Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
by Blackbird Interactive · 20 Jan, 2016
10 downloads
Multiplayer · Cracked Only
Cracked Co-op Only
Online works only between cracked copies — you can't join official servers or players who bought the game.
Update Available
ProtonDB: Gold
About the Game
HOMEWORLD: DESERTS OF KHARAK
A ground-based RTS prequel to the classic Homeworld games. Assemble your fleet and lead them to victory on the shifting sands of Kharak in this compelling strategy game. Crafted by Blackbird Interactive, a studio founded by veterans of Homeworld and Company of Heroes, Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak takes players to the deserts of Kharak where danger lurks over every dune.
EXPERIENCE AN ORIGIN STORY
In Deserts of Kharak’s campaign, an anomaly is discovered deep in the southern desert. An expedition is sent, but the story is not that simple. Discover the story of Rachel S'jet as she leads her people on a quest to find their destiny in an exciting campaign.
HEAVY DUTY HARDWARE
Take control of fleets of land and air vehicles – from nimble light attack vehicles to massive heavyweight cruisers – built to conquer the desert.
MASSIVE ENVIRONMENTS
Fight your way across massive dune seas, deep craters, and hostile canyons in sprawling maps – all in unprecedented fidelity and scale.
TACTICAL COMBAT
Position your fleet to take advantage of the high ground or create ambushes across dune lines in terrestrial combat. Attack your enemies’ resource operations, or assault their military head-on.
STRATEGIC DECISIONS
Meaningful choices in resource management, fleet composition, and technology research directly impact your chances of survival.
ONLINE MULTIPLAYER
Compete online solo or with friends in a variety of game modes, including ranked play, to rise through the ranks and become the most powerful Fleet Captain on Kharak.
Before you can find your Homeworld, you must first unlock the secrets of the desert.
A ground-based RTS prequel to the classic Homeworld games. Assemble your fleet and lead them to victory on the shifting sands of Kharak in this compelling strategy game. Crafted by Blackbird Interactive, a studio founded by veterans of Homeworld and Company of Heroes, Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak takes players to the deserts of Kharak where danger lurks over every dune.
EXPERIENCE AN ORIGIN STORY
In Deserts of Kharak’s campaign, an anomaly is discovered deep in the southern desert. An expedition is sent, but the story is not that simple. Discover the story of Rachel S'jet as she leads her people on a quest to find their destiny in an exciting campaign.
HEAVY DUTY HARDWARE
Take control of fleets of land and air vehicles – from nimble light attack vehicles to massive heavyweight cruisers – built to conquer the desert.
MASSIVE ENVIRONMENTS
Fight your way across massive dune seas, deep craters, and hostile canyons in sprawling maps – all in unprecedented fidelity and scale.
TACTICAL COMBAT
Position your fleet to take advantage of the high ground or create ambushes across dune lines in terrestrial combat. Attack your enemies’ resource operations, or assault their military head-on.
STRATEGIC DECISIONS
Meaningful choices in resource management, fleet composition, and technology research directly impact your chances of survival.
ONLINE MULTIPLAYER
Compete online solo or with friends in a variety of game modes, including ranked play, to rise through the ranks and become the most powerful Fleet Captain on Kharak.
Before you can find your Homeworld, you must first unlock the secrets of the desert.
Screenshots
9 images
Version Information
Steam Patch Notes
Official update history
On the site: Build v1.3.0
·
Latest on Steam: Build 12339551
Update available
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak 1.4.4 Update
Hello, Homeworld fans. We’re happy to share a new update is available now for Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. This update should download automatically; if you’re having trouble, try restarting your Steam or EGS client.
* Fixed an issue where the ping displayed in online lobbies was showing a default value of 60 instead of the real ping value
* Fixed an issue where players in an Automatch Lobby would get removed spontaneously
* Fixed an issue where players would be stuck in a solo lobby while transitioning between Automatch Lobbies
* Fixed an issue where a player disconnecting from an Automatch would end the match for all players
If you encounter any issues with this update, please submit a ticket to Gearbox Support.
View on Steam
Hello, Homeworld fans. We’re happy to share a new update is available now for Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. This update should download automatically; if you’re having trouble, try restarting your Steam or EGS client.
* Fixed an issue where the ping displayed in online lobbies was showing a default value of 60 instead of the real ping value
* Fixed an issue where players in an Automatch Lobby would get removed spontaneously
* Fixed an issue where players would be stuck in a solo lobby while transitioning between Automatch Lobbies
* Fixed an issue where a player disconnecting from an Automatch would end the match for all players
If you encounter any issues with this update, please submit a ticket to Gearbox Support.
A new update is available today for all Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak players. The 1.4.3 Update makes further progress on our commitment to improve online stability for multiplayer matchmaking by addressing several outstanding bugs. This update should download automatically; if you’re having trouble, try restarting your Steam or EGS client.
If you encounter any issues with this update, please submit a ticket to Gearbox Support.
We thank the Homeworld community for its continued support. Please stay tuned to Homeworld social channels, as well as homeworlduniverse.com, for more information on Homeworld 3 as we approach launch in February 2024.
👇 WISHLIST NOW 👇
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1840080/Homeworld_3/
View on Steam
- Fixed a bug where joining directly or accepting an invite to an automatch lobby would break the lobby
- Fixed a bug where accepting an invite would not transition players into an automatch lobby
- Fixed a bug where players would sometimes be placed in a solo lobby while transitioning between automatch lobbies
- Fixed a bug where players would sometimes be entered into a 1vs1 match when searching for a 3vs3 automatch
- Fixed a bug where the Epic Sign-in checkbox would not stay ticked when clicked
- Fixed a bug where public lobbies would sometimes not be visible to players
- Fixed a bug where a player outside of the game would not be placed into a lobby after receiving an invite
- Fixed a bug where players would be removed from a lobby after some time
If you encounter any issues with this update, please submit a ticket to Gearbox Support.
We thank the Homeworld community for its continued support. Please stay tuned to Homeworld social channels, as well as homeworlduniverse.com, for more information on Homeworld 3 as we approach launch in February 2024.
