Dawn of War 2: Retribution

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**Melissia**

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.

**Mordoskul**

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.

**Melissia**

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

**Footsloggin**

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.

**Darkvoidof40k**

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.

**Footsloggin**

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.

**Darkvoidof40k**

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$.

**Melissia**

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

**Melissia**

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.

**Gibbsey**

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

)

**Melissia**

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!

**Gibbsey**

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

**Darkvoidof40k**

^ 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..

**Melissia**

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.

**Murray**

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

**Melissia**

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.

**Retrias**

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

**Melissia**

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.

**Retrias**

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?

**Gibbsey**

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

**Footsloggin**

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?

**Retrias**

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

**Footsloggin**

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.

**Melissia**

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?

**Soladrin**

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.

**Melissia**

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.

**Gibbsey**

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

**Retrias**

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

**Soladrin**

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.

**Melissia**

The same hive tyrant in mind only I meant.