WH40K: Dawn of War

[Kuciwalker]

No Imperial Guard?!

[Kuciwalker]

Just finished to the tutorial (the game has a very shallow learning curve, at least to control).



While the graphics actually aren't bad, the game didn't feel very different from any other RTS. It has a slightly different-than-normal resource system - you build power plants ("plasma generators") which constantly generate the resource to build buildings (AFAIK - I never looked at the resource req's, because I never had trouble building anything). You also capture these locations that you can build outposts on that give you a resource to requisition units. You have a cap (that you can increase at your HQ) on the number of vehicles and squads. The squad thing is somewhat original, and the main thing I like about the game - it reduces the clickfest-ness inherent to RTS's a lot.

The major disappointment actually was in the graphics department, partly (more just a general combination of pathfinding/graphics/gameplay), that really affected the atmosphere. It seems to exist in almost every 3D RTS - it's the phenomenon where all the units are shooting into one spot, and it just looks horrible. This could be fixes with a few things:

Have the pathfinder AI get the units to move in lines, like they were usually arranged in WH40K.

Make normal bolter shots invisible (and make things like missiles much move visible), maybe with a small % chance of each round being a "tracer" and showing up.

Have units target just in the general vicinity of the target, so they don't all pass near the same point.

Increase range relative to model size.

Slow down the rate of fire and move rate somewhat.

Have units block line-of-site (but have infantry squads arrange themselves so that both lines can shoot if there are multiple lines).

Have melee attacks prevent a unit from fleeing momentarily, so that unts aren't chasing after fleeing units, catching up, meleeing, then chasing again because they had to stop to melee.

Longer time stationary required to fire heavy weapons (and make this apply to the whole squad).

There were a few more, but I've forgotten them right now.

Ultimately, I hope they remove the HP/FP system and actually have dice rolls and slow the game down, even more than it is already. I want to almost be able to play a game of WH40K, not just a random RTS with 40K units.

[General Ludd]

Artillery works really well in this game. It's one of the few RTS games that's got it right, i think.

You can tell an artillery unit to fire at the ground and it will lay down countinous explosions in a wide radius, they don't do alot of damage on their own but they slowly wear down buildings and disorganize infantry.


I just beat someone with artillery alone, almost. I built three whirlwind tanks and set them up close enough to the enemy base, in a fortified position behind stationary bolter turrets (which had to be built around a capture point in the preliminary range of the base, which he foolishly did not defend well enough) and just sat there pummeling them. They spent all their resources repairing and rebuilding as the shells fell, while meanwhile I'm finishing the upgrades on my infantry army, which then stormed in and mopped it up after the artillery had broken their backs.

[General Ludd]

Have I mentioned how much I love artillery?


I just beat someone else without even entering their base. I took a capture point outside the perimiter of his base (not without a fight - he almost drove me back, and probably could of if he realized the importance of losing that point) and quickly set up a listening post. While he's in his base turtling up expecting me to continue my attack at any second, I'm building bolter turrets around the point and a machine pit behind them. I then start producing whirlwinds like mad and get them to start bombarding his base as soon as they are ready.


After the shells started hitting, he realised what I was doing and tried to get to the artillery.... only to run into a wall of bolter and missle turrets. His ally came in from the side aswell, but by this point I have about three whirlwinds and the barragement can easily be switched to the side, so they quickly came under a storm of shells and a call for obrital bombardment from my force commander, just for good measure.

So I continued to build whirlwinds and continued to bombard the enemy base. By the time I had 5 whirlwinds laying down a storm of shells all throughout his base he just up and surrendered despite me never actually entering the base and finishing off his defenses, or having two allies that had been more or less un touched at this point.

People seem to dismiss the artillery units because they have no accuracy, don't really do alot of damage, and are easily destroyed. But they don't appretiate the more subtle effects that they have - disorganization, attrition, and demoralization. Or the value of being able to lay down a storm of fire on a chokepoint to cut off an enemy advance. (really, with 5 whirlwinds bombarding my side flank I don't think they could've even gotten to me in a charge, with all the blasts scattering or knocking down the infantry and breaking up the squads) And, of course, niether do they realize the importance of having artillery ready for defensive counter-artillery measures.

