could occasionally receive “Connection Failed” or “Retrying Connection” notifications before fully loading into the next stage
          
        • Desync Errors could be displayed after hyperspacing to the second stage.
          
        • In the Deep Space map, one of the resource nodes could have its large resource pocket separated from the node.
          
        • Players could gain more experience points at the end of the playthrough if the last stage was New Galaxy map.
          
        • The “Intercept Enemy Transports” objective could mistakenly complete if a transport reached its exit point.
          
        • In the Under the Ice map, an objective blocker could occur due to the Lost Probe staying in place if ships passed through the capture area without staying.
          
        • The location of an incursion point in the Under the Ice map could cause some Incarnate ships to spawn and go through the terrain.
        
        
      • Artifacts
        
        • The incorrect ship tactical icon would be shown on these artifacts: Cluster Missile Turret Pattern Artifact, Railgun Transport Pattern Artifact, Tactical Bomber Pattern Artifact, and the 8 Smart Missile Frigate Artifacts.
          
        • Artifact “Hiigaran Strikecraft Boost” was unintentionally available as an upgrade for Incarnate Beam Fighters in the “Experimental Weapons Fleet”.
        
        
      • Skirmish
        
        • Kala Terminus 2-6 player Skirmish map has been updated. There are new player starting positions and more resources to support larger and longer PVP and PVE matches.
          
        • Trinity Gate and Naraka map’s starting positions were the opposite of those shown on the lobby preview.
          
        • When creating an offline Skirmish match, the host was sometimes placed into Team 2 by default.
          
        • In the Buran Ice Shelf map, slot 1’s resource nodes could have more resources than the other slots.
          
        • Assets on the Buran Ice Shelf map could load without collision.
          
        • Build caps for Railgun Corvette would not always match the Corvette Population Caps for Hiigaran players.
    
    
  • Campaign
    
    • Tutorial: Torpedo Frigate could occasionally move outside of the playable area if they destroyed the allied ships before the player’s ships attacked them.
      
    • Kesura Minor: Barrage Frigates could occasionally be destroyed if captured after destroying the Carrier.
      
    • Trinity Gate: It was possible to use the gate without controlling all three data spires, which was not the intended behavior.
      
    • Trinity Gate: Attack Frigates could unintentionally be added to the fleet population when captured.
      
    • The Lighthouse: A progression blocker could sometimes occur from the possibility of the Carrier salvage setting stuck if the Resource Carriers delivered it on the same movement plane as the Mothership.
      
    • The Lighthouse: Passive units Guarding another ship could break off and chase moving asteroids.
      
    • Naraka Gate: The Mothership could sometimes not appear at the Repair Bay after watching the cutscenes when the NLIPS option was disabled.
      
    • Chamber of Storms: The hyperspace Incarnate Battlecruiser cutscene would not fit correctly in Ultrawide.
    
    
  • Visual Updates:
    
    • The In-Game HDR option in Video settings could sometimes be turned on despite the Windows' HDR option being set to Off in the Monitor's settings.
      
    • The Khar-Sajuuk Mega Beam VFX cut off prematurely in rare instances.
      
    • Durring the Hiigara mission, the explosion/smoke trails VFX of Combat Drones occasionally stuttered when destroyed.
      
    • The VFX that played when Power Regulators exploded were incorrectly implemented.
      
    • VFX attached to lights sometimes persisted after a ship was destroyed.
      
    • The smoke effect on damaged Mothership sometimes lacked depth fade in the material which could cause particles to visibly clip with geometry.
      
    • Ion Cannon Frigate had a mesh split
      
    • The Fleet Bomber would disappear a short distance away from the camera when cloaked.
      
    • Active gates sometimes shone excessively when the camera was positioned close to them.
      
    • Ship lights occasionally flickered while the camera was moving.
      
    • The lights on facility assets occasionally flickered and were overscaled.
      
