Welcome all space achievement hunters. If you're looking for tips and tricks on how to unlock every achievement in Homeworld 3 then you've come to the right place. Here you'll find an explanation for all 35 achievements (including the 18 hidden ones) complete with tactics for unlocking them easily and efficiently.
Homeworld 3 Achievement Guide - How to get all achievements
If You'll Be My Bodyguard
"Order a ship to guard another ship."
This can be completed as soon as you have control following the cinematic of your first recon ship leaving the hangar. Select it and hover the cursor over the mothership. The cursor will change to an arrow with a shield. Right click. That's it.
Stay in Formation!
"Set a command group to assume a new formation."
When you've built the first five recon ships, drag select them and click the formation button to the upper right of the unit picture.
The Unbound
"Research your first ship upgrade."
At factory 315 research 'Recon Fighter Overburner' from the mothership build/research tab as soon as you have the required 500 resource units.
We Are Away
"Put the Khar-Kushan through its paces."
'Mission 01: Hiigara' is essentially an additional tutorial mission focusing on Mothership movement, resource collection, building ships, combat basics and docking. Once you've gone through all of these, the achievement will be yours.
A Path Across The Galaxy
"In Campaign, have a (non-mothership) ship built in Facility 315 survive all the way through until the end of the campaign."
During 'Mission 02: Facility 315' make a note of one of your freshly built recon ships (clicking on its individual shipcards shows its name in the bottom right of the box) and either keep it docked with the mothership or take it away to the edge of the map out of harm's way. This ship will need to be shepherded through every level in the same way.
A Helluva Ship
"Integrated the production facility in the Mothership."
The Mothership is vulnerable during the five minutes it takes to integrate the production facility. Make sure you have a full complement of recon fighters to provide a screen and prevent any enemy craft from getting close. If you find you can't afford to build them, make sure you have enough resource controllers to pick the map clean of RUs.
Warriors of the Fringe
"Defeat the Kalan Raider Carrier"
Max out your build capacity with recon and interceptor ships. Order the interceptors to directly attack the carrier, not forgetting to use the high damage 'Overcharge' ability when it becomes available every two minutes. Meanwhile order your recon ships to defend the interceptors from enemy strike craft. As soon as the carrier retreats, this will unlock (most likely along with the next achievement on the list).
Bug Swatter
"Eliminate 200 total enemy strikecraft in the campaign."
If this was not unlocked with 'Warriors of the Fringe', use your strikecraft or any anti-strikecraft ships to target enemy 'pursuit' or 'dominance' fighters whenever an opportunity arises.
One Step Too Close
"Encounter a new, mysterious enemy."
This is unlocked for meeting with the Incarnate fleet as part of 'Mission 04: Kala Terminus'. Be warned, following the first engagement the Mothership needs to bug out in a hurry. Any strikecraft that aren't docked when she goes into hyperspace are lost and not carried through to the next level. Try to keep them close.
Fix-It Frigate
"Fully repair 50 ships using Support Frigates."
Always keep your support frigates close to your mothership. Any time any of other frigates or capital ships receive damage send them back and order your support frigates to heal them. You'll have racked up the 50 required for this before too long.
Hostile Takeover
"Capture an enemy ship."
Once researched, use your resource collector's capture ability any chance you get. Not just for the achievement, stealing the enemy's ships and using them for your own can turn even the worst situation around. Just make sure to keep them covered because they'll draw a lot of fire while they're carrying out the capture.
A Dark Cloud Gathers
"Uncover the enemy's identity."
The enemy is identified at the end of 'Mission 05: Trinity Gate'. In order to get to the end of the mission with the most ships still intact, make sure to destroy any turrets you come across. Use your frigates to knock out anti-strikecraft turrets and your bombers to kill the anti-capital ship turrets. This should free you up to use the tunnels to capture the data spires.
Untouchable
"Complete 5 missions without the Mothership being hit by enemy fire."
No matter what else is happening always leave some recon and interceptor ships by the mothership to screen it from attack. This should be enough to keep it safe from damage long enough to earn this achievement. As a side note, asteroid impacts don't count as enemy fire.
Chapel Perilous
"Survived the asteroid storm."
You will almost certainly take some asteroid hits crossing to the escape vector. Keep your frigates close and direct their fire against anything on a collision course. As for your strike craft, keep them docked (go to the docking tab in the top right of the screen and turn off auto-launch) otherwise they'll get smashed like bugs against a windscreen. If you're still having trouble you can slow down time by holding 'p' and scrolling down with the mousewheel.
Grand Armada
"Build a grand total of 500 ships."
If you're not saving for something specific you should be spending any RUs you collect. Keep your ship populations at maximum capacity, replacing any you lose through attrition, and you'll have built 500 in no time.
Kablammo
"Blow up 5 ships with one explosion."
The easiest way to unlock this achievement comes in 'Mission 07: Naraka Gate'. This is a tower defence type mission with enemies pouring through a hyperdrive gate. Build overlapping minefields in front of the gate and wait for the enemy's fragile and tightly-packed strikecraft to come blundering through. Mines go boom. Achievement!
That Was One in a Million!
"Land the final shot to destroy a Capital ship with a Fleet Bomber ship."
There's one way to guarantee the kill shot is landed by a bomber every time. When you're attacking an enemy Capital ship, such as a carrier, only use fleet bombers. Make sure you've right clicked their cloaking ability in the bottom right tab and wait for the reactor to go critical.
Prepare to Shipbreak
"Ward off all enemy attacks during core repairs."
