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So have been playing 40k since 2003...and have never even touched a Dawn of War game...should I pick up the second one? i hear its good, i always hear about the blood ravens, and love 40k, but never touched the game...

Yes, it is awesome.

Retribution on steam is $30.

No. No, do not pick up Dawn of War 2. At all.

By all means, get the first game and all the expansions. Even as a game from several years ago, if you enjoy RTS games you will love it. It is probably one of the best games ever. And I keep the introduction video on my desktop in case I am having a rough day and need something to get my blood pumping.

DoW? Dynamite wrapped in bacon and dipped in sex. DoW2? Knock off Taiwanese fireworks wrapped in week old dog meat and then soaked in prison sex.


Okay, on the serious side of things, I really don't recommend DoW2. It is a completely different game. Rather than being more RTS, it is heavily squad based. More like X-Men Ultimate Alliance than a traditional RTS, complete with the equipment micromanaging. And the 'system requirements' on the box are a baldfaced lie. I had better specs than even the recommended requirements, and it still ran like a slideshow. In addition, it requires you to give Steam access to your computer. After installing it, you immediately have to wait for it to install updates (and if you didn't already have Steam, updates for that too). From installation to the time it was ready to play took me over 36 hours. You must be connected to the internet (and Steam) in order to play even the single player mode (for some unknowable reason).

Not only did DoW2 convince me that it was an awful game, but it was the catalyst for me deciding that I was done with computer games until the industry makes some major changes.

The original Dawn of War games, on the other hand, provided me with hours upon hours of entertainment. I highly recommend them.

The original Dawn of War also has a very good usermade mod called Firestorm Over Kronus that seeks to translate tabletop gameplay to a RTS enviroment and adds a very large amount of units which aren't present in vanilla.

You must be connected to the internet (and Steam) in order to play even the single player mode (for some unknowable reason).

Actually, you don't. Steam has an off-line mode for all single-player games, you just have to turn it on.

That said, DoW2 is a different kind of game from DoW1. Where DoW1 is the standard RTS template... gather resources, build units, build upgrades to those units, do battle.... DoW2 features named, specific characters as your "units", you only get a 4-man squad (max) at a time, and you upgrade them through XP and level-ups, akin to an RPG.

Me, I like them both, but for different reasons.

Dawn of War 2 is a great game, I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in the 40k universe. It plays more like Company of Heroes than like most traditional RTS games, but once you get used to it the core gameplay is quite fun. The campaign is also entertaining and very characterful.

Even after I turned on the offline single play mode, it still wouldn't let me play.

you need the internet connection to install games.

after that you can turn it off.


I found it really annoying, but its nice not having to put a disk in the drive.




DoW2 is pretty awsome. Certaintly better then the originals where tactical squads could drop like flies and you could get an entire company on the field at once.

DoW2 has a much better feel as far as the number of marines on the field at once. the Vehicle combat is much better too.



I wish they would move more towards how Company of Heroes runs. that style of game play would be well suited to the carnage of 40k, but DoW2's style is a little clunky and I don't like it very much.


a 40k Total War would be the most awsome thing ever. that could truly capture the scale. Space and Land Combat FTW!!!

Personally, I preferred the RTS style. The squad-based game just wasn't as fun. I understand that some people may have liked it, but honestly I didn't find a single redeeming feature to the game at all. And having to swap out my equipment every couple of minutes was annoying as heck.

But, it seems like I'm in the extreme minority here.

Far be it from me to stand in the way of the majority. If everyone else likes it, the odds are you will too.

DoW is better, IMHO.

Jimsolo: That isn't steam, it's Relic/THQ. They've installed their own DRM to make sure that you haven't suddenly pirated the game, after buying the game...

They're both great games worthy of your time, I highly recommend you get all of them

Dawn of War Gold w/winter assault expansion

Fetterkey wrote:Dawn of War 2 is a great game, I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in the 40k universe. It plays more like Company of Heroes than like most traditional RTS games, but once you get used to it the core gameplay is quite fun. The campaign is also entertaining and very characterful.

Playing CoH actually made DoW2 worse for me, since it feels like a watered-down version of it that has nowhere near the same strategic depth and some of the CoH mechanics feel a bit odd in DoW2, like space marines getting pinned down so easily by heavy bolters and whatnot.

Jimsolo wrote:Personally, I preferred the RTS style. The squad-based game just wasn't as fun. I understand that some people may have liked it, but honestly I didn't find a single redeeming feature to the game at all. And having to swap out my equipment every couple of minutes was annoying as heck.

But, it seems like I'm in the extreme minority here.

Far be it from me to stand in the way of the majority. If everyone else likes it, the odds are you will too.

I do like the RTS feel, but not the way they did it in the original DoW.

it didn't feel like 40k to me.


if they did an exact 40kification of Company of Heroes it would be awsome. but as it is, it feels too odd.

and I want the ability to do a campaign with a custom army. some generic campaign for whatever chapter/waaagh/craftworld/warband/regiment you make.

Get them all, NOW!
DoW, and all its expansions.
DoW Soulstorm.
and DoW2 and all its expansions.
Do it NOW!

Also pre-order Space Marine from Steam!

Retribution is the worst game I've ever played. I had a lot of fun with all the rest of the DoW series, but this last expansion is.... bleah.

The worst game you've ever played? Ever? Really?

You mustn't have played a lot of games then...

nah I'm playing since I'm 8 (1983 class here) problem is that the game is flat. Plain damn flat.

When I had DoW it was great, expansions too. DoW 2 had more story telling, more story and a good system.... but Retribution. Dear God, it's flat and boring as hell.

The original Dawn of War also has a very good usermade mod called Firestorm Over Kronus that seeks to translate tabletop gameplay to a RTS enviroment and adds a very large amount of units which aren't present in vanilla.

