Dawn of War II: Retribution (PC)

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The latest expansion pack for Dawn of War II is due out March 1st and includes single player campaigns for each of the game's six (already up to six?) factions: Space Marines, Chaos Marines, Orks, Eldar, Tyranids and Imperial Guard. I haven't been able to find much information on the single-player experience but given that you get six of them I'm guessing that they're substantially shorter and less involved than previous campaigns, especially for $30 total.

THQ is offering a number of pre-order bonuses in the form of powerful wargear for the single player campaign. Each race gets their own gear but the catch is that you can only pick one race. The Ork pack is exclusive to Steam and the Tyranid pack is exclusive to THQ (clever bastards). THQ is also selling a collector's pack with all of the bonuses and some more extras and word has it they'll be selling the wargear packs as paid DLC post-launch.

Here is a guide, for details.

Space Marine Wargear:
* Holy Axe of the Honor Guard - This unique two handed power axe increases your defense against enemy attacks
* Armor of the Martyr - Attacks upon Diomedes heal allied units around him
* Chant of the Righteous - Enemies attacking Diomedes lower the cooldown timer on his abilities
* Helm of the Veteran - Increases the health and armor of the character that equips it

Ork Wargear:
* Kan Opener - Your attacks now have a chance to disable enemy vehicles
* Angry Armor - Enemy attacks on the Warboss increase the damage he does
* Lucky Teef - When your Warboss kills an enemy, friendly units in the surrounding area gain energy
* Supa Flashy Boss Rack - Your Warboss now gains the benefits of both a boss pole and a trophy rack

Eldar Wargear (looks goofy as hell):
* Spear of the Ynnead - Attacks upon the enemy can now confuse them and cause them to attack each other
* Guile of the Cegorach - The death of allied units now increases the chance of you entering an enraged state that increases your speed and damage
* Runes of Wisdom - Lowers the energy cost of using abilities
* Helm of the War Host - Your hero gains immunity to knock back and suppression

Tyranid Wargear:
* Venomous Talons - Attacks upon the enemy now have a guaranteed chance to stun and poison them for a short duration
* Poisonous Cysts - After taking a fixed amount of melee damage your Swarmlord will now spray a poison cloud that damages your enemies
* Shadow in the Warp - When hit you now convert some of that damage to energy to power your abilities
* Warp Field - Calls forth an energy shield to protect your character from damage

Chaos Wargear:
* Skull Breaker - Hits on the enemy with this weapon have the chance to cause an explosive area of effect attack
* Armor of the Immortal - Gain the protection of an invulnerability shield when your character is critically injured
* Herald of the Warp - Equipping this item significantly lowers your ability cooldown timers
* Mark of Chaos Favor - Your character gains the benefits of chaos god worship from all the dark gods

Imperial Guard Wargear:
* The Emperor's Executioners - Instantly kill infantry units with less than a fifth of their health remaining
* Blessed Carapace of Resolve - Friendly units within the area gain increased damage resistance
* Honorifica Imperialis - Friendly units within the area have their ability cooldowns reduced
* Helm of the Distinguished Imperial Officer - Friendly units within the area are healed and have their energy restored when you kill an enemy

How much detail have they given on how the singleplayer campaign works? Is it like DOW2, a linear campaign like DOW1, or something like Dark crusade/Soulstorm with an objective of killing off your opposition in an overworld.

I haven't found any but then I haven't really been digging. If anyone knows I'd be interested. For the time being I'm guessing it'll be like Dark Crusade/Soulstorm.

AFAIK, the units in the campaign will have armor/damage values closer to their MP counterparts. There's also mention to the fact that you'll be able to build stuff.

In short, the SP scenario designers have taken measures to help make the transition from SP to MP smoother, so expect a smaller emphasis on the RPG mechanics (4 skill trees have been shortened to 3, there's a new trait awarded with each skill point invested, so you'll level up slower) and a bigger emphasis on the RTS aspect of it, with resource nodes making a comeback. Most of this I gathered from rummaging the Gamereplays DoW2 forums. The devs are a bit vocal over there. Search for threads with the Relic logo.

So, I'm guessing it will be somewhere between the Dark Crusade model and the original DoW2.

Also, worthy of mention is that while you'll have access to 4 heroes per faction, in the Tyranid case, you'll only control the Swarmlord. You'll, however, spawn tons of razor sharp aliens.

I've been updating the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 thread with details about RT as I have been finding them. Don't know if we are to split threads or not. There's definitely a case for doing so, since Retribution will be a stand-alone expansion, ditching GFWL and being totally incompatible with the previous installments.

