# Dawn of War II - Warhammer 40k win!



## The Groke (Jan 14, 2009)

Really looking forward to this one

I am not usually a massive RTS fan; I always love the _idea_ of them, but the actual play leaves me inexplicably cold and uninvolved.

Also, I suck at them.


That said, the first Dawn of War and it's expansion packs were a fucking hoot.
 The sequel looks to take all the best bits from those and distill the fuck out of them before throwing out all tedious resource gathering/building to make a tight, pure ball of bloody, action RTS goodness featuring squad-level focus and all your favourite WH40K races.

Tyranids yay!


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## isitme (Jan 14, 2009)

I loved the first one, the battles were just spot on, they managed to get it just as brutal as you imagined it as a kid


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## kained&able (Jan 14, 2009)

it was really good but im not a fan of the squad capping. If i want to make an army of 3000 terminators i should be allowed too goddanm it!


dave


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## 100% masahiko (Jan 14, 2009)

Not played it but limiting the numbers in an army sounds too wankish. 

Is it the best war strategy game? Better than Command and Conquer?


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## The Groke (Jan 14, 2009)

Did you play Company of Heroes?

It is more like that.

Very small squads, but with much more tactical control than you would have in generic RTS with entire armies-worth of units.

Cover, suppressing fire, tactical movement etc are the focus, rather than building up vast amounts of resource and buildings and then zerg rushing/unit spamming.


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## kained&able (Jan 14, 2009)

I'm a c&c man personally. It wasn't a bad pretender tpo the crown though, graphics and units were great and i loved the menu/control systems and i think it was the first rts that you could zoom and roatate and stuff. Twas good and made c&c pick its game back up.

To be honest i would go to the total war games(if they realeased a new one with good graphics and stuff) after c&c and then warhammer.

It was very very good though.

dave(never played warhammer as a yoot)


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## Crispy (Jan 14, 2009)

It sounds like they're actually going even closer to the board game in terms of scale. Yer typical 2000 point space marine army's what, 3 squads and a tank and a commander and a psyker? Use em wisely cos that's all you get... Sounds interesting anyway. Might even get this if my mac can handle it.


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## The Groke (Jan 14, 2009)

kained&able said:


> (if they realeased a new one with good graphics and stuff)



Your wish is my command...


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## bouncer_the_dog (Jan 14, 2009)

Company of Heroes in  its orginal incarnation was fabulous from a tactical point of view. When you had just won a point with a bloody troop battle and suddenly a Panther Tank turns up the fear was palpable. If they can capture the essence of this in DoW II it will be excellent. If you want the ultimate zerg rush game - literally - check out starcraft ii the videos make it look awesome... but a rushers game


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## The Groke (Jan 14, 2009)

Crispy said:


> It sounds like they're actually going even closer to the board game in terms of scale. Yer typical 2000 point space marine army's what, 3 squads and a tank and a commander and a psyker? Use em wisely cos that's all you get...




Yup.

I like the more involved RPG elements too - power up and develop ur d00ds throughout the game...



Crispy said:


> Sounds interesting anyway. Might even get this if my mac can handle it.






*Minimum Requirements*
Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1
P4 3.2 GHz (single core) or any Dual Core processor
1 GB RAM (XP), 1.5 GB RAM (Vista)
A 128MB Video Card (Shader Model 3) - Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT / ATI X1600, or equivalent
5.5 GB of Hard Drive space
*Recommended*
Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1
AMD Athlon 64x2 4400+ or any Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB RAM (XP and Vista)
A 256MB Video Card (Shader Model 3) - Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT / ATI X1900, or equivalent
5.5 GB of Hard Drive space


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## kained&able (Jan 14, 2009)

Swarfega said:


> Your wish is my command...



sweet!


dave


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## bouncer_the_dog (Jan 14, 2009)

Do you have a laptop or a big mac crispy? My Macbookpro is higher spec than my PC tower.. but the tower has more cooling so I feel better playing games on that..


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## Crispy (Jan 14, 2009)

I have a X6100 in my (white plastic) imac, so should be able to play...