Wow, any links or vids or more info? Sounds lovely.

I think that I will try to pick them both up, also a total war game for 40k does sound legendary, i love TOTAL WAR and 40k!!!

I liked the first one a lot. Plays sort of like Warcraft. You build buildings and they allow you to build certain troops and get certain upgrades. i didn't care for the Winter Assault expansion, but the Necron Expansion Campaign was great (can't think of the name).

DOW2 is ok. Not really my cup of tea, but if you like that play style, I can see where you could really get your 40k fix.

:kronk, its Dark Crusade, and that one is easily my favourite (primarily because my laptop refused to even recognise that the Soulstorm disc even existed! seriously, it didnt even realise there was a disc inthe drive )

i still like playgn the original DoW. I pickedup the Omnibus set (DoW, Winter Assault and Dark Crusade) for £18 a few years ago and have never looked back.

Easily one of my top 5 PC games ever (i would say tied with X-Wing Alliance). And with todays PC specs it will run like an absolute dream and still look pretty good.

I once found a Mod for it to give you an iron Warriors list with proper havoc units, chaos Preds, Bassies etc. proper fun.

I don't think not having played DoW makes you pathetic! After all, I've never played it either and I'm awesome!

Just watch the cinematics on Youtube.

As for Steam, their DRM nonsense annoyed me enough to take the time to pirate the gak out of all their games.

Grey Templar wrote:you need the internet connection to install games.

Indeed you do

Brunius wrote:DoW is better, IMHO.

By a mile

dajobe wrote:I think that I will try to pick them both up, also a total war game for 40k does sound legendary, i love TOTAL WAR and 40k!!!

Their is a fantasy one called call of warhammer I highly recommend it, only if you have a good internet connection because the file is bloody huge

http://www.moddb.com/mods/call-of-warhammer-total-war


Anyway, the game is shallow. Each and every campaign are the same, its excruciating trying to play them. One of the main things that annoyed me was when I was playing the ork campiagn I started with 3 people, thats ok I thought, Ill build up my waaagh and soon have loads....Second mission I have to invade this planet and kill some traitor guardsmen. Awesome I thought, finally get loads of men. Nope still 3


I recommend getting the original ones, not the new ones

I'd say get DoW with Winter Assault and Dark Crusade. Ignore soulstorm, all it has is lazy DE, which play very similair to basic Eldar, and SoB that play like Marines but with a half-arsed faith system. Oh, and the flyers are just awkward hover tanks that can't be repaired and can't navigate properly without having to stop and ask for directions (literally).

DoW 2 is a much more tactical game, but with none of the GrimDark that made the first one so good. It's fun, but isn't really Dawn of War.

Dawn of War, Winter Assault, and Dark Crusade were good. I played through the DoW 2 campaing, and I didn't mind it. That said, the original is FAR better IMO. Definitely felt more like a RTS and, I felt, truer to the source material (although I was rather unhappy, having my Eldar Codex in hand, how many units were left out). Soulstorm really doesn't add anything tangible to the game; both DE and Sisters are mediocre at best, and it's pseudo-obvious if you look into it that they should have included Tyranids but didn't because of the impending DoW 2 release.

Personally I prefer DoW2. Of course, I am just talking about multiplayer, as the campaign is generally just small squads.

Just because a game has more things and buildings you have to build doesn't mean its more of an RTS. DoW2 is truer to fluff anyway, because in the first one you had marines dying like flies in giant squads, whereas in dow2 you have tough-as-nails smaller squads with SM.

trollpie wrote:DoW 2 is a much more tactical game, but with none of the GrimDark that made the first one so good. It's fun, but isn't really Dawn of War.

I don't even understand this, are we playing the same game? What Grimdark is DoW2 lacking that 1 has?

Dawn of War 1 and its expansions, and Dawn of War 2 and its expansions, are very, very different. They appeal to different types of gamers.

The simplest way I can think of to put it is that Dawn of War 1 focuses heavily on macromanagement, whereas Dawn of War 2 focuses heavily on micromanagement.

I've been able to win skirmishes - essentially pick-up games - of Dawn of War 1 against the AI - on easy of course, since I love my compstomps - by amassing an army while building up a good base, tech, and strong automated defenses, and attack-moving through the enemies' bases. Sometimes I have to pause and rebuild my army as much or all of it dies, but it gets the job done. It suits me well, because I much prefer and am better at macro than micro. If you like building bases, making big armies, and focusing more on strategy than tactics, Dawn of War 1 may suit you too.

I've pulled wins by the skin of my teeth in Dawn of War 2 against the easiest AI. Simply massing - as much as you can - an army and attack-moving to the enemies' bases is literally suicide for your units. The one win I was able to pull, I set up my Techmarine just outside the only exit from my enemy's base, and built a bunch of turrets while having my whole army there, until I got my full army there - my units kept dying and I had to rebuild them. I was only able to get that far by using each unit's abilities as it was called for. It's a micromanagement game. If you like not having to worry about building your base, having smaller, more manageable armies, and having lots of buttons that you need to push while fighting, Dawn of War 2 may suit you better.


Side note, one thing I like to do every so often is go to that 6 player map in Dawn of War 1, where the bases are separated by an elevated area with a single ramp per side. I play as Imperial Guard with two IG allies and three IG enemies, all on easy, and I essentially spam Imperial Guardsmen and Sentinels, and send them at my enemy as they're built. I tell them to reinforce and make a sergeant, but that's it. As they die and are replaced, I do the same with their reinforcements. It's like being Commander Chenkov, only with more armored support. Oh, and did I mention that I always end up winning after about an hour's time passed and over 1,500 of my own troops dead?