Dawn of War II: Retribution (PC)

I am still coming off a battle high right now. Mejwell, a friend and I all got together for some epic 3v3. The fight shifted back and forth lasting about 30-40 minutes.

Here's a link: http://www.gamereplays.org/dawnofwar...

Enjoy everyone. I know I did.

Gunner wrote:

Also, the new voice acting is simply not as good. Apparently union regulations or something stipulated they had to re-record everything due to this release being a new SKU. Not a huge disaster, but a shame nonetheless.

What, EVERYTHING everything? I'm pretty sure things like the dreadnought and the space marine narrator are the same.

I like the new meltagun effects. The single beam makes more sense, the original spammed vapour beams like the scatter laser. (although I wish they would colour the beam, it looks too much like lascannons) Are lascannon predators seriously supposed to be worse at fighting infantry? Because those beams don't miss! Guardsman, tactical marines, even mekboys take one hit to the face and go splat.

I still don't get how to use the land raider efficiently though. Its a combination wood chipper, leaf blower and flamethrower. But as soon as it comes up against other vehicles or an enemy superheavy it kind of stalls.

The new Tyranid VOs are hella creepy

Oh I see what you mean by new voiceovers now. They didn't sound all that different to me at first (except for Apollo). But then I played some more and it sunk in. You say everything has been redone? Seems about right. Some of the dialog is just a little bit off. For instance I had to up the voice volume to maximum because they all seemed lower then normal.

The imperial guard stuff is great. But I hate most of the replaced voices. The techmarine voice doesn't have as much of the same digitized quality that the original did. This makes the new one sound a lot like Cyrus with a sore throat, they might even be the same actor. The tactical squad no longer has Tarkus's voice. Presumably because Tarkus doesn't appear in Retribution. They replaced him with a more classic "space marine wearing helmet" voice like the original Dawn of War. Its not... terrible, but the words have been changed. Instead of Tarkus saying "missile launcher, ready". The new guy says "modified missile launcher prepared".

Ladies and gentlemen, cleaving a Terminator squad in half never felt so satisfying. Especially one backed up by none other than Mr. Apothecary.

Best part was getting trash talk in the post game screen, the guy crying about my Khorne Marine Spam (two squads). He managed to ignore how effective was my Plague Champ at keeping them alive either through Mucus Discharge (he blows his nose and people are healed, just like Jesus) or the Touch of Nurgle global, or just plain good ol' worship.

I just love the Plague Champ right now. Super tanky, I can slowly push in using melee. It's good, really good.

The replay, for anyone who's interested: Khorne Marines Are So OP

I love the Autarch, the new Eldar red energy unit. She just bops in (with artillery fire), wrecks havoc and then if she has energy, bops out for further artillery strikes. Great mechanic and a great way to make a not super tanky unit feel powerful and match the style of the Eldar army.

I wasn't feeling it with the warlock still. I think I'll stick with madam farseer for now.

We should try to pull together a night for this, before the beta ends.

Depending on schedule, I would totally be up for that!

I am an utter noob at this, but I can spam guardsman in 3v3 like the best of them

Even if we don't get a chance I know much fun times are ahead when we get access tot he new Last Stand stuff.

It hasn't got to do with anything, but I thought it cool to share

"Will Will Will Will" *dakka *dakka

oMonarca wrote:

It hasn't got to do with anything, but I thought it cool to share

"Will Will Will Will" *dakka *dakka

To have that talent... some people are just incredibly talented.

Anyone else think that sentinels are too tall? They tower over Dreadnoughts and it feels weird.

Tamren wrote:

Anyone else think that sentinels are too tall? They tower over Dreadnoughts and it feels weird.

It does seem kinda weird on an intuitive level, but aren't dreadnoughts supposed to be pretty short? The GW page says that they're 3 times taller than a man. The bigger issue for me is that the Imperial Guard troops are nearly the same height of the Space Marines and Eldar. Might be for gameplay reasons to make them easier to click on and such, but it does take a bit away from the whole "little guy" appeal of the IG.

Yeah the scales are a little off. 3 times taller than a man would be about 18 feet. Dreadnoughts are supposedly 12 feet. 18 feet is huge! That is nearly as tall as the wraithlords. Sentinels are supposed to be nimble scout walkers, which they are. But its just wierd watching something so big spring around on chicken feet that look like they could crush a terminator.

