Just saw this on steam, thoughts people?

Looks good, can't wait to play the campaign as a pirate ork

Yeah the Ork campaign looks awesome, though according to steam each campaign is a seperate game with a seperate pricetag which is a little iffy.

corpsesarefun wrote:Yeah the Ork campaign looks awesome, though according to steam each campaign is a seperate game with a seperate pricetag which is a little iffy.

No.

Those are just preorder bonuses.

Seriously, try reading it a bit more...

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Imperial Guard Race Pack)
Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Imperial Guard Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Chaos Space Marines Race Pack)
Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Chaos Space Marine Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Ork Race Pack)
STEAM EXCLUSIVE - Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Ork Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Space Marines Race Pack)
Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Space Marine Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Eldar Race Pack)
Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Eldar Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Melissia wrote:

corpsesarefun wrote:Yeah the Ork campaign looks awesome, though according to steam each campaign is a seperate game with a seperate pricetag which is a little iffy.

No.

Those are just preorder bonuses.

Seriously, try reading it a bit more...

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Imperial Guard Race Pack)
Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Imperial Guard Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Chaos Space Marines Race Pack)
Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Chaos Space Marine Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Ork Race Pack)
STEAM EXCLUSIVE - Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Ork Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Space Marines Race Pack)
Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Space Marine Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Eldar Race Pack)
Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Eldar Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Woah a little less agro please, I'm not the tank your looking for.

I realised they are just wargear unlocks shortly after posting, sucks there are no nid ones.

So you can play Imperial guard on retribution?

Yes. The Imperial Guard has a Lord Commissar, Lord General, and Witch Hunter Inquisitor as heroes, and a baneblade as a one-of-a-kind end-tier unit.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

corpsesarefun wrote:

Melissia wrote:

corpsesarefun wrote:Yeah the Ork campaign looks awesome, though according to steam each campaign is a seperate game with a seperate pricetag which is a little iffy.

No.

Those are just preorder bonuses.

Seriously, try reading it a bit more...

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Imperial Guard Race Pack)
Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Imperial Guard Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Chaos Space Marines Race Pack)
Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Chaos Space Marine Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Ork Race Pack)
STEAM EXCLUSIVE - Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Ork Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Space Marines Race Pack)
Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Space Marine Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Pre-Purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Eldar Race Pack)
Pre-Purchase now to unlock rare wargear for the Eldar Race. Click here for details
$29.99 ADD TO CART

Woah a little less agro please, I'm not the tank your looking for.

I realised they are just wargear unlocks shortly after posting, sucks there are no nid ones.

http://uk-thq-eshop.gamesplanet.com/buy-download-pc-games/DoW-II---Retribution---Tyranid-Pack-2274-43.html

I hope they have better voices than in dawn of war: winter crusade, dark crusade and soulstorm.

Play DoW2's campaign or its expansion and you'll find out.


(the answer is yes, but go ahead and play them anyway)

Melissia wrote:Yes. The Imperial Guard has a Lord Commissar, Lord General, and Witch Hunter Inquisitor as heroes, and a baneblade as a one-of-a-kind end-tier unit.

Feth Yeah!

Any word on which Hero is going into Last Stand?

Also, do any of you guys want to play Last Stand or just a normal, laid back game?

Slarg232 wrote:

Melissia wrote:Yes. The Imperial Guard has a Lord Commissar, Lord General, and Witch Hunter Inquisitor as heroes, and a baneblade as a one-of-a-kind end-tier unit.

Feth Yeah!

Any word on which Hero is going into Last Stand?

Also, do any of you guys want to play Last Stand or just a normal, laid back game?

My guess is the Inquisitor, but I could be wrong.

I play all three modes, though multiplayer the least-- usually I prefer skirmish over multiplayer unless a good friend is on.

Melissia wrote:

Slarg232 wrote:

Melissia wrote:Yes. The Imperial Guard has a Lord Commissar, Lord General, and Witch Hunter Inquisitor as heroes, and a baneblade as a one-of-a-kind end-tier unit.

Feth Yeah!

Any word on which Hero is going into Last Stand?

Also, do any of you guys want to play Last Stand or just a normal, laid back game?

My guess is the Inquisitor, but I could be wrong.

I play all three modes, though multiplayer the least-- usually I prefer skirmish over multiplayer unless a good friend is on.

Well, if you feel like it, you can add me for some good last stand action; three of my characters are lvl 20.

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198022368803

If I buy the tyranid version on the THQ website, will it transfer over to steam?

It's all looking really good to me, although this whole separate pre-order games for each race is a bit annoying, but oh well. I reckon that I'll just get the Space Marine one, considering I'm a stalwart loyalist.. usually.

Although I've just seen the Collecters edition which has all the bonuses for each race, but I also found out that you have to pay EXTRA for each of the race bonuses once the game is launched. Stupid, if you ask me.

Also, I don't think that it continues on from previous campaigns for the Marines, because the description on the Space Marine pack says that they're upgrades for Diomedes, which is dissapointing because I'm sure he'll start off a lot less powerful than he actually was in CR.

Prawnkus wrote:If I buy the tyranid version on the THQ website, will it transfer over to steam?

If you buy any version anywhere it';ll transfer over to steam, as they're using the Steam Cloud package.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:It's all looking really good to me, although this whole separate pre-order games for each race is a bit annoying, but oh well. I reckon that I'll just get the Space Marine one, considering I'm a stalwart loyalist.. usually.

Although I've just seen the Collecters edition which has all the bonuses for each race, but I also found out that you have to pay EXTRA for each of the race bonuses once the game is launched. Stupid, if you ask me.

For the collector's edition? No, you don't have to "pay extra for each of the race bonuses". You pay $10 more than the standard edition and get all of them. That's all.

Also, I don't think that it continues on from previous campaigns for the Marines, because the description on the Space Marine pack says that they're upgrades for Diomedes, which is dissapointing because I'm sure he'll start off a lot less powerful than he actually was in CR.

Of course it doesn't "continue from previous campaigns for the Marines". They want everyone starting fresh here in campaign. New characters, for the most part, for the Marines to ensure that it's a fresh start rather than just load your previously geared and level capped Marines and blitz through the Marine campaign.

Which was rather hilarious watching Thaddeus plow through chaos marines like slamming a hammer down on a dusty desk.

Not challenging and certainly not necessarily as fun. But amusing.

^ True things. Although I still prefer me Armour Value 230-something Force Commander who's dishing out about 1k damage or something.

As for Avitus? Dear god, his assault cannon does something like 1.7k damage.. fun stuff. It actually makes playing on Captain difficulty easy.

As for what I said about not continuing the campaign, that was purely for people who didn't know already.

@Kanluwen - you have to pay extra to get the additional wargear and abilities once the game is released/activated.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:
@Kanluwen - you have to pay extra to get the additional wargear and abilities once the game is released/activated.

Where are you getting that from?

Kanluwen wrote:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:
@Kanluwen - you have to pay extra to get the additional wargear and abilities once the game is released/activated.

Where are you getting that from?

Right here, unfortunately:

http://community.dawnofwar2.com/

Dawn of War II website wrote:After launch, gamers will have the option of purchasing the in-game content provided with the individual race packs digitally through STEAM for a nominal fee.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:
@Kanluwen - you have to pay extra to get the additional wargear and abilities once the game is released/activated.

Where are you getting that from?

Right here, unfortunately:

http://community.dawnofwar2.com/

Dawn of War II website wrote:After launch, gamers will have the option of purchasing the in-game content provided with the individual race packs digitally through STEAM for a nominal fee.

That doesn't say "You have to pay extra to get the additional wargear and abilities via your Collector's Edition preorder".

It's just saying that you can buy the preorder stuff individually after launch.

So it is.. easy mistake to make I guess.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:So it is.. easy mistake to make I guess.

Don't worry I made the same mistake, steam is pretty misleading at first glance.

Yeah.. I actually hated steam at first, real bitch to install.. but then I met Games for Windows: Live. I won't even go into that one..

corpsesarefun wrote:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:So it is.. easy mistake to make I guess.

Don't worry I made the same mistake, steam is pretty misleading at first glance.

Not really. It's just a matter of reading comprehension.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:
Yeah.. I actually hated steam at first, real bitch to install.. but then I met Games for Windows: Live. I won't even go into that one..

Well, good news for you is Games for Windows Live is supposed to be gone from Retribution.

Kanluwen wrote:

corpsesarefun wrote:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:So it is.. easy mistake to make I guess.

Don't worry I made the same mistake, steam is pretty misleading at first glance.

Not really. It's just a matter of reading comprehension.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:
Yeah.. I actually hated steam at first, real bitch to install.. but then I met Games for Windows: Live. I won't even go into that one..

Well, good news for you is Games for Windows Live is supposed to be gone from Retribution.

Good to hear Windows live is gone..

Reading comprehension? Just because things can have different meanings, it hardly means that someone who takes a different meaning from something has a low level of reading comprehension.


Now, back on topic.

After launch, gamers will have the option of purchasing the in-game content provided with the individual race packs digitally through STEAM for a nominal fee.

That has pretty much one way to be read, Dark.

Yep, from left to right.

It suggests that when you get the game, the actual content that you got with the game you bought can be made useable by paying steam, which then suggests that no matter which game you preorder, getting the extras costs extra.

Now Kanluwen, I've already made it clear that I don't care to discuss this any more, so it seems you're just out to be annoying. For the sake of argument though, two people on this thread have made that mistake, yet one claims it cannot be made.


Really, end of discussion. Back on topic.


[edited for typo correction]

Darkvoidof40k wrote:Yep, from left to right.

It suggests that when you get the game, the actual content that you got with the game you bought can be made useable by paying steam, which then suggests that no matter which game you preorder, getting the extras costs extra.

No it doesn't. It suggests that, "from left to right", that you have the option of purchasing the in-game content provided with the individual race packs digitally through Steam for a nominal fee.

Now Kanluwen, I've already made it clear that I don't care to discuss this any more, so it seems you're just out to be annoying. For the sake of argument though, two people on this thread have made that mistake, yet one claims it cannot be made.

For the sake of argument though, let's just assume you're both lacking critical reading comprehension skills.

And common sense.

Really, end of discussion. Back on topic.

Yes. Let's back on topic.

Oh wait. Why do we have this thread again, when there's one in news & rumors?

Kanluwen wrote:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:Yep, from left to right.

It suggests that when you get the game, the actual content that you got with the game you bought can be made useable by paying steam, which then suggests that no matter which game you preorder, getting the extras costs extra.

No it doesn't. It suggests that, "from left to right", that you have the option of purchasing the in-game content provided with the individual race packs digitally through Steam for a nominal fee.

Now Kanluwen, I've already made it clear that I don't care to discuss this any more, so it seems you're just out to be annoying. For the sake of argument though, two people on this thread have made that mistake, yet one claims it cannot be made.

For the sake of argument though, let's just assume you're both lacking critical reading comprehension skills.

And common sense.

Really, end of discussion. Back on topic.

Yes. Let's back on topic.

Oh wait. Why do we have this thread again, when there's one in news & rumors?

Because I don't frequent in news and rumours and because its about a videogame.

People seriously need to chill out and stop being complete donkey-caves when people make mistakes.

Here's where it would go once it's actually released, if that's any consolation.

corpsesarefun wrote:
Because I don't frequent in news and rumours and because its about a videogame.

People seriously need to chill out and stop being complete donkey-caves when people make mistakes.

It's nice to see some people aren't out to derail threads with arguments and know what they're talking about.



[edit to change knows* to know*]

I'm off to THQ to play it in less than 2 weeks, so if there is anything you want me to ask or keep an eye out for, let me know here. Last stand hero is my main thing as I tend to play last stand more than anything else after completing the campaign once. Hopefully it will be as big an improvement as DoW2 expansion 1 was to the original DoW2, THQ always seem to release average/so-so first products then get better and better with each expansion.

legoburner wrote:I'm off to THQ to play it in less than 2 weeks, so if there is anything you want me to ask or keep an eye out for, let me know here. Last stand hero is my main thing as I tend to play last stand more than anything else after completing the campaign once. Hopefully it will be as big an improvement as DoW2 expansion 1 was to the original DoW2, THQ always seem to release average/so-so first products then get better and better with each expansion.

Oooooh

Can you ask them if they have any plans to include the other characters in the Last Stand? I always wanted to play as the Terminator, not the Sorcerer for Chaos. The Plague Champion would be fun to play as too. Also, will we ever get more maps/ a mod thing to make more maps and do more with game modes like the Last Stand? A little bit of customization would go a long way.


And I have to ask everyone: Is anyone else running into a problem with this game? I keep loading it up because all this talk of Retribution, but I can only play for about fifteen minutes before it completely shuts down my computer. I used to play this game no problem, and so am pretty sure its not my computer specs. I can play TF2, Poker at the Inventory, and Guild Wars just fine, but my computer seems to overheat only when playing DoWII and I was wondering if anyone else was running into this.

Sounds like your fan has stopped working or you have some serious glitch, Slarg. Frankly, the only problems I've ever had with either of the DoW II games is with Steam and Games for Windows: Live. Specifically the latter, which deleted my completed campaign storyline for both DoW II and CR when I activated it. I'm glad though, because I'm playing it again on a harder difficulty, with more wargear and a much better idea of how to win.

Making the best of a bad situation can lead to good things, it seems.

Yeah, you probably need either a better cooling system or a better power supply.