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## agricola (Jan 14, 2009)

There will be an open multiplayer beta, obtained via Steam:



> THQ ANNOUNCES WARHAMMER 40,000: DAWN OF WAR II MULTIPLAYER BETA
> 
> We’re very excited to have you all try out our multiplayer matching system and get your thoughts on the game. Here is the official announcement on the beta, we’ll have more details on installing it as the time draws near:
> 
> ...



http://community.dawnofwar2.com/blogs/?p=452


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## agricola (Jan 14, 2009)

a dev looks at DoW2 at CES:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx5Pv_JmYLg


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## bouncer_the_dog (Feb 5, 2009)

Just been playing the beta version you can get for free off Steam. You need to sign up to windows live as well. Anyway its pretty good. They have dropped the base building and it plays like a sci fi Company of Heroes, which means its pretty punishing. Once you get the hang of it and can resist getting zerged it suddenly becomes very tactical. You only get a few squads, one hero and usually one tank if your very lucky. Ill probably make a purchase after I've rinsed the beta...


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## Awesome Wells (Feb 6, 2009)

kained&able said:


> it was really good but im not a fan of the squad capping. If i want to make an army of 3000 terminators i should be allowed too goddanm it!
> 
> 
> dave


Computer says no 

Which is why i can't play DoW2.

I'd give my firstborn (or at least someone else's) to have a machine that could run this. DoW is awesomeness personified. The atmosphere is spot on and it's cheaper (and probably less smellier) than the 'real' thing.


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## Awesome Wells (Feb 6, 2009)

agricola said:


> a dev looks at DoW2 at CES:
> 
> http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx5Pv_JmYLg


No chaos? WTF!!! Damn the false emperor!


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 15, 2009)

Relax, they'll do a few expansion sets for this, you'll get your chaos...


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## The Groke (Feb 15, 2009)

Awesome Wells said:


> Computer says no
> 
> Which is why i can't play DoW2.
> 
> I'd give my firstborn (or at least someone else's) to have a machine that could run this. DoW is awesomeness personified. The atmosphere is spot on and it's cheaper (and probably less smellier) than the 'real' thing.




You wouldn't need to spend that much to get a PC capable of running this at a fair lick.


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## YouSir (Feb 15, 2009)

Bah, would love to play this but Google says that beyond a brief dash of excitement last year there's no news of a 360 version and I'm far too broke for a new PC. This is the one shitey thing about console gaming, no/very few strategy games with any depth and even the ones there are are just badly ported PC games. Plus controllers are worthless compared to mice. Hmph.


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## Awesome Wells (Feb 15, 2009)

Swarfega said:


> You wouldn't need to spend that much to get a PC capable of running this at a fair lick.



I can't build pc's so i wouldn't know how else you could get something that powerful cheaply.


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## The Groke (Feb 15, 2009)

Awesome Wells said:


> I can't build pc's so i wouldn't know how else you could get something that powerful cheaply.




What would be your theoretical maximum budget, were you to purchase a new PC?

Do you already have a monitor?


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## Awesome Wells (Feb 15, 2009)

Indeed I do.

But right now my maximum budget is zero pounds and naught pence unless I sell my 360 (or it breaks again, which wouldn't surprie me).


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## The Groke (Feb 16, 2009)

Yeah, you are right - it _is_ tough to get a decent PC for zero quid.


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## ruffneck23 (Feb 22, 2009)

been playing this most of the night , its great but different , its more like comany of heroes ( which isnt a bad thing imo ) , no base building but very squad tactical with a dose of rpg levelling up of your hereos. Visually its lovely and contains all the gore of the original dawn of war.

My only grumble is the drm (if not not using the cracked non steam version) and that you cant save mid-mission.

If youre looking for a cracked version , dont get the RFORCE , get the VITALITY release  or just buy it 

I will after evaluating for the multiplayer


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## The Groke (Feb 23, 2009)

Been loving it so far - nearly done with campaign mode and my Dreadnought fucking rocks.

Yes, it is a bit of a click-fest - I saw a review wherein it was described as "an uber-violent, squad-based Diablo" which isn't far off I reckon.

