Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2

Gameraotaku wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:
ranalin wrote:
Malor wrote:
ranalin wrote:

What part of: "it plays like CoH" you missed? :P

What part of 'CoH has pillboxes and barbed wire' did YOU miss?

DoW2 has pillboxes and wargear replaces the barbwire type items...

I have a feeling the single player wargear adds a lot of depth. Would be nice if they'd let us try that out.

Is the single player wargear different from the wargear in the Multiplayer beta?

I haven't played the beta yet but it's my understanding that there are two kinds of wargear.

The wargear in multiplayer is more like a micro-upgrade system, where you can buy specific abilities for your commander unit.

The wargear in single player is kind of like loot dropping in RPGs, where you can outfit your units with items that randomly drop or are rewarded from quests, which can give them new abilities and change their stats.

The single player gear is only aesthetic in multiplayer.

Well, if you play a defensive boss type, you can drop turrets. They're expensive, but seem stronger than turrets in DoW1. But you don't seem to get that by default. I don't know if all army types can choose a turret-building hero, but Space Marines and Orks can both do that.

It looks like repairs are usually done by the weakest unit in the army. Repairs are very fast, not at all like DoW1. Those took forever, and generally weren't worth it unless you were using a Hero mod... it was faster to build a new one than fix an existing one. Not true in this game.

The voices are excellent, and that part feels very DoWish. Orks are, as usual, particularly good.

I hadn't noticed this before, but reinforcements are now CoH-model; you have to be at base or next to an 'APC' to add units. Units die so fast, though, that it's somewhat rare to be able to reinforce them.

It's very difficult to leave a unit alone, because there is so goddamn much chatter, and so many things demanding your attention constantly, that the chances of noticing that your unit is getting slaughtered is pretty low. You don't have long to react.

Ork units are a lot cheaper than Space Marines; you get about 1 a minute with them.

Barab wrote:

I refuse to believe that relic could have made a bad game.

Well I guess I wouldn't call Dawn of War SoulStorm a bad game but a buggy game with problems I could see

but I still look forward to trying the beta.

Relic didn't make Soulstorm! Though I do want to give it some playtime since I bought it to play the DoW2 beta.

I don't know, sounds a lot like Company of Heroes, which is no bad thing. Then again, I did wonder whether that would be a good fit for the IP, any lineage to the original Dawn Of War aside. Looking forward to the beta, downloading now...

EvilDead wrote:

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

400 MB 10 min HD multiplayer walkthrough

Watch this. The descriptions are nice but I suggest anyone on the fence just watch this video to see exactly how the game is played and if its your cup of tea or not.

Looks great to me. Eliminate allot of the base building micro, try to pull back the amount of units you have to micro. This way spend more time on actual tactics and strategy and less time remembering hot keys bouncing between your home base and the frontline.

Step in the right direction really as it seems they wanted to get back closer to squads and heroes micro which doesn't really work when your also doing base and huge army management. I loved DoW:1 but this really looks like one step closer to an actual 40k battle, of course in real time. You don't build bases on the table top and you don't try to manage armies that start to rival small epic armies. Speaking of which maybe they should make an epic game as that would be hot also.

jowner wrote:

Speaking of which maybe they should make an epic game as that would be hot also.

There are few things I would be more excited about than this. Been thinking about one ever since I played the original tabletop game.

I am in the beta so if anyone wants to hit me up for a game I am usually around. Inioth is my Steam name. I would like to start playing with a couple people who also don't know what they are doing so I can actually learn what's going on. How do you build more structures as the space marines? I played a game last night where I didn't build any extra stuff and when i went to the enemy base he had power plants and stuff.

I'm getting more hesitant about this game - I like the kind of RTS where you build up a big force and send them in to do their thing. Micromanaging units and such doesn't really agree with me.

At the same time, I love the Warhammer 40k IP, so that my override any misgivings. I'm going to try to get into the beta to see how I like it.

Is it just the space marines that travel in low numbers? Isn't that the lore? I'm sure if your Eldar or tyranid you get to control a lot more units

I haven't played anything beyond Space Marines yet, but it sure looks like the Eldar and Tyranid squads are larger, especially the Tyranids, hooboy.

Ya I just played the Tyranids and i got my ass kicked hard lol. I find I like strategy games like this more than the typical C&C or Starcraft mentality of sending mass blobs of units to fight another mass blob. I don't mind micromanagement if I am only controlling three or four squads at a time. I also like the ability to pick your hero before the game starts so if you are like me who is a more defensive player I can take heroes that go more with that play style. Awesome game I will be picking this up for sure.