My fan/cooling system would only stop working for one game

Not saying that's not what's happening, because hey, I'm computer illiterate, but that just sounds odd.

hmmm....

Slarg232 wrote:My fan/cooling system would only stop working for one game

Not saying that's not what's happening, because hey, I'm computer illiterate, but that just sounds odd.

hmmm....

The more intensive the game is on your system the more heat it produces, your fan may be able to cool down your pc enough when running guildwars as its way lower specs but on DoW2 your system is probably dying.

What components are you running?

Store bought, whatever it came with

Pretty sure I still have the warrenty, I could take it in and get it looked at soon.

Slarg232 wrote:Store bought, whatever it came with

Pretty sure I still have the warrenty, I could take it in and get it looked at soon.

Try that though there probably isn't much they can do unless one of the fans has straight up stopped working.

If it's not custom-made, it's probably ovepriced for what it does...

corpsesarefun wrote:

Slarg232 wrote:Store bought, whatever it came with

Pretty sure I still have the warrenty, I could take it in and get it looked at soon.

Try that though there probably isn't much they can do unless one of the fans has straight up stopped working.

Really? Damn.... Probably going to have to try to custom make my next one.

Melissia wrote:If it's not custom-made, it's probably ovepriced for what it does...

Well, she plays games like mad good and only costed me $1,500.

Oh, something I should mention: It's a laptop

Melissia wrote:If it's not custom-made, it's probably ovepriced for what it does...

Which is why being friends with computer geeks is awesome.

Its a laptop? your fethed then mate, custom laptops are even more overpriced.

If you get the parts and do it yourself (following the Manuel and internet instructions carefully) you can get a pc of the standard of your laptop for like £500 and much better for £600.

Dude, if you want to use a PC for gaming, you either gotta know what you're doing or have someone to do the knowing for you.

Rarely can you just buy a PC nowadays for gaming and run it as-is.. Hell, somehow my PC is still going on games that it apparently shouldn't be able to do, like DoW II and Fallout: New Vegas. But it still does, because over the years I (well, my dad..) have modified/upgraded it as the situation has required. Unfortunately, my poor old Medion is at the zenith of its capacity, and so I will be getting a quad-core.. soon.. soon being whenever I can scrape together £300 and get the cheapest one I can and then stick a bunch of better components in it.

Anyway, I think you get the point. Gaming computers [i]need/i] to be modified to work at their best. Oh, and just to be sure, Slarg, make sure all your graphics settings are on the lowest and that you have atleast enough RAM (random access memory - one of the real bitches for older PCs) and at best atleast 15 gigabites of space on your hard drive free.

Defragging your computer might also be a good idea.



Edit: Laptop. Well, that pretty much explains the problem right there then.

My three year old 1k USD PC hasn't run into a game it can't handle. Fun times.

Laptops are a different monster, one which I'd rather not get into myself... at least not for gaming.

edit: Actually it would be four years by now I think...

I bought my current PC second-hand off Ebay around 2004/2005 for £180.01 (winning by that one penny, naturally! ) and since then been adding to and changing it more-or-less every year. Now while it can handle pretty much any game, like yours can Melissia, that's not good enough for me. I want to play all of my newer games on the highest quality detail and without any multiplayer lag/have it run the games completely smoothly.

"Don't just play, play in style." Huzzah for crappy quotes made up on the spot.

Mine can handle modern games in medium settings, but as I'm not on windows Vista/7 yet, it obviously can't handle DX10/11 for completely arbitrary reasons.

I'm not on Windows 7 either, just faithful old XP. Vista is crap and shouldn't even exist..

Also, it is very easy to run older games off of extension drives, as I have discovered, which is very useful because of the size many games are now, especially games like Fallout 3 Gotye and Fallout: New Vegas.

You can get terabyte drives rather cheap, which is useful.

That's what I have, one terabyte. Well, around 930 Gigabites of useable space, anyway. Hardly the worst birthday present one can get.

I believe all that needs to be said on that, so I suggest we leave this thread until something on-topic gets posted.

Hmmm... It doesn't seem to be a bad fan/cooler. I turned my settings down to medium, moved some of the books that were around my computer out of the way, and moved it so that the vents are off of the table so as to get more breathing room. It was no were near as hot, but it still shut down.

Imma gonna go over the the Relic Forums and see if they have run into this sort of thing before.

RelicNews is better than the DoW2 community forums. The latter tends to have its head stuck firmly up its own backside.

Melissia wrote:RelicNews is better than the DoW2 community forums. The latter tends to have its head stuck firmly up its own backside.

Yeah, too bad that RelicNews doesn't allow Hotmail Email addresses, so I have to wait for THQ support to get back to me

I just really hope that they add more to The Last Stand. It's really repetative, but I don't like the Campaign, and I suck at the Multiplayer so tLS is really all I have in that game.

Multiplayer is easy once you learn to stomp all over the AIs.


But I agree - The Last Stand is so repetetive, it'd be nice for it to have different maps and different wave orders or something..

I think the confusion over the pre-order packs got cleared up now, but in case anyone's not sure of anything else, we've got an FAQ here: http://www.thqinsider.co.uk/2011/01/07/dawn-of-war-ii-retribution-pre-order-packs-faq/

Neat, Play.co.uk will also have the special edition, saves me a lot of headaches with the local retailers.

Hey guys, quick but important question here: can I buy the Retribution collector's edition even though I'm in the UK? Apparently I can for £39.99, but I can't find anywhere that sells it in the UK. It's only available to order in America from THQ.com, unfortunately.

You can buy it through THQ's website only, I think.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:Multiplayer is easy once you learn to stomp all over the AIs.

Well... this is basically me:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:Hey guys, quick but important question here: can I buy the Retribution collector's edition even though I'm in the UK? Apparently I can for £39.99, but I can't find anywhere that sells it in the UK. It's only available to order in America from THQ.com, unfortunately.

It'll be available at most retailers.
This page should be updated regularly with links: http://www.thq.com/uk/game/retailers/6642

Play.com don't have it available to order yet, though you can leave your email address with them for when it is ready.

^ I have indeed done that already, Insider.

Thanks for that link though! Looks like I'll be buying it off Amazon - almost £10 off with free shipping; great deal.

Although somehow it's supposed to be £39.99 when American's have it at $39.99. Exchange rates 'n' all that.

Thanks for everyone who tried to help me with my problem, They got back to me and I know whats wrong: My Video card driver thing is outdated, and I need to purchase a new download, so I will have to wait till tomorrow to play it.

Strange, downloads are usually to fix existing programs, not parts of the computer.. eh, whatever, I'm glad to hear it's working for you (or will be..).

Slarg232 - do you mean the drivers for your card?
They're normally free, at least in my experience. I'd suggest looking at the manufacturer's site.

THQInsider wrote:Slarg232 - do you mean the drivers for your card?
They're normally free, at least in my experience. I'd suggest looking at the manufacturer's site.

Yes, I did, thank you for that correction.

I was redirected to Toshiba's site by the guy I was talking to for the e-mail. After it's diagnosis, it said that I was using 47 outdated programs

Chaos info on the DoW2 community site. Noise marines are their new unit.

Melissia wrote:Chaos info on the DoW2 community site. Noise marines are their new unit.

Nice, though I wish they were an upgrade to the Chaos Space Marine unit, like giving them the Mark of Khorne/Mark of Tzeentch. Though I suppose they fit alongside Plague Marines in being their own thing.

Also, I hope they add in more than one unit, so you can get an entire Slaanesh force going, but I doubt it.

Well, every race is getting its own super heavy unit, and that's suggesting that the GUO is not super heavy.

So.. Baneblades and Land Raiders everyone!

Any word on additional heroes?

Wouldn't mind a Slaaneshi focus lord, then you have a hero for all the gods.

Slarg232 wrote:Any word on additional heroes?

Wouldn't mind a Slaaneshi focus lord, then you have a hero for all the gods.

You're stuck with Eliphas..The Inheritor? He seems to have grave-robbed Araghast the Pillager's body and stolen the armour. Now he looks like a slow.

I'm more interested in the Imperial Guard Commander/General, Lord Commissar and Witch Hunter Inquisitor. Oh, and the fact that when you start off with Diomedes, he's about a million times crapper than in CR.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:Well, every race is getting its own super heavy unit

No, just the ones that don't have one yet. The GUO and Avatar are already superheavy units, and they're going to be on par with land raiders and baneblades.

Melissia wrote:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:Well, every race is getting its own super heavy unit

No, just the ones that don't have one yet. The GUO and Avatar are already superheavy units, and they're going to be on par with land raiders and baneblades.

Ah, right. So Land Raider, Baneblade and one of the Eldar Super-Heavy vehicles?

The Avatar is just pathetic, I reckon. I highly doubt that in a competetive game it will be used regularly. Money is where mouth is.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:

Slarg232 wrote:Any word on additional heroes?

Wouldn't mind a Slaaneshi focus lord, then you have a hero for all the gods.

You're stuck with Eliphas..The Inheritor? He seems to have grave-robbed Araghast the Pillager's body and stolen the armour. Now he looks like a slow.

I mean as a fourth selectable character for multiplayer

Nah, they'll definitely be sticking with three. The Eldar Autarch proves that.

Sad day, I really liked how I could pick a different god, and a completely different playstyle, per game. Not having Slaanesh included just feels kind of.... lazy? to me.

By the way, do we have any news on the other units/heroes for the Space Marines and any of the other races? Because Thaddeus, Arkus, Cyrus, Thule, Tarkus and Jonah won't be in it for sure.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Slarg232 wrote:Sad day, I really liked how I could pick a different god, and a completely different playstyle, per game. Not having Slaanesh included just feels kind of.... lazy? to me.

The Chaotic customisation award will forever be with zureal13.

The game is just that. A game. It's not made for its background correctness, but for seeing spacemans blow stuff up.



Edit: I will be pretty annoyed if we have another IG vs SM thing.. that was the only downside to DC.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:

Melissia wrote:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:Well, every race is getting its own super heavy unit

No, just the ones that don't have one yet. The GUO and Avatar are already superheavy units, and they're going to be on par with land raiders and baneblades.

Ah, right. So Land Raider, Baneblade and one of the Eldar Super-Heavy vehicles?

The Avatar is just pathetic, I reckon. I highly doubt that in a competetive game it will be used regularly. Money is where mouth is.

Nope, the Eldar get the Autarch as their new unit. The superheavies are like this:

Chaos: Great Unclean One
Eldar: Avatar
Imperial Guard: Baneblade
Orks: Battlewagon
Space Marines: Land Raider Redeemer
Tyranids: Swarmlord

Chaos and Eldar get the Noise Marines and Autarch, respectively.

Well heck, my brain really isn't working considering I've just realised I already knew that stuff, Melissia . Except for the Battlewagon and the Redeemer, which is pretty nifty. They just want the pred, Devastators and Terminators to be the anti-tank.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:By the way, do we have any news on the other units/heroes for the Space Marines and any of the other races? Because Thaddeus, Arkus, Cyrus, Thule, Tarkus and Jonah won't be in it for sure.

Yes, as soon as their website starts working, go look it up on DoW2's community site.


http://community.dawnofwar2.com/news

Darkvoidof40k wrote:BThe Chaotic customisation award will forever be with zureal13.

The game is just that. A game. It's not made for its background correctness, but for seeing spacemans blow stuff up.



Edit: I will be pretty annoyed if we have another IG vs SM thing.. that was the only downside to DC.

But still! The Gods demand it!

.... The Gods also demanded a Greater Daemon entry with it changing per Lord, too. That would ahve been far to much work, though. Despite how awesome it would ahve been.

Slarg232 wrote:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:BThe Chaotic customisation award will forever be with zureal13.

The game is just that. A game. It's not made for its background correctness, but for seeing spacemans blow stuff up.



Edit: I will be pretty annoyed if we have another IG vs SM thing.. that was the only downside to DC.

But still! The Gods demand it!

.... The Gods also demanded a Greater Daemon entry with it changing per Lord, too. That would ahve been far to much work, though. Despite how awesome it would ahve been.

Get FoK.

FoK?

Slarg232 wrote:FoK?

I shall say no more.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Well actually, I will say some more. It's got basically every single rule/unit in the official codexes for all the DC races.

Edit: Plus everything's the right size, armour saves/stats are taken into account and hell, there's even some forgeworld stuff in there!

Darkvoidof40k wrote:

Slarg232 wrote:FoK?

I shall say no more.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Well actually, I will say some more. It's got basically every single rule/unit in the official codexes for all the DC races.

Edit: Plus everything's the right size, armour saves/stats are taken into account and hell, there's even some forgeworld stuff in there!

Sexy. for DoW, not DoWII, right?

DoW: DC: FoK. :Thumbsup:

Yeah, AFAIK they still haven't adapted it to Soulstorm, so I couldn't be arsed to care. Regardless, this is a DoW2 thread, not a whateverstorm over kronus thread, so let's stay on topic.


Obnoxiously enough, it seems like most THQ sites are down for maintenance right now.

Melissia wrote:Yeah, AFAIK they still haven't adapted it to Soulstorm, so I couldn't be arsed to care. Regardless, this is a DoW2 thread, not a whateverstorm over kronus thread, so let's stay on topic.


Obnoxiously enough, it seems like most THQ sites are down for maintenance right now.

A bit of off-topic is healthy for a thread, as wierd as it sounds.

Some boring-ass folks here.

Ethancol wrote:Some boring-ass folks here.

