Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2

Edwin wrote:

Space Marines vs. Orks

As gory as ever. Looks awesome.

Pretty, pretty, pretty.

Even with all the changes I am really looking forward to DOW 2. The 1st on was probably the only RTS i have ever liked enough to finish the campaign and then buy all the expansions. Not going in for the beta though I would rather just wait for the full game. I will add it to my tax return list

stevenmack wrote:

The PC Gamer UK review was also out Friday - not quite as enthusiastic as the one in the Sweden mag mentioned above I think, 82% overall

I would take that review with a grain of salt. There's already controversy rising over whether it would have even been possible for them to have reviewed the "gold" release of the game. A developer on the Relic forums has already acknowledged that there are more multiplayer maps in the final version then the review claims. Of course, this makes the PC Gamer Sweden review equally suspicious.

The colors in the new version seem awfully cartoony, don't they? I loved the subdued graphics of the original series.

I've put an awful lot of time into Skirmish mode in that game -- with the addition of the "Dawn of Skirmish" AI expansion, I still enjoy the hell out of it. The AI's not always that great strategically, but tactically it can be very good indeed, far better than the basic game.

I never bought Soulstorm; that's sounded pretty awful. I have no background with the original tabletop game, so I don't have the attachment to the Sisters of Mercy it would require to pick it up. I played the demo, thought the Dark Eldar were even worse than the original Eldar, and just didn't buy it. I stay with Dark Crusade and Dawn of Skirmish 2.60, and I'm happy.

I personally have only ever really liked the Space Marines and the Imperial Guard; the other factions just don't seem to suit me very well. (I'm far from a great RTS player. )

DOW 2 goes Gold. Release date changed to 19 Feb (a Thursday).

So over the holidays I picked up the Dawn Of War complete set as it was on the Steam sale. I have never been into the majority of RTS titles (I tried really hard with Warcraft III, but no), with the exceptions of Ground Control and Company Of Heroes. I'm now a long way into Winter Assault, and what a great game this is. I even like the story, of all things! Considering how low the PC requirements are, the sequel is definitely on my shopping list, as a PC first for me in several years. (Well, as far as full price titles go.)

The effort they've put into the single player content sounds really good. Some Imperial Guard would've been welcome. Although I'm sure that 40K on the Company Of Heroes engine will be cool, we'll see how it feels. The original IP has not been quite that tactical in its use of cover and so forth in a long time. I hope they haven't gone too overboard with the pursuit of realism.

jlaakso wrote:

The original IP has not been quite that tactical in its use of cover and so forth in a long time. I hope they haven't gone too overboard with the pursuit of realism.

I haven't played the table-top version in a couple years, but doesn't cover currently give you an invulnerable save? It was my experience that cover was more useful to the lightly armored races (Orks, Imperial Guards, etc.) while heavier troops (Space Marines) did not need to rely on it as much.

Since my work connection is slow, I will have to wait to check this out. Enjoy!

400 MB 10 min HD multiplayer walkthrough

Day Zero patch planned.

I suppose the knee jerk reaction to this is that the game isn't done, and a zero day patch does not bode well for the quality of the product.

I'm looking at it as Relic putting its money were it's mouth is by rewarding paying customers. The zero patch will contain tweaks and balances discovered during internal testing, as well as two additional multiplayer maps. Assuming you need to authenticate your copy for the patch, this means if you pirate the game you will lose out on additional content right out of the door.

This is interesting... I didn't realize that different venues are including different pre-order goodies.

Main THW page
Amazon Pre-order includes:
Amazon.com Exclusive: Bonus Sternguard Wargear Set
Buy Warhammer: Dawn of War 2 and get a code to unlock an exclusive digital bonus: The Sternguard Wargear Set. The set includes the Armor of Vandea, a unique chapter, mastercrafted grenades, and the "Unforgiving Truth" Bolter.

Frys includes:
Sniper Wargear Set "Grim Silence" Armor, "Initiate's Lesson of Strength" Shotgun, "Deathtouch of the Angel" Sniper Rifle, "Angels of Redemption" armor pattern (chapter), Four exclusive metallic colors: Abyss Yellow, Chainmail, Abyss Green, Rotting Flesh

Walmart, Best Buy and Gamestop/EB don't list any pre-order specials on their sites. Gamestop doesn't even list the game at all.

nukacola23 wrote:

This is interesting... I didn't realize that different venues are including different pre-order goodies.

Main THW page
Amazon Pre-order includes:
Amazon.com Exclusive: Bonus Sternguard Wargear Set
Buy Warhammer: Dawn of War 2 and get a code to unlock an exclusive digital bonus: The Sternguard Wargear Set. The set includes the Armor of Vandea, a unique chapter, mastercrafted grenades, and the "Unforgiving Truth" Bolter.

Frys includes:
Sniper Wargear Set "Grim Silence" Armor, "Initiate's Lesson of Strength" Shotgun, "Deathtouch of the Angel" Sniper Rifle, "Angels of Redemption" armor pattern (chapter), Four exclusive metallic colors: Abyss Yellow, Chainmail, Abyss Green, Rotting Flesh

Walmart, Best Buy and Gamestop/EB don't list any pre-order specials on their sites. Gamestop doesn't even list the game at all.

Are those just reskins? They sound kind of significant.

Here's a listing of all the exclusives offered, along with pics.

LobsterMobster wrote:
nukacola23 wrote:

This is interesting... I didn't realize that different venues are including different pre-order goodies.

Main THW page
Amazon Pre-order includes:
Amazon.com Exclusive: Bonus Sternguard Wargear Set
Buy Warhammer: Dawn of War 2 and get a code to unlock an exclusive digital bonus: The Sternguard Wargear Set. The set includes the Armor of Vandea, a unique chapter, mastercrafted grenades, and the "Unforgiving Truth" Bolter.