Barab wrote:

Relic didn't make Soulstorm! Though I do want to give it some playtime since I bought it to play the DoW2 beta.

That's true but it is Relic's Game and I think it still counts especially in the support aspect.

TheCounselor wrote:

Soulstorm is $7.50 on Steam right now!

I just grabbed it to play the beta now, and I'll play Soulstorm later (maybe).

Anyone playing the beta? Add me!

My PSN name is TheCounselor

PSN name wont help... Steam or XBL

Soulstorm is $7.50 on Steam right now!

I just grabbed it to play the beta now, and I'll play Soulstorm later (maybe).

Anyone playing the beta? Add me!

My Steam name is TheCounselor

ranalin wrote:
TheCounselor wrote:

Soulstorm is $7.50 on Steam right now!

I just grabbed it to play the beta now, and I'll play Soulstorm later (maybe).

Anyone playing the beta? Add me!

My PSN name is TheCounselor

PSN name wont help... Steam or XBL

My bad. I meant Steam. I was fighting with my PS3 to get the new firmware when I wrote that. I fixed it.

Just played my first game and... meh. Not that impressed. I played Tyranids and I just kept thinking, "aren't these guys supposed to be fast?" Then I saved up and got a big slow smashy Carnifax. I liked him, especially when my opponent would send entire squads of Eldar after him and he'd just shoot a big poison loogie at them and kill them all.

Right, so I've got the beta installed and ready to go, just looking for someone to play with. GWJ AnimeJ on live, animej on Steam.

I just played my first skirmish match, and I like it. What it reminds me of the most is EndWar, which was a vastly underrated game. You are gathering resources and building units, but what's really important is being constantly aware of the battlefield and knowing what to play to counter enemy movements. Having to jump straight into skirmish with no campaign mode or even a tutorial, I almost wish it were as simplified as EndWar was, but I have a feeling that once I start to get the feel for all of the complicated stuff I'll grow to appreciate the gameplay twists it introduces.

Switchbreak wrote:

I just played my first skirmish match, and I like it. What it reminds me of the most is EndWar, which was a vastly underrated game. You are gathering resources and building units, but what's really important is being constantly aware of the battlefield and knowing what to play to counter enemy movements. Having to jump straight into skirmish with no campaign mode or even a tutorial, I almost wish it were as simplified as EndWar was, but I have a feeling that once I start to get the feel for all of the complicated stuff I'll grow to appreciate the gameplay twists it introduces.

I haven't played Endwar, but this was my impression too. It's not as horrible as some would have you believe, but it's definitely much harder to keep track of than the previous DoW games. I'm also of the mind that while I do like it, I can't see myself as being nearly as enamored of it as I was with the original DoW. But who knows, that could certainly change.

Well, its not DoW. Just got done with a few games, Space Marines, and then one with the Tyrranids. Its a 'free' beta, so I'm getting my money's worth.

Comparisions to DoW

Getting new units is slow.

Ranged rules. Melee dies.

Enjoy the vehicle or two, you won't be seeing the large numbers the Tau or Imperial Guard field in DoW.

Everything dies, fast. Don't blink. But if you are lucky, a nearby teammate can run over to revive your fallen commander. Or you can pay your stockpile of accumulated req points to revive him...hhhmm, another unit, or that kinda weak commander back, decisions, decisions.

Interlocking ranged fire rules. Move up a pair of devastor squads (1 heavy bolter? Whee.), and watch commanders die before they can run away. Add a third, and its just ugly. Oh, and drop a tarantula turret in there, too, I saw mostly Techmarines as the Marine commander for a reason.

Hope you aren't claustrophobic, you can't scroll out very far, feels like I'm playing in a room with a very low ceiling.

Very pretty. But that's been a DoW strong point all along, so compared to DoW? Very Pretty. But, the price? I kept seeing warnings that so-and-so player's settings were too high, he was slowing down the game.

It sounds like Company of Heroes without the base building, or the building units. CoH had engineers on each army to build structures, barb wire, sand bags, pits, defenses, etc.

LtWarhound wrote:

Well, its not DoW. Just got done with a few games, Space Marines, and then one with the Tyrranids. Its a 'free' beta, so I'm getting my money's worth.

Comparisions to DoW

Getting new units is slow.

Ranged rules. Melee dies.

