FXMod - New Hope

The FXmod, also known as FX:Commander or FX:Galaxy, is a long-term modification project for Homeworld 2 that recently continued its work in Homeworld Remastered. The FXmod expands the amount of multiplayer races to six, adding the Kadeshi, Taiidan, Progenitors, and Turanic Raiders as fully playable races in an attempt to provide a more diverse multiplayer experience with increased tactical options, and a more complete Homeworld experience overall. The vanilla races (Hiigaran, Vaygr, Taiidan) have also received several overhauls and changes.

Plot
The FXmod is set some time after the events of Homeworld 2. The aftermath of the Vaygr invasion eventually faded, and the galaxy was on its way toward prosperity once more. The remaining Vaygr crusades, at the edge of falling apart due to rebellion, hastily agreed upon a ceasefire.

While the Vaygr War was raging the seeds of new conflict were sown in the remote, forgotten corners of the universe. The few Kadeshi who survived the trespassing of the Kushan swore revenge and rebuilt their needleships with a myriad of new technologies, leaving the Nebula for the first time to seek out the lives of those who had defiled it. The Turanic Raiders transcended their days of space piracy as they began to colonize other worlds for the first time, overhauling their fleet system of lone carriers with strikecraft into a series of standard space fleets meant to garrison these new worlds. The Taiidan Empire, deeming the Vaygr no longer a reliable ally for achieving their own goals, seceded from the crusades and re-commenced their super-capital ship weapon development. The Eye of Aarran led to previously unexplored regions where many new types of Progenitor ships were encountered -- in some cases even entire, fully functional fleets that had been preserved in the void for all this time. The Bentusi that fled the galaxy during the events of Cataclysm sensed the destruction of Bentus and the coming of a new crisis. They returned to the Homeworld galaxy once more in an attempt to carry out the remainders of their duty.

Version History
First mention of the FXmod was on the 25th of September 2006. On the 3rd of October 2006, the first downloadable version was published as number 1.71. However it soon became known to have a descriptions bug, and two days later the proper version was released, and among fans it become known as 1.71.1. Version 1.72 was released 9 February 2007. For almost a year there were no publicly available versions released after v1.72, but despite this the popularity of the mod increased and in the end version 1.72 was one of the most popular versions amongst fans. The next version was Chinese-only, released on 30th December 2007 under number 1.8. The English version was released on the 5th of February 2008, known as 1.81. Version 1.83 contained new resource systems: Crystal for Kadeshi and Power for Progenitors.
 * Homeworld 2: v1.71, v1.71.1, v1.72, v1.81, v1.83, v1.84, v1.85, v1.86, v1.88, v2.0, v2.1, v2.21
 * Homeworld Remastered: v1.0.0, v1.0.4, v1.0.5, v1.09, v1.09.1

Following a period of three years without any releases, the mod returned in May 2014 with the long-awaited Chinese release of FX 2.0, featuring a fully revamped researching system, new units, fx, custom opening cinematic, in-game Music Player and retextured models for all Taiidan Frigates / Capital Ships as well as for the Kadeshi / Turanic Raider units, making for the biggest update yet. In June 2014, FX 2.1 was released along with an official English translation, making it the first installment in the 2.0 series available in English. In February 2015 v2.21 was released, and is to date the final version of the mod for Homeworld 2.

Shortly thereafter, the team confirmed that development would continue in Homeworld Remastered under a new name -- FX:Galaxy. After the release of a stand-alone preview (FX:Legendary Fleet) in March 2015, the first release of FX:Galaxy was released on Steam and ModDB in April 2015 as v1.0.0. Twelve days later the team released v1.0.4 as a way of showing thanks to the fans for their continued support and interest. This version ported over a majority of the content from FX:Commander. Near the end of April a bugfix for v1.04 was released on Steam, labeled as v1.05.

Game Changes
"We want to describe the whole story of HW in HW2 by FXMOD. - FXMOD author, signed as fxmod9ccn" FXMOD - Star Conqueror adds the races from the original Homeworld game, such as the Kadeshi, Taiidan and Turanic Raiders. Existing units are present, as are new units that have been designed from scratch based on concept art and the races' concept in their respective instalment. Several additional races may be available in Player vs. CPU/Skirmish mode as well, such as the Bentusi and Kushan. Graphic overhauls, improved fx, sound effects, animations etc. are also largely present.

Throughout the years the mod has experimented with many different features. Kadeshi swarmers, for instance, would lose speed when no command pods were near, and the Progenitors would be able to build faster/slower based on the amount of phased energy generators they had on the field and the amount of queues going on production vessels.

Other additions include a new Single-Player Mission, additional gameplay mode (Survival), and new maps. More of these 'bonus' features are included over time.

The biggest feature so far that is under development is the RPG mode, a variant of the single-player system where players can buy units, take missions from NPC ships, 'live jump' between maps and more -- just like a real RPG game.

Credits

 * 9CCN (see website)

Links

 * FXmod for Homeworld 2 (ModDB)
 * FXmod for Homeworld 2 Classic (Steam)
 * FXmod for Homeworld Remastered (ModDB)
 * FXmod for Homeworld Remastered (Steam)
 * FXMOD forum topic at Relic Forums