👇 WISHLIST NOW 👇
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1840080/Homeworld_3/
A new update is available today for all Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak players. The 1.4.3 Update makes further progress on our commitment to improve online stability for multiplayer matchmaking by addressing several outstanding bugs. This update should download automatically; if you’re having trouble, try restarting your Steam client.
* Fixed a bug where joining directly or accepting an invite to an automatch lobby would break the lobby
* Fixed a bug where accepting an invite would not transition players into an automatch lobby
* Fixed a bug where players would sometimes be placed in a solo lobby while transitioning between automatch lobbies
* Fixed a bug where players would sometimes be entered into a 1vs1 match when searching for a 3vs3 automatch
* Fixed a bug where the Epic Sign-in checkbox would not stay ticked when clicked
* Fixed a bug where public lobbies would sometimes not be visible to players
* Fixed a bug where a player outside of the game would not be placed into a lobby after receiving an invite
* Fixed a bug where players would be removed from a lobby after some time
View on Steam
* Fixed a bug where joining directly or accepting an invite to an automatch lobby would break the lobby
* Fixed a bug where accepting an invite would not transition players into an automatch lobby
* Fixed a bug where players would sometimes be placed in a solo lobby while transitioning between automatch lobbies
* Fixed a bug where players would sometimes be entered into a 1vs1 match when searching for a 3vs3 automatch
* Fixed a bug where the Epic Sign-in checkbox would not stay ticked when clicked
* Fixed a bug where public lobbies would sometimes not be visible to players
* Fixed a bug where a player outside of the game would not be placed into a lobby after receiving an invite
* Fixed a bug where players would be removed from a lobby after some time
We have released the Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak 1.4.2 Update to all players today. This update, which addresses some of the desync and lobby issues that we’ve seen in online multiplayer games recently, should download automatically; if you’re having trouble, try restarting your Steam or EGS client.
If you encounter any issues with this update, please submit a ticket to Gearbox Support.
We thank the Homeworld community for its continued support. Please stay tuned to Homeworld social channels, as well as homeworlduniverse.com, for more information on Homeworld 3 as we approach launch in February 2024.
👇 WISHLIST NOW 👇
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1840080/Homeworld_3/
View on Steam
- Fixed an issue where full match desyncs would occur on the Khar-Toba level
- Fixed an issue where leaderboards results were not calculated or displayed properly
- Fixed an issue causing match start countdown timer to be interrupted by another player attempting to join the lobby
- Fixed an issue that would prevent the host of a 4+ player lobby to start the match after one of the players would leave the lobby
If you encounter any issues with this update, please submit a ticket to Gearbox Support.
We thank the Homeworld community for its continued support. Please stay tuned to Homeworld social channels, as well as homeworlduniverse.com, for more information on Homeworld 3 as we approach launch in February 2024.
👇 WISHLIST NOW 👇
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1840080/Homeworld_3/
* Fixed an issue where full match desyncs would occur on the Khar-Toba level
* Fixed an issue where leaderboards results were not calculated or displayed properly
* Fixed an issue causing match start countdown timer to be interrupted by another player attempting to join the lobby
* Fixed an issue that would prevent the host of a 4+ player lobby to start the match after one of the players would leave the lobby
If you encounter any issues with this beta patch, please submit a ticket to Gearbox Support.
We thank the Homeworld community for its continued support.
View on Steam
* Fixed an issue where leaderboards results were not calculated or displayed properly
* Fixed an issue causing match start countdown timer to be interrupted by another player attempting to join the lobby
* Fixed an issue that would prevent the host of a 4+ player lobby to start the match after one of the players would leave the lobby
If you encounter any issues with this beta patch, please submit a ticket to Gearbox Support.
We thank the Homeworld community for its continued support.
When we launched Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak’s 1.4 Update Preview, it was our intention to give modders an opportunity to update their work prior to 1.4 going live. While we haven’t had the smoothest launch, we are thankful for the community’s swift reporting on issues that only surfaced once 1.4 was available to all Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak players.
Reporting of these issues by the community has helped us immensely, informing key fixes for this 1.4.1 update:
We also want to take a moment to address some confusion about Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak’s multiplayer. The game now uses Epic Online Services, but it is not required for Steam players to enable the Epic Sign-In check-box to enable crossplay between Steam and EGS. Ticking the check-box enables additional functionality provided by Epic Online Services, such as the Epic Overlay and the ability to invite EGS players to a lobby from one's Epic friends list. Disabling the Epic Sign-In will still allow you to join matches hosted by EGS players and have EGS players join matches you host. We are currently looking at how we can more clearly communicate this in-game.
The 1.4.1 Update, while providing some key fixes, does not cover the entire list of issues players have flagged since the release of the 1.4 Update. We are aware there is more work to do and are committed to ensuring all players can enjoy Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. Thank you for your patience and support as we work to get there.
View on Steam
Reporting of these issues by the community has helped us immensely, informing key fixes for this 1.4.1 update:
- Fixed issue where certain characters in Lobby names would make the player list appear bugged
- Fixed issue where players could join a full Lobby right before game start, crashing the match
- Fixed issue where desync would occur if another player left the match early
- Fixed issue where Steam overlay invites would not work when sent from a Private Lobby
- Fixed issue where players disconnecting from the post-match screen would need to restart the game before they could join a new match
We also want to take a moment to address some confusion about Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak’s multiplayer. The game now uses Epic Online Services, but it is not required for Steam players to enable the Epic Sign-In check-box to enable crossplay between Steam and EGS. Ticking the check-box enables additional functionality provided by Epic Online Services, such as the Epic Overlay and the ability to invite EGS players to a lobby from one's Epic friends list. Disabling the Epic Sign-In will still allow you to join matches hosted by EGS players and have EGS players join matches you host. We are currently looking at how we can more clearly communicate this in-game.
The 1.4.1 Update, while providing some key fixes, does not cover the entire list of issues players have flagged since the release of the 1.4 Update. We are aware there is more work to do and are committed to ensuring all players can enjoy Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. Thank you for your patience and support as we work to get there.