Wrong link, omonarca

DoW2 thread

It's been discussed in there, prices, places to buy, etc. No real reason for a separate thread. It's not a standalone, so you already have to have DoW2 for it.

Hrm. If they're trying to transition players to multiplayer then that kind of sucks, since single player and multiplayer are very different and I love me some single player while I hate me some multiplayer.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Hrm. If they're trying to transition players to multiplayer then that kind of sucks, since single player and multiplayer are very different and I love me some single player while I hate me some multiplayer.

Yeah, I enjoyed a limited amount of multiplayer with GWJ friends. I did not enjoy random multiplayer matches. I did play the crap out of the single player campaigns for DOW2 and Chaos Rising.

Stele wrote:

Wrong link, omonarca

DoW2 thread

It's been discussed in there, prices, places to buy, etc. No real reason for a separate thread. It's not a standalone, so you already have to have DoW2 for it.

How could it not be standalone if they are ditching GFWL?

NathanialG wrote:
Stele wrote:

Wrong link, omonarca

DoW2 thread

It's been discussed in there, prices, places to buy, etc. No real reason for a separate thread. It's not a standalone, so you already have to have DoW2 for it.

How could it not be standalone if they are ditching GFWL?

Hm it's right there in the description that it is standalone. Guess I missed that somehow. Still I don't see many people picking it up that haven't already played DoW2.

So is this going to continue the plot of Chaos Rising or will we have to wait for DoW3?

And why oh why have they not adopted this or licensed the engine out to another company to do a Warhammer fantasy version of this game.

Gas Powered Games could have done a great Dungeon Siege game with this engine!

And I've said it before, I would have loved to see a Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale game based off the DoW2 engine. Or perhaps, a new Mechcommander game... rejoice! *sigh*

The engine is doing them proud, it started life for them running Impossible creatures in 2003.

That game needs a reboot, stat!

fangblackbone wrote:

That game needs a reboot, stat!

I agree--it needs to be turn-based like it's supposed to be. Blood Bowl has a TB mode, so why not? There hasn't been a TB WH40K game since, what...Chaos Gate? Think about it, you select a unit, it zooms into FPP so you can check line of sight, then you see the huge cone of fire from your flamer. Righteous, no?

*drools*

I should go back and see if I can play Chaos Gate. I have much more patience now. I loved it then, but got to a mission that I was ~40 minutes into and 2 rocket launcher guys wiped out my party. I think it was an oil platform one too so they actually missed me but hit an exploding barrel that wreaked havock.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Hrm. If they're trying to transition players to multiplayer then that kind of sucks, since single player and multiplayer are very different and I love me some single player while I hate me some multiplayer.

Don't dismiss multiplayer until you get past that first barrier of TS30 players who beat you before you know what you did wrong. The game is insanely awesome in multiplayer. I put over 500 hours into it and it was a worthy investment.

It seems weird that they're making the expansion incompatible with the main game, but still calling it DOWII.

It's kind of in no-man's-land, being that it's not a sequel and it's not really the main game, either.

That said, I loved the single player of DOWII, and Chaos Rising is on my pile of shame, so I'll be getting this at some point.

BlackSabre wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

Hrm. If they're trying to transition players to multiplayer then that kind of sucks, since single player and multiplayer are very different and I love me some single player while I hate me some multiplayer.

Don't dismiss multiplayer until you get past that first barrier of TS30 players who beat you before you know what you did wrong. The game is insanely awesome in multiplayer. I put over 500 hours into it and it was a worthy investment.

It's not so much that I lose, it's that I don't like it. I like the RPGlite aspects of Single Player. I like the loot. While I'm sure multiplayer is great for some people, it's very different. It doesn't have the stuff I like. Come to think of it I was in the original Dawn of War II beta and was going to pass on the full product till they said more about the single player.

So, six single player campaigns, eh? Any word on the general size of the single player content? That sounds like two missions per faction unless this xpac is going to be significantly beefier than Chaos Rising.

Yup, sorry for providing the wrong link to the DoW2 catch-all. Hope it is now rectified

Dyni wrote:

So, six single player campaigns, eh? Any word on the general size of the single player content? That sounds like two missions per faction unless this xpac is going to be significantly beefier than Chaos Rising.

I'd say it will be quite beefy, and without any restrictions towards multiplayer (can play with any race), I think it will be the best valued expansion yet from Relic.

