Homeworld 3 has players commanding a massive fleet made up of many different kinds of ships in order to defeat their enemies. Each ship acts differently, from the stats, weapons, and what types of enemy ships they counter best and should aim to fight.
Many ships also have upgrades that unlock special skills that can be utilized in battle to boost their performance in one way or another. With so many intricacies within your fleet, it’s important to break down your fleet into many different control groups to utilize various types of ships in the best way possible.
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Switching & Using Control Groups in Homeworld 3
Control groups are set by pressing Control + the number you want to set a group of selected units to. Along the bottom of the screen will be the numbers 1-10, with gray numbers not having a group and white numbers indicating units are assigned to that group. Hovering over a number will display which units are included in that control group, and pressing that number either on screen or on your keyboard will select the entire group to issue them a command.
A good practice is setting control groups based on ships. Every ship has a specific weapon and ability that counters another type of ship better than others. Knowing these counters and using control groups to micro-manage your various ship types in combat makes it much easier to target enemy weaknesses and maximize your fleet’s effectiveness. This is also helpful when trying to use abilities in a control group, as only one ship ability will appear on-screen when selecting a control group, requiring players to manually select other types of ships within a group to use their other abilities.
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Formations & Stances in Homeworld 3
With a control group selected, along the bottom left of the screen will be the status of all ships in that group. To the right of their status will be the group’s Formation, and below it is their stance. Stance determines how the group will react to enemy fighters that get near. Passive is a defensive stance that will only allow the group to attack enemies that get near and let them escape should they fly away. Neutral will only have your ships respond if attacked and will pursue enemies to destroy them if attacked. Aggressive will have your group pursue and destroy any enemies within their view.
In total, there are eight formations to choose from. Which formation is best for a control group is determined by what ships make up that control group and what enemy they are facing. Most formations have a pro and con, influencing how that control group will act during combat.
While it will require some micro-managing, it’s best to have your control groups switching formations often to counter the weapons of whatever enemy ships they are facing, such as spacing out with the Delta formation when facing an enemy with AOE weapons.
Homeworld 3
- Released
- May 13, 2024
- Developer(s)
- Blackbird Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- Gearbox Publishing
- Genre(s)
- Real-Time Strategy