- Fixed issue where certain characters in Lobby names would make the player list appear bugged
- Fixed issue where players could join a full Lobby right before game start, crashing the match
- Fixed issue where desync would occur if another player left the match early
- Fixed issue where Steam overlay invites would not work when sent from a Private Lobby
- Fixed issue where players disconnecting from the post-match screen would need to restart the game before they could join a new match
Details of what's in the Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak 1.4 Update is as follows:
* Adds cross-platform online multiplayer between Steam and EGS players
* Updates game credits to include additional departments and individuals from Gearbox and Gasket Games who contributed to the game
* Adds a preview screen for Homeworld 3
* Includes no gameplay or balancing changes
View on Steam
* Adds cross-platform online multiplayer between Steam and EGS players
* Updates game credits to include additional departments and individuals from Gearbox and Gasket Games who contributed to the game
* Adds a preview screen for Homeworld 3
* Includes no gameplay or balancing changes
Version 1.2.1
Nov 21, 2017
Ranked ladder season 2 starts today! Fight for your place in Kharak’s history.
Greetings Everyone!
Below you will find the comprehensive patch notes for Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak Patch 1.3.0. Our goal with this patch is to address several issues that we know are important to the Deserts of Kharak community. These changes include several fixes for single player campaign bugs, updates to the multiplayer and skirmish AI, fixes for multiplayer maps, and the addition of “Tactical Pause” to the single player campaign and skirmish modes. The patch also includes a large number of multiplayer balance changes and will be accompanied by a ladder reset
Be sure to look for Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak and the Soban and Khaaneph Fleet packs on sale online this upcoming holiday season.
Features
Tactical Pause
Tactical Pause is a feature that has become quite polarizing in the world of RTS games. Many people argue that tactical pause undermines the concept of “real time” strategy. However Tactical Pause has always been a part of the Homeworld franchise, and people expect it to feature in any Homeworld game. Its absence was a mistake which has now been rectified.
The player can now pause the game in the single player campaign and in skirmish games using the “P” key. During tactical pause players can issue combat, movement, and build commands to units which will be carried out once the game has become unpaused. There is audio feedback for any commands issued while paused, with visual feedback confirming the commands once the player unpauses the game.
Like all hotkeys, the Pause hotkey “P” is configurable by editing the custom.dokhotkeys file found in the backup and cloud files in the Deserts of Kharak Steam folder
(~Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Deserts of Kharak\out\backup\custom.dokhotkeys).
Skirmish and Multiplayer AI
It was also important to us to improve the AI in Patch 1.3.0 to improve the single player skirmish and multiplayer experience. It was common for a skilled player to easily beat 2 or sometimes even 3 Hard AIs single-handedly. While the AI is skilled at applying early pressure and capturing artifacts, it would often run out of resources and stop building units in the middle of the game. The following two changes have been made to improve this issue.
Hard AI Resourcing – We have altered Hard AI resource harvesting to increase the rate at which they collect resources while slowing the rate at which they deplete resource nodes. This will improve how the AI scales into the late game in skirmishes and in multiplayer games, as they will no longer run out of resources and stop producing units halfway through the game. Easy and Normal AI remain unchanged in this respect.
AI Air Sorties – AI Air Sorties no longer prioritize targeting Salvagers, Carriers and Support units over combat units. This change will improve the effectiveness of AI air units both offensively and defensively.This change impacts Easy, Normal and Hard AIs.
Bug Fixes
General
DLC Bug – A softlock often experienced when player without one of the two DLC factions played a multiplayer game against an opponent utilizing that DLC faction. This issue has now been fixed.
Coalition and Soban Gunship Veterancy Bug – The multiplayer version of the Coalition and Soban gunship were utilizing the campaign veterancy table and experience values. They have been updated with new veterancy experience values and now utilize the correct veterancy table.
Gaalsien and Khaaneph Production Cruiser Tooltip Bug – Level 2 veterancy for the multiplayer versions of Gaalsien and Khaaneph Production Cruiser was incorrectly giving 5 armor. This is now fixed to properly give the 3 armor stated in the tooltip.
Campaign
*Warning possible campaign story spoilers below for those that have not finished the campaign.
Mission 03 – Cape Wrath – Campaign Bug – During the final cutscene of mission three it was possible for the player to see two versions of the Carrier Kapisi if they had positioned their carrier at the mouth of the canyon exit before the mission ended. This has been fixed.
Mission 04 – Kalash Site – Campaign Bug – A progression blocking bug caused by the creation of an invulnerable unit preventing the player from completing the mission objective of “Destroy all remaining Gaalsien forces”. This issue has been fixed.
Mission 12 – Torin Crater – Campaign Bug – There was a scripting error which was preventing the Siidim forces from properly pursuing and attacking Rachel S’jet and her escort at the start of the mission. The Siidim forces will now behave as intended.
Multiplayer and Skirmish Map Bugs
Taiidan Passage Map Bug – A map bug caused by an area of what was supposed to be impassible terrain at the edge of the map was allowing units to path through it. Units pathing in this area could get drawn in and then become permanently stuck. The path-blocking navmeshes on both the two and four player versions of this map have been updated to prevent this issue.
The Shallows Map Bug – There was a passage between the terrain that separated the primary resource locations and the artifact extraction zones that looked like it should be pathable visually, but when attempting to send a unit through the passage it was forced to travel around the terrain. This has been fixed to allow small and medium sized units through this passage on both the two and four player versions of this map.
Gaalsien Territories Map Bug – Due to a combination of the dune placement around one of the artifact extraction zones and the isometric camera angle, it was possible for the player to be misled as to the actual perimeter of the artifact extraction zone, leading to mistakes when trying to extract an artifact with a Baserunner. The extraction zones have been moved to slightly flatter ground to help rectify this issue.
Balance Changes
The overarching goal of these balance changes are twofold: To improve parity between factions, and to improve the viability of several underutilized units. We hope these changes will create viable alternatives to the army compositions and tech choices prevalent in the current metagame. In particular we have made adjustments to the Cruiser class vehicles in the hope that they will play a larger role in the new metagame.
