For the Homeworld Fans!

[SkunkTwerks]

This one goes out to the Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak fans!

I decided to take a little break from Star Wars Replicas and found inspiration in the cool-looking lander bi-planes from the Khashar Plateau mission.

 

Video of the "real" deal in action below, MAJOR SPOILER ALERT if you haven't already played the game, the video contains a pretty big plot spoiler.

Spoiler

 

Here's the kerbalized SkunkTwerks Homeworld: Kharak Lander.

Like most cool-looking sci-fi designs, this one posed an interesting set of challenges: the natural center of lift of this design is rather far forward, while the natural center of gravity is rather far aft. It took a lot of flight testing to get the balance right. Wing shape and angles took some serious fine-tuning as well. But it was a fun project, and I suspect a few more classic Homeworld crafts (especially from the original HW1 and HW2 games) may be in my future.

-SkunkTwerks

Edited July 15, 2018 by SkunkTwerks

[Klapaucius]

I don't know the game at all (other than the original had a track by Yes on it), but that is a seriously cool build.

[SkunkTwerks]

Thanks @Klapaucius!

Looks like I'm still on a Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak kick...

What rhymes with Funship? A Coalition Gunship! SkunkTwerks proudly presents the Coalition Gunship (Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak) ATMO+VTOL.

The original reference model:

 

The highly functional Kerbalized SkunkTwerks version:

 

Fully VTOL capable for rendezvous with mobile carriers and hovering fire support, this craft is perfect for pummeling all manner of ground vehicles. Just remember to stay clear of anti-air turrets and mobile missile batteries.

The matching Coalition Tactical Bomber and Strike Fighter are in the 'werks'!

-SkunkTwerks

 

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by SkunkTwerks
spel cehck

[Castille7]

31 minutes ago, SkunkTwerks said:

Fully VTOL capable for rendezvous with mobile carriers and hovering fire support, this craft is perfect for pummeling all manner of ground vehicles. Just remember to stay clear of anti-air turrets and mobile missile batteries.

-SkunkTwerks

I am likin' this bad boy here, nice build man!

[katateochi]

52 minutes ago, SkunkTwerks said:

What rhymes with Funship? A Coalition Gunship! SkunkTwerks proudly present the Coalition Gunship (Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak) ATMO+VTOL.

 I just took this for a quick test fly and it handles really nicely, very maneuverable! Before I downloaded it I was staring at the pictures trying to work out how you made the guns out of stock parts....very sneaky, I like.

[Castille7]

I can't enjoy it just yet, I'm still in 1.4.3 

[SkunkTwerks]

Well folks, I just had a fun building moment. I was working on the Coalition Gunship's sister ship, the Coalition Tactical Bomber, but couldn't find great photos online. So I popped into HW:DoK to take some screenshots. It was actually the first time I'd ever really zoomed in on the air units in the game, most of the time they'd just been a few pixels on my screen.

It worked beautifully, and the results are posted below. However, I decided to take some snapshots of the gunship in action as well... Turns out the engines aren't where I assumed they were, and the craft is less symmetrical than I thought. It only has 2 gun turrets (one center and one starboard), the sensors bay is found only on the starboard side of the cockpit, and the engines should probably be upgraded to Whiplashes to produce the all-important blue exhaust. So needless to say, since I know everyone cares oh so very much about tiny accuracy details [/sarcasm], I'll be releasing a gunship update in the near future.  Because why settle?

In the meantime, let me distract you with the newest shiny object from the Twerkshop: the SkunkTwerks Coalition Tactical Bomber (Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak) ATMO+VTOL, based off this late-game screenshot: 

More screenshots in spoiler below

Spoiler

 

 

And here's the Kerbalized version in action:

True to its name, this is an ideal choice for rapidly coating stray rovers with flaming mystery goo.

Handles beautifully.

But seriously, this craft is the bomb(er) and I'm having an absolute *blast* flying it around.

