Dawn of War 2 - PC

[briareos_kerensky]

It's refreshing to see so many positive comments, on other forums I've been reading there seems to be many complaints about the lack of base building.

Relic always had the tendency to make your "base" more versatile than in other RTS. Homeworld had the Mothership and Carriers, in CoH you could garrison buildings to make them your primary structure and every unit could build something, Dawn of War was their first game where resources aren't gathered by conventional methods.

By "sacrificing" base building Relic allowed the players to focus their attention to the battle and not to go back and forth to check where your rally points area or click on thousands icon to advance on the tech tree. With resources gathered by conquering and holding points players are forced fight when the battle begins and not when someone has gathered enough resources to deploy the strongest units.

[Orgun]

During one of the loading screens I was surprised to see a Venerable Dreadnought rather than one of the newer designs(which were in the trailer and DoW), the Venerable is an older version which is bigger and has a head on the front. Is this in the game or is it one of the conventional deadnoughts?

It's in there, it's one of the "skills" you get when levling up the dreadnought.

[JohnMcL7]

You upgrade the Venerable or the other way around?

[Orgun]

You upgrade it TO Venerable.

[JohnMcL7]

Hmm, that's complete nonsense in terms of Warhammer - they're two completely different designs sharing no parts and even then they have different MIUs, you can't just swap as you want as the dreadnought inhabitant is forever bound to it.

->Open Spoiler<-

Feeling rather hacked off as I was just trying to do the angel gate mission which seems completely absurd, spent ages getting all the different missions objectives, set up turrets at the gate only to have my squad completely trashed by a horde of carnifexes while an endlessly respawning set of Tyranids kept on coming. Even with defensive systems engaged they completely destroyed all my units in under 30 seconds. I assumed this was a story trait that the gate couldn't be closed however I see the mission is still there??

edit: I'm wondering if I've got the order wrong, just done a bunch of other missions that were no problem and my guys have levelled up a bit and have some new toys. There doesn't seem to be much indication of difficulty of the level before you start though.

John

[Dazzyman]

Whats the game like with regards to doing resources has it been totally stripped out or is it like DOW1?

[sharky_ob]

Whats the game like with regards to doing resources has it been totally stripped out or is it like DOW1?

Totally stripped out of single player, which is not a bad thing. From reading the manual there seems to be resource gathering in skirmish/multiplayer mode though, and it's similar to what I remember from the first game.

[mikewl]

Hmm, that's complete nonsense in terms of Warhammer - they're two completely different designs sharing no parts and even then they have different MIUs, you can't just swap as you want as the dreadnought inhabitant is forever bound to it.

->Open Spoiler<-

Feeling rather hacked off as I was just trying to do the angel gate mission which seems completely absurd, spent ages getting all the different missions objectives, set up turrets at the gate only to have my squad completely trashed by a horde of carnifexes while an endlessly respawning set of Tyranids kept on coming. Even with defensive systems engaged they completely destroyed all my units in under 30 seconds. I assumed this was a story trait that the gate couldn't be closed however I see the mission is still there??

edit: I'm wondering if I've got the order wrong, just done a bunch of other missions that were no problem and my guys have levelled up a bit and have some new toys. There doesn't seem to be much indication of difficulty of the level before you start though.

John

This took me two tries, I found once I got to the Gate part I would send Cyrus directly to the gate to start closing it strait away, then setup 3 or 4 turrets and just defend/heal and hopefully last long enough for cyrus to close the gate.

[Dazzyman]

So has it still got the squads and overwatch etc..?

[Rick]

Hmm, that's complete nonsense in terms of Warhammer - they're two completely different designs sharing no parts and even then they have different MIUs, you can't just swap as you want as the dreadnought inhabitant is forever bound to it.

->Open Spoiler<-

Feeling rather hacked off as I was just trying to do the angel gate mission which seems completely absurd, spent ages getting all the different missions objectives, set up turrets at the gate only to have my squad completely trashed by a horde of carnifexes while an endlessly respawning set of Tyranids kept on coming. Even with defensive systems engaged they completely destroyed all my units in under 30 seconds. I assumed this was a story trait that the gate couldn't be closed however I see the mission is still there??

edit: I'm wondering if I've got the order wrong, just done a bunch of other missions that were no problem and my guys have levelled up a bit and have some new toys. There doesn't seem to be much indication of difficulty of the level before you start though.

John

Just do that mission last. Its easy when you are levelled up.

My Force Commander almost takes those things on singlehandedly

FC and drednought near the gate, devastators hanging back whilst tarkus closes the gate.

[Rick]

One thing that does piss me off though is the Drednought smashes through cover! Its so annoying to have guys end up with no cover due to crap pathing.

I do miss the base building a bit. I wish there was a mixture of levels, some with base building, others with just the 4 squads.
I also wish i could have more than one squad of each type - and its especially annoying not being able to finish a mission because you've chosen the wrong squads.
At least base building allowed you to change your tactics mid flow and produce different users. There should be an accesory or a trait to do it imo.

Annoying achievement bugs i've finished the game and not got one, i've also not got one for levelling up.

Being able to buy the game cheaper online, but also have the advantages of Steam is good.

[JohnMcL7]

Thanks for the tips on Angel gate, I'm glad to see it is just that I've got the order wrong rather than just being rubbish!

For my squad loadout I've not been using Cyrus at all, I stick with Devastator's, assault and tactical marines.

John

[sharky_ob]

Being able to buy the game cheaper online, but also have the advantages of Steam is good.

OT, but why are games so expensive on steam? I'd never buy anything new off there, the prices are ridiculous.

[JohnMcL7]

I don't know, I can't believe DoW2 is 35 quid on Steam and around 20 to buy online - just seems a complete ripoff to me.

John

[sharky_ob]

I've really got into using the scouts on this. The infiltrate ability is great, and with demo charges you can sneak up and take out the tyrannid wotsits (tm) that throw the exploding dobblers (tm) at you. Makes it much easier for the devastators to mow down the rest if they're not being knocked back all the time.

The dreadnought is amazing too. Love the autocannon.