Coalition
The Coalition Faction came into this patch as a strong faction with a solid set of core units. They had strong early game aggression potential with Armored Assault Vehicles followed by the Mid and Late game strength of its Railguns, Strike fighters and Carrier. These core strengths often led to Coalition faction play being somewhat narrow, with several units seeing little or no play in most games.
The Assault Cruiser, Battle Cruiser, Coalition Bomber and Gunship have all seen significant buffs in the hopes that they will more often find roles within coalition players armies.
The Gunship in particular almost never saw competitive play, with the exception of an occasional gimmicky Gunship rush that could occasionally catch an opponent off guard. The Gunship was unable to fulfill its intended niche due to its inability to deal significant damage to armored units. To rectify this issue we have dropped the Gunship’s attack from 5 damage packets to 4, giving it a 20% improvement to its effectiveness against armor. We have also made the Gunship significantly cheaper while also increasing its build time, to make it a more appealing unit while preventing it from coming online too early.
The ability of the AAV to pressure an opponent’s economies in the early game was easy to execute and hard to stop. In order to rein in this overwhelming aggression the AAV has seen a nerf to its armor. While this does not completely stop the AAV’s effectiveness for economic harassment, it does enable greater degrees of counterplay and improves the effectiveness of opposing Carriers in defending their resourcing operations.
The Coalition Artillery Cruiser’s build time has also been significantly increased so it is more in line with that of the Gaalsien and Khaaneph Siege Cruisers.
Carrier
Carrier base Point Defense weapon Rate of Fire increased from 2 to 3
Carrier repair Beam range increased from 400 to 600
Bomber
Unit CU cost reduced from 600 to 550
Unit RU cost reduced from 290 to 250
Bomber targeting range increased to match Precision bomber
Bomber weapon area of effect increased by 20%
Support Cruiser
Support cruiser fleet cost reduced from 8 to 6
Assault Cruiser
Unit CU cost reduced from 550 to 500
Unit RU cost reduced from 300 to 250
Assault Cruiser tech research time decreased from 110 to 80
Assault Cruiser build time increased from 55 to 65
Artillery Cruiser
Artillery Cruiser build time increased from 55 to 70
Gunship
Damage Packets per Shot decreased from 5 to 4
Weapon AoE decreased from 160 to 150
Build Time increased from 32 to 55
Unit CU cost reduced from 680 to 380
Unit RU cost reduced from 280 to 250
Gunship Veterancy Experience requirements decreased
Level 1: From 5500xp to 1300xp
Level 2: From 8000xp to 2470xp
Level 3: From 12000xp to 4693xp
Level 4: From 18500xp to 8917xp
Level 5: From 27500xp to 16942xp
Armored Assault Vehicle
Base armor value decrease from 10 to 8
Battle Cruiser
Battle Cruiser tech research time decreased from 130 to 110
Battle Cruiser build time decreased from 80 to 75
Gaalsien
The Gaalsien faction was in a very strong place coming into this patch with a solid set of units, and an exceptionally strong Carrier. The largest issue for the Gaalsien was a Baserunner that was more often retired for resources than used to capture artifacts or to support a player’s army. To remedy this we have improved both the Gaalsien Baserunner’s Scanner and Healing abilities, greatly increasing its utility.
In Patch 1.3.0 the Gaalsien see a decrease in tech research times for the Honorguard Cruiser and increase in the tech research times for their Siege Cruiser. This is to help the Honorguard Cruiser to become a viable alternative as a mid-late game cruiser choice for the Gaalsien.
We have also decreased the base rate of fire for the Carrier Point Defense systems, and removed the discount on the cost of the Power Level 6 research to bring their Carrier more in line with other factions.
Carrier
Carrier base Point Defense weapon Rate of Fire decreased from 10 to 8
Carrier Power Level 6 tech research cost increase from 1100 CU and 600 RU to 1300 CU and 700 RU
Baserunner
Baserunner Deploy Scanner ability cooldown decreased from 300 to 200
Baserunner Repair ability cost decreased from 250 to 0
Heavy Railgun
Heavy Railgun unit cost increase from 85 RU to 90 RU
Salvager
Salvager armor increased from 0 to 2
Honorguard Cruiser
Honorguard Cruiser tech research time decreased from 100 to 85
Honorguard Cruiser hit points decreased from 3800 to 3600
Siege Cruiser
Siege Cruiser tech research time increased from 75 to 90
Soban
In version 1.2.1 the Soban were in a tough spot. They suffered the same weak spots as the Coalition faction, with the additional drawbacks of a carrier that struggled to fend off early aggression and was ineffective against enemy Carriers in lategame Carrier battles. Compounding this issue was the Soban Battle Cruiser that lacked the damage output of its Coalition counterpart while also suffering from poor accuracy.
In patch 1.3.0 we have taken several steps to remedy this issue. Significantly increasing the damage potential of the Soban Carrier’s Railgun Point Defense systems, and improving both the accuracy and damage of the Soban Battle Cruiser.
In addition to these changes, the Soban will benefit from the same improvements to the Assault Cruiser, Bomber and Gunship as their Coalition counterparts. Likewise the Soban are seeing the same reduction in AAV armor, and increase in Artillery Cruiser build times.