Frys includes:
Sniper Wargear Set "Grim Silence" Armor, "Initiate's Lesson of Strength" Shotgun, "Deathtouch of the Angel" Sniper Rifle, "Angels of Redemption" armor pattern (chapter), Four exclusive metallic colors: Abyss Yellow, Chainmail, Abyss Green, Rotting Flesh

Walmart, Best Buy and Gamestop/EB don't list any pre-order specials on their sites. Gamestop doesn't even list the game at all.

Are those just reskins? They sound kind of significant.

Here's a listing of all the exclusives offered, along with pics.

Woah, ok that's a lot of variation and the descriptions sound like it's more than just reskinning. I wonder how this works in online matches.

The Beta is downloading to my hard drive as I type this.

An old IGN article says wargear is more RPG-style. Drops randomly or from completing quests. I also found some stats on some items that show they confer special abilities or bonuses, like healing nearby units, lowering enemy armor, etc. I don't know if they're randomly generated like in Diablo or what, but they do have custom appearances. In multiplayer, they're purely aesthetic. Or at least that's how it was half a year ago.

Hooooly carp, Soulstorm is only $7.50 on Steam right now. Guess I'll be in the beta too!

Now here's a question: if I have all the other Dawn of War games on disc, how do I get them to work with Soulstorm? I.. think I have all the CD keys but I'm not sure all of them had one. I seem to recall missing one last time I went to install them all and it turned out to not be a problem.

The wargear stuff is for single player only. The other stuff is just skins. Not sure which one to go with.

I've never played a DoW game. Is this a competitive RTS game like SC, or is it supposed to be more of a casual RTS?

Dogby wrote:

I've never played a DoW game. Is this a competitive RTS game like SC, or is it supposed to be more of a casual RTS?

It's an RTS but the only things really comparable to it are made by the same company. It isn't casual either; in fact, it's quite a bit harder-core than a game like Command and Conquer. The key difference from games like Starcraft is that it's very pro-active. There's no resource gathering. Instead, you capture tactical locations and get income that way. It keeps you moving forward and it's not only difficult to turtle but not very productive.

I hope they let you build more than 5 turrets in Dawn of War II, though. That was the limit in Dawn of War, imposed so you could never adequately defend points without keeping units there.

LobsterMobster wrote:
Dogby wrote:

I've never played a DoW game. Is this a competitive RTS game like SC, or is it supposed to be more of a casual RTS?

It's an RTS but the only things really comparable to it are made by the same company. It isn't casual either; in fact, it's quite a bit harder-core than a game like Command and Conquer. The key difference from games like Starcraft is that it's very pro-active. There's no resource gathering. Instead, you capture tactical locations and get income that way. It keeps you moving forward and it's not only difficult to turtle but not very productive.

I hope they let you build more than 5 turrets in Dawn of War II, though. That was the limit in Dawn of War, imposed so you could never adequately defend points without keeping units there. :P

Well I mean, do they patch it and keep it balanced? Is it a reasonably competitive game? It just seems like, from the bit I've been following, they've barely done any kind of beta at all, plus a day 1 patch. Balance is pretty much the most important thing to me, so that seems worrisome I guess. I'm not sure what you mean by pro-active, though... turtling isn't really all that viable in SC either, once you know how to play.

The videos definitely look cool, though!

Dogby wrote:

SC, SC, SC

Is that:

StarCraft
Supreme Commander
Star Control
Salad Cultery
or
Sexy Cabbage?

polypusher wrote:
Dogby wrote:

SC, SC, SC

Is that:

StarCraft
Supreme Commander
Star Control
Salad Cultery
or
Sexy Cabbage?

Playing the original Dawn of War, I had several flash backs to my Sexy Cabbage days.

Well, I've got the beta downloaded, watched the intro movie, but to launch anything, you have to be signed into Games for Windows Live.....and it would seem the GFW server is down. I'm guessing that's because the beta doesn't officially launch until tomorrow.

Weird, i was able to launch and log into my xbox live account, and have my ass handed to me. Worked for me.

How is it? SPECIFICS!

Dogby, with Dawn of War 1, they were very good about keeping it patched. Over the life of the series, they made enormous changes to the overall play model. Even after Dark Crusade, the third expansion, shipped, they were still doing major tweaks. The last patch, for instance, moved the Space Marine artillery tank to the final tier, and readjusted the Predator tanks to be both Tier 2 (with anti-personnel weapons) and Tier 3 (with anti-vehicle weapons). This was a really major switch-around for the Space Marine build order, and I think they were equally aggressive with the other races.

They may have patched further after Soulstorm, but I didn't bother with Soulstorm.

So, yes, they've had an excellent track record with patching DoW. I never played much Company of Heroes, but it seems like they didn't do a lot with that one. It didn't seem to get the same kind of attention that DoW always has.

Well, as it turns out, GFW Live might just hate my router, which means I can't actually launch a game. Which is BS.

When GFW says to have certain ports opened on your router......how the hell do I do that? Is that port forwarding? I'm trying to mess with the settings on my linksys, but I clearly have no clue what I'm doing.

It only feels beta in terms of matchmaking, but i have no idea whether that's just because there's likely few people making matches, or if it's a problem. Once i figured out that you could make local skirmish games with AI, my problem was solved, anyway. The only issue i have is that there's no tutorial, and lots of things going on. No beta issues with gameplay, it's DoW with CoH conceits. Can't wait to play the full game so i can get some sense of the unit's abilities away from the frantic feeling of multiplayer. It looks fantastic.