I'm glad to thrill you so.

Ethancol wrote:Some boring-ass folks here.

Site's back up. All the information you want on the single player heroes (Except for IG, which has not had any articles on them yet-- they're saving that for just before the open beta they promised us probably) is on the blog.

The thought of a Tyranid campaign always makes me think of a hive Tyrant giving an Indrik Boreal-esq speech to a bunch of hormagaunts.

Lol, no, the Tyranid hero (there's only one, a hiive tyrant) has no speaking part, I believe.

Would be odd giving it (Tyrant) a speaking part. I'd imagine it would be text boxes simulating synaptic commands, but that is still far fetched.

Well, I'm happy I can get an Inquisitor. Regardless of the type, I like them, but since I don't play Witch Hunters on TT maybe I'm not sure if I'm going to enjoy it as much. *Shrug* maybe I'll read through the fluff in the codex from GWs PDF.

For the Tyranid's, they're obviously going to have the Hive Mind speaking.

They did that with AvP 2010, which turned out to be a great game with lots of issues - the Alien campaign had the queen 'speaking' to you. Text with hissing noises: works every time.

Ya, the game was given a bad rating, but I for one found it fun, with each campaign being a nice, refreshing, change of pace.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed all the campaigns.

It's the serious balance issues and lag online that f*cks me backwards.

I get so much lag that sometimes I can't even join a server. Sometimes I could join for 5 seconds and then be cut off. Sometimes I managed to play games, but with serious lag as ever.

Admittedly, my computer is pretty old. But it can even play DoW II online better.

The other biggest problem is the fact that each species is so 'realistic' that it is just unbalanced. It works in its own way, but it has resulted in endless stealth-kill spam and with Marines hiding in caves etc.


Anyway, that's my little off-topic rant done for now.


Edit: for on-topic purposes, does anyone have any news on the beta testing? I heard something about that, but it may not be true. I just want my multiplayer space marines to look more badas$.

So far, Relic hasn't breathed a wink on beta.

THere, finally, beta information.

http://community.dawnofwar2.com/blog-post/dawn-war-ii-retribution-beta

Public multiplayer beta throughout the month of February.

I love a good birthday present.

The beta is scheduled to go live on MondayJanuary 31st when global press and key Dawn of War® community members will be given access. It will then broaden to include everyone who has pre-ordered Dawn of War® II – Retribution™ on STEAM to date on February 1st. Finally, anyone who has bought a Dawn of War game through STEAM or has registered a Dawn of War II product on their STEAM account will automatically receive an invite onFebruary 8th. There will be no open registration phase to this beta.

The Dawn of War II - Retribution multiplayer beta is currently planned to run until midnight on February 24th, at which point the developers will take all feedback into account to create a day-zero balancing patch.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:It's the serious balance issues

Definatly this, playing a marine was not worth it agains predators and they didnt balance the points to match. (i had a door covered unloaded with minigun on pred he runs past doorway throwing disk and insta kills me wtf, never mind he would be quit full of holes from being blasted with a minigun)

also infection was a fun gameplay mode, especially at the end when the team gets slaughtered and everyone makes a break for it (had fun yelling "game over man!" into the mike as all hell was breaking loose )

WTF man, I'm talking about an open multiplayer beta test, get excited already and quit *****ing about AVP like that game actually matters in comparison to the awesomeness that is DoW2!

Melissia wrote:WTF man, I'm talking about an open multiplayer beta test, get excited already and quit *****ing about AVP like that game actually matters in comparison to the awesomeness that is DoW2!

So are they adding bases in this version

^ I do not believe so.

Thanks for the info Melis, I'll be sure to pre-order my Retribution Collector's edition ASAP and wait pointlessly for my invite on the 8th anyway.

I just want my damned Multiplayer marines to look awesome and not crappy like they do..

Gibbsey wrote:

Melissia wrote:WTF man, I'm talking about an open multiplayer beta test, get excited already and quit *****ing about AVP like that game actually matters in comparison to the awesomeness that is DoW2!

So are they adding bases in this version

Why would they? There already is a base in game.

one (unless you include turrents...) - i miss the old style bases but i love the new fighting styles :(

Turrents don't exist, there's only turrets.

I thought the old starcrap style gameplay was incredibly jarring and out of place in a 40k game.

True, I liked DOW 2 better than the First DOW game
There will be a tyranid campaign? Really?
What would it look like? Would they have special boneswords? You know those rare equipment things

They explain it here:

http://community.dawnofwar2.com/blog-post/tyranid-campaign-hero

“forward…consume…” – Hive Mind

Cut off from the main Tyranid fleet, the Tyranids in sub-sector Aurelia are a scattered and disorganized nuisance at the start of their campaign in Dawn of War II: Retribution. When organized by the Hive Mind they are a lethal force that strikes system after system, stripping all life from planets in their path. The Hive Lord leads the swarm in their campaign to rebuild the psychic link with the main Tyranid fleet and finally consume sub-sector Aurelia in its entirety.


The Hive Lord is a monstrous beast of barbs, spikes, claws, teeth, and incredible strength. The primary strength of these creatures though comes through their psyker powers. The Hive Mind is in contact with the Hive Lord through a psychic link. The Hive Mind is the omniscient power that propels and guides the Tyranids and the Hive Lord serves as the commander on the battlefield, organizing the lesser creatures that make up the Tyranid swarm. The Hive Lord’s synaptic power instructs and empowers weaker organisms, allowing them to act as a group and with surprising intelligence.

The Tyranid campaign is quite unique in that there is only one Tyranid Hero unit, as opposed to four for all other factions. The swarm that the Hive Lord leads in the Tyranid campaign is made up of everything from Rippers to Raveners. These units can be summoned to fight by the Hive Lord itself, adding ever increasing numbers and weight to Tyranid attacks. As the Hive Lord gains levels throughout the campaign, not only does this allow you to unlock new abilities for the hero but you can also unlock upgrades for the types of units that can be summoned. To start the campaign the Hive Lord can summon Rippers, small melee units that don’t deal very much damage. These can be upgraded to Hormagaunts and then to the truly lethal Genestealers.

The abilities for the Hive Lord itself often revolve around its synaptic connection to the units around it. Many of its abilities bolster these units in some way, granting them more health or healing, or in the case of Explosive Decomposition, using a death of a unit in the swarm as a weapon. With this ability a Tyranid killed within range of the Hive Lord’s synapse will explode, damaging nearby enemy units.

The opening scene of the Tyranid campaign features the Hive Lord beginning to rebuild the psychic link with the main Tyranid fleet, using splintered remnants of Hivefleet Leviathan that were cut off during the Tyranid invasion of Sub-Sector Aurelia.

Effectively, you play as a special kind of Hive Tyrant, attempting to turn the defeat that happened ten years ago in DoW2's original campaign into a subsector-shattering victory.

So I see, still doesn't exactly explain how the equip system would be affecting this "Hive Lord", would they be represented as a genetic memory that the nids absorb?

Retrias wrote:So I see, still doesn't exactly explain how the equip system would be affecting this "Hive Lord", would they be represented as a genetic memory that the nids absorb?

You mean the genetic upgrades? they are gained as the hive tyrant gets access to more resources/ stronger connection to hive mind etc

Maybe it will be a kill-based system, with increasingly better "wargear/biomorphs" as more kills are accumulated and battles are won.

Similar to EXP, except a constant count is kept, with kills made directly by the (annoyingly named) "Hive Lord" increase the chance of a biomorph?

Gibbsey wrote:

Retrias wrote:So I see, still doesn't exactly explain how the equip system would be affecting this "Hive Lord", would they be represented as a genetic memory that the nids absorb?

You mean the genetic upgrades? they are gained as the hive tyrant gets access to more resources/ stronger connection to hive mind etc

Are you saying this Hive Tyrant forgot about how to errr "grow" boneswords? and how do they explain on how there's a continuously better "Boneswords" or LashWhips


@ the poster above
eh? wouldn't that be severely random? I mean one lucky guy could get a boneswords at the very first stage while other would probably suffer until quite somebit getting the wargear they don't like...... Then again this is the RPG element

I suppose your right, but a choice could also be in order, allowing for you to chose a certain number of biomorphs from a list.

More like saving up gold in an Oblivion game for a weapon you wish to purchase.

Except think of it as saving up blood money for a tool used to gain more blood money and complete your mission.

Retrias wrote:Are you saying this Hive Tyrant forgot about how to errr "grow" boneswords? and how do they explain on how there's a continuously better "Boneswords" or LashWhips

No, because the Hive Tyrant doesn't actually know how to do said biomorph. The Hive Mind does. And the Hive Mind might decide that the Hive Tyrant deserves better biomorphs at some point in time because of its performance. After all, Tyranids have limited resources, and cannot produce more than they have taken, so whichever Hive Tyrant does the best is obviously the one most worthy of upgraded biomorphs.

As for the latter question, simple. Maybe one bonesword has poison leaking out of its pores. Maybe another has packets of flammable chemicals which can be ignited to cause a flaming sword effect. Maybe another one is particularly sharp. Maybe another one has a particular pattern in its edges which are far more efficient at causing hideous gaping wounds than a normal bonesword. Another one could be thinner and faster, allowing for faster attack, while yet another one could be longer and larger, allowing for wide sweeping attacks that hit many enemies at once. And so on and so forth.

Basically, why should the Tyranids be limited in what equipment they have?

Why would one hive tyrant be better then the next one though? I never read about the hive mind giving them personalities.

As for beta... not really interested, Beta's ruin games for me more often then not, either: A i'm bored of it before it's released, or B, it focusses on the least interesting part of the game ( IE, multiplayer in this case) I'm more interested in the campaigns then playing the game with noobs, laggers, afkers and every other thing you get in... EVERY game of DoW2.

Soladrin wrote:Why would one hive tyrant be better then the next one though? I never read about the hive mind giving them personalities.

IIRC I think any command creature can have personalities, and the "souls" of successful ones are saved so that they can be transported and used later. This is the supposed justification of the existence of tyranid special characters IIRC.

Soladrin wrote:Why would one hive tyrant be better then the next one though? I never read about the hive mind giving them personalities.

Tyranids have always had different biomorphs, thats kind of like asking why dont all space marines have jump packs and multi-meltas

Gibbsey wrote:

Soladrin wrote:Why would one hive tyrant be better then the next one though? I never read about the hive mind giving them personalities.

Tyranids have always had different biomorphs, thats kind of like asking why dont all space marines have jump packs and multi-meltas

different jobs maybe?
you are comparing space marine e.g a faction
with a Unit

@Melissia

wasn't it based on knowledge?
Example Hive Tyrant A have been killing Tau for couple of months
others haven't ( Say that they have been killing Eldars and other race instead)
obviously when they are converted back to bio mass the knowledge of each tyranid would be added to the hive mind
afterwards if they fought Tau again they deploy the knowledge of Hive Tyrant A, in form of a Hive Tyrant

at least that is what i have been told

also that is a nice explanation on how different type of bone sword is justified

Retrias wrote:

Gibbsey wrote:

Soladrin wrote:Why would one hive tyrant be better then the next one though? I never read about the hive mind giving them personalities.

Tyranids have always had different biomorphs, thats kind of like asking why dont all space marines have jump packs and multi-meltas

different jobs maybe?
you are comparing space marine e.g a faction
with a Unit

@Melissia

wasn't it based on knowledge?
Example Hive Tyrant A have been killing Tau for couple of months
others haven't ( Say that they have been killing Eldars and other race instead)
obviously when they are converted back to bio mass the knowledge of each tyranid would be added to the hive mind
afterwards if they fought Tau again they deploy the knowledge of Hive Tyrant A, in form of a Hive Tyrant

at least that is what i have been told

also that is a nice explanation on how different type of bone sword is justified

That's pretty much the only way I can accept it, its not really same hive tyrant, just it's distilled knowledge going back in the field with what worked then.

The same hive tyrant in mind only I meant.

well In knowledge at least,although mind is also correct since knowledge would also be in behaviour and equipment

They posted a clarification to make absolutely sure noone's confused. Not that it will help everyone, as some people are always confused.

We're happy to announce that registered users of our community site will be getting access to our Dawn of War II: Retribution beta. Below are the dates and details on who gets granted access to the beta:

January 31 – Beta access granted to select members of press, key community managers, and the THQ team.

February 1 – Access given to all DOW II Community site members that registered on our site before January 25 and to users who have pre-ordered the game on Steam.

February 8 – Access given to all Steam users who have bought a Dawn of War game through Steam.

We hope this clears up any confusion, and we look forward to your feedback during our beta.

Aaah! Must join community website!

Or at least pre-order it. I mean I'm going to preorder anyway, as soon as I figure out how much money I have left after buying my last book for this semester.

I'm ordering the Collector's Edition with £5 off, so it stands at £29.99 with free postage - the same as buying one of the race-specific packs!

Naturally, this means I'm not buying it through steam.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:I'm ordering the Collector's Edition with £5 off, so it stands at £29.99 with free postage - the same as buying one of the race-specific packs!

Naturally, this means I'm not buying it through steam.

Where from? I did plan to get The Chaos Race pack but if its only 29.99 I might aswell get that.

blood reaper wrote:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:I'm ordering the Collector's Edition with £5 off, so it stands at £29.99 with free postage - the same as buying one of the race-specific packs!

Naturally, this means I'm not buying it through steam.