Carrier
Carrier base Point Defense weapon damage increased from 100 to 160
Soban Carrier weapon power lvl 4 turret cooldown time decreased from 1600 to 1500
Soban Carrier weapon power lvl 5 turret cooldown time decreased from 1600 to 1000
Armed Logistic Module base deployment range decreased from 1650 to 1200
ALM Deployment Cooldown increased from 0 to 5
ALM Power Level deployment range bonus rescaled:
Level 1: Remains at 500
Level 2: Remains at 1000
Level 3: Remains at 1500
Level 4: From 2000 to 1800
Level 5: From 4000 to 2000
Bomber
Unit CU cost reduced from 600 to 550
Unit RU cost reduced from 290 to 250
Bomber targeting range increased from 300 to 400
Bomber weapon area of effect increased by 20%
Support Cruiser
Support cruiser fleet cost reduced from 8 to 6
Assault Cruiser
Unit CU cost reduced from 550 to 500
Unit RU cost reduced from 300 to 250
Assault Cruiser tech research time decreased from 110 to 80
Assault Cruiser build time increased from 55 to 65
Armored Assault Vehicle
Base armor value decreased from 10 to 8
Gunship
Damage Packets per Shot decreased from 5 to 4
Weapon AoE decreased from 160 to 150
Build Time increased from 32 to 55
Unit CU cost reduced from 680 to 380
Unit RU cost reduced from 280 to 250
Gunship Veterancy Experience requirements decreased
Level 1: From 5500xp to 1300xp
Level 2: From 8000xp to 2470xp
Level 3: From 12000xp to 4693xp
Level 4: From 18500xp to 8917xp
Level 5: From 27500xp to 16942xp
Artillery Cruiser
Artillery Cruiser build time increased from 55 to 70
Battle Cruiser
Battle Cruiser tech research time decreased from 130 to 110
Battle Cruiser build time decreased from 80 to 75
Battle Cruiser damage increased from 270 to 320
Battle Cruiser short-range accuracy penalty removed
Khaaneph
Like the Gaalsien, the Khaaneph were in a very strong position in version 1.2.1. The midgame power of their Carrier and Siege Cruiser were hard to match.
The Khaaneph see a decrease in tech research times for the Honorguard Cruiser and increase in the tech research times for their Siege Cruiser. They also see minor nerfs to the survivability of their Siege Cruiser to bring it more in line with the Siege and Artillery Cruisers from the other factions. This should also make the Honorguard Cruiser more appealing as an alternative as a mid-late game cruiser choice.
The Khaaneph also see a minor nerf to the Shadowrunner Blast Drone build time. This is to slightly slow down the time it takes to get two blast drones into an opponent’s resource line, which could often cause the game to end before it had even started. While the change is minor it should enable a little extra room for defensive scouting and appropriate counterplay to occur.
Shadowrunner
Shadowrunner Blast Drone build time increased from 14 to 20
Heavy Railgun
Heavy Railgun unit cost increase from 85 RU to 90 RU
Salvager
Salvager armor increased from 0 to 2
Honorguard Cruiser
Honorguard Cruiser tech research time decreased from 100 to 85
Honorguard Cruiser hit points decreased from 3800 to 3600
Siege Cruiser
Siege Cruiser tech research time increased from 75 to 90
Siege Cruiser hit points decreased from 3500 to 3350
Siege Cruiser armor decreased from 18 to 16
Removed damage penalty versus Carriers (formerly dealt 50% damage to enemy Carriers)
View on Steam
Greetings Everyone!
Below you will find the comprehensive patch notes for Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak Patch 1.3.0. Our goal with this patch is to address several issues that we know are important to the Deserts of Kharak community. These changes include several fixes for single player campaign bugs, updates to the multiplayer and skirmish AI, fixes for multiplayer maps, and the addition of “Tactical Pause” to the single player campaign and skirmish modes. The patch also includes a large number of multiplayer balance changes and will be accompanied by a ladder reset
Be sure to look for Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak and the Soban and Khaaneph Fleet packs on sale online this upcoming holiday season.
Features
Tactical Pause
Tactical Pause is a feature that has become quite polarizing in the world of RTS games. Many people argue that tactical pause undermines the concept of “real time” strategy. However Tactical Pause has always been a part of the Homeworld franchise, and people expect it to feature in any Homeworld game. Its absence was a mistake which has now been rectified.
The player can now pause the game in the single player campaign and in skirmish games using the “P” key. During tactical pause players can issue combat, movement, and build commands to units which will be carried out once the game has become unpaused. There is audio feedback for any commands issued while paused, with visual feedback confirming the commands once the player unpauses the game.
Like all hotkeys, the Pause hotkey “P” is configurable by editing the custom.dokhotkeys file found in the backup and cloud files in the Deserts of Kharak Steam folder
(~Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Deserts of Kharak\out\backup\custom.dokhotkeys).
Skirmish and Multiplayer AI
It was also important to us to improve the AI in Patch 1.3.0 to improve the single player skirmish and multiplayer experience. It was common for a skilled player to easily beat 2 or sometimes even 3 Hard AIs single-handedly. While the AI is skilled at applying early pressure and capturing artifacts, it would often run out of resources and stop building units in the middle of the game. The following two changes have been made to improve this issue.
Hard AI Resourcing – We have altered Hard AI resource harvesting to increase the rate at which they collect resources while slowing the rate at which they deplete resource nodes. This will improve how the AI scales into the late game in skirmishes and in multiplayer games, as they will no longer run out of resources and stop producing units halfway through the game. Easy and Normal AI remain unchanged in this respect.
AI Air Sorties – AI Air Sorties no longer prioritize targeting Salvagers, Carriers and Support units over combat units. This change will improve the effectiveness of AI air units both offensively and defensively.This change impacts Easy, Normal and Hard AIs.
Bug Fixes
General
DLC Bug – A softlock often experienced when player without one of the two DLC factions played a multiplayer game against an opponent utilizing that DLC faction. This issue has now been fixed.
Coalition and Soban Gunship Veterancy Bug – The multiplayer version of the Coalition and Soban gunship were utilizing the campaign veterancy table and experience values. They have been updated with new veterancy experience values and now utilize the correct veterancy table.
Gaalsien and Khaaneph Production Cruiser Tooltip Bug – Level 2 veterancy for the multiplayer versions of Gaalsien and Khaaneph Production Cruiser was incorrectly giving 5 armor. This is now fixed to properly give the 3 armor stated in the tooltip.
Campaign
*Warning possible campaign story spoilers below for those that have not finished the campaign.
Mission 03 – Cape Wrath – Campaign Bug – During the final cutscene of mission three it was possible for the player to see two versions of the Carrier Kapisi if they had positioned their carrier at the mouth of the canyon exit before the mission ended. This has been fixed.
Mission 04 – Kalash Site – Campaign Bug – A progression blocking bug caused by the creation of an invulnerable unit preventing the player from completing the mission objective of “Destroy all remaining Gaalsien forces”. This issue has been fixed.