Awarded for completing 'Mission 07: Naraka Gate'. There are a few core tactics required to survive long enough to finish patching the Mothership cores. First, pack the gate entrance with minefields; second, max out your build capacity on turrets and emplace as many as you can around the front and midline chokepoints. Be warned, the enemy will try to sneak through to your Mothership via the blasted holes in the right hand side of the gate complex; make sure to fill these with your own frigates and fighters.
Open the Way
"Successfully disable the Citadel."
Awarded for completing 'Mission 08: Storm Strike'. Ship losses don't matter here; every craft should be considered expendable so long as you complete the objectives. Don't bother to target anything other than the base components marked explosive. Though once they go critical, get everywhere out of the blast radius (marked as a red dome).
As They Have Hunted Us
"Defeat the Warsage."
Awarded for killing the Warsage as part of 'Mission 09: Warsage Citadel'. Use a full complement of Torpedo Frigates to snipe him from outside his sensor range. So long as his resource collectors are already dealt with, he cannot repair fast enough to outpace the damage done to him.
Ghosts of the Desert
"Successfully entered the ice shelf without the Mothership ever being detected."
To avoid detection during 'Mission 10: Buran Ice Shelf' the mothership must remain below the level of the deuterium ice crystals, and should not move forward until your strike craft have eliminated the enemy sensors. Nav points will appear on-screen whenever it is save to move.
Into the Glacier
"Navigate through the icy crevasse."
Awarded for completing 'Mission 10: Buran Ice Shelf'. Unless you're sticking around to complete the 'Nothing Short of Miraculous' achievement, you need to move as fast as you can here to make sure you beat the clock.
The Great Cannon
"Unlock the Mothership's Fusion Missile."
Pay to research this the second you see the option become available in the build/research tab at the top right of the screen, and not just for the achievement.
Big Game Hunter
"Eliminate 50 total enemy capital ships."
Use a combination of fleet bombers, railgun corvettes and ion cannon and torpedo frigates to smash enemy capital ships to dust, while your interceptors sweep enemy strikecraft aside. Works every time.
The Sajuuk-Khar
"Reunite with the Khar-Sajuuk."
When preparing for the assault while gaining access to the Khar-Sajuuk, you can send probes to the marked locations instead of recon ships, freeing up your strikecraft to stay in effective defensive range of the mothership. Max out your turret build capacity and fill the marked sectors with defences. Be warned, the enemy fire high-damage missiles periodically. Focus fire on these as soon as they appear.
Time of Prophecy
"Witness the enemy using a Hyperspace Tunnel."
Despite the descriptor, you will need to do more than witness the Incarnate using the tunnel in order to unlock this. You need to destroy the three Queen's Guard Battlecruisers to complete 'Mission 12: Noctuua-27' They are spread across the map but will hyperspace away to a rally point at the top of the enemy base as they take damage. Be aware, once they are gathered together, they'll start to bombard the Mothership with cruise missiles, so build anti-strikecraft turrets to shoot them down before they get close. Clear the map of enemy turrets, amass a force, and charge them. The Battlecruisers heal over time, so keep hitting them once you've started.
The War is Over
"Defeat the Incarnate Titan."
The Titan retreats via short range hyperspace jump whenever its hull integrity reaches 75%. Focus all your big guns on it and use your strikecraft to deal with whatever it launches from its hold. Don't bother to chase it; get the mission completed first and then launch everything you have at it. It's so sluggish and difficult to manoeuvre that its armor melts like butter. Also, if you take out the anti-strikecraft turrets, you can pepper it with the Mothership's fusion missile from across the map.
Navigator
"Complete the campaign on Hard difficulty."
Completing on Hard difficulty mode automatically unlocks the achievements for Medium and Easy difficulty settings detailed below.
Admiral
"Complete the campaign on Medium difficulty."
Completing on Medium difficulty automatically unlocks the achievement for Easy difficulty setting detailed below.
Captain
"Complete the campaign on Easy difficulty."
Completing on Medium difficulty automatically unlocks the achievement for Easy difficulty setting detailed below.
Nothing Short of Miraculous
"Completely eliminate the Incarnate Reinforcement Fleet."
Now that you've finished the game, go back to 'Mission 10: Buran Ice Shelf' on Easy difficulty. Destroy every enemy on the map, collect all resources you can find, salvage any destroyed ships, and build the biggest fleet you can. Next, wait for the timer to count down and for the enemy reinforcement fleet to arrive. On easy with a full fleet cap, they should be easy pickings.
This Belongs in a Museum
"Collect an artefact during a War Games session."
Artefacts are oblong storage containers floating in space and guarded by enemy ships. Simply fly one of your ships into range to collect.
Destruct Sequence Alpha-One
"Scuttle One of your own ships."
The quickest way to unlock this is to host a single player vs AI skirmish and, as soon as the map loads up, hold the Alt key and right click on your mothership. This will open a context specific menu. Open orders. Click 'Scuttle'. This loses the game but gives you an achievement. Net result positive.
Shall We Play A Game?
"Successfully complete a War Games session for the first time."
For the best chance of making it through, leave it on standard difficulty and grab as many artefacts as you can in the early games.
Not Today, Singularity!
"Win a Skirmish match consisting of at least 3 enemy AI opponents."
Setup a Skirmish game on a map large enough to host four or more players. Add in three AI opponents and set them all to easy. Now get out there and smash some machines.
That's all for now, but if we haven't scratched your strategy game itch yet, check out All the best formations and strategies in Manor Lords here on Pro Game Guides.
Published: May 18, 2024 06:34 am