[General Ludd]

I've gotten too good at this. I think I've won the last dozen or so games that I've played without even being challanged.

But I'm still having fun. Best RTS since StarCraft.

[Jamski]

Best RTS since StarCraft.

/me 's jaw drops*

It sounds cool. VERY cool.

-Jam

[Kuciwalker]

He's exxagerating.

[General Ludd]

No I'm not.


Finally, I faced a challange today which broke my winning streak. My enemies where able to build up a large force quite quickly and close off the exit to my base. Once they hemmed me in like that, they then sat out there collecting resources while I was trapped in my base. (just what I would of done) They did the same to my ally, and it was really just a matter of time before they overpowered us so much that we would be hopeless. But I had a plan to atleast go down in a blaze of glory... I devoted all my resources to building up an orbital relay, a couple dreadnaughts, and 3 squads of space marines. I had to drive back a couple attacks during the process, but I did that with ease. Once the orbital relay was complete I loaded up all my marines and dreadnaughts into launch pods and dropped them right into the heart of the enemy base. I blew up his HQ in a matter of seconds and went to work on his infrastructure. He took the opportunity to move into my base and was able to easily overrun the minimal defenses left behind, but alteast i was able to take msot of his stuff out before he could finish me off.


If it wheren't for those damned eldar allies of his, I might've killed him completely.

[General Ludd]

Oh, and I saw something cool. I don't normally pay attention to the fine details of the animations during combat because I have more important things to concentrate on, but I witnessed today one of my dreadnaughts picking up an eldar in it's claws, crushing it, and then throwing it into a rock wall.

[General Ludd]

Yay, a new patch today.



Hopefully they've finished the Eldar (alot of the GUI graphics are place holders) and tweaked them a bit to not be so powerful.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by General Ludd
I've gotten too good at this. I think I've won the last dozen or so games that I've played without even being challanged.

But I'm still having fun. Best RTS since StarCraft.

Wait until release........beta is always patchy skill wise. If the game is a tenth as competitive as SC or WC3 you'll lose your fair share.

[General Ludd]

I found the graphics settings. (who'da thunk of looking under the options menu? ) So here's some more screenshots. The game's gold now, by the way, and the beta will be ending soon.

My favorite loading screen...



Marines fire at the enemy base from a safe distance with rockets, and you can see an artillery shell in mid flight



Chaos Predators turn through a canyon while an allied Looted Tank gives covering fire.



A base under siege... while 9 whirlwind tanks barrage the base with fire from a distance the marines and dreadnaughts go in.
















Whirlwinds. All those explosions are from a concentrated artillery barrage.


Squished Ork.

[DrSpike]

Phew. For a second I thought it might be a squished orc.

[Jamski]

Never fear, Spikie, spelling will save your precious geenskins

Question : When is the predicted release date for WH40KDoW?

-Jam

[General Ludd]

OMG ORK RUSH!@#!#@

Rushing is interesting in this game, and the Orkz where obviously built with it in mind. Orkz have guns mounted on all their buildings, so rushing against them is impossible. They also start the game with a squad of slugga boyz, no other race starts with military units and the ones they can build in their HQ are substantially weaker than slugga boyz.

So when you start as an Ork, you can immediately send out your slugga boyz to the enemy base, probably catching their scouts while they secure the capture points around their base and their builders while they are finishing up the barracks or power generators. This will potentially slow your opponent down and give him a severe handicap for the rest of the game by forcing him to expend resources on geting you out of his base and neglecting to capture the points, or outright destroy his ability to do anything at all. But it call all be defeated easily if the person builds a turret immediately. But most people don't do this, because rushing is quite uncommon (partly because it's so easily stopped - a viscious cycle)