Mission 12 – Torin Crater – Campaign Bug – There was a scripting error which was preventing the Siidim forces from properly pursuing and attacking Rachel S’jet and her escort at the start of the mission. The Siidim forces will now behave as intended.
Multiplayer and Skirmish Map Bugs
Taiidan Passage Map Bug – A map bug caused by an area of what was supposed to be impassible terrain at the edge of the map was allowing units to path through it. Units pathing in this area could get drawn in and then become permanently stuck. The path-blocking navmeshes on both the two and four player versions of this map have been updated to prevent this issue.
The Shallows Map Bug – There was a passage between the terrain that separated the primary resource locations and the artifact extraction zones that looked like it should be pathable visually, but when attempting to send a unit through the passage it was forced to travel around the terrain. This has been fixed to allow small and medium sized units through this passage on both the two and four player versions of this map.
Gaalsien Territories Map Bug – Due to a combination of the dune placement around one of the artifact extraction zones and the isometric camera angle, it was possible for the player to be misled as to the actual perimeter of the artifact extraction zone, leading to mistakes when trying to extract an artifact with a Baserunner. The extraction zones have been moved to slightly flatter ground to help rectify this issue.
Balance Changes
The overarching goal of these balance changes are twofold: To improve parity between factions, and to improve the viability of several underutilized units. We hope these changes will create viable alternatives to the army compositions and tech choices prevalent in the current metagame. In particular we have made adjustments to the Cruiser class vehicles in the hope that they will play a larger role in the new metagame.
Coalition
The Coalition Faction came into this patch as a strong faction with a solid set of core units. They had strong early game aggression potential with Armored Assault Vehicles followed by the Mid and Late game strength of its Railguns, Strike fighters and Carrier. These core strengths often led to Coalition faction play being somewhat narrow, with several units seeing little or no play in most games.
The Assault Cruiser, Battle Cruiser, Coalition Bomber and Gunship have all seen significant buffs in the hopes that they will more often find roles within coalition players armies.
The Gunship in particular almost never saw competitive play, with the exception of an occasional gimmicky Gunship rush that could occasionally catch an opponent off guard. The Gunship was unable to fulfill its intended niche due to its inability to deal significant damage to armored units. To rectify this issue we have dropped the Gunship’s attack from 5 damage packets to 4, giving it a 20% improvement to its effectiveness against armor. We have also made the Gunship significantly cheaper while also increasing its build time, to make it a more appealing unit while preventing it from coming online too early.
The ability of the AAV to pressure an opponent’s economies in the early game was easy to execute and hard to stop. In order to rein in this overwhelming aggression the AAV has seen a nerf to its armor. While this does not completely stop the AAV’s effectiveness for economic harassment, it does enable greater degrees of counterplay and improves the effectiveness of opposing Carriers in defending their resourcing operations.
The Coalition Artillery Cruiser’s build time has also been significantly increased so it is more in line with that of the Gaalsien and Khaaneph Siege Cruisers.
Carrier
Carrier base Point Defense weapon Rate of Fire increased from 2 to 3
Carrier repair Beam range increased from 400 to 600
Bomber
Unit CU cost reduced from 600 to 550
Unit RU cost reduced from 290 to 250
Bomber targeting range increased to match Precision bomber
Bomber weapon area of effect increased by 20%
Support Cruiser
Support cruiser fleet cost reduced from 8 to 6
Assault Cruiser
Unit CU cost reduced from 550 to 500
Unit RU cost reduced from 300 to 250
Assault Cruiser tech research time decreased from 110 to 80
Assault Cruiser build time increased from 55 to 65
Artillery Cruiser
Artillery Cruiser build time increased from 55 to 70
Gunship
Damage Packets per Shot decreased from 5 to 4
Weapon AoE decreased from 160 to 150
Build Time increased from 32 to 55
Unit CU cost reduced from 680 to 380
Unit RU cost reduced from 280 to 250
Gunship Veterancy Experience requirements decreased
Level 1: From 5500xp to 1300xp
Level 2: From 8000xp to 2470xp
Level 3: From 12000xp to 4693xp
Level 4: From 18500xp to 8917xp
Level 5: From 27500xp to 16942xp
Armored Assault Vehicle
Base armor value decrease from 10 to 8
Battle Cruiser
Battle Cruiser tech research time decreased from 130 to 110
Battle Cruiser build time decreased from 80 to 75
Gaalsien
The Gaalsien faction was in a very strong place coming into this patch with a solid set of units, and an exceptionally strong Carrier. The largest issue for the Gaalsien was a Baserunner that was more often retired for resources than used to capture artifacts or to support a player’s army. To remedy this we have improved both the Gaalsien Baserunner’s Scanner and Healing abilities, greatly increasing its utility.
In Patch 1.3.0 the Gaalsien see a decrease in tech research times for the Honorguard Cruiser and increase in the tech research times for their Siege Cruiser. This is to help the Honorguard Cruiser to become a viable alternative as a mid-late game cruiser choice for the Gaalsien.
We have also decreased the base rate of fire for the Carrier Point Defense systems, and removed the discount on the cost of the Power Level 6 research to bring their Carrier more in line with other factions.
Carrier
Carrier base Point Defense weapon Rate of Fire decreased from 10 to 8
Carrier Power Level 6 tech research cost increase from 1100 CU and 600 RU to 1300 CU and 700 RU
Baserunner
Baserunner Deploy Scanner ability cooldown decreased from 300 to 200
Baserunner Repair ability cost decreased from 250 to 0
Heavy Railgun
Heavy Railgun unit cost increase from 85 RU to 90 RU
Salvager
Salvager armor increased from 0 to 2
Honorguard Cruiser
Honorguard Cruiser tech research time decreased from 100 to 85
Honorguard Cruiser hit points decreased from 3800 to 3600
Siege Cruiser
Siege Cruiser tech research time increased from 75 to 90
Soban
In version 1.2.1 the Soban were in a tough spot. They suffered the same weak spots as the Coalition faction, with the additional drawbacks of a carrier that struggled to fend off early aggression and was ineffective against enemy Carriers in lategame Carrier battles. Compounding this issue was the Soban Battle Cruiser that lacked the damage output of its Coalition counterpart while also suffering from poor accuracy.