 

On 7/26/2018 at 5:34 PM, katateochi said:

 I just took this for a quick test fly and it handles really nicely, very maneuverable! Before I downloaded it I was staring at the pictures trying to work out how you made the guns out of stock parts....very sneaky, I like.

Bwahahaha, yeah I was pretty pleased with the handling, but I think the bomber currently outdoes it and I'll be curious to hear your take. And as fun as it would be to swap those guns out for some BDArmory chainguns, I rather enjoy the challenge of trying to make everything 100% stock.

On 7/26/2018 at 5:13 PM, Castille7 said:

I am likin' this bad boy here, nice build man!

...

I can't enjoy it just yet, I'm still in 1.4.3 

Thank you! Guess you'll have another thing to look forward to when your favorite mods finally update.  

 

-SkunkTwerks

[SkunkTwerks]

Resurrecting this old thread to add a craft I meant to upload ages ago: the SkunkTwerks Coalition Strike Fighter (Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak) ATMO+VTOL

Based on these two screenshot for HW:DoK:

Spoiler

 

And the Twerkshop photos:

If anyone has Homeworld related craft requests, I'm always up for a challenge!

Remember to keep the sand out of your engines,

-SkunkTwerks

[Rocket In My Pocket]

On 9/29/2018 at 10:03 PM, SkunkTwerks said:

If anyone has Homeworld related craft requests, I'm always up for a challenge!

Does it have to be from Deserts of Kharak? (Not that I don't love that game.)

I can't be the only one who still totally geeks out over the Support Frigate from Homeworld 1, it's just so damn neat.

I realize that'd be a pretty large scale project, and also not a plane in any way so maybe outside your area of interest, but just thought I'd throw it out there (if only to see if there is anyone out there who loves this thing as much as I do lol.) Fantastic DoK stuff btw!

Edited October 1, 2018 by Rocket In My Pocket

[SpaceMouse]

On 9/29/2018 at 10:03 PM, SkunkTwerks said:

Resurrecting this old thread to add a craft I meant to upload ages ago: the SkunkTwerks Coalition Strike Fighter (Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak) ATMO+VTOL

Based on these two screenshot for HW:DoK:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

And the Twerkshop photos:

If anyone has Homeworld related craft requests, I'm always up for a challenge!

Remember to keep the sand out of your engines,

-SkunkTwerks

Reminds of of the Scimitar from Wing Commander.

https://www.wcnews.com/news/update/11613

I Always had a weird obsession with that ship. Wierd, cuz it was probably the worst one in the game.

[SkunkTwerks]

On 10/1/2018 at 7:30 AM, Rocket In My Pocket said:

Does it have to be from Deserts of Kharak? (Not that I don't love that game.)

I can't be the only one who still totally geeks out over the Support Frigate from Homeworld 1, it's just so damn neat.

I realize that'd be a pretty large scale project, and also not a plane in any way so maybe outside your area of interest, but just thought I'd throw it out there (if only to see if there is anyone out there who loves this thing as much as I do lol.) Fantastic DoK stuff btw!

Awwww yesssss @Rocket In My Pocket, I thoroughly appreciate the suggestion! I used to build swarms of Support Frigates in HW1 because the AI chronically undervalued them as targets in the campaign and skirmishes. Few things were more satisfying than watching the AI pummel one of my heavy cruisers while half a dozen support frigates slapped all the armor back on from behind (or below). Or watching my heavy corvette walls lay waste to enemy strike craft while a couple trusty support frigates kept them fueled and fired up!

But you're absolutely right, it is a little outside my usual area of interest... which is exactly what I love about this forum. Folks like you help push me to try new things!

In honor of your brilliant suggestion, I humbly present the SkunkTwerks Kushan Support Frigate (Homeworld).