Where from? I did plan to get The Chaos Race pack but if its only 29.99 I might aswell get that.

Play.com

Thanks Darkvoidof40k

*sigh* I won't be able to play this game until April. Army says I have to go play GI Joe in the woods for a month. T_T I don't wanna...

I got a GAME voucher for Christmas so that i can get this when it comes out.

New video up on IGN. Guard is starting to look rather interesting.


Of note, you upgrade your squads with squad leaders-- sergeants, commissars, etc-- and every time you do, the squad gets bigger and bigger. Each one has a special ability. Commissars can execute a squad member to get them to stop retreating.

Guess buying it through Steam is finally going to get me something, huh?

Imperial Guard forces:

Heroes:

Inquistor

This offensive focused hero uses fire and guile to destroy the enemies of man.

Commissar Lord

The Commissar Lord is an inspiring support hero who leads from the frontlines. He excels at melee combat and empowering infantry with various buffs.

Lord General

The Lord General is a master tactician who takes defensive control of the battlefield with massive turrets and off map artillery. His personal retinue keeps him safe from harm.

Infantry:

Catatchan Devils

A squad of seasoned Catachan jungle fighters. Devils are effective in close combat and take advantage of several different types of weapons for every occasion.

Infantry Squad

Basic ranged combat unit effective against other ranged forces but weak in melee. Can be upgraded with a Sergeant and a Commissar which increases the squad size.

Heavy Weapons Squad

Equipped with a Heavy Bolter that suppresses large groups of infantry, has a limited firing arc and requires set-up time. Can be upgraded to a Lascannon or Autocannon.

Ogryn squad

Ogryns are tough ogre-like brutes who excel in close combat and are excellent at disrupting enemy ranged units. Can be upgraded with a Bone Head.

Stormtrooper Squad

Elite ranged infantry equipped with hot shot lasguns. Storm Troopers can be upgraded to fulfill different roles.

Vehicles:

Baneblade

Super heavy battle tank armed with numerous weapons. Autofire is disabled. Use its abilities to fire from the main gun.

Banewolf

A light tank that uses toxic chemical weapons designed to complete [sic] eradicate the enemy.

Chimera

Transports infantry units across the battlefield and allows nearby squads to reinforce. Loaded troops add to the Chimera's firepower.

Leman Russ Battle Tank

A multi-purpose battle tank. Can be upgraded with weapons more effective versus infantry or vehicles.

Manticore

Mobile artillery unit that fires missile barrages.

Sentinel

Fast and maneuverable vehicle that is fragile and vulnerable to small arms fire. Ideal for contributing to ranged fire fights or kiting melee units.

light on the infantry, it would seem, even though they have roughly as many choices as other races.. I'd still have liked to see more, like maybe a special weapons squad as strong anti-anything. But Relic don't like more than one special weapon in a squad. Ever.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:lBut Relic don't like more than one special weapon in a squad. Ever.

Except the entirety of DoW1, and chaos heretics in DoW2 (the grenade launcher upgrade gave them two GLs).

Darkvoidof40k wrote:like maybe a special weapons squad as strong anti-anything.

And that is exactly the reason why they didn't do it. That would have been stupid game design.

We're currently at THQ UK HQ along with selected members of the Warhammer 40,000 community for an exclusive hands-on event for Retribution.

Relic's Producer Jeff Lydell is going to be with us throughout the day and we want your questions that we can put to him. If you've got anything you want to ask him then submit your questions here and we hope to get them answered for you!

Bah, the Lord General is the hero for TLS?

Goddamnit, I wanted to play the Inquisitor.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:light on the infantry, it would seem, even though they have roughly as many choices as other races.. I'd still have liked to see more, like maybe a special weapons squad as strong anti-anything. But Relic don't like more than one special weapon in a squad. Ever.

The Dawn of War 2 system exists on hard counters, designed to punish those who don't stay alert, keep up-to-date knowledge of their enemy, as well as constantly adapting and keeping a heavy 'micro' during battle. It's very rare a unit will beat it's hard counter, and then it's really only if it can gain a significant advantage in some way. This is one of the primary reasons that some who liked DoW1 didn't like DoW2, because there's less room for mistakes, especially when it comes to vehicles. That big pretty Fire Prism may have cost you 450 req and 100 or so power, but a lascannon getting rear armor on it will drag it down in a shot or two.

Buidling a single squad as strong anti-anything would be detrimental to this system. They have units that are rather strong against pretty much everything, but they're considered the units that if your opponent gets them onto the field, they have a huge advantage that would give them victory anyway (Avatar, Greater Unclean One, to a lesser extent Assault Terminators). If you could build one squad, say Stormtroopers, and put it up against anything bar the big units and come out on top, there'd be no reason to build anything else once you had access to them, ruining the frantic line of counter and counter, in battle and build.

The two units I can think of they've tried to build as 'versatile, jack-of-all-trades' units, being Chaos Space Marines (With the Marks of Khorne, Tzeentch and Nurgle) and the Space Marine Tactical Squad (With the ability to take Plasma, Flamer and Missile Launcher), both still have their hard counters, and aren't truly anti-everything, but anti-some infantry, and anti-some vehicles... in some situations. Tactical Squads also have to repay the upgrade cost everytime they switch weapons, thus, on a per battle basis, are really anti-infantry or anti-vehicle, but can be switched later (Really, the only reason you'd switch when I last played was from your original flamer to gen harrass to a Missile Launcher/Plasma to actually be useful in a fight), and Chaos Space Marines can't switch at all once they've been dedicated to a god (This may have been changed since I last played however, it's been a few months).

Melissia wrote:Bah, the Lord General is the hero for TLS?

Goddamnit, I wanted to play the Inquisitor.

Same. Though hopefully they will add in another Hero per race later (Doubtful) or add in the Sisters later?

Probably not. This AFAIK is likely going to be the last DoW2 expansion before DoW3.

Though if its successful enough they might add in another faction to milk the franchise one last time, but it's probably not gonna be Sisters.

Melissia wrote:Probably not. This AFAIK is likely going to be the last DoW2 expansion before DoW3.

Though if its successful enough they might add in another faction to milk the franchise one last time, but it's probably not gonna be Sisters.

True, it would probably be Tau or Necrons again.

Slarg232 wrote:

Melissia wrote:Probably not. This AFAIK is likely going to be the last DoW2 expansion before DoW3.

Though if its successful enough they might add in another faction to milk the franchise one last time, but it's probably not gonna be Sisters.

True, it would probably be Tau or Necrons again.

Be rather hard to fit in Necrons, without seeming stupid 'We've slumbered underneath this recruiting world for eons, you never found us, now we are awake...and WE ARE LEGION!' (Couldn't resist), and they are in the right general area of space for the Tau. I wouldn't mind seeing Sisters, but I see it as unlikely as well, the other two races having a bigger fanbase (At least to my knowledge), and the game already featuring two Imperial factions.

At least the Inquisitor should feature in the campaign quite heavily.

Yep, the Inquisitor is the only one who can stop the exterminatus. Even the Eldar intend to save the Inquisitor long enough for her to do so.

You guys have taken my comment the wrong way. I know the game mechanics, but Guard are relatively squishy. So it'd be perfectly balanced to have, say, a special weapons squad with multiple plasma guns because one assault squad would mince them in seconds.

Anti-Everything was possibly the wrong term. I meant a unit that had strong ranged power, such as aforementioned multiple plasma guns, but they still wouldn't be too good against vehicles.

Nonetheless, I can't wait for this game! I'm totally playing Guard as soon as the Beta comes out for me.

Melissia wrote:This AFAIK is likely going to be the last DoW2 expansion before DoW3.

I had come to the same conclusion rather awhile ago.

Results of the Q&A Session THQ Insider did with THQ UK today:

THQ Insider wrote:Q: Will there be more x-pac's or DLC's for DOW II? I would love to see Tau?
- gogators

A: There will be DLC around the special edition wargear, and then patches following the beta.

Q: Have there been any more changes to Last Stand?
- Metroid2k (via Twitter)

A: We have a new hero, the Lord General. A new map has also been added, with an increased difficulty level. The existing map can still be selected, with the difficulty level remaining the same. At this time there are no plans to change the number of players in Last Stand from three.

Q: For the Tyranid co-op campaign would second players get a Hive Tyrant?
- ntrisley (via Twitter)

A: When you join the campaign, you will be able to choose a squad from the selection screen, or build one of your own.

Q: Is it possible to save and restore your progress in Retribution, in other ways than quitting?
- Shadur (via Twitter)

A: Yes; you can save and continue.

Q: What can we expect from the multiplayer competitiveness in vs1 vs2 vs3?
- vpatchnotes (via Twitter)

A: This time round we have a new matchmaking system and leaderboards. Your first multiplayer games will be placement matches, and the results of these will be used to determine your rank. After this, players are ranked using an ELO ranking system, with involvement of a rest system - a pool of points applied when you win.
For leaderboards, this will work so that a player who wins many games and then stops playing will eventually be eclipsed by players who are still active and winning.

Q: In Retribution, can we kill our own units once they are useless?
- Samuel (via Facebook)

A: You can delete structures, but not units.

Q: Are we going to see the Imperial Guard working with other SM chapters like the Ultramarines in Dawn of War Winter Assault?
- KyotouYasuri (via Twitter)

A: No - the only chapter in the campaign will be the Blood Ravens.

Q: Will this be the final expansion pack in DOW2 or can we expect a 3rd like the original?
- chris2pher93

A: That's a really good question!

Q: In retribution is there a campaign for each Race, or one campaign that we can play with the race we want?
- R�my (Facebook)

A: Each race has it's own campaign, from the viewpoint of that race. You can play as each race, too.

Q: Is there going to be a mode similar to DoTA?
- Destabilizator

A: No, sorry.

Q: Is there going to be better in-game support for modding in Retribution?
- Metroid2k

A: There may be the possibility of tools such as map-editors, but we're not able to talk about that yet.

Q: Will there be more weapons to collect in Retribution?
- KyotouYasuri (via Twitter)

A: There are more weapon types in the campaign. Things have been changed around in multiplayer, with new gear and weapons having been changed around.


Q: Will each race's campaign be as long as the SM campaign in Chaos Rising?
- rap_train (via Twitter)

A: There will be around the same number of missions in each race's campaign, around the same as in Chaos Rising.

Q: Now that every race has a super unit, will existing ones be buffed up?
- kraken

A: All new units will be balanced with the old ones during the upcoming beta.

Q: Will there be any other SM chapters?
- Grey_Slayer (via Twitter)

A: Deathwatch colours are now available.


Q: What about other companies of the Blood Ravens?
- Grey_Slayer (via Twitter)

A: No.


Q: What regiment of IG are involved?
- Grey_Slayer (via Twitter)

A: Two of the regiments available are the 39th Cadian Xenobane and the 110th Cadian Shadow Corps.


Q: Can we transfer save games from DOW 2 and CR? If not, what ending is canon?
- Grey_Slayer (via Twitter)

A: No, you can't transfer your save game. You will find out which ending is canon at the end of the campaign in Retribution.


Q: What about the primarch of the Blood Ravens? Will be get an answer for that question?
- Grey_Slayer (via Twitter)

A: There are certain mysteries that remain within the Blood Raven Chapter.

Q: Any news on a new 3rd tier unit for SM, in addition to tanks?
- Metroid2k (via Twitter)

A: The Land Raider Redeemer is the only new 3rd tier unit for SM.


Q: Will wargear be handed out for completing co-op missions as a guest?
- Undoer

A: Yes.

Q: Will there be any DLC providing new skins for the different armies
- Christen (via Facebook)

A: There is nothing planned at present, but you never know for the future.


Q: Will there be multiple endings depending on your actions like in Chaos Rising?
- Chris (via Facebook)

A: There are six endings, depending on your race.



Q: Will the Inquisitor be calling in Inquisitorial stormtroopers or just regular ones.
- Christen (via Facebook)

A: They call in regular stormtroopers.

Asides from the new Last Stand map, that unforunately doesn't tell us much we didn't know.. but ah well. Better than nothing, of course.

I just spent the day playing DoW 2 retribution - ask away! I've got some images that I'll put up later (same as all the other people got, nothing exclusive though).

I'll do a proper review later, but I spent about 4 hours playing last stand (and the new map is hard - starts off at equivalent to level 8 or 9 in the old map and goes from there). It is called the anvil of blood (or something like that) and has much less space to escape using the warp/teleport trick, but still 4 entry points, but on the left and right edges more than the last map which was N/S/E/W. The second wave has wraithguard that are really horrible, and the fire prism wave is very tough too. Dopplegangers and dreadnoughts are the way forward.

Played the first 3 single player maps and last level in single player for nids and guard. Great cinematics (saw the intro movie), but the end sequence is the best video

Nids are narrated by angelos of the blood ravens, but there is also hive mind whispering with commands like: go.... devour...

Maybe they will do Grey knights to further GW's purposes...

legoburner FTW!!

I await your review. Tyranid campaign and TLS are about 90% of my focus and you already covered some questions.

Thank you.

oh one other cool thing is that the army painter shows far more units now, basically anything that will fit in the frame (up to a dreadnought in size).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I've now put up all the semi-exclusive screenshots here in full detail (zoom in a long way if you want):
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-4786-13518_Dawn%20Of%20War%202%20Retribution%20Screenshots.html

This is everything I've been given, but I saw much much more.