In patch 1.3.0 we have taken several steps to remedy this issue. Significantly increasing the damage potential of the Soban Carrier’s Railgun Point Defense systems, and improving both the accuracy and damage of the Soban Battle Cruiser.
In addition to these changes, the Soban will benefit from the same improvements to the Assault Cruiser, Bomber and Gunship as their Coalition counterparts. Likewise the Soban are seeing the same reduction in AAV armor, and increase in Artillery Cruiser build times.
Carrier
Carrier base Point Defense weapon damage increased from 100 to 160
Soban Carrier weapon power lvl 4 turret cooldown time decreased from 1600 to 1500
Soban Carrier weapon power lvl 5 turret cooldown time decreased from 1600 to 1000
Armed Logistic Module base deployment range decreased from 1650 to 1200
ALM Deployment Cooldown increased from 0 to 5
ALM Power Level deployment range bonus rescaled:
Level 1: Remains at 500
Level 2: Remains at 1000
Level 3: Remains at 1500
Level 4: From 2000 to 1800
Level 5: From 4000 to 2000
Bomber
Unit CU cost reduced from 600 to 550
Unit RU cost reduced from 290 to 250
Bomber targeting range increased from 300 to 400
Bomber weapon area of effect increased by 20%
Support Cruiser
Support cruiser fleet cost reduced from 8 to 6
Assault Cruiser
Unit CU cost reduced from 550 to 500
Unit RU cost reduced from 300 to 250
Assault Cruiser tech research time decreased from 110 to 80
Assault Cruiser build time increased from 55 to 65
Armored Assault Vehicle
Base armor value decreased from 10 to 8
Gunship
Damage Packets per Shot decreased from 5 to 4
Weapon AoE decreased from 160 to 150
Build Time increased from 32 to 55
Unit CU cost reduced from 680 to 380
Unit RU cost reduced from 280 to 250
Gunship Veterancy Experience requirements decreased
Level 1: From 5500xp to 1300xp
Level 2: From 8000xp to 2470xp
Level 3: From 12000xp to 4693xp
Level 4: From 18500xp to 8917xp
Level 5: From 27500xp to 16942xp
Artillery Cruiser
Artillery Cruiser build time increased from 55 to 70
Battle Cruiser
Battle Cruiser tech research time decreased from 130 to 110
Battle Cruiser build time decreased from 80 to 75
Battle Cruiser damage increased from 270 to 320
Battle Cruiser short-range accuracy penalty removed
Khaaneph
Like the Gaalsien, the Khaaneph were in a very strong position in version 1.2.1. The midgame power of their Carrier and Siege Cruiser were hard to match.
The Khaaneph see a decrease in tech research times for the Honorguard Cruiser and increase in the tech research times for their Siege Cruiser. They also see minor nerfs to the survivability of their Siege Cruiser to bring it more in line with the Siege and Artillery Cruisers from the other factions. This should also make the Honorguard Cruiser more appealing as an alternative as a mid-late game cruiser choice.
The Khaaneph also see a minor nerf to the Shadowrunner Blast Drone build time. This is to slightly slow down the time it takes to get two blast drones into an opponent’s resource line, which could often cause the game to end before it had even started. While the change is minor it should enable a little extra room for defensive scouting and appropriate counterplay to occur.
Shadowrunner
Shadowrunner Blast Drone build time increased from 14 to 20
Heavy Railgun
Heavy Railgun unit cost increase from 85 RU to 90 RU
Salvager
Salvager armor increased from 0 to 2
Honorguard Cruiser
Honorguard Cruiser tech research time decreased from 100 to 85
Honorguard Cruiser hit points decreased from 3800 to 3600
Siege Cruiser
Siege Cruiser tech research time increased from 75 to 90
Siege Cruiser hit points decreased from 3500 to 3350
Siege Cruiser armor decreased from 18 to 16
Removed damage penalty versus Carriers (formerly dealt 50% damage to enemy Carriers)
General
- Added Polish Language Support
- Minor Fixes to Shift login
View on Steam
- Added Polish Language Support
- Minor Fixes to Shift login
Patch 1.2 Release Notes - Releasing April 26th, 2016
Bug Fixes
- Fixed issues for players connecting to lobbies
- Fixed an issue with camera occasionally getting stuck in orbit mode.
