Long ago, when the word 'Hiigara' rang only as a hollow dream, the kiith of Kharak never imagined they would walk the Path to Victory. But, when they reclaimed their Homeworld and proclaimed themselves 'Hiigaran', they believed they had reached their goal. How wrong they were. 150 years after Hiigaran landfall, conflict rages across the Galaxy... Path to Victory is a multiplayer and skirmish mod for Homeworld 2 that adds new units to both Vaygr and Hiigaran Races as well as enabling the Keepers, Raiders and Kadeshi as playable races.
Note: Removed old cruiser pic as it just looked horrid.
What better way to get back into modding than by making new models (and crappy textures).
Today I'd like to present something a long time coming. About 2 months ago IPS asked Talros if he might share his thoughts (and by that I mean artistic talent) on a Taiidan Mercenary Cruiser for Path to Victory. Talros, generous as he is (and also an expert on designing Taiidan ships), put together a piece of work - which I finally managed to get into a 3d model... with some minor alterations.
So, today I'm presenting the Black Guard Mercenaries who can be hired if you are playing the raiders. Ex-Taiidan Imperialists, the Black Guard have access to some pretty nifty toys - but come at a price.
One of those toys is the Light Cruiser, shown here. It is armed with four heavy cannons and an Ion Turret. Designed just after the fall of the Taiidan Empire, the Quaar-Tel is a smaller version of the feared Qwaar-Jet which just turned out to be too costly to produce en masse without an entire empire of logistics to support the space docks.
All the same, the Quaar-Tel is a force to be reckoned with. It can take on any capital ship or frigate and often times comes out alive when under the command of a competent captain. Unlike earlier Taiidan Cruisers, the Quaar-Tel is highly maneuverable and capable of keeping pace with even the fastest ships in the fleet, making it an ideal weapon for the kind of quick raids that Taiidan Loyalists found themselves running after the fall of their empires.
To the Turanics, this firepower could not be more welcome. However the Turanic clans do not trust the Black Guard any farther than their money extends. Bought and paid for however, any Pirate Captain will welcome a Quaar-Tel into his fleet...
Just out of mere curiosity, will these mercenaries be available for hire to any of the other races?
Be that the case or not, this is a beautiful piece of work and I can't wait to see it in the next release!
They will be available only to the raiders. From a utility standpoint the idea is to give the raiders more combat-ready ships (their ships are not really great in head to head combat) while at the same time getting the taiidan race into PTV in some form.
Thank you :) we're working hard towards the next release so hopefully it won't be too long.
Ahhh! You changed the Turrets! Nice!
Yeah - the old ones looked horrid and more like something on a WW1 battleship than a sleek taiidan cruiser.
Yeah I like the idea of it having a missile pack, kinda makes it seem like a vaygr AF on pcp, but that's not a bad thing.
All right, there's a slightly newer version of this model you won't be seeing any time soon until I release images of the rest of the merc stuff. Basically, added a few tibits and the missile launcher from the concept art (more or less).
Mmm... I dunno about the classic taiidans, but definetely this one looks like taiidani-turani mix - remember, as was shown in Cata game/manual, taiidani loyalist joined forces with turanic raiders.