Also if you wonder what the nid superheavy is:

We know what it is, lol.

I'm rather disappointed that they chose the general as the TLS hero for Guard. I was hoping for the Inquisitor. Sucks that there's still going to be only one female TLS character yet again.

So Lego, how is the Guard voice acting? Do they still sound like Ross Kemp?

The corrupt ones are scottish for some reason, the lord general is proper english and the bog standard are the same ross kempish as before.

I guess I can live with that, he does have the moustache to go with the background. How did the lady Inquisitor sound? Posh?

Yes, I am a silly person for asking such trivial questions.

Hey, we're all curious about the voices. I'm just relieved they're not all Steve Blum.

True enough.

I wish the main character in the IG campaign was the Inquisitor instead of General Pornstache. Or at least the Lord Commissar, who looks rather dashing.

I'm not sure I can take his pornstache seriously, and I have to do that before I can take him seriously.

But pornstaches are awesome!

I'm sorry, but General Freddie Mercury is awesome.

Now that you mention it..

Do we have any pictures of aforementioned commanders? I know there were a few on the race packs.. but they're not particularly useful.

I am rather disappointed on how the IG hero look like
No matter how big that thing is...... still a lasgun

I for one would rather have Eldar Male lead
and IG Female lead, just to break the mold really
Those were the only two with switchable genders

Retrias wrote:I am rather disappointed on how the IG hero look like
No matter how big that thing is...... still a lasgun

Actually...he's using an Astartes sniper rifle, not a longlas.

I for one would rather have Eldar Male lead
and IG Female lead, just to break the mold really
Those were the only two with switchable genders

Not really. The IG hasn't ever really had females in "high command" or even "field command" roles.

Simply put: Women don't tend towards being in the Imperial Guard's combat units. They tend to, much like most modern military examples, be in support roles like medical stations, intelligence collation, etc. Or hell, a large amount tend towards being recruited for the Imperial Navy and serve there as pilots for combat aircraft.

There's also very few cases of them making it into the Commissariat, mostly because women who would be selected for that are also in the same recruiting pool as the Sororitas and the Inquisition.

So...it's really just the Eldar that have "switchable genders" for command roles.

Kanluwen wrote:

Retrias wrote:I am rather disappointed on how the IG hero look like
No matter how big that thing is...... still a lasgun

Actually...he's using an Astartes sniper rifle, not a longlas.

I for one would rather have Eldar Male lead
and IG Female lead, just to break the mold really
Those were the only two with switchable genders

Not really. The IG hasn't ever really had females in "high command" or even "field command" roles.

Cain does not agree.

I don't take Cain seriously. Simply put, it's too much like "propaganda" to me.
Pretty much every piece of background I've read has no Lady Generals or even female Generals/Captains.

Why? Because females just aren't that common within the Imperial Guard. Even the Cadians and Tanith, two of the biggest equal opportunity Guard regiments, have no females(that I've read about at least) in "high/field command" roles. There's Tona Criid, but she's in charge of a platoon and that's it.

And again: The female members of the Guard do get coopted by the Imperial Navy or Inquisition in higher numbers than their male counterparts it seems. So you'll likely find those female Guardsmen with the command potential in liasion roles on board Navy vessels or in Inquisitorial retinues.

Edit: Did a bit of self-censure.

Ok, you disregard background stories at your own leisure. Discussion end.

Soladrin wrote:Ok, you disregard background stories at your own leisure. Discussion end.

The point was more that it's one example versus the dozens of other ones countering that example. It's not common for the Imperial Guard to have female combat or strategic commanders. It's more common to see women in the upper echelons of the Inquisition, the Imperial Navy, and the Ecclesiarchy than the Guard and its supporting organizations(the Commissariat, for example, has only one well-known female Commissar; Commissar-General Balshin).

Whether this is an oversight in the background material or meant to reflect the way that alot of real world military institutes operate is up for debate.

Actually, there was, until she was killed by daemonically-warped children the size of dreadnoughts who were possessed by dead spirits, was in charge of the Screaming Eagles Guardsmen.

See the fourth book in the Ultramarines series: The Killing Ground.

But yes, most women in service to the Imperium are in the Sister's of Battle and such.

All I can think of is bring on the bra burner.

In all seriousness, Cain is canon. Sadly as canon as the horrible Soulban and Goto novels, they are, I shall hate myself for saying this, canon. As much as I'd like to be selective about it, I can't. Unless it was written before a certain era, like Space Marine. Which has officially been deemed a heretical tome. Don't know about the Draco trilogy though. I just guess not many authors have the balls and wits to write about girls in flak. Sure, girls in power armour or really, really tight leather outfits are easy, but girl soldiers? Now if only BL would hire the female equivalent of Henry Zou..

*Nods and grins* "I have no idea what you're on about! Fantastic!"

In all honesty, I skim-read that and I'm tired. Go figure.

Anyway, anybody got some more news on the game or not? I'll assume the latter and wait for on-topic discussion to resume.

Heh. Me not being part of off-topicness. That's a new one.

I'm waiting for play.com to put up for pre-order already. Then I'll play the waiting game and wait for the full version, no betas for me, I avoid multiplayer like the plague.

Play.com already has it up for £29.99.

I meant the Collectors Edition!

edit.

!!!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Well, so much for trusting those donkey-caves to send you a mail when they have it on pre-order. Okay, pre-order done, now the waiting game commences.

They emailed me .

I really need to get round to ordering that game..

Just found this, no clue how I missed it.

http://community.dawnofwar2.com/blog-post/imperial-guard-campaign-heroes

“I’ll toughen you up, or use you up. Perhaps both, as the Imperium requires.” – Lord General Castor

The Imperial Guard is the new race being introduced in Dawn of War II: Retribution, but their increased presence in sub-sector Aurelia comes amidst a great deal of danger. Daemonic incursions, the continued presence of xenos filth, renegade guardsmen, and now accusations that the Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens is under some kind of influence from the Warp. Things have to be set right, one way or the other, and it is fresh eyes that are free from the corruption in sub-sector Aurelia that are going to make the assessment at the request of Gabriel Angelos. So enter Lord General Castor of the Imperial Guard and Inquisitor Adrastia into the maelstrom.


The Imperial Guard of Cadia have recently entered sub-sector Aurelia en masse to combat the constant xenos and daemonic threats that plague it. The Imperial Guard is commanded by Lord General Castor, who arrives feeling nothing but contempt for the guardsmen deployed in the area. He is there to clean up a mess that has been allowed to grow and fester thanks to their incompetence. Castor has the tools and authority at his disposal to make this happen. Bionic enhancements enable Castor to wield large guns one-handed, such as his initial rifle which grants the ability High Powered Shot, that can drop xenos infantry from long range. He may also call for Valkyrie Support to reinforce his own infantry. As a Lord General though, his authority is wide ranging and he can call in the big guns for further reinforcement, such as the Valkyrie Leman Russ Drop. Where and when he needs it, the massive Leman Russ tank is flown in to take the fight to the enemy. Make no mistake, reinforcements of this kind will be needed.


Adrastia, an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor, is using the Lord General and a few others to aid in her investigation into whether or not the allegations against Chapter Master Kyras are accurate. This mission could save or doom the sector to the cold hand of the Exterminatus, which will wipe out all life in the sub-sector to cleanse the contaminated worlds and prevent the spread of the xenos and heretical threats. Adrastia will use any means at her disposal to investigate Kyras, and she is not afraid to get her hands dirty in the process. Her base ability in the campaign is Hammer of the Witches, a stun that effects a single target and causes it to burst into flames. Purgatus is an ability that is unlocked at later levels, and creates an expanding ring of flame. Those infantry units inside the ring get stunned while those standing on the flame ring as the ability concludes its effects take massive damage.


Sergeant Merrick is a practical addition to the group. He is a veteran guardsman and has seen extensive combat over the last decade. Merrick’s world view is in sharp contrast to the others, as he fights for his squadmates and brothers in arms first, and the Imperium second. His experience fighting has taught him a great deal about the sub-sector’s worlds, and Merrick’s base ability is Infiltrate, allowing him to go undetected by enemies and gather intelligence. His Flare ability reveals an area, causing enemies in it to take extra damage, and at higher levels he can also call in an Artillery Barrage on his active flares. He may be a bit bitter and cynical, but the good Sergeant can fix most problems with some well directed firepower.


Commissar Lord Bernn travels with the group to ensure the support of the guardsmen that are recruited and requisitioned to get the job done. Few things can motivate the rank and file like a Commissar and his pistol. Lord Bernn’s base ability in the campaign is in fact Execute, which eliminates a coward from a squad, causing the rest of the squad members to become immune to suppression and deal more damage. Several of Lord Bernn’s abilities at later levels are triggered from or enhance the effects of his Execute ability, such as Till the Last! With this ability, using Execute will make the squad and Lord Bernn himself temporarily invulnerable. It’s always a good idea to keep a few extra squads around so that Commissar Lord Bernn can properly inspire the guardsmen.

The start of the Imperial Guard campaign in Dawn of War II: Retribution opens with Inquisitor Adrastia and Lord General Castor beginning their mission in a subtle fashion. They are gathering intelligence on Typhon and looking to recruit further assistance from the guardsmen there. There is little time to waste however, the investigation of the Blood Ravens Chapter Master must be concluded before the arrival of the full weight of the Inquisition.

You missed that?

Ah well, it's all looking good. It sounds like we'll have other infantry units under our command in the campaign.. I mean, if we didn't then the IG would be pretty screwed..

Besides, the idea of four people taking on everything is even more stupid than Blood Ravens with 3-4 man squads that have seemingly endless reinforcements yet cannot field decent unit sizes.. pfft.

I like the idea of calling in Russ support.

BrookM wrote:I like the idea of calling in Russ support on my own men.

I just wonder if you will be controlling a few squads of "they don't matter" Guardsmen/Conscripts during the battles, just so you can make sacrifices/tactical distractions. I just can't imagine an Imperial Guard force without them.

Maybe a limited amount of Guardmen are allowed to be deployed per mission with the Characters commanding their own retinue? Or maybe make them attachable?

A Commissar that is not in a squad just makes me cringe...

Depends on the mission, but yes, in some missions you will be doing just that. Perhaps most of them, perhaps only some.

Also, commissars are upgrades to squads. The Commissar Lord is, like his tabletop variant, an independent character like any hero.

Thanks for the clarification Melissia!

I loved the mission in DoW: Chaos Rising where you get those 2 squads of Guardsmen. Playing online with my friend, we argued over who got either squad...

It was very fun IMO, and we laughed at how easily they cut down CSMs. I wonder how resiliant they will be in Retribution. I suspect for them to be cut down pretty quickly, only having slightly better armor and health than gaunts, or maybe slightly better than the Guardsmen in Chaos Rising.

I wonder if you will be able to upgrade the base squads of Guardmen, or if they will just have a level equal to the average of your current deployed characters.

IIRC, their power is dependant on what heroes you have, but the fewer heroes you have deployed, the more squads you can have.

Mass meat shield for 1 hero, or A few elite troops for a few, choices choices...

Yeah, I was right. If you choose to have squads instead of a hero, your pop cap is raised.

Nice, We hold the line with Straight Fething Silver

So, as of never Prepurchasing anything; do I just spend the $29.99 now, and then it just unlocks for me to download, or what?

I really want that Chaos Pack.

Are you buying it off Steam?

If yes: then yeah. That's how it works.

I really don't see why people are buying the "normal" editions rather than the collector's. It gives you no content for MP, and if you want the rest later you have to buy it for(most likely) $5/pack.

Mostly because I've been struck with the crippling condition of "couldn't be arsed".

I am quite excited for this release, but I worry that the Imperial Guard will be as indomitable as the British in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts. Reading about their 'defensive capability' concerns me greatly.

Goddard wrote:I am quite excited for this release, but I worry that the Imperial Guard will be as indomitable as the British in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts. Reading about their 'defensive capability' concerns me greatly.

The Imperial Guard should also get Creeping Barrage.

Goddard wrote:I am quite excited for this release, but I worry that the Imperial Guard will be as indomitable as the British in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts. Reading about their 'defensive capability' concerns me greatly.

Bah, that's the same as the Guard was in DoW.

My guess is they are going to get steamrolled early game, and become nigh immovable later on.

The Imperial Guard should also get Creeping Barrage.

They do actually, haha.

Bah, that's the same as the Guard was in DoW.

My guess is they are going to get steamrolled early game, and become nigh immovable later on.

I never played the first DoW, but all I know is the British in Opposing Fronts were developed after IG, and I fear that it may still be fresh in their minds.

Even if they put them in exactly like hte british, it wouldn't be as unbalancing as it is in CoH.

There's a lot more counters to suppression in this game making the balance different.

Are the commissars still voiced by the same guy that did Bison?

Given that Raúl Juliá has been dead since 1994, no

One thing that currently has me stumped is the pricing.

You can pre-order a hard copy from THQ for 29.99, and the CE for 39.99, yet a pre-order on Steam is 59.99.

It does say USD, even logged out, so I'm guessing it's not the usual Australian inflation (Australia, the place where we can actually trade higher than the US dollar, and still pay double the price for games). If it is however, it makes more sense, just have to work out a way to order the American version.

Err, what?

I pre-ordered it on steam for 30 bucks.

edit: Yep, just checked, still thirty bucks on Steam. It's definitely aussie inflation.

Alright, thanks for the tip. Just have to gift it to myself from an American account I guess.