    • Pausing the title while certain ships were maneuvering would occasionally cause their auxiliary engines to flicker.
      
    • The engine trail bloom of fighter-class ships sometimes popped in and out suddenly on medium and low settings.
      
    • Engine trail colors occasionally randomly changed for ships produced after 2 minutes of gameplay.
    
    
  • Audio Updates:
    
    • VO for all units was missing when selecting ships while playing as the Incarnate fleet.
      
    • There was occasionally no audio notification for new chat messages.
      
    • It was possible for no feedback to play when undocking a unit with the “Auto Launch” option set to OFF.
      
    • Skipping the first Cinematic could cause the in-game speech to break.
      
    • Friendly Carrier, Destroyer, and Battlecruiser lost voice lines would incorrectly play when an enemy of each type was destroyed after loading a saved game.
      
    • The lost Carrier’s voiceline would play when an enemy Carrier was destroyed.
      
    • Captured Raider Barrage Frigates occasionally lacked VO when selected or ordered to use abilities.
      
    • Raider Command Carrier weapons were quieter than intended over distance.
      
    • The notification speeches regarding the Resource Controller and Carrier being under attack were occasionally absent for the 'Remastered Fleet'.
      
    • The Naraka Gate SFX would repeat three times when opened.
    
    
  • UI:
    
    • Added a "More Info" button to mod detail modal that links to the mod URL.
      
    • The research requirement for the Incarnate Missile, Smart Missile, Multi-Beam Frigates and Carrier all mentioned Assault Frigate instead of Attack Frigate.
      
    • The movement line occasionally became shorter than the initial movement range right after ordering a ship to move to a marker.
      
    • A debug string could present itself in the movement disc’s tooltip when specific languages were selected.
      
    • In the Lobby Browser, when a lobby was selected, a debug string was occasionally visible to the right.
      
    • When selecting units quickly, resulting in more than 12 unit icons in the Unit Selection Panel, icons for units at the bottom of the list occasionally appeared over the units at the top.
      
    • Not all Mothership upgrades were occasionally displayed in the 'Ship Upgrades' panel.
      
    • Backing out of the "Restart" pop-up occasionally limited the 'ESC' key functionality until the "Exit" tab was clicked.
      
    • Players occasionally did not notice that they could scroll down to select options when creating a multiplayer lobby.
      
    • In the Context Menu, abilities on cooldown occasionally appeared as available and did not offer negative feedback when selected.
      
    • The ship info panel occasionally lacked Unit Stats.
      
    • Save and Load cards created on the Chamber Of Storms mission weren’t formatted properly on some resolutions.
      
    • Camera Input Bindings were editable when Camera Movement options were disabled, which could be confusing.
    
    
  • Fixed several crashes and many additional minor bugs

Open maps & “claustrophobic” maps

Strategic pacing & directional damage

Improving unit behaviors

Hyperspace Jumps & a new tech tree in Skirmish

Tactical Pause & Time Dilation for solo Skirmish & War Games

Mod tools incoming!

• Control Group key bindings are able to be rebound, allowing players using AZERTY and other keyboard types to use them
  
• Menu & Cycle Production Unit Focus key bindings can now be rebound
  
  • Note: These two additions come with some untranslated new menu entries, but we wanted to unlock these features for players asap.
    
  • Translations on these menu options will be added in a future update.

• The War Games Production Bay map stuttered or lagged despite high framerates
  
• Epic players were unable to invite other Epic players via the EGS overlay
  
• The "Remove Player" button in lobbies was not consistently removing players
  
• When lobby hosts selected “Return to Lobby” after a finished match, the “Abort Launch” would occasionally not reset for other players

• Captured Incarnate Destroyers started attacking player units over time

• There was a continuity discrepancy in the Campaign mission 13 intro cutscene
  
• Players could occasionally be short 1 Resource Unit in Mission 1

• Scrollbar appearance and hover behavior weren’t consistent and sometimes difficult to use