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RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Resource Units

Building a powerful enough armada to survive the trip to the Homeworld isn't going to be easy. Battles will damage or destroy ships, and you'll have to make repairs and build replacements. In order to keep the flow of new ships from coming to a grinding halt, proper resource management is a must.

In Homeworld, the main tool for building, repairing and refueling ships is the Resource Unit. "Resource Unit" is the term used to describe the base-level material necessary for building and fueling. As resources are collected, they are brought back to the Mother Ship and added to the Resource Unit total. When ships are built, repaired or fueled, Resource Units are taken away from this total. There are several ways of gaining resources: harvesting, retiring ships and salvaging.

Harvesting:
The backbone of the entire Resource Management operation is the Resource Collector ship. This ship is equipped with a modified Phased Disassembler Array that extracts, at a molecular level, the constituent elements of any resource and turns them into Resource Units. During the voyage, the fleet will encounter asteroids and dust clouds that can be "harvested" by Resource Collectors. This space debris provides the Resource Units needed to support the armada.

Retiring:
There may come a time during the journey when older ships must be "recycled" so newer ships can be made. This process is called retiring. When a ship is retired the Resource Units used to make the ship are added back into the Resource Unit total.

Salvaging:
Another useful way of getting Resource Units is by salvaging disabled enemy ships. The Salvage Corvette is designed with this task in mind. The Salvage Corvette is capable of towing disabled enemy ships back to the Mothership, where their resources are added to the Resource Unit total. It is also possible to acquire new technology (see technology section) from salvaged enemy ships. In multiplayer games, enemy ships can be captured, refitted and added to your fleet.

Resource Controller
The Resource Controller ship is designed to work in tandem with the Resource Collector ships. The Controller ships will act as remote drop-off points so Resource Collectors can concentrate on the job they were designed to do. This practice drastically decreases resource-collecting time by reducing the amount of time the Resource Collector spends in transit. The Controller Ship is also useful because it is capable of refueling Fighters and Corvettes.

Repairing Ships
One of the most frequently encountered uses for Resource Units is ship repair. There are several ways of getting crippled ships back into top fighting condition. The most common way of repairing a ship is by docking it in the Mothership. Ships can be set to automatically return to the Mothership for repairs after taking a certain amount of damage. For remote repairs the Repair Corvette can be used. The Repair Corvette is capable of repairing and refueling Fighters "in the field." While only equipped with a small gun, the Repair Corvette has heavy armor to protect itself and the craft it's repairing.