Seriously, whoever decided that prices should stay the same when the Aussie dollar rocketed up should be shot.....why I should pay double price when the Australian dollar might as well currently be equivalent to the US dollar is beyond me.

Actually, it is currently very, very close to even.

100 AUS = 99.64 USD.

Indeed. It was actually the higher of the two a few weeks ago.

Just one of those things inspired by greed I suppose. GW could do the same thing, and I might actually buy models inside the country again (No sense in paying $60 for a squad of tactical marines when I can buy them in the UK for under $30).

THAT is an issue which is so complex that they just try not to think about.

http://www.gamereplays.org/dawnofwar2/portals.php?show=page&name=imperial-guard-wargear-preview

List of multiplayer wargear for Imperial Guard commanders.

Nice find. But I'm really not at all impressed by that equipment list.

She looks like she woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning....yikes!

Gonna admit, the equipment has turned me off the Inquisitor, at least at a glance, but the Commissar Lord equipment looks interesting, and has inspired a wanting to play him that wasn't around before reading the list.

So, let me get this straight: In multiplayer AND singleplayer, for the Imperial Guard, you can either have many troops with few heroes, or you can have few troops with many heroes that give you bonuses to your troops?

Darkvoidof40k wrote:Nice find. But I'm really not at all impressed by that equipment list.

You're aware that the equipment list for multiplayer is always pretty lackluster for the DoW2 games yeah?

You get a piece of equipment available as an upgrade, and it enables certain skills. Equipment for single player is going to be much different.

Slarg232 wrote:So, let me get this straight: In multiplayer AND singleplayer, for the Imperial Guard, you can either have many troops with few heroes, or you can have few troops with many heroes that give you bonuses to your troops?

Nope. In single player, that is true.

In multiplayer, you have one commander. Infantry squads (and possibly Catachan Devil squads) are upgraded with vet sergeants and commissars to increase squad size and grant abilities regardless of commander choice.

Nothing to see here, move along citizen.

Kanluwen wrote:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:Nice find. But I'm really not at all impressed by that equipment list.

You're aware that the equipment list for multiplayer is always pretty lackluster for the DoW2 games yeah?

You get a piece of equipment available as an upgrade, and it enables certain skills. Equipment for single player is going to be much different.

Having owned every single other Dawn of War game, I know how it works. Although I wouldn't describe some heroes' wargear as lackluster.

A 20p upgrade that makes squads immune to supression? Does it say what tier that is?

I believe Stand Firm is an activated ability, so it's like a certain company of heroes ability for the british.

Well, after thinking over it a bit more, they don't really have an early counter to supression anyway, so this ability sort of fills that gap for them.

Sentinels are tier one.

That's nice. But why can't I play the Retribution BEtA?! Tis the first, I'm with the community since before the 25st.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:That's nice. But why can't I play the Retribution BEtA?! Tis the first, I'm with the community since before the 25st.

Beta doesn't begin until 10am PST according to what I've been able to find on the community site.

Which means for me I won't begin being able to download it until four PM CST and I won't be able to actually start playing it until tomorrow due to traffic.

So wonderful when they don't let us pre-load

I got an email advertising the BETA, amongst other things. But I'm also just wondering how they're going to allow us to play it, considering I've never done a BETA before . Email? Download? What? Should I give 'em my Steam account name?

I'm playing the beta at the moment, but it is just multiplayer and does not include last stand.

Doesn't matter, I just want to kill stuff with flashlights.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:I got an email advertising the BETA, amongst other things. But I'm also just wondering how they're going to allow us to play it, considering I've never done a BETA before . Email? Download? What? Should I give 'em my Steam account name?

Again, from what I'm picking up on the community site, you'll have an email sent to the email address your account is registered to with a key which will unlock the beta download on Steam. Alternatively, if you've pre-ordered through Steam, it shall simply be unlocked for you at the time the Beta goes live. At this point, you simply download and play like a normal Steam game.

As Legoburner said, it's only multi-player. There is no access to the campaign or last stand. Appears they want to run extensive balance testing on the new race/units, and probably make sure the multi-player is going to work using Steam instead of GFWL. Shall be fun to slaughter all the players playing Guard....going to see it so much you'll learn the counters within a few hours, and then slaughter the new Guard players (If you're like myself, and more interested in the changes to your current race than the Guard, even if you want to check out the Guard as well. I want to see how the Land Raider Reedemer performs!)

It is also seems like pre-ordering is a requirement for BETA access. Which would suck if true.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:It is also seems like pre-ordering is a requirement for BETA access. Which would suck if true.

I doubt it, as Relic have stated otherwise.

'We're happy to announce that registered users of our community site will be getting access to our Dawn of War II: Retribution beta. Below are the dates and details on who gets granted access to the beta:

January 31 – Beta access granted to select members of press, key community managers, and the THQ team.

February 1 – Access given to all DOW II Community site members that registered on our site before January 25 and to users who have pre-ordered the game on Steam.

February 8 – Access given to all Steam users who have bought a Dawn of War game through Steam.'

From their release on the subject, dated the 19th.

Which doesn't actually say anything for HOW we will receive the codes .

Regardless, it's 10:01 am PST, feb 1st... and no beta code in my email or on my steam account.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ah there we go, had to manually check for updates to get it.

How do you manually check for updates?

I still dont have an Email

I'm trying to get it registered through THQ, but their site has now gone down too.

This is quite a clusterf***

Yeah, the DoW2 community site is down for me too, or at least it was about 20 minutes ago . Maybe they're working on the codes/PMs etc now, and their servers are full?

To manually update, open up Steam, then at the top menu, click Steam -> Check for Steam Client Updates

DAMN. They didn't give me BETA access.

I am also yet to receive an email.

It seems that the people who were waiting based on community invites haven't yet gotten the emails sent out. They may be staggering it, to ease up on downloads or something, I don't know.

But, when I was able to get on the forums just before, most were still yet to get their invite, and those who had, like Melissia, I'm guessing had pre-orders.

I know a few people who got it yesterday, but most of those were very long term members of the community like Imperial Dane, who is also the moderator for Company of Heroes Online's community forum. Basically, yesterday everyone who Relic particularly liked on their forums got access, and anyone else who wasn't included in that group has to wait or have a pre-order.

Melissia wrote:I know a few people who got it yesterday, but most of those were very long term members of the community like Imperial Dane, who is also the moderator for Company of Heroes Online's community forum. Basically, yesterday everyone who Relic particularly liked on their forums got access, and anyone else who wasn't included in that group has to wait or have a pre-order.

Aye, Gorb got early access as well.

I've been a member since the game was released, but I rarely post so hey, Relic doesn't like me.

I can wait, should probably go get some sleep anyway, and it should be in my inbox by the time I wake up.

Oh they really don't like me, but I'm still gonna have earlier access than some of the forum goers who have been there as long as I've been permabanned Twenty more minutes of download. I'll give a review of the Guard army and their heroes when I'm done toying around in skirmish with Dane.

Ok I got my key. Best bet is to go to the Retribution beta steam group and join the chat.

Once there, PM [THQ] Texwegian and ask him once for a key. He will respond, but it can take upwards of 30 minutes.

(If you're like myself, and more interested in the changes to your current race than the Guard, even if you want to check out the Guard as well. I want to see how the Land Raider Reedemer performs!)

Likewise! Although I will miss the Force Commander. He was a great voice actor.

The Imperial Guard Infantry Squad (because that's just what I call it even in my head) is a great meat shield unit, especially combined with anything that allows it to reinforce. They are supremely effective with a bunker or chimera, as when fully upgraded you receive three soldiers for every reinforcement you purchase-- effectively speeding up reinforcement AND cutting down the cost for reinforcing. The unit can build cover, a multilaser turret, and repair. With upgrades, the commissar can execute a soldier to cause the squad to stop retreating, which is quite useful if you want to pull the squad back but still keep them ready to put back in the fight.

People were really underestimating this unit, and it's easy to see why they were... it's somewhat weak. But it's also very hard to actually destroy in its entirety, and lasts a long time with proper ability use.


The other T1 option which doesn't cost energy is surprisingly the sentinel, which while being vulnerable to melee and any heavy weapon, is fast enough that it can back up while firing its multilaser without fearing enemies catching up to it. It can upgrade to have a missile launcher, which fires four frag missiles or one krak missile, toggling between the two. Neither of htem are particularly powerful, but the sentinel is cheap and fast enough that it's still useful. The sentinel can decap, but not actually cap a point.

Was playing around in single-player skirmish against the UI while I wait for my usual 2v2 partner to finish the download, and had a few observations.

Map I got was Ashes of Typhon, which I found very easy to box the enemy into their HQ, not allowing them out to start uncapping my nodes, playing Annihilate. IG worked rather well here, as the low cost of IG squads let me quickly get three squads out onto the field to cap nodes and support each other.

The HQs seem to be capable of taking more damage. Maybe it was just me using flashlights, but even with an Autocannon rolled up, Commissar Lord with a Power Fist, and a Stormtrooper squad with Melta, the HQ took a hell of a long time to go down. The CPU will also, at least at normal difficulty, prioritise bringing their commander unit back after it falls over all else, to the point where I got 16 commander kills due to them bringing it back and little else.

The Imperial Infantry Squad seemed rather efficient against the Orks in t1, easily managing to pick apart a few slugga squads rather quickly with two squads combining fire, as did the Stormtroopers with Hotshot.

One of the big things the Guard have going for them is that that Imperial Infantry Squads are dirt cheap. Think it was 200 req or something, and the Sergeant upgrade was 85 req, costing no power which surprised me. So, a 9 man guard squad for roughly half what a tactical squad used to cost (Haven't played the Space Marines yet), with the same capability to upgrade to plasma/flamers (3 troopers get special weapons), the ability to get bigger yet (Commissar brings it up to 12) and more. Not bad at all, off-sets what appears to be lower damage.

Oh, and the Chimera is a beast. Not only do any squads (Up to three) add more firepower to the thing, but the extra armor upgrade, which you can purchase multiple times will have you losing energy instead of health until you run out of energy. This means with one upgrade, the Chimera has about 800 health. Not friendly at all, especially when you consider it's got decent firepower, and IG squads can re-inforce out of it.

Might play another skirmish shortly, have a look at some of the other units. Wanted to explore a variety last game, but it's very easy to hit the pop cap as the Guard (3 full squads, a Chimera, squad of Stormtroopers and a Heavy Weapons Team equals 100 pop exactly. Leman Russ requires 18 pop.)

Try suiciding your squads until you're able to affford three leman russ tanks and a baneblade, then upgrade them all fully and steamroll your enemies.

But you guys haven't said the most important info yet:

How are the Noiseys?

Melissia wrote:Try suiciding your squads until you're able to affford three leman russ tanks and a baneblade, then upgrade them all fully and steamroll your enemies.

Yeah, I spent too much time playing Company of Heroes Allied side to think of that as a first option.

Always think of suiciding a squad as wasted experience and resources, no matter the game. Doesn't help that it's rather easy, or at least was, to drag down a HQ with the basic troops of my primary race, the Space Marines. Should probably attempt to break that train of thought, but it serves me well in other games.

The Noise Marines.....I'll give Chaos a try now, although Chaos could be compared to bantha poo.

VenerableBrotherPelinore wrote:The Noise Marines.....I'll give Chaos a try now, although Chaos could be compared to bantha poo.

YOU LIE!

We are Chaos! Chaos is stwong!

(thanks for giving them a test )

Just played through a game as Chaos.

Noise Marines can be rather nasty if played right it appears.

Their weapon type is a flamer, which works excellently considering they're placed in t1, where gen harassment is crucial, and they're not that expensive (Think it was 400-500 req, and I know it was 20 power). Their weapons also stop the enemy from using any ranged attacks (Which obviously makes their hard counter melee) and hits for a decent amount of damage (Was able to drag down a squad of hormagaunts before they could uncap a req node). They also have an interesting ability, Cacophony, which gives them a pulsing knockback (Friendlys get hit too) for about 5-10s. Upon upgrade they become a artillery platform, along the same lines as a Plasma Dev Squad, and lose their cool abilities. Overall, I'm not looking forward to generator defense once they become more common unless Assault Marines/an Imperial Guard unit that I don't know can work as a good counter.

Of course, more importantly, they reference Slaanesh frequently upon selection, and when you upgrade them, you do get a pink glowing rune of Slaanesh on the ground.

Also appears here's been a few tweaks from the Chaos Rising unit pricing as well, but I wouldn't know what was what, not being a Chaos player. Just some of them seemed alot cheaper than I expected, and less power reliant.

Ooooh MY GOD. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE FORCE COMMANDER. He is a throat cancer survivor for God's sake! It will take a LONG time to get used to that....

For Imperial Guard, the best counter is probably a sentinel or catachan. THe catachan are shotgun users, but it's more their abilities that make them useful. The grenade shot and the explosive shot are quite effective and useful against most infantry.

VenerableBrotherPelinore wrote:Snip

Nice, glad to hear it. Going to prepurchase it today, along with the Chaos Pack.

Why the Chaos pack? You (or at least us British) can get the Collector's Edition for the same price as any normal race pack.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:Why the Chaos pack? You (or at least us British) can get the Collector's Edition for the same price as any normal race pack.

Because the only race I have any interest in is Chaos, along with the fact that Steam doesn't seem to have the CE for prepurchase.