Did the Taiidan frag your Assault Frigate? Bring the Support Frigate over and forget it ever happened! Fighter fleet running on fumes? Freak out now longer, the Support Frigate will fuel ‘em up in no time. Want to keep your fancy destroyer in the fine shape? The Support Frigate will buff those ion beam scorch marks right out.

The only bad news is that the Twerkshop ran out of RUs before it could figure out how to get this thing into orbit without cheats, so you’ll either need to ramp up your own resourcing operations, or use mods like Hyperedit to get it there.

Hotkey 1 toggles the fuel cells if you’re running low on juice.

I really enjoyed this build! It was fun to build for zero-G for a change and ignore aerodynamics for a little while. Needless to say, I will seriously consider adding more to the original Homeworld fleet when I find the time.

-SkunkTwerks

 

 

Edited October 4, 2018 by SkunkTwerks

[Klapaucius]

15 minutes ago, SkunkTwerks said:

In honor of your brilliant suggestion, I humbly present the SkunkTwerks Kushan Support Frigate (Homeworld).

 

 

 

Is that a drill bit (with the drill hidden) you are using for the nose?

I reckon there is a cool mission, or at least some video with all your Homeworld builds. Chuck on BD Armory and you can have several flying at once :-)

[Rocket In My Pocket]

Wow, just awesome!

I love it, looks fantastic man. You out did yourself. 

Wish I could "like" it about a dozen more times lol.

[SkunkTwerks]

21 hours ago, Klapaucius said:

Is that a drill bit (with the drill hidden) you are using for the nose?

I reckon there is a cool mission, or at least some video with all your Homeworld builds. Chuck on BD Armory and you can have several flying at once :-)

It sure is! Two drill bits, actually, one big and one small. I've used the small drills for all kinds of things in my replicas, like guns, antennas, exhaust pipes, etc... Making pure stock craft would be an awful lot harder without them!

19 hours ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

Wow, just awesome!

I love it, looks fantastic man. You out did yourself. 

Wish I could "like" it about a dozen more times lol.

Thank you! I'm stoked that you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed building it.

-SkunkTwerks

 

[KerikBalm]

On 10/1/2018 at 4:30 PM, Rocket In My Pocket said:

Does it have to be from Deserts of Kharak? (Not that I don't love that game.)

Personally, I loved the taidan scout, interceptor, and attack bomber + the taidan destroyer

I also liked the Kushan multigun corvette.

I loved the backstory of Hw1, but there's been significant retconing since then.

I would play through with the taiidan as the exiles, the mothership was ugly, but I likes most of their ship designs more, and that defense field frigate was such a lifesaver during the kadesh missions (its defense field blocked 93% of mass driver and plasma rounds, and the enemy almost exclusively relied on those weapons).

The original game kept it ambiguous as to which race should be the "real" exiles, and for a while the material on the website was more consistent with the taiidan being the exiles

-the Taiidan ships had the Kharakian names, in some of the descriptions, the even the pilots were wearing kharakian insignia/names, and the Kushan ships had names like "imperator" and various "marks" like mk5 implying a long history of iteration, descriptions of the ships implied vast fleets policing large areas. Then they changed the descriptions so that the Kharakian names of the Taidaan ships were the result of the kushan naming the ships after stuff on Kharak (rather like NATO reporting names for Soviet stuff during the cold war), and the developed officially declared the Kushan as the kharakians/exiles... prior to that, I'd engage in long forum debates as to the "real" exiles in the early 2000's.

I was glad that HW2 dropped kushan and taiidan (except a single mention of the Taiidan)... though the mothership was obviously based on the Kushan one (which was, admittedly, a much better looking design).

Then the retconing added "technomagic" super-special long jump hyperspace cores that the exile ship that crashed at Kharak just happened to be carrying (despite being one of dozens in the convoy, and it was somehow smuggled onto those ships despite the victorious empire wanting it as one of the most valuable things in the galaxy, and known to be in their possession, according to HW2's new lore), and changed what "Sajuuk" was - it was quite clear in the 1st game that the God Sajuuk that they didn't want to offend/risk his wrath with hubris/technological advance, was a "cultural memory" of the Empire and the surrender treaty that forbade them from developing hyperspace drives (and the enforcement of that treaty kicking the campaign into high gear when Kharak is destroyed in response to the mothership's hyperdrive test).