Had a bunch of beta experiences:

1. Realized that custom games now give army points. SQUEEE!
2. Jumped into a random game of FFA as a Lord General. Pretty much noobed it up. I only built guardsmen and stormtroopers. Still managed to wipe the floor with the chaos lord next door. He would often run up and torch my entire army with his flame attack. But then I would rally! BOOM, creeping barrage! BOOM, manticore strike! So long predator!
3. Multilaser turrets are damaging, but they don't suppress like bolter turrets do.
4. Vehicle sized "Beam" weapons like the meltagun and prism cannon are amazingly effective against infantry. Even though it says it makes them less effective, the high damage doesn't spread. So targets like guardsmen will get gibbed one by one. Tougher targets like space marines will still get knocked around, and gibbed after multiple shots. The autocannon predator seems much much less effective than its counterpart.
5. I don't know why but meltaguns in general seem way too effective against retreating troops. The dreadnought meltagun will often gib a retreating hero in one shot.
6. Sentinels will evaporate if you allow them to turn around and enemies shoot them in the back.
7. Guardsman bunkers are octagonal and one face is the exit. Make sure this points away from the enemy, or you will lose a firepoint.
8. Manticores are so awesome! Holy sh*t. Establish a defensive line and park it at the rear. Infantry getting overrun? No problem! Vehicle being annoying? Drop all 4 rockets on its head!

Tamren wrote:

Yeah the scales are a little off. 3 times taller than a man would be about 18 feet. Dreadnoughts are supposedly 12 feet. 18 feet is huge! That is nearly as tall as the wraithlords. Sentinels are supposed to be nimble scout walkers, which they are. But its just wierd watching something so big spring around on chicken feet that look like they could crush a terminator.

They sure can try I don't mind the height. They feel (and are) flimsy. Very cool.

Tamren wrote:

Had a bunch of beta experiences:

1. Realized that custom games now give army points. SQUEEE!

Really? Nice I only noticed that they hand out more points now (I've been leveling my Chaos super fast!) But why wouldn't you play ranked?

I've tried, but most games were decided by who had the most noobs on their respective teams. I've fallen back to my old methodology of Team Ranked with GWJ'ers, else 1v1's.

Tamren wrote:

3. Multilaser turrets are damaging, but they don't suppress like bolter turrets do.

And you can salvage them back! And Guardsmen build and repair them, so you don't tie down your hero! So good! Exclamation!

Tamren wrote:

4. Vehicle sized "Beam" weapons like the meltagun and prism cannon are amazingly effective against infantry. Even though it says it makes them less effective, the high damage doesn't spread. So targets like guardsmen will get gibbed one by one. Tougher targets like space marines will still get knocked around, and gibbed after multiple shots. The autocannon predator seems much much less effective than its counterpart.

Yeah, but the rate of fire is piss-poor. However, the side bolters chew up regular infantry really fast. Bottom line: it's always a nice upgrade to have, even to dissuade the enemy from getting vehicle armor.

Tamren wrote:

8. Manticores are so awesome!

This is so true.

I'm really happy with the Imperial Guard, even if I'm playing Chaos. They're a great faction to fight against. I just love people who mass infantry then come T2 and I force a full retreat, I drop a Noxious Cloud on their base and it's gg. The stuff I learn playing Orks against Sabre

Spoiler:

Against Plague Champion: always get a chimera. Favor vehicles as the game goes on.

oMonarca wrote:
Tamren wrote:

8. Manticores are so awesome!

This is so true.

Worth repeating again.

I love the IG, and the Manticore has become the backbone of any game I play. The only thing I am not sure of is how to counter them if I play against IG.

Dr._J wrote:
oMonarca wrote:
Tamren wrote:

8. Manticores are so awesome!

This is so true.

Worth repeating again.

I love the IG, and the Manticore has become the backbone of any game I play. The only thing I am not sure of is how to counter them if I play against IG.

Autarch.

Manticores are made of paper so you have to keep them out of harms way. Jump infantry, ASM in particular will shred them. But they fit in great with the other IG units.