I like the lack of base-building and the emphasis on lashings of bloody death. The power ups and loot drops keep things pretty fresh.

Not tried multi-player yet, through I can guarantee I will have my arse handed to me by 10 year-olds.


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## ruffneck23 (Feb 23, 2009)

well ikl be getting a proper vesion on friday , il go co-op on a skirmish or 2 with ya if you want ?


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## The Groke (Feb 23, 2009)

ruffneck23 said:


> well ikl be getting a proper vesion on friday , il go co-op on a skirmish or 2 with ya if you want ?




Happy to try if we are around at the same time (+4 here remember...!)

My Windows live gamer tag is clockworkweasel.


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## agricola (Feb 23, 2009)

Am I the only one geeky enough to notice that the Assault Marines in DoW II are beakies?


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## The Groke (Feb 23, 2009)

agricola said:


> Am I the only one geeky enough to notice that the Assault Marines in DoW II are beakies?



Nope.


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## Jorum (Feb 24, 2009)

These arcane security hoops are getting effing ridiculous.
I have a complete game DVD right here, yet it still takes 15 minutes to install.
Steam, Games for Windows, blah de blah de bollocks

GTAIV was a big enough pain the arse 
(No, I wouldn't like tie my ea account into my games for windows account tbh, I rather you just let me play the fucking game I've just bought)


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## Jorum (Feb 24, 2009)

Argh! It's installed but another 15 minutes of steam updates (and counting)


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## Chz (Mar 4, 2009)

I'm liking the single-player campaign, but multi just... Lacks. I know they're trying to bring some of the to-and-fro'ing from Company of Heroes into Dawn of War, but it's just not working. Matter of fact, playing DoW2 multi made me go back and reinstall CoH instead.


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## Grobelaar (Mar 8, 2009)

Crispy said:


> It sounds like they're actually going even closer to the board game in terms of scale. Yer typical 2000 point space marine army's what, 3 squads and a tank and a commander and a psyker?



that sounds like a confession to me?  you don't reckon you might squeeze a Dreadnought or Landspeeder in there, prolly depend if you go for the Terminators eh?


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## Pseudopsycho (Mar 16, 2009)

I have a sub £500 1yr old  laptop  (Toshiba equium AMD X2 64 bit/2Gb ram /128mb ATI Radeon card) which will _just_ run things like X3 Reunion (sooo pretty) so I'm hoping that my new copy of DOW2 waiting at my GFs house will run...


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## ruffneck23 (Mar 16, 2009)

you should be ok


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## Grobelaar (Mar 19, 2009)

agricola said:


> Am I the only one geeky enough to notice that the Assault Marines in DoW II are beakies?



I can be even sadder and tell you that that is Mk6 "Corvus" Power Armour.

My fave was always the MkIII "Iron" Armour.

MkVIII is by far the coolest. The original MkVII which is the most common type used for the miniatures wasn't actually sculpted by Jes Goodwin (who has made most of the Space Marine models over the years) - the MkVIII was him putting his personal stamp on what Space Marines should look like.


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## Cid (Mar 19, 2009)

MKVIII 'errant' armour...


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## Kid_Eternity (Mar 20, 2009)

Grobelaar said:


> I can be even sadder and tell you that that is Mk6 "Corvus" Power Armour.
> 
> My fave was always the MkIII "Iron" Armour.
> 
> MkVIII is by far the coolest. The original MkVII which is the most common type used for the miniatures wasn't actually sculpted by Jes Goodwin (who has made most of the Space Marine models over the years) - the MkVIII was him putting his personal stamp on what Space Marines should look like.



Heh I still remembered all that. I like the MkVII's myself the most...


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## Cid (Mar 20, 2009)

I'm not sure I like this chapter mind you, I know it's the one that was in the last DOW, but come on, compare it to the Space Wolves, Dark Angels, Blood angels etc (except the Ultramarines, they were lame) and it just seems very unimaginative.


