INTRO:
Quite a number of game developers rely on multiplayer modes to extend the life of their games. After all, playing with other people is almost a different experience each time, even with the same persons, who would gain experience and sharpen their skills and decision-making. Therefore, it is perhaps understandable that these developers would produce content for the multiplayer modes of their games after the launch of their games.
Yet, this might not please people who believe that the greatest appeals of the games lie elsewhere. These people might even have the impression that the development focus had been focusing on the wrong things.
This is the case with this review of the post-launch DLC for Deserts of Kharak.
THE SOBANI:
Among the Northern Kiithid, Kiith Soban are well known for their proclivity for honourable battle and their knack for railgun technology. Their reputation gave them the leverage to modify the standardized designs for Coalition units.
SOBANI GAMEPLAY:
In-game, the modifications give them certain advantages over standard Coalition forces, such as having more railguns for shooting enemies at long range. However, this also gives them disadvantages, such as eschewing general-purpose area-effect weapons like cannons. Perhaps the most notable difference that they have is how they combined their logistics with their defences.
ARMED LOGISTIC MODULES:
There had been players that did not like how helpless the standard Coalition Logistic Modules are. At best, they project sensor detection, allowing the player to see the composition of incoming raids just before they thrash the modules.
The Sobani version combines the standard defense turret of the Baserunner with the standard Logistic Module. The result is a static asset that performs slightly worse than either of its parents, but this means that the Sobani Carrier can leave behind a trail of defences while also expanding its fleet at the same time. There is also another handy trick that the Sobani has regarding this innovation, which will be described shortly.
SOBANI CARRIER:
Most of the Sobani’s modifications are for their Carrier. Where the standard Coalition Carrier has cannons, the Sobani’s has railguns instead. This makes their Carrier much more capable at fending off assaults by armored units and cruisers, but not particularly efficient at eliminating strikecraft.
The Sobani’s preferred high-yield weapon is practically an area-denial tool. Where the standard Coalition cruise missile uses an explosive payload, the Sobani’s Microwave Emitter has a short-duration dirty bomb that rapidly damages anything that is stupid enough to stray into the affected zone.
To enhance its use of the Armed Logistic Modules, the Sobani Carrier exchanges the standard Carrier’s Repair system for a system that can somehow remotely bolster the performance of the modules. The system even increases the range at which the Carrier can launch the modules. This makes the Sobani Carrier less able to spearhead an assault, but it is definitely better at harassing or corralling fleeing enemies since it can launch modules here and there to maintain pressure on them.
SOBANI UNITS:
Most Sobani units are practically Coalition units with cosmetic differences. However, some units have had their equipment improved or replaced to suit their preferences.
Firstly, they gave their Railgun platforms marking lasers – a clever choice, since Coalition railguns are already so good at pointing at things. Anything that they mark is in trouble; other units in the same fleet as the Railguns can hit the marked targets for extra damage.
Canonically, the Sobani designed the Battlecruiser. The standard Battlecruiser is armed with high-calibre cannons, but apparently, the Sobani think that it is better off with – of course – railguns. Consequently, their Battlecruiser can wreck individual units quite quickly, but lacks the means to deal with massed strikecraft.
Sobani Baserunners of course do not have the ability to deploy defensive turrets; the Carrier already does that. Instead, it places jammers, which are twisted versions of scanners; where scanners project detection domes for their owners, jammers project domes that reduce the sensor range of enemies that go into them. This also reduces the weapon ranges of the enemies, which in turn prevents them from firing on their opponents (unless their opponents have already been spotted by allies).
Apparently, the Sobani makes some exceptions in their culture of honourable combat.
THE KHAANEPH:
There was a certain schism in Kiithid civilization, which resulted in terrible civil war. Most of those who suffered but survived eventually banded together to reform as cultured societies, but there are some who no longer care for any semblance of civilization. These are the Khaaneph, who prioritize survival at any cost, including their humanity.
In the canon that Blackbird Interactive has written for Deserts of Kharak, the Khaaneph are hard-bitten raiders, feared even by the Gaalsien for how cold they are. They are even rumoured to be cannibals.
