History VideoGame / HomeworldDesertsOfKharak

* HufflepuffHouse: The expedition guide makes it clear that the southern polar region is populated and part of the Coalition, but it never comes into the story even though the northern capital is under siege. It also introduces a third faction of desert raiders which threaten both sides called the Khaaneph, but they never put in an appearance in the core game.

* AceCustom: Rachel S'Jet's custom Baserunner. It lacks the ability to deploy weapon turrets like the standard Baserunner but to make up for it it is able to deploy Shipbreaker Mines, hack Gaalsien vehicles to your side, fire EMP blasts and repair other units.

* ApocalypseHow: The Kushun people suffered a Planetary Societal Collapse and Continental Species Extinction after [[spoiler:Kar Toba, the first city, became uninhabitable due to the intense desertification at the equator]] leading the survivors to migrate north to the more temperate zones. This caused them to regress back the the Feudal age and lose all record of their race's history. This will eventually upgrade to a Planetary Species Extinction as the entire planet becomes uninhabitable.

* MissionFromGod: The Gaalsien believe that they must attack the Coalition, and that it's their destiny to reach [[spoiler:Kar Toba]]

* DyingPlanet: Kharak is slowly suffering from desertification (natural desertification, which had been occurring long before the planet was even habited).

* KillSat: Appears to be the case in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbXYmmsARe8&feature=youtu.be&t=1m10s 'The Transmission' trailer]]. [[spoiler: It in fact exists, put there by the Taiidan and triggered by Jacob S'jet from the [[DyingMomentOfAwesome wreck of the Taiidan carrier]], before he dies of exposure. Karen S'jet, for the final battle, manages to get control of it and can use it against the Gaalsien flagship.]]

* HufflepuffHouse: The expedition guide makes it clear that the southern polar region is populated and part of the Coalation, but it never comes into the story even though the northern capital is under siege. It also introduces a third faction of desert raiders which threaten both sides called the Khaaneph, but they never put in an appearance in the core game.

* SingleBiomePlanet: Averted. Most of Kharak is a desert, but there is ice on its poles and narrow temperate regions around those (this is where most of the Kushan people live.)
* SlidingScaleOfVideoGameObjectives: You're provided primary and secondary objectives, but the ''real'' objective is to gather as many resources as you can ''before'' you finish the listed objectives, as the moment you do, you cut to the next mission. This isn't always possible, though, and sometimes losses sustained as you move about can turn it into a zero-sum game, but generally it's always worth going for max resources.

** The Coalition seems to be ''Balanced'' ''Generalist'' with bias towards ''Brute Force'', relying on [[MightyGlacier heavily armored units]] and deploy-able turrets to gain map control and take the battle to the enemies. But most of their units are also slow, meaning that the Coalition player has to fully commit their forces in order to make any significant plays.
** The Gaalsien is a ''Specialist'' ''Spammer'' faction, employing quite a number of [[GlassCannon fragile hard-hitting units]] that are also [[FragileSpeedster highly mobile]]. Their production base are split up into multiple units, allowing the Gaalsien to maintain offense on multiple fronts at once. However, most of their vehicle lacked armor, enforcing hit-and-run tactics.

** The reasons for [[spoiler: the ''Sakala'' betraying you and forming essentially a third faction]] are never really explained in the game, but if you've read the clan histories about the Heresy Wars you probably saw it coming from the first time they talk to you.

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:The ''Sakala'' eventually betrays you and attempts to destroy all your resupply landers. They get one, but one other makse it in intact, leaving you just enough fuel and water to reach the Khar-Toba. When next you see them, they've gone from a pitifully small fleet to having a dozen cruisers and hordes of smaller units.]]

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:The ''Sakala'' eventually throws in with the Gaalsien and attempts to destroy all your resupply landers. They get one, but two more make it in intact, leaving you just enough fuel and water to reach the Khar-Toba. When next you see them, they've gone from a pitifully small fleet to having a dozen cruisers and hordes of smaller units.]]

* TheFaceless: The Gaalsien leadership are fond of ''Dune'' style stillsuits, full-face masks, and voice modulators.

* ApocalypseCult: The Gaalsien are this whether they realize it or not; [[spoiler:if they get their way, all the kiith perish when the desert takes over the planet.]]

* SamusIsAGirl: [spoiler:Khaagan.]]

* TeleporterAccident: One of the things the Kapisi discovers is that the [[spoiler:hyperspace core of the Khar Toba occasionally teleports ships into ''solid rock'' - these intact ships are what gave the Gaalsien their huge technology boost.]]

* DerelictGraveyard: [[spoiler: Turns out Kharak is this. Several starship wrecks can be found across the kharakian deserts. This is implied to be due to the influence of the hyperspace core from the Khar-toba, which generates a heavy amount of interference in ships capable of hyperspace travel, and sends them crashing against Kharak's surface]]

* OffscreenVillainDarkmatter: A major part of the plot; Kiith Gaalsien went from a handful of deliberately low-tech desert raiders to an overwhelming force that had leapfrogged Coalition technology in a ludicrously short amount of time, which is clearly impossible. From this the other Kiitid figure out pretty quickly that they must have discovered and started to salvage the unknown wrecks in the deep desert which they themselves had just found out about, which is why they send the player's fleet.

* FacelessMook: The Gaalsien leadership are fond of ''Dune'' style stillsuits, full-face masks, and voice modulators.