Alright. Sorry if I sounded hostile. Hoooonestly, this entire time I've been trying to keep the implied tone civil. Honestly, I still do think showing the results in the world if it lets you continue after the end is better, but I can see your points.
And I apologize if I sound overly defensive. I have the poor habit of doing that.
On the original subject of this topic, I say
Homeworld 2.
While I wouldn't call it an appalling game or anywhere near the worst, Homeworld 2 has the problem of trying too hard to recreate Homeworld 1's story and failing utterly instead of using Homeworld 1 as a jumping off point to explore the fascinating sci-fi world the developers of that game created. Homeworld 1's story was relatively simple, inspired by the original Battlestar Galactica and several other science fiction shows of that era which shared the same set-up of a group of outcasts on a long odyssey through space, far away from their original home. It wasn't the most innovative story, but it was well-written and delivered the required emotional highs and lows when required and its setting was genuinely interesting.
Homeworld 2 on the other hand prefers to wallow in the shallow end of Homeworld 1's setting and doesn't explore it in any interesting way. While Homeworld 1's story wasn't terribly innovative, Homeworld 2's falls even flatter because it tries so hard to recreate the set-up of the original. So instead of a further exploration of the universe, we get a dull, uninteresting retread.
Worse yet are the changes to the behaviour of units and some really poor design choices. Scaling difficulty sounds great in theory, adapting to the player and keeping them on edge throughout the campaign. In practice it comes off as being deeply unfair and punishing of the players who play well.
Likewise, the choice to change the way projectiles operate from distinct world entities following a trajectory to simple hitscan RNG-based calculations, coupled with changes to the behaviours and formations you are capable of giving to your ships rendered fighters and corvettes nigh useless when frigates and capital ships became available. It removed a fun but mostly optional tactical level from the game and as a result the game oftentimes spirals into the dreaded Wad Of Death problem of RTSes, where the player with the biggest army wins.
However for all its flaws in the story and poor design choices, the game was still for the most part fun to play in Skirmish and had some clever ideas. The ability to target specific parts of larger ships was fun and made them feel like they were something more than just large, slow strike craft with better guns.
It wasn't a bad game, just a terrible sequel to Homeworld.