Homeworld: Cataclysm - Mission 1 - Hiigara System

Fifteen years after returning to their homeworld, a Hiigaran sect unwittingly releases an alien horror.
Mission overview:
15 years have passed since the Kushan reclaimed Hiigara for themselves. The Taiidan Empire has fractured under civil war. The Taiidan have splintered into the old Taiidan Imperialists and the Taiidan Republic. Kiith Somtaaw without major political power have been forced to live in the stars. Somtaaw must now help Kiith Naabal to defend their Homeworld from another Imperialist attack...
About game:
Homeworld: Cataclysm, also known as Homeworld: Emergence, is the second game in the Homeworld series, following on from Homeworld and preceding Homeworld 2. It was released in September 2000 and was developed by Barking Dog Studios, with some assistance from Relic Entertainment.

[@hisdudeness8328]

Fun fact: Kith-Soomtaw was one of the minor Kiths, and was in danger of being absorbed by one of the larger Kiths due to their prowess for engineering and construction. It was only at the behest of other equally large Kiths to allow Soomtaw to remain independent. The compromise was that Soomtaw would be granted 45 days free access to the mothership’s construction facilities to make whatever the hell they wanted. The belief was that Soomtaw wouldn’t be able to produce anything of real value within such a short time and thus accept being absorbed into a larger Kith. To everyone’s complete shock, Soomtaw built not one, but two capital sized ships in just under 40 days. The genius of their design being completely modular based so that the ships themselves could adapt and advance as situations presented themselves. And just for spite, Soomtaw used the remaining 5 days to build a third vessel entirely devoted to science and technology study.

[@rh906]

This is why I love Kiith-Somtaaw.

[@KimPossibleShockwave]

Another fun fact: Originally this was supposed to be an actual expansion to the original Homeworld game, requiring the game be installed/the disk, but because it outgrew being an expansion during the development process, they released it as a standalone. The same thing happened with Westwood Studios and Command and Conquer: Red Alert. It was originally meant to be an expansion for Tiberian Dawn/C&C, but feature creep and engine development had it become its own game soon after they began working on it. Yet another fun fact: The Beast actually has an Infected Kushan Ion Cannon Frigate, which can be seen on the back of the jewel case, but it's disabled in-game; deep in the files, there are also mentions of an Infected Missile Destroyer. Additionally, Somtaaw is mentioned in other Homeworld games, like Mobile and 2 in background fluff: Because of the Beast War and how they unleashed it from the Nagarrock's beacon pod, they were completely against messing with ancient artifacts e.g. Progenitor ruins. Infecting a Turanic Bandit in the game will initiate the infection animation/model, but the game will crash once it's finished because the Beast Fighter is a different entity from an Infected Bandit, since it was all done by scripts in the campaign, so there's nothing to 'spawn'. You can successfully infect their Missile Corvettes/Brigands and the Assassin Ion Array Frigates, though.

[@dannyhartwig7595]

that is the damned best start of any videogame ever.. the sound alone is so stunning till today even.

[@KimPossibleShockwave]

Cataclysm is a hidden gem, for sure. This was the perfect introduction.

[@jake3826]

ATTENTION CARRIER VIRAK: This is Kiith Somtaaw Mining Vessel Kuun-Lan.

[@dannyhartwig7595]

and at the end they Identify as War Ship Kuun-Lan

[@hisdudeness8328]

@@dannyhartwig7595well, at that point, it was without question the strongest Higaran ship in existence…

[@Samsonfs]

Might be my favourite intro scene to any game, just the sound and voice acting is so perfect.

[@rh906]

Ahhhh, a true Homeworld story.

[@quitchiboo]

The lack of salvaging enemy capital ships is disturbing O.o