- Fixed some issues with Unit Veterancy not applying correctly on some units
- Fixed issues in Firebase Kriil Map relating to line-of-fire blockage not behaving as expected
Changes
- Enabled fullscreen exclusive (Only works when using DX9. To Activate on DX11 hardware, add the following launch option "-force-d3d9" )
- Added 4 new maps
- Added support for Khaaneph Fleet DLC
- Added Achievements for Khaaneph/Soban
F2 to select ground combat units no longer selects baserunners
Balance Changes
Artifact
- First spawn increased from 120 to 135
- Spawns after initial increased from 240 to 255
GAALSIEN
Gaalsien Missile Barrage
- Damage reduced from 700 to 600
- AoE type changed from no fall off to linear fall off
- AoE size increased from 120 to 200
Bomber
- HP reduced from 1550 to 1250
Assault Ship changes
- 1400 HP
- Damage reduced from 25 to 24
- Cooldown increased from 0.5 to 0.6
- Regen reduced from 30 per sec to 20 per sec
- Assault Ship Armor Upgrades and Railgun Armor Upgrades:
level 1 - 15 seconds - 200 CUs 100 RUs - +3 armor
level 2 - 20 seconds - 200 CUs 200 RUs - +2 armor +100 hp
level 3 - 30 seconds - 250 CUs 300 RUs - +1 armor +200 hp
Sandskimmer Armor Upgrades:
level 1 - 15 seconds - 200 CUs 75 RUs - +2 armor
level 2 - 20 seconds - 200 CUs 150 RUs - +2 armor
Siege Cruiser, and Honor Guard Cruiser fleet cost increased from 5 to 6
COALITION
Support Cruiser AA
- Reload time increased from 3 to 4 seconds
- AoE reduced from 80 to 40
AA turret
- HP increased from 600 to 1100
- AAV Armor Upgrades and Railgun Armor Upgrades:
level 1 - 15 seconds - 250 CUs 100 RUs - +3 armor
level 2 - 20 seconds - 250 CUs 200 RUs - +2 armor +100 hp
level 3 - 30 seconds - 300 CUs 300 RUs - +1 armor +200 hp
Escort Armor Upgrades:
level 1 - 15 seconds - 200 CUs 75 RUs - +2 armor
level 2 - 20 seconds - 200 CUs 150 RUs - +2 armor
Assault Cruiser, Artillery Cruiser, and Battlecruiser fleet cost increased from 5 to 6
Soban Balance Changes
Microwave Emitter
- Missile speed reduced to be on par with Coalition cruise missile speed
- Reduced the initial damage from 600 to 200
Armed Logistics Module
- Railguns will now miss most of the time when engaging the Armed Logistics Module
- Health increased from 800 to 1100
- Damage increased from 30 to 40
- AoE size increased from 0 to 100
- Stun duration increased from 0.4 to 1 second
Baserunner ECM
- Railguns will now miss most of the time when engaging the Baserunner ECM
- Distance to deploy ECM increased from 900 to 1100
- Slows enemies by 10 percent
Railgun
- Damage increased from 160 to 165
For support with Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak or SHiFT, please visit http://support.gearboxsoftware.com
View on Steam
Bug Fixes
- Fixed issues for players connecting to lobbies
- Fixed an issue with camera occasionally getting stuck in orbit mode.
- Fixed some issues with Unit Veterancy not applying correctly on some units
- Fixed issues in Firebase Kriil Map relating to line-of-fire blockage not behaving as expected
Changes
- Enabled fullscreen exclusive (Only works when using DX9. To Activate on DX11 hardware, add the following launch option "-force-d3d9" )
- Added 4 new maps
- Added support for Khaaneph Fleet DLC
- Added Achievements for Khaaneph/Soban
F2 to select ground combat units no longer selects baserunners
Balance Changes
Artifact
- First spawn increased from 120 to 135
- Spawns after initial increased from 240 to 255
GAALSIEN
Gaalsien Missile Barrage
- Damage reduced from 700 to 600
- AoE type changed from no fall off to linear fall off
- AoE size increased from 120 to 200
Bomber
- HP reduced from 1550 to 1250
Assault Ship changes
- 1400 HP
- Damage reduced from 25 to 24
- Cooldown increased from 0.5 to 0.6
- Regen reduced from 30 per sec to 20 per sec
- Assault Ship Armor Upgrades and Railgun Armor Upgrades:
level 1 - 15 seconds - 200 CUs 100 RUs - +3 armor
level 2 - 20 seconds - 200 CUs 200 RUs - +2 armor +100 hp
level 3 - 30 seconds - 250 CUs 300 RUs - +1 armor +200 hp
Sandskimmer Armor Upgrades:
level 1 - 15 seconds - 200 CUs 75 RUs - +2 armor
level 2 - 20 seconds - 200 CUs 150 RUs - +2 armor
Siege Cruiser, and Honor Guard Cruiser fleet cost increased from 5 to 6
COALITION
Support Cruiser AA
- Reload time increased from 3 to 4 seconds
- AoE reduced from 80 to 40
AA turret
- HP increased from 600 to 1100
- AAV Armor Upgrades and Railgun Armor Upgrades:
level 1 - 15 seconds - 250 CUs 100 RUs - +3 armor
level 2 - 20 seconds - 250 CUs 200 RUs - +2 armor +100 hp
level 3 - 30 seconds - 300 CUs 300 RUs - +1 armor +200 hp
Escort Armor Upgrades:
level 1 - 15 seconds - 200 CUs 75 RUs - +2 armor
level 2 - 20 seconds - 200 CUs 150 RUs - +2 armor
Assault Cruiser, Artillery Cruiser, and Battlecruiser fleet cost increased from 5 to 6
Soban Balance Changes
Microwave Emitter
- Missile speed reduced to be on par with Coalition cruise missile speed
- Reduced the initial damage from 600 to 200
Armed Logistics Module
- Railguns will now miss most of the time when engaging the Armed Logistics Module
- Health increased from 800 to 1100
- Damage increased from 30 to 40
- AoE size increased from 0 to 100
- Stun duration increased from 0.4 to 1 second
Baserunner ECM
- Railguns will now miss most of the time when engaging the Baserunner ECM
- Distance to deploy ECM increased from 900 to 1100
- Slows enemies by 10 percent
Railgun
- Damage increased from 160 to 165
For support with Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak or SHiFT, please visit http://support.gearboxsoftware.com
An update (1.1.1.) is rolling out today for Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. This update features various bug fixes.
Bug Fixes
View on Steam
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue that caused save game files to be invalid
- Fixed an issue that could cause infinite load times
- Fixed an issue that resulted in Easy AI being harder than Normal AI
- Fixed a number of issues that could cause instability in player’s connection to game lobbies
Current Release
v1.3.0
Uploaded Aug 24, 2025
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System Requirements
OS
N/A
CPU
Intel Core i3-2100 (3.1 GHz) / AMD A10 5800k (3.8 GHz)
RAM
3 GB RAM
GPU
GeForce GT 440 (1024 MB) / Radeon HD 4890 (1024 MB)
How to Install
1
Download all files
2
Extract the .RAR file to a folder (use WinRAR or 7-Zip)
3
Run DesertsOfKharak.exe to play
Troubleshooting tips
• Run Redist/_CommonRedist installers if game won't start
• Add folder to Windows Defender exclusions
• Run as administrator
Download
Direct link available
Size
4.9 GB
Build
v1.3.0
Password: cracked-games.org or 123
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Download Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak for PC with a direct link or via torrent. Get the full version of Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak for free. Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is a Strategy released by Blackbird Interactive.