IG strategy has nothing at all to do with turtling. Its about taking and holding ground. Capture a point, slap down a healing bunker and laser turrets. Dig in with defensive walls whenever you have a spare moment. Try not to pick a fight without a defensive advantage. If they get into melee, stomp em with the Sentinel or throw Catachans at them. Things change a bit when vehicles become more common but that is the gist of it.

Biggest problems I'm having are Land Raiders, Baneblades and the Swarmlord. Land Raiders are vulnerable to other vehicles, walkers especially, but eat infantry alive. Baneblades are almost the opposite, except if you bunch up your infantry the demolisher cannon will pulverize them. But how the hell do you kill the swarmlord? At least with Avatars and GUOs you can mass antivehicle fire. But Swarmlords seem to be highly resistant to everything.

oMonarca wrote:

But why wouldn't you play ranked?

No particular reason. But everyone in the chat says (and its true) that matchmaking takes too long. I guess the pool of people isn't large enough, so everyone gets tired of waiting and plays custom instead.

One game that Whispa and I played had us attack a Swarmlord with a fully powered Nob Squad and Terminators. We limped away while the thing continued to wreck hell with more than half its health. I'm at a loss as to how I take it down. The thing is a beast.

Haven't had to face a Swarmlord yet. Sounds like it will be fun. Do they get any aura or anything that helps surrounding troops or is it just a really powerful single unit?

I have no idea, but its super powerful. Its like an Avatar, but it attacks MUCH faster. I once tried to take one down using a FC and two squads of terminators. One of them and the FC had fricken lightning claws. And it STILL beat the crap out of them and took ages to die.

Gunner wrote:

Haven't had to face a Swarmlord yet. Sounds like it will be fun. Do they get any aura or anything that helps surrounding troops or is it just a really powerful single unit?

Fun like chopping your balls off and then eating a testicle stew. It has speed synapse, making hormogaunts viable in T3, is fast and very, very brutal.

And doesn't suffer from pathing issues like the Land Raider and the Baneblade.

As for matchmaking taking time, so far it's been pretty good. Sometimes it takes a while, but nothing major. Besides, if you Alt+Tab during a search, the game window will restore automatically once the loading begins, so you don't miss a thing.

It's all good

New patch out, major change in the Chaos T1 roster. Should make things helluva interesting.

400 for a CSM squad... hmmm...

Maybe I should play at lunch today and see how that pans out.

Yesternight I ate a nice humble pie made of 3 Chaos mirrors. Freaking Chaos Lord plus Havocs is a huge PITA. You need GL heretics to deal with the Havocs, but they're a huge liability with a CL around. You can't suppress it with your own Havocs, so he's free to pressure your Heretics, plus if he gets close enough Kill The Weak will boost him right back to full.

Playing Plague Champ, trying to crack that nut.

So, pick a time this weekend, we only have a week and 2? days left in the beta. 1pm EST Sunday work for anyone else?

Sounds a bit iffy for me, but I'll try to show up

How many passenger squads does it take to activate the Chimera side mounted lasguns? A single squad is enough to man them. But the description makes it sound like they can get stronger.

Also does anyone remember the exact effects on retreating units? I think it went something like +speed, ++speed after a certain distance, +melee damage taken and so on. What I can't remember is if it reduces ranged damage taken, reduces the accuracy of ranged attacks, or both. DOW wiki is currently porting all of its content to a new server and adding the Retribution stuff. So they don't have basic mechanic info up yet.

I can't remember the exact numbers, but yes, they get a speed bonus while retreating that increases the longer they are retreating, take about half, or maybe even a third, of the normal ranged damage, and melee damage taken is increased, by a factor of 1.3 or 1.5. Something like that.

Basically it means if your in a ranged fight, you can wait until the almost last second to retreat if you have a clear path, but if your in a melee fight, you usually want to try and break out your units before hitting retreat.

Unless it's a Banshee squad bearing down on you. Then you GTFO before they reach striking distance.

So much knockdown

Just got an email about the pre orders. So it seems they ship out on the 25th and the official launch is on the 1st of March.

What are you guys going to do first? I'm going to start with the IG singleplayer campaign. Check out the new guys and the new mechanics at the same time.