KHAANEPH GAMEPLAY:
Like the Sobani are a variation of the standardized fleet Coalition, the Khaaneph is a variant of the Gaalsien fleet. However, where the Sobani’s differences were officially sanctioned, the Khaaneph resemble the Gaalsien because they rob and pillage the Gaalsien frequently, adapting their technology for their own use.
As for what constitutes their “own use”, that is their preference for fire saturation (i.e. doles of bombardment) and even greater mobility for escaping reprisal, or running down fleeing enemies.
KHAANEPH CARRIER:
The greatest differences between the Khaaneph and their Gaalsien prey are in the former’s Carrier. In fact, the Khaanephi Carrier looks wildly different; even the Sobani would not go as far in making their Carrier look different from the standard Coalition one (but then they are canonically part of the Coalition).
The Khaaneph has somehow figured out how to have the Mobility system of the standard Gaalsien Carrier project its benefits to other nearby units, thus improving their speed as well. This addresses a problem with the Gaalsien Carrier, which was that at its highest power level, the Mobility system causes the Carrier to overtake slow units like Cruisers. The Khaaneph Carrier has no such problem, but it gets this advantage in return for less top speed.
For better or worse, the Khaaneph has taken some parts from the standard Gaalsien Weapon system, merged them into the standard Range system, and then combined it with the missile barrage ability of the standard Gaalsien Carrier.
The result is a system that automates a missile silo and launcher. Each missile is as powerful as one of those that are used in the standard Gaalsien missile barrage, but it costs next to nothing to make these missiles and launch them. This gives the Khaaneph the ability to launch long-range missiles whenever they want, including even in the early game.
However, the player needs to manually launch each missile, and it takes a while for each missile to be made and reloaded. Moreover, the Khaaneph Carrier does not have missile launchers in its standard armament, and the range of its sensor suites can never be improved. This means that the Khaaneph is ill-suited for strategies that are not about mobility.
KHAANEPHI UNITS:
The Khaaneph retains most of the Gaalsien units, albeit they significantly alter their appearances. Most of their units function similarly, with the exception of some.
The Siege Cruiser is one of these that received their attention. Where the standard Gaalsien siege cruiser fires missiles in parabolic arcs to go over terrain and obstacles that break line of sight, the Khaaneph’s fires their missiles straight. Somehow, their missiles travel further and hit harder too. Furthermore, the Khaanephi Siege Cruiser is faster and sturdier, making it much more capable of furious assaults. Of course, this comes at the cost of being susceptible to obstacles that break line of fire.
The Khaanephi Baserunner has completely different abilities compared to the Gaalsien one. It can release smoke clouds where it is, preventing direct fire from the enemy. It can also deploy explosive drones that follow it around, dutifully chase after enemies that get too close and blow them up. The Baserunner can have up to 8 drones following it around, but each one has a small cost and has to be manually made. On the other hand, if the player is already used to the micromanagement that other Baserunners require, the Khaaneph’s would not be a problem.
The Khaanephi Production Cruiser is like the Gaalsien’s, but it also projects the Carrier’s ability to bolster the speed of other units. This makes it capable of leading and supporting flanking attacks.
VOICE-OVER PACKS:
The DLC packs come with voice-over clips for the Sobani and Khaanephi units. As befitting a Kiith that tends to take action as early as possible, the Sobani speak their lines at a rushed clip and are more likely to start shouting when things get hot. Having divested themselves of much of their feelings of empathy and sympathy, the Khaaneph are cold, only barely revealing a sense of urgency in dire situations.
CONCLUSION:
Gameplay-wise, the DLC packs that implement the Khaaneph and Kiith Soban as factions for use in skirmish and multiplayer matches work as intended. They play similarly enough to the default factions that players that have played the base game would not have much trouble learning about them. Indeed, there is the impression that they have been designed after receiving player feedback on how the Coalition and Gaalsien fleets can be tweaked to better support specific playstyles.
Yet, the packs are well below the achievement that Blackbird Interactive has made by having even made Deserts of Kharak in the first place. A long-time follower of the Homeworld series that remembers the games more for their epic story-telling and challenging campaigns would be quite disappointed at how low that the developers are aiming after what they have managed to do.