Enjoy the vehicle or two, you won't be seeing the large numbers the Tau or Imperial Guard field in DoW.

Everything dies, fast. Don't blink. But if you are lucky, a nearby teammate can run over to revive your fallen commander. Or you can pay your stockpile of accumulated req points to revive him...hhhmm, another unit, or that kinda weak commander back, decisions, decisions.

Interlocking ranged fire rules. Move up a pair of devastor squads (1 heavy bolter? Whee.), and watch commanders die before they can run away. Add a third, and its just ugly. Oh, and drop a tarantula turret in there, too, I saw mostly Techmarines as the Marine commander for a reason.

Hope you aren't claustrophobic, you can't scroll out very far, feels like I'm playing in a room with a very low ceiling.

Very pretty. But that's been a DoW strong point all along, so compared to DoW? Very Pretty. But, the price? I kept seeing warnings that so-and-so player's settings were too high, he was slowing down the game.

Yea, I got that too in the one game I played. I'm not a very big fan of the random matchups either, a friends list only match up would be pretty awesome IMO.

All in all, I'm very, very iffy on it. I wish there was a single player skirmish mode to get a better feel for the armys, but so far, after just Marines, I'm rather disappointed. It's good looking, but it just doesn't feel right.

The best thing I've seen so far is that they got rid of Gamespy for their online play. You couldn't do automatches (aka ranked play) in Soulstorm because it was so broken. It would match me, a crappy player, with a 1500+ almost every single time.

This is definitely built on the Company of Heroes engine, but that's not a bad thing. It's less "dance your squads in a circle non-stop to not die" and more "get good cover or flank the bastards." I played Eldar in DoW and it was just insane what you had to do with your squads to not die.

It would be nuts to pass this one up though. My prediction is that it will turn out great since both the first DoW and CoH are fantastic games.

Well, this is interesting. Kotaku has a rumor that GameStop is refusing to carry Dawn of War II because of the Steam integration. Now, Kotaku isn't into things like fact checking, and games that require Steam (like Lost Planet) have sold at GameStop before, but this wouldn't surprise me if it were true. GameStop has been playing harder against digital distribution recently, and after hearing that story about how they demanded a cut of all of the Penny-Arcade game's profits from download sales if they were going to shelve it, I'd believe just about anything about those bandits.

I installed Steam last night and downloaded the beta. When I try to run it, I get an error saying that xlive.dll is missing.

After some quick googling, I found a site that allowed you to download the dll file. I downloaded it and put it into my \windows\system32 directory. A new error popped up that said the image file was not correct and to reinstall the application.

After some more googling, I installed windows live to see if that cleared up the problem, and the same error persists. Any thoughts on this?

Like everyone else said, game is very different from DoW1. I actually didn't feel that into it until my 3rd or 4th game, but its starting to click with me now. Looking forward to trying some more matches when I get home.

If I were to change anything about the game though I would up the unit sizes. Also, I am a little disappointing the unit variety seems a large step backwards from the first game, which had almost every tabletop unit represented.

Switchbreak wrote:

Well, this is interesting. Kotaku has a rumor that GameStop is refusing to carry Dawn of War II because of the Steam integration. Now, Kotaku isn't into things like fact checking, and games that require Steam (like Lost Planet) have sold at GameStop before, but this wouldn't surprise me if it were true. GameStop has been playing harder against digital distribution recently, and after hearing that story about how they demanded a cut of all of the Penny-Arcade game's profits from download sales if they were going to shelve it, I'd believe just about anything about those bandits.

Given that earlier in the thread there was a bit about preorder bonuses from Gamestop, I don't believe it for a minute. Kotaku absolutely sucks at facts checking, and until they fix that, I'm staunchly ignoring everything that comes out of that cesspit. /rant

Anyway, I haven't given up on this game completely, but would love some goodjer matches. Anyway we can set this up?

I've only had a chance to play one game as Orks, but so far it has affirmed two things for me: first, all the rumours that this is heavily based on the Company of Heroes mechanic is true, and second, that Company of Heroes is that much more awesome in the 40k universe. I've been wanting Dawn of War in the CoH engine ever since CoH came out, and I'm very happy with the results. Really, this game is less a sequel to the original DoW and more a spiritual successor to CoH, and I couldn't be happier about it!

I've got a pretty low end rig.

2.8 dual core (NOT core duo)
3 gigs RAM
7600gt

I'm not going to get stuck in the 800x600-low-details-ghetto am I? Anyone with similar systems run this okay?