Though, if I wait they may add it in anyway, and I get the beta simply for having it on steam...

Good call, Void. Going to be waiting until it comes out to see if it gets a CE.

You can't get the CE on steam. That's why I'm buying from Play.com

ROFL

Almost ruined my shirt with this coffee, Melissia. . .and got a few odd looks from folks around the office.

Oh my word, that is epic.

haha, you have made my day Melissia.

Melissia wrote:

That. is. EPIC.

In the small chance that someone doesn't get it:

Melissia wrote:

That's some fan service for ya

There was also a email adress posted on Facebook, where you can request a key. ... mmm they seem to have removed the post with the email address now :s

So far i have not had a chance to play a multi player against an actual Human person, i only got a chance to play against the computer (Before i put my Son & myself to bed )

I also had a play with the army painter, (which i have always loved) Its just a shame that you can not customise that littl ebit more, Like Colouring the Hands or feet differently, while still using a normal style. Oh well i will ahve to stick to my garish Yellow and Purple that i used for everyone throughout Chaos Rising. Nothign like Yellow and Purple SMC leaping about in TLS.

The Baneblade is awesome though, and great to see it again in DOW

Melissia wrote:

So amazing, I was rolling when I saw this.

But aside from that, more beta impressions please! I am going to get the game when it releases on the shelf, not getting it through steam, so I don't get the beta :(
not that I have anything against Steam, but I want the collector's edition.

daedalus-templarius wrote:

So amazing, I was rolling when I saw this.

But aside from that, more beta impressions please! I am going to get the game when it releases on the shelf, not getting it through steam, so I don't get the beta :(
not that I have anything against Steam, but I want the collector's edition.

Several of us playing the Beta haven't pre-ordered through Steam either (I myself have pre-ordered the Collectors edition). There was the ability to gain a beta key if you were a registered member of the site, which then got made into 'If you request it from this THQ representative (Poor, poor Tex having to deal with hundreds of people wanting beta on his own....although watching Gorb lament his lack of moderation powers in the steam group was worth the wait.)

http://community.dawnofwar2.com/blog-post/receiving-retribution-beta-keys-%E2%80%93-update

That may work, but I'm unsure. Otherwise, provided you have a DoW game already registered in Steam, you'll gain access on the 8th.

----

The actual game....it seems surprisingly balanced for a Beta, although there's a few obvious issues that I've come across (Was playing multi-player last night and was informed by the tyranids player in [All] that they could not counter my friends bunker, because their spore mines wouldn't explode) as well as some changes (HQs definately take longer to take down)

I've been primarily playing Space Marines as I've been playing team games with a friend, and all I can say is the Land Raider Reedemer is fun as hell. Two massive Flamestorm Cannons, as well as a twin-linked assault cannon and a multi-melta, it's firepower is awe-inspiring. You can literally roast several squads of ork boyz at once and quickly, allowing your other forces to stand and fire more than they would otherwise. It certainly prompts one to play with Salamander livery, just because .

It doesn't have the raw power of the Baneblade, but it does seem to synergise with the rest of your forces better than the Baneblade does. The Baneblade requires you to use abilities to fire it's two most powerful weapons (The main cannon and the Demolisher cannon), and with a force that can require alot of baby-sitting (Imperial Guardsmen are rather squishy lategame), you're either sacrificing forces to use the main weapons at every available opportunity, or not getting the maximum use out of it. Of course, this can be minimised by strong micro, but still, just seems the Land Raider synergises better, especially with it's ability to provide re-inforcements.

The profile statistics aren't working at the moment, which is a good thing, as it means any losses (I'm yet to lose a game, so pumped about that ) aren't recorded and you have no reason to not try out new races, units and combinations (Thus, prompting everyone to try things out). I'm intending on playing a few games as Chaos or the Orks across today, so I'll provide feedback afterwards.

Edit: Edited for the correct loadout on the Redeemer. Again, I would like to blame a severe lack of sleep.

VenerableBrotherPelinore wrote:

http://community.dawnofwar2.com/blog-post/receiving-retribution-beta-keys-%E2%80%93-update

That may work, but I'm unsure. Otherwise, provided you have a DoW game already registered in Steam, you'll gain access on the 8th.

----

I've been primarily playing Space Marines as I've been playing team games with a friend, and all I can say is the Land Raider Reedemer is fun as hell. Two massive Flamestorm Cannons, and what appears to be a third heavy flamer, as well as a lascannon and a pintle-mounted Storm Bolter (Which really acts more like a Heavy Bolter), it's firepower is awe-inspiring. You can literally roast several squads of ork boyz at once and quickly, allowing your other forces to stand and fire more than they would otherwise. It certainly prompts one to play with Salamander livery, just because .

I will have to check into getting into the beta then, since I have DoW2 and Chaos Rising through steam now.

Also, totally cannot wait to roll out a redeemer onto the battlefield. It has a lascannon too?! Ever since DoW2 came out, I have been hoping they would add the Land Raider (I have 4 for TT )... how many squads can it carry? Can it carry Assault Terms??

VenerableBrotherPelinore wrote:

http://community.dawnofwar2.com/blog-post/receiving-retribution-beta-keys-%E2%80%93-update

That may work, but I'm unsure. Otherwise, provided you have a DoW game already registered in Steam, you'll gain access on the 8th.

DUDE. Thank you! I can now finally play the Beta! While your description of the Redeemer makes me want to play marines first, that Commissar video is just too inviting!

Edit: Well, okay, so I can play it when it downloads.. but whatever. Cheers dude!

daedalus-templarius wrote:

I will have to check into getting into the beta then, since I have DoW2 and Chaos Rising through steam now.

Also, totally cannot wait to roll out a redeemer onto the battlefield. It has a lascannon too?! Ever since DoW2 came out, I have been hoping they would add the Land Raider (I have 4 for TT )... how many squads can it carry? Can it carry Assault Terms??

I believe I was able to place 3 squads in there, but I might be getting it mixed up with the Chimera....both are new transports, so it's possible. I haven't tried to load Terminators in yet, I've only had one game that went long enough I was able to get terminators and a Land Raider on the field. Land Raider is 700+ req (Might even be 800 or 900), and 180 power, so it's a fair chunk of resources as one would expect for the top units.

I shall verify the information on both of these when I play later on in the day.

DUDE. Thank you! I can now finally play the Beta! While your description of the Redeemer makes me want to play marines first, that Commissar video is just too inviting!

Edit: Well, okay, so I can play it when it downloads.. but whatever. Cheers dude!

You are quite welcome good sir. Enjoy your Beta testing.

Yes, the Commissar quote is rather amusing. Not a bad hero overall actually, not sure whether I enjoy him or the Lord General more (I'm not a fan of the Inquisitor).

The Land Raider Redeemer is armed just like the one you might use on a tabletop. 2 Flamestorm Cannons, Twinlinked Assault Cannon, Multi Melta, and Frag Launchers (Which are tremendously more effective in a video game than the tabletop version). And it can carry terminators. It also heals units that enter it as well, so if yer men are getting shot, hide in it fer a few moments, then just pop back out guns blazing at full health.

Goddard wrote:The Land Raider Redeemer is armed just like the one you might use on a tabletop. 2 Flamestorm Cannons, Twinlinked Assault Cannon, Multi Melta, and Frag Launchers (Which are tremendously more effective in a video game than the tabletop version). And it can carry terminators. It also heals units that enter it as well, so if yer men are getting shot, hide in it fer a few moments, then just pop back out guns blazing at full health.

This loadout is correct. I don't know what I was smoking when I looked at it again after sleep, but can only surmise that late-night play is finally getting to me....especially when I could have sworn the multi-melta was firing orange....how odd. The Frag Launchers are also quite useful.

Playing around with the squads, you can load four squads into the Land Raider, and that number is not effected by what you load in (There is no disadvantage to loading Terminators into the Land Raider, except for the fact they can't fight while inside it, and it's just as slow as they are. Obviously, placing them in to heal is a different story.)

Personally

Land Raider Redeemer > BaneBlade

Commissar > anything

Well.. sometimes.. maybe.. a bit..

There should so be a battle for armageddon add-on for DoW 2 - or perhaps as DoW 3!

Yarrick versus Ghazghull! That's one to see.

I found the IG hero's lacking at best.

I do like the fact that the Basic IG Grunt, can place tank traps and stationary turrets (blergh can remember specific names as i am at work )

But i really did enjoy playing the Space Marines in multi player The Land Raider just gets me all excited even if i did loose the game

I grabbed the beta last night and played a game real quick, wow at the land raider. So crazy.

It seems like with the new units they are trying to at least make tier 3 the "more like 40k" tier, with huge units and larger battles, while tier 1 and 2 will be closer to a skirmish.

And yea, I placed assault terms into it... pretty sick rolling up on an enemy force, popping the frag launchers (which are ridiculous), then jumping on top of those units with assault marines and assault terms

So far, I've found that Guard aren't particularly strong - but nobody should take that statement seriously, as I've only played one match with them. Against Hardl Difficulty Orks. I lost.

Hard isn't even HARD.. I whoop ass with Marines before I can even get that fancy new LR out.. which sucks.

Hopefully I'll play some online matches soon, but my PC is pretty slow with DoW2 games.

Well by the Big E's balls that was epic! Just played two BETA games against other players, both were Head To Head Victory Point Control with 1000 Tickets (or whatever you want to call 'em).

I won both matches.

One thing that stood out is, the opponant always takes an early lead on me, but then in both matches I became immovable in the late-game.

However, first one was against Eldar. Lost several squads early on, and he got me fairly low on VPs. He eventually conceded, despite still having about 400 tickets over me, but his units were depleted and I'd just gotten the LR out and was rofl stompin' any attacks. Beta game #1 under my belt.

Game two was oh, so very close. Lasted a total of 61 minutes. Yes, really! In head to head! The score was..

..40 Tickets to none at the end. I won . I think I lost about 4 Land Raiders in that match, and him 2-3 Baneblades. I still had one LR alive at the end of the match, however, as well as a few other squads including two Terminator assault squads with TH/SS.

It was carnage. He left at 60 minutes in, though, because his defeat was inevitable. I had to wait at between 40-70 tickets to get him down from 700+, and I did it. Whoop me!


Anyway, I saved the recording of that last match. Anyone know how I can upload it, perhaps to the DoW2 website?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's the last game I was talking about, if you want to watch it:
http://www.gamereplays.org/dawnofwar2/replays.php?game=47&show=details&id=186804

Hope you all enjoy it .

That sounds fun.

Yesterday, I was in a match that was a 6 person free for all, and we were all playing IG. I may have lost, but my lord commissar punched out a baneblade, so I DON'T CARE!

6. IG. Players.

This is madness! No, this is HERESY!

Anyway, it's not like that hasn't been worked to death.

Also, it seems the 'best' HQ is the Lord-General/Command squad, because of easy access to special weapons like meltaguns.

In fact, special weapon spam and Vanquisher turrets seem to be the key to solving Chaos and Loyalist Marine problems if you're IG. Just like on the tabletop.. definitely something right there.

But it's true, the IG are very squishy in the late-game, even if you do spam squads. A good tactic seems to be to do a bit of sneaky flanking whilst your main force takes the blow, and Sentinels are very good early on, being relatively hard to kill with Tier 1 units. They can also be quite fast, and if used properly, the missiles are rather annoying and also powerful.

Because guard rely, more so than other races, on overpowering their enemies to win (as well as the "fear-factor" they have as they're still new) because against a roughly equal force of elite enemies they really suffer.

A good way to fight the Guard is to suppress them. They become a lot less powerful when they can't shoot as much or run away very easily. When they're pinned down, jump on them en-masse with some hard-hitting assault units, like an Assault squad, Choppas etc.

Light units really suffer against Lasguns for some reason - even Scouts take a real battering, though I still advise having them around to repair vehicles, sneak resource points and definitely still arm them with Shotguns. The knock-back ability does a reasonable amount of damage to squishy-guardsmen, and makes for a good hit-and-run attack on isolated enemy units or as a distraction to retreat from a lost fight. IG like to bunch up, so picking off units when you can is important, especially in the early game.

Ogryns, which I had the pleasure of facing, are rather worrying, however I suffered very little against them because of my Force Commander and also my Assault Terminators (with TH/SS - I wouldn't take LC against IG, because of tanks).

Tactical squads aren't as useful against guard, but I find myself equipping them with a flamethrower because it can get at them in bunkers - and the guard can even deploy their own ones - and deal damage to multiple soldiers in a unit.

Now, while I'm going on about all this units of Terminators etc, it is quite easy to get Zeal because the enemy is relatively squishy and they keep on sending fresh units into the meat grinder.

The Baneblade isn't worth it, I reckon, because asides from looking rather smaller and not very intimidating, its firepower has got to be controlled, which makes it more hectic for the Guard player, and its firepower can be weathered easily by stronger units like the Land Raider and Terminators. It doesn't go down easily, but if you use the Force Commanders' Power Fist ability to stun it (INVALUABLE against guard - cannot stress this enough) while Terminators and other anti-tank weapons lay into it. I tend to steer away from Devastators, especially the Lascannon, because of my up-close-and-personal play-style, and also because you need to suppress the IG.

