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Bent
on cosmic domination, this formidable warrior race from the
galaxy's eastern fringes threatens the Hiigarans' very
existence in the name of Sajuuk. The Vaygr roam the galaxy
subjugating the races they encounter and cannibalizing their
technology. This nomadic way of life is reflected in their
military organization. A fast, mobile, and overwhelmingly
offensive force, the Vaygr, rather than obeying the orders
of a high commander, are assembled into smaller, less
cohesive fleets of ships.
The Vaygr are
the
white-and-black striped vessels depicted in the screenshots.
They represent the opponent in the single-player
campaign, and are the second multiplayer-capable race. The red ships
with the white "V" insignia seen in earlier screenshots, previously referred
to here as the "Red Race," were an earlier incarnation of the Vaygr.
The Vaygr are
said to favor fast, light ships, especially fighters and
corvettes. Their fighter squadrons have more fighters per
unit than their Hiigaran counterparts. That said, the Vaygr
have some of the largest ships in the game, including
several styles of mothership.
They also have a focus on missiles; nearly all their
frigates and capital ships appear to have at least one missile
launcher.
"The
Vaygr are a nomadic warrior race hailing from the Eastern
Fringe of the galaxy. The Vaygr are a raiding force,
preferring swarms of Fighters and Corvettes augmented by a
few heavy hitting Capital Ships. The Vaygr can get in
quickly, overwhelm their foes with numbers and get out
before taking too much damage. In prolonged fights, the
Vaygr face more difficulties. Their Capital Ships, while
agile and powerful, lack the punch of their Hiigaran
doubles. While the Hiigarans have traditional hyperspace
modules that allow most ships to make tactical hyperspace
jumps, the Vaygr need to deploy Hyperspace Gates. These
allow even Fighters to jump unassisted, but the gates can be
targeted and even captures. And while the Hiigarans benefit
from better Sensors, this is in response to Vaygr cloaking
technology." - Josh Mosquiera, Lead Designer
"Despite using different ship types, the Vaygr and Hiigaran ship classes (Strike, Corvette, Frigate, and Capital) are more or less equal. The Vaygr have faster ships in greater numbers but they're fragile and highly specialized. They're very good at what they do, but very bad at what they don't. Favoring fighters and corvettes over frigates, Vaygr fleets have more options in these classes compared to the Hiigarans.
... Vaygr players will instead develop a system that uses fixed hyperspace gates to allow extremely inexpensive hyperspace travel between two fixed points."
- Geoff Thomas, Assistant Producer
"As
for the Vaygr, the antagonists, they have very distinctive
ships that draw few parallels to anything that's been seen
before in Homeworld. There are some functional similarities
in certain units, but we're hoping to surprise the core fans
with the sinister design of this fleet." - Dan Irish,
Executive Producer
"The 'Red Race' isn't a separate
race - the reason they don't match up with the
current textures on the Hiigaran or Vaygr ships is that
they're an earlier texture job - you'll see them again,
later, I'm sure in their full glory. As to whether they're
Hiigaran or Vaygr ... well. The V should be a clue..."
- Morgan Jaffit, Designer
Faithful
reader Komysar points out that the name "Vaygr" is
an anagram of the Russian word "Varyg" or "Varyag"
which means "Viking." Also, in the Old Icelandic
(Viking) language, the word "vagyr" meant both a
wolf, and a restless or a godless man. Appropriate to the
"nomad barbarian" style of the Vaygr.
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