Trinity Gate is Mission 05 (M05) in the Homeworld 3 campaign. Your fleet finds itself deep in hostile territory, and the only way out is to activate the Trinity Gate and use it to leap to the Naraka system.
To activate the Trinity Gate, you need to capture each of its three Data Spires, all while avoiding detection—or at least without drawing too much hostile attention. There are tunnels on either side leading up to the gate itself, and Intel advises you to use these tunnels as cover. But even once you’ve activated the Data Spires, this Homeworld 3 mission is far from over.
How to capture and control the three Data Spires at Trinity Gate in Homeworld 3
I approached this objective with a lot more caution than was necessary. After setting my Resource Controllers to gather resources, which they can do safely without an escort, I sent half my fleet to capture each Data Spire one at a time, while the other half stayed back to guard the Mothership. You can do it a lot more quickly and efficiently than this, though. The first Data Spire, on the right, can be reached without using a tunnel, and is unguarded. And as long as you use the tunnels to approach the other two, you’ll remain undetected and can leave your Mothership unguarded.
Each of the two distant Data Spires is guarded by several Anti-Strikecraft turrets. The most efficient strategy against these is to use Fleet Bombers, which you should cloak before leaving the tunnel. You can then concentrate bomber fire on each turret in turn, so by the time the turret knows you’re there, it’s already destroyed.
I didn’t exactly do that, though. I didn’t know what to expect, so I sent a mixed group of about 20 ships, and it still worked. The important things are to concentrate your attacks on one turret at a time, and to replace any lost strikecraft as you go along.
The only other danger you’ll face during this objective is the game’s occasionally wayward pathfinding. Take care when directly your ships to the tunnels’ entrances and exits. Make absolutely sure that all of the green pathfinding lines are inside the tunnels. You don’t want any stragglers going out in the open and alerting the enemy.
Once you’ve captured the Data Spires, position your ships back inside the tunnel exits. You want about half your fleet on each side. As for overall fleet make-up, I had a full quota of Interceptors and Fleet Bombers, and always made sure I ordered over capacity so replacements would be built as soon as possible. I also had eight Railgun Corvettes, 12 Ion Cannon Frigates, 12 Assault Frigates, and three Support Frigates (although I only needed two of those, one on each side). This was enough to win the battle that comes next, but you should have enough resources to max out your fleet if you want to be absolutely sure of victory.
How to capture the enemy frigate at Trinity Gate in Homeworld 3
This is the first time in the campaign you’ve had to capture a military ship, which sounds like it should be difficult, but this particular frigate pretty much delivers itself to you. All you really have to do is destroy all of the ships protecting it, while making sure your ships do not open fire on the target itself. Then the frigate will just keep going until it reaches your Mothership. You might as well build a new Resource Controller and it can intercept the enemy frigate as it approaches the Mothership.
How to prepare for the enemy assault and destroy the Incarnate Carrier groups
The ship numbers I already listed above split evenly between the two tunnel exits should be enough to win this battle, although there are a lot of enemies and you will take losses, so make sure your build queues are always busy working on reinforcements.
Wait until the Incarnate carrier is between the two tunnel exits before launching your ambush. Most of your Interceptors and a few Fleet Bombers should stay back and guard Data Spires Alpha and Beta. But you might want to send a small squad of Interceptors to protect the majority of your bombers and larger ships, which should first deal with the turrets on the central section of the gate, before focusing all of their attack power on the carrier itself. It’s worth thinning out the fleet protecting the carrier a bit, but it’ll keep launching more ships, so don’t waste time and effort trying to destroy them all. The Incarnate won’t spawn a sneaky squad at the far end of the map, so you can leave Data Spire Delta undefended.
During this battle, you’ll unlock the ability to build Anti-Strikecraft turrets of your own. I built a few at each Data Spire, but I don’t think they had much impact. I hadn’t moved my Mothership forward, so it took a long time to deploy them, and my Interceptors were coping OK without them.
After you’ve destroyed the Incarnate Carrier, all you have to do is finish off any remaining enemy ships. Once Trinity Gate is secured, you can use it to hyperspace to yet another dangerous situation.