In HW2? Sajuuk is some big ship that needs 3 magic hyperdrives to be put in it, and a big gun.

 

Deserts of Kharak also did a lot of retcon, but less of it was outright contradictory... The HW1 backstory was that there were small bits of debris in orbit, the Gaalsien used to be a major technophobe power (in pre-gunpowder eras), but in "modern" times were basically just bandits and terrorist groups (trying to stop the first sat launch and stuff). The Khar toba was the only ship landed on Kharak. when it was detected from space, and expedition was sent.

In the latest game, there are derelict spacecraft all over Kharak (including a largely intact imperial carrier), the Khar Toba's magic hyperdrive tends to trap ships as they travel through hyperspace, the Gaalsien still hate technological progress, but use it to stop the others from making discoveries, and have huge massive armies of hovercraft, there is a functional imperial ion cannon sat in orbit over Kharak, and the "expedition" was not an archaeological expedition, it was a massive military expeditionary force...

but it was still fun...

[SkunkTwerks]

On 10/5/2018 at 4:51 AM, KerikBalm said:

Personally, I loved the taidan scout, interceptor, and attack bomber + the taidan destroyer

I also liked the Kushan multigun corvette.

It took me a long time to appreciate the Taiidan aesthetic, but I loved the Taiidan Destroyer right from the start. I'm looking at some screenshots and models to assess Kerbalization feasibility, but a ship of that size and complexity will be a long & serious undertaking.

But I do thoroughly enjoy the suggestions @KerikBalm... I'll build you a Multigun Corvette as soon as my Research Ships finish working out the technology. For now though, I hope you'll get a kick out of the hardworking stalwart of the Kushan strikecraft lineup, the Hammer-class SkunkTwerks Kushan Heavy Corvette.

Based on this beautiful .gif model by Jkberna at modbd.com:

 

The Kerbalized SkunkTwerks version:

The Heavy Corvette is neither the fastest corvette in the fleet, nor the best-armed. But its heavy armor makes it tough as nails, and the Hammer’s burst fire abilities grant it incredible punch for its size. Heavy Corvette walls (supported by a couple Repair Corvettes or Support Frigates) are infamous for shredding clouds of strike craft, as well as being a serious threat to wayward frigates and lone capital ships.

This was my absolute favorite unit in the original Homeworld. At least for the first year or two after the game's release, they were fairly overpowered. They got nerfed later on (which was fair), but for a glorious time Heavy Corvette walls were the midgame strategy of choice for many, many players.

Like all Homeworld strikecraft, the Heavy Corvette is capable of slow flight long after its liquid fuel runs out, but its pilots do not advise leaving them stranded like this.

Hotkeys:
1) Toggle atomic engine
2) Toggle ion engines
3) Toggle fuel cells (to power DAWNs)

Fleet Command recommeds building these crafts directly from your Mothership or Carrier, as they are not equipped for sub-orbital flight.

As I feared (and expected) this build isn't quite to scale with the Support Frigate. Either this one's a little too big, or the support frigate's a little too small. But I guess that's just the price of aesthetics in pure-stock construction. Happy corv-walling regardless!

-SkunkTwerks

P.s. Thanks for the backstory lesson @KerikBalm, I'd always wondered why some things didn't seem very consistent plot-wise as the games progressed.

Edited October 6, 2018 by SkunkTwerks

[SkunkTwerks]

As promised, here's a little treat for @KerikBalm: the SkunkTwerks SkunkTwerks Kushan Multi-Gun Corvette (Homeworld).

Based on this concept art and screenshots from Homeworld: Remastered Collection gameplay.