30 bucks for 6 campaigns, quite possibly 6 TLS heroes, 6 MP races and no GFWL? It really is a no-brainer :p

Are they keeping rank unlocks? Really don't want to have to get chaos back to level 60 again. Still, imperial guard is in now, so I'll probably switch to them.

oMonarca wrote:

30 bucks for 6 campaigns, quite possibly 6 TLS heroes, 6 MP races and no GFWL? It really is a no-brainer :p

You've made me rethink getting the CE. It sounds like a fantastic deal at $30, but tacking on another $10 for the CE, plus another $10 for tax + shipping from the THQ store, and buying the regular edition from Amazon now sounds really appealing.

ahrezmendi wrote:
oMonarca wrote:

30 bucks for 6 campaigns, quite possibly 6 TLS heroes, 6 MP races and no GFWL? It really is a no-brainer :p

You've made me rethink getting the CE. It sounds like a fantastic deal at $30, but tacking on another $10 for the CE, plus another $10 for tax + shipping from the THQ store, and buying the regular edition from Amazon now sounds really appealing.

Don't worry, I did the same thing to myself :S I have nowhere to hang the sweet poster, and I can live without the art cards. And the wargear? Not really that important.

A sweet cloth map would have me locked in. But this? Hmmm, I think I'll save an extra few bucks for a brand new AMD 6850.

Oh yeah, cloth maps have sold me since Baldur's Gate 2. Man that was an awesome CE.

EDIT: Also, I'm never ordering from the THQ site again. Sending an e-mail to cancel an order? When did we warp back to 2002? Seriously, these are solved problems, there's no excuse for not having an automatic order management system. There's also no excuse for not having a system where I can view my orders.

Hmm, sounds more appealing than I'd lead myself to believe. Damn all you great Q1 games!

LobsterMobster wrote:
BlackSabre wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

Hrm. If they're trying to transition players to multiplayer then that kind of sucks, since single player and multiplayer are very different and I love me some single player while I hate me some multiplayer.

Don't dismiss multiplayer until you get past that first barrier of TS30 players who beat you before you know what you did wrong. The game is insanely awesome in multiplayer. I put over 500 hours into it and it was a worthy investment.

It's not so much that I lose, it's that I don't like it. I like the RPGlite aspects of Single Player. I like the loot. While I'm sure multiplayer is great for some people, it's very different. It doesn't have the stuff I like. Come to think of it I was in the original Dawn of War II beta and was going to pass on the full product till they said more about the single player.

I'm mostly with you on this one. I was too far behind the curve with muti to play competently without putting in a lot of effort (not that there's anything wrong with effort being required, just a personal choice). I'm excited for all the single player content though...

Well, I just stumbled upon a metric assload of information over at something awful. Some really interesting information. Might be what I need to get back into this.

I think this might be my RTS for 2011.

Can't wait...

Anyone else think the new "Witch Hunter" looks a lot like Vampire Hunter D? Maybe it's the hat and the intense femininity.

SomethingAwful wrote:

Retribution adds the ability to build units during the campaign, which you purchase through resources.

Well... f*ck. Dawn of War II was the game that taught me you could do isolated squad missions well. Now that you can harvest resources and build units does that mean every level will turn into the usual RTS grind: turtle then overwhelm? I know that's not how multiplayer goes but we're all well aware of the typical differences between a human opponent and a computer opponent.

BlackSabre wrote:

Well, I just stumbled upon a metric assload of information over at something awful. Some really interesting information. Might be what I need to get back into this.

Coming soon:
Imperial Guard Details
Matchmaking and online stuff
Last Stand update

Yay! I was really hoping for a last stand update. Sure I only put a couple hours into it, but I had a great time doing it.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Well... f*ck. Dawn of War II was the game that taught me you could do isolated squad missions well. Now that you can harvest resources and build units does that mean every level will turn into the usual RTS grind: turtle then overwhelm?

Turtleing has always been a non-option in Relic-style RTS. The resources are out in the field, so you better go get them. If I had to guess, I'd say there will likely be a variety of mission types in the campaign, including some with MP-style base and unit building, and DoWII-style hero squad walk-abouts.

Two threads are really counter-productive Since RT is such a big departure from the original, I'll be posting updates that I find over here instead of over there.

By the way guys, did you notice the Land Raider (biggest SM unit) has an ability much like the Scout (tiniest SM unit) Shotgun Blast, but uses grenades instead of shotguns.

Grenades... Lots and lots of grenades.

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