Now, onto the LR Redeemer. Very strong, and effective, especially when driving right into the guard and frag-launcher-ing them. The Frag Launcher has a few seconds delay before basically obliterating everything within a sort of 'V' area in front of the Raider. However, immobile Vanquisher cannons really hurt the LR, so make sure to take them out beforehand with Terminators and whatnot. The LR just steamrolls over any other IG unit, perhaps with the exception of Ogryn, but I have yet to have a Land Raider Vs Ogryn encounter.

The only major downside of the Redeemer is its speed and maneuverability. It is a cumbersome and brutish vehicle; quite hard to position and is ill-suited to rapid-response duties. It is also weak against other armored vehicles. The late game for me, with Marines, mainly involved just sitting and repulsing wave after wave of guardsmen and other units. But a strong strength of the IG race is their ability to outmaneuver you - so watch out for this.

To sum it up, if playing IG you should probably try and go for an early win if you can and stick to containment tactics and resource harassing.

I've played several games online so far, have gotten destroyed in every one. I'm playing as Chaos but am also not very good, which is why.

Is that so, eh? Fancy a match later on then, Ouze? Or I could just post/PM you some tactics for Chaos if you want.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:But it's true, the IG are very squishy in the late-game

Actually... uh... it was early game where they were squishiest to me. Late game, with the commissar they reinforce three at a time, combined with a chimera or medical bunker they simply don't die.

Kick them out of the bunker then - a grenade or a flamethrower soon gets 'em going.

Although, my IG opponent, despite having learned a lot about IG from him, didn't utilize Chimeras which might have been an advantage for me. But the rate of attrition between our forces was horrendous.

Both our Heroes reached level 10, and I think I killed his Lord-General 12 times, whereas my Force Commander died only 5 times. One of those five wasn't even to his credit! It was totally because of the Orbital Bombardment I dropped on my Force Commander.. who just so happened to be bait for his commander + a bunch of other units.

I think I must've used about 3 units of Terminators and two orbital bombardments, and as for him he used about 5-6 of the IG equivalent.

Aw, hell, why I am I telling you all this? Just go and watch the video!

Never before were so many tanks destroyed in such a small game..

Melissia wrote:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:But it's true, the IG are very squishy in the late-game

Actually... uh... it was early game where they were squishiest to me. Late game, with the commissar they reinforce three at a time, combined with a chimera or medical bunker they simply don't die.

My favorite trick in early/mid game is setting down a medical bunker near an objective point and having it booby trapped.

If they do a big push and try to swarm me, fall back and detonate that sucker as they start to capture. Takes a buttload of their forces with them AND PROTECTS THE POINT!

Note to self: blow up the bunkers! Or at least just click on 'em and find out what upgrade they have .

I don't think booby trap shows up as an upgrade

Meh..


Have either of you two thought about joining the Dakka/Steam community?

Darkvoidof40k wrote:Is that so, eh? Fancy a match later on then, Ouze? Or I could just post/PM you some tactics for Chaos if you want.

Absolutely (on both counts). I could use the help.

I am really loving the beta so far. Contrary to what many people in the game are thinking, I think it is pretty balanced for a beta. Much better than Chaos Rising was at least.

If any of you feel like playing lemme know.

Darkvoidof40k wrote:Kick them out of the bunker then - a grenade or a flamethrower soon gets 'em going.

Why would I put them In the bunker? They can't reinforce in there.

Ouze wrote:

Darkvoidof40k wrote:Is that so, eh? Fancy a match later on then, Ouze? Or I could just post/PM you some tactics for Chaos if you want.

Absolutely (on both counts). I could use the help.

I'm afraid that I have little knowledge of Noise Marines, so I won't be able to give you much insight on them.

Okay, lets start from the beginning. Basic Dawn of War II multiplayer guidelines:

1) Map control: it is very important to get a good amount (about 40-50%) of map control early on. That means get your Requisition points and power nodes and get them fast! Make sure to upgrade your safest node with three generators fairly soon, as you'll want to have a constant supply of power to get top-end Tier 1 units and equipment and eventually reach Tier 2.
2) Play it safe - try to avoid unnecessary attrition: losing any unit in Tier 1 is a serious blow to an elite army like Chaos Space Marines. Obviously, this means that it is very beneficial to you to take out enemy units at this early stage.
3) Don't get left behind in the Tech race. You need to make sure you upgrade your base soon enough, preferably before your opponent (unless, perhaps, you're going for an early win against an inexperienced player) but not too early as that could leave you lacking in resources; hence units, and result in you suffering detrimental map control loss.

Dawn of War II Multiplayer Tactica - Chaos Space Marines

Heroes
The Chaos Lord is the standard choice, and is easy to use because he is a resilient choice and grants you a strong melee unit right from the start.

The Plague Champion is probably best off used in a ranged capacity, as he won't last in melee against other close-combat orientated Heroes and a fair few of his abilities are range-based. He is a good supportive leader if you enjoy having your entire force together all the time ( - which is inadvisable).

The Chaos Sorcerer, like the Plague Champion, lack in melee ability in comparison to the Chaos Lord. However, with upgrades, again like the Plague Champion, the Sorcerer can increase his melee capacity, however I wouldn't advise throwing him at dedicated melee units. Ranged units would be reasonably easy targets in melee for the Sorceror, but he has quite strong ranged attacks in the forms of several destructive spells.

It is important to pick a hero that works well for you. The Chaos Lord works best for me, so we'll continue this tactica based on that choice.

Tier I

Immediately, send one of your starting units to the nearest Victory Point (if playing VP control mission) or one of the second most furthest resource points - and your other starting unit can also do the latter. The next unit that you bring out, which should be the Chaos Space Marine squad, can capture the resource point(s) that you missed out, whilst your first two units continue to expand your map control quickly. Make sure to upgrade your safest (ie closest) Power Node with three generators as soon as possible, and you should also upgrade any other nearby Power Nodes you capture with the first upgrade - but not generators as they are a bit too costly at this stage.
Once you have a decent amount of map control, try and take a second VP if you haven't already done so. If not playing VP control, then just regroup your units at a point relatively equidistant to all of your furthermost points, so that they can react to any threats as a cohesive group and use overwhelming tactics.
Whilst you're waiting to get enough resources to reach Tier 2, you may want to try and resource harass by destroying enemy generators. This is more effective than stealing power nodes because your opponent will either have to do without them or expend more resources to just replace them. If you're feeling a bit more adventurous then stealing nodes is fine, although I wouldn't suggest trying to capture any that aren't close to the edges of your map control zone. Stealing Requisition points is always fine as they are quite quick to capture.
An effective way of stealing resource points is to engage in a fight, drawing your opponents full attention, and use an unimportant unit - ie cultists - to sneak a resource point while your opponent is busy. If they do notice, then they will probably either retreat or if they're less experienced or capable at gaming, this could present an easy chance to kill a unit or two - especially a hero who at this point in the game would be quite easy to kill, and expensive for your opponent to revive.
Make sure to also upgrade your Chaos Space Marine unit with the first available upgrade that increases their damage (and health?) in all areas - but not in a combat situation as upgrading makes them temporarily useless. A Havoc squad will also be very useful if you feel like it, but against some opponents it may not be necessary; however more often than not the ability to suppress a large enemy force and then destroy it is a powerful ability, and one that you want to have. Noise Marines fulfill a similar role and are worth considering, however in most cases you won't really need them unless facing a heavily melee orientated force, and they will only slow down your aim of reaching Tier II.
Note that you do not need to upgrade your hero at this stage.

Tier II
At this point, you really want to be thinking about upgrading your hero at this point in a way that benefits the role you are using them in. As we are using the Chaos Lord as an example for this tactica, then obviously you'll want to make him more killy in close combat. The best way to do this is to give him Lightning Claws and some better armor. Which armor doesn't really matter and it's up to the player, but try and use the one that will be the most effective for you.
A Dreadnought is always a good choice at this stage, although you will rarely be able to get one immediately, so a Bloodcrusher will more often than not be a more than [cost] effective alternative. Perhaps the greatest ability of the Bloodcrusher is its powers of deception. Many players either do not realize or forget that it is actually a vehicle unit, and at this early point in Tier 2 your opponent probably won't have any, or at the maximum very few anti-vehicle weapons. Because of this, the Bloodcrusher may seem absolutely invincible, and is a brilliant little distraction and army-slaughterer, and because of the usual lack of anti-vehicle weaponry, it may actually be as good as invincible. Often, Heroes or squad leaders can get anti-vehicle weapons that will cause the Bloodcrusher serious problems, however, such as a Space Marine Force Commander with a Powerfist. If used correctly, a single Bloodcrusher can be devastatingly game winning units, especially if your opponent is still on Tier I or hasn't managed to get any anti-vehicle weapons out.
While your opponent attempts to deal with your Bloodcrusher (who is even MORE deadly when supported by your upgraded Chaos Lord and some suppressing Havoc's) your other units can steal resource points. It is often a good idea to support your Bloodcrusher, so that your non-vehicle units can deal with any Powerfists/Missile Launchers/Bright Lances etc. Eventually, if things are going well, you can bring out a few more units including a Dreadnought who has the potential to destroy an opponents base single-handedly if you manage to kill their entire force with your other units.
If things are going really well, you might find it possible to gain total or almost total map control. If this happens, you've pretty much won the match in any kind of game.
In Tier 2, you will also want to throw a few Chaos Marks around, for example making another strong ranged or melee unit out of the CSM and Cultist squads, and it may also be a good idea to get a Havoc squad armed with a Lascannon to take out any inevitable vehicles.

Tier III

If Tier 3 is reached, then your first priority should be getting a Lascannon-armed Predator to steamroll into your opponents base with the rest of your army. If, somehow, the game continues to drag on, the Great Unclean One can be fun and useful if you have the resources, but generally is unnecessary.

Many small games will end in Tier I or more likely Tier II, or if both players are highly competent or reserved, then Tier III can easily become an option. For 1 on 1 battles, there are general time limits for a match that correspond with how long it should probably take you to reach each Tier, as shown below:
0-10 Minutes - Tier I
11-25 Minutes - Tier II
26 Minutes and over - Tier III


In larger battles, teamwork and communication are vital to success. If a team is lacking in either of these areas, then it is almost certainly doomed. Work together and mix your units to make it harder for your opponents to cope; gang up on individual enemies and help out your allies: one lost player is a serious loss for the entire team.

In team FFA more or less the same applies as above. However, in standard FFA, all I can really say is learn how to play your race and try and kill your neighbors to get land as soon as possible. Forming devious truces with a few other places will be frowned upon, but is a sneaky way of improving the odds.

In ANY type of game with any number of players, always, always, ALWAYS remember to utilize your global and unit level abilities.


That's all I have to say on Chaos and Multiplayer.. hopefully there's some decent info there as it took quite a bit of writing.. hey, perhaps I should make this into an article..

Meh! I just played a 2v2 battle.. it was disastrous. Eldar + Guard are apparently a nasty combo.

There's reasons I don't usually play anything other than 1v1.. lag being one reason. Hell, my teammate dropped out/was kicked because he lagged the game so much that it actually froze completely at one point.

But Guard are very nasty if used correctly. I couldn't even touch 'em in that match.

Dunno, I play 3v3s regularly and they don't always lag.

Been playing quite a few games. I didn't realize how much nicer steamworks is than GFWL until I tried to go back and play Chaos Rising with my friend... and it didn't even work.

Actually managed to win all of the team games I played yesterday, might be getting back into the groove of things.

Also, I do enjoy the new placement/rating for rated games, I think an ELO system is probably one of the best.

Really enjoying the multiplayer, definitely am looking forward to the new campaigns and new last stand stuff

Yeah, seriously, the Steam stuff is a thousand times better than GFWL and that isn't even giving it full credit.

I bought it on Steam, but it logs me into GFWL when I play it

Really annoying too, because it logs me out of Last.FM on my Xbox when I want to play it....

If you mean Chaos Rising, yes. Chaos Rising and DoW2 vanilla do that.

Retribution doesn't, thankfully.

I thought this was an expansion, so wouldn't I have to log into the standard game in order to play it?

Retribution isn't out yet, but you are correct in that is a stand-alone expansion. You don't need the previous games to play it, or use any of the races.

You shouldn't have to be logging into anything, I mean, other than steam.

Oh happy days, I can now listen to Ozzy, Lita, Sick Puppies (bassist is Hot), and others while destroying things!

I hope no one else posted this but looks like someone is already modeling Death Korps.

2 people in fact!

(Nasty Noodle on Relic's Forum)



(Shuma on Relic's Forum)

Oh my, the second lot of models look fantastic ! would these work in multiplayer or would it be restricted to those that have the mod also ?

I just started playing DoW2 and I'm already excited about retribution.

Hah those Death Korps look pretty awesome.

Totally looking forward to getting the collectors edition soon.

daedalus-templarius wrote:Hah those Death Korps look pretty awesome.

Totally looking forward to getting the collectors edition soon.

Ohyes.


Edit: By the way, has anyone else noticed that THQ is going really heavy on the internet advertising for this game?

Wolf wrote:Oh my, the second lot of models look fantastic ! would these work in multiplayer or would it be restricted to those that have the mod also ?

If it works like the mod to have your Force Commander appear helmeted did, it will appear only on your machine, although other people using the mod will also see it that way.

However, I personally wouldn't really care how other people saw the models, the aesthetics are more for my benefit than theirs.

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The Death Korps look quite good.

I'm personally hoping someone begins to bring out a mod for Heresy Era power armor, but that's just me....wish I had ability with the graphical aspect of a computer, rather than just programming and networking.