First developed in the Gardens of Kadesh for use against clouds of Kadeshi Swarmers, the Multi-Gun Corvette trades some of the Heavy Corvette’s armor for four extra medium projectile cannons.

(Dorsal view)

Like all Homeworld strikecraft, the Multi-Gun Corvette is capable of slow flight long after its liquid fuel runs out, but the Garden of Kadesh is no place to stop to smell the roses.

Fleet Command recommeds building these crafts directly from your Mothership or Carrier, as they are not equipped for sub-orbital flight.

Hotkeys:
1) Toggle fuel cells (to power DAWNs)
2) Toggle ion engines
3) Toggle atomic engine

Special thanks to @KerikBalm for the build suggestion!

-SkunkTwerks

 

Edit:

I suppose it's also worth mentioning that this craft sports a well-balanced RCS system, a docking port, and over 8,700 dV.

Edited November 5, 2018 by SkunkTwerks

[SkunkTwerks]

Long time no see, KSP forum! I've missed you, but have been crazy busy with other life projects lately. Still, I finally found the time to post just a few more old Homeworld favorites! Apologies for zombifying my ancient thread, I just wanted to keep all my Homeworld projects in one place. Without further ado...

SkunkTwerks proudly presents the ships that made the Garden of Kadesh no mere walk in the park: high-fidelity reproductions of the Kadeshi Mothership, Multi-Beam Frigate, Fuel Pod, Swarmer, and Advanced Swarmer. They are highly functional orbital craft, but are not equipped for orbital flight. Fleet command recommends using Salvage Corvettes to capture these directly from Kadesh's overly protective guardians, or building them directly from the Kadeshi Mothership. Now you, too, can keep pesky intruders out of your space garden!

 

The Kadeshi Mothership is one of my all-time favorite ship designs: beautiful, elegant, imposing, and wicked. If you let your capital ships sit still for even a few moments, the Kadeshi Mothership would rip them a new one with its obscenely powerful central ion cannon. Equally destructive was its gigantic ramming dome, which it was not shy about slamming into any ship foolish enough to cross its path. https://kerbalx.com/SkunkTwerks/SkunkTwerks-Kadeshi-Mothership-Homeworld

 

The Multi-Beam Frigates were my absolute favorite ships to steal. The quad ion beam firepower on these things was ludicrous for their size: https://kerbalx.com/SkunkTwerks/SkunkTwerks-Kadeshi-Multi-Beam-Frigate-Homeworld

 

The Fuel Pods were among the ugliest ships in the game, reminiscent of maggots, and were almost totally helpless on their own. Nevertheless, they were crucial targets. Destroying them before they could refuel their strike craft was the key to escaping the garden alive: https://kerbalx.com/SkunkTwerks/SkunkTwerks-Kadeshi-Fuel-Pod-Homeworld

 

The Kadeshi Swarmers were so tiny I barely paid any attention to them... right up until they opened fire, and shredded my entire interceptor fleet like tissue paper. Although their speed was nerfed in the remaster, these things were terrifyingly fast in the original version, and they punched way, way above their weight. If not for their tiny fuel tanks, they would have been outrageously difficult to fend off: https://kerbalx.com/SkunkTwerks/SkunkTwerks-Kadeshi-Swarmer-Homeworld.

 

The Swarmers were scary, but the Advanced Swarmers packed twice as much firepower into a similarly-sized package, making them a surprisingly viable counter to corvettes: https://kerbalx.com/SkunkTwerks/SkunkTwerks-Kadeshi-Advanced-Swarmer-Homeworld

 

I had an absolute blast trying to recreate the paneled, insectoid looks of the Kadeshi ships. I spent a ton of time balancing thrust, RCS, and overall handling to replicate the feel of the ships in the game. I hope you enjoy them too!

-SkunkTwerks

Edited July 25, 2021 by SkunkTwerks
proofreading