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## agricola (Mar 21, 2009)

Cid said:


> I'm not sure I like this chapter mind you, I know it's the one that was in the last DOW, but come on, compare it to the Space Wolves, Dark Angels, Blood angels etc (except the Ultramarines, they were lame) and it just seems very unimaginative.



The Blood Ravens are definately rubbish.. one imagines they didnt want to annoy the fanbois by picking one of the old Chapters.

TBH the whole game is deeply underwhelming, its much less free roaming even than the last one was (and nowhere near as good as _Soulstorm_ which remains my favourite).  This is the curse of WH40k computer games though, they are nearly always (VOTBA and DoW 1 aside) deeply disappointing.


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## Grobelaar (Mar 21, 2009)

agricola said:


> The Blood Ravens are definately rubbish.. one imagines they didnt want to annoy the fanbois by picking one of the old Chapters.
> 
> TBH the whole game is deeply underwhelming, its much less free roaming even than the last one was (and nowhere near as good as _Soulstorm_ which remains my favourite).  This is the curse of WH40k computer games though, they are nearly always (VOTBA and DoW 1 aside) deeply disappointing.



GW rarely let licensees use main canon elements of the 40K universe. 

Deep down they probably resent the video games as it's not proper wargaming. 

DOWII has been top of the US PC games chart for a couple of weeks now - pretty good stuff considering PC games are massively pirated - the rest of the chart is dominated by WOW (can't be pirated) and The Sims (target market wouldn't know how to pirate a game) - they've probably made more money than GW makes in a year.


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## bmd (Mar 23, 2009)

Grobelaar said:


> GW rarely let licensees use main canon elements of the 40K universe.
> 
> Deep down they probably resent the video games as it's not proper wargaming.
> 
> DOWII has been top of the US PC games chart for a couple of weeks now - pretty good stuff considering PC games are massively pirated - the rest of the chart is dominated by WOW (can't be pirated) and The Sims (target market wouldn't know how to pirate a game) - *they've probably made more money than GW makes in a year.*



You're having a laugh. The PC game is what, £30? A couple of figures a paintbrush and a handful of colours would cost the same, never mind the boxed sets. 

I think the reason the games are a bit less than the table top ones (if they are) is because it's too hard to balance PC gaming like that. 

I also think that Games Workshop will like the fact that a whole new type of gamer has been introduced to the universe.


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## Chz (Mar 23, 2009)

I'd imagine GW generates more income, but their costs for all those shops must be astronomical. I wouldn't be surprised if the game generated more _profit_ than GW does in a year.


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## bmd (Mar 23, 2009)

Chz said:


> I'd imagine GW generates more income, but their costs for all those shops must be astronomical. I wouldn't be surprised if the game generated more _profit_ than GW does in a year.



Aren't they franchises?


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## Chz (Mar 23, 2009)

No, their financial results talk about them as if they're owned. They discuss closing unprofitable shops and hiring more staff for the ones they have.

They've lost money in both of the past years to the tune of £10M. And that's only on revenues of £110M. Not good. Though they are at least slightly profitable before write-downs and one time costs.


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## agricola (Nov 14, 2009)

bumped because of this:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/181265/new_dawn_of_war_ii_chaos_rising_expansion_details.html


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## bouncer_the_dog (Nov 15, 2009)

Grobelaar said:


> GW rarely let licensees use main canon elements of the 40K universe.
> 
> Deep down they probably resent the video games as it's not proper wargaming.
> 
> DOWII has been top of the US PC games chart for a couple of weeks now - pretty good stuff considering PC games are massively pirated - the rest of the chart is dominated by WOW (can't be pirated) and The Sims (target market wouldn't know how to pirate a game) - they've probably made more money than GW makes in a year.



Didn't the makers of warcraft approach GW? When GW told them to F off they invented the Warcraft idea. Now Blizzard have more money than god and GW are still flogging lead minatures...

To be fair I actually managed to play a game of the re-vamped Space Hulk (I practically forced my flatmate) and I thought it was well balanced and computer game-esque - totally different from my era of 40k (around 1994)


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## agricola (Mar 5, 2011)

Bumped because the new expansion "Retribution" has been released.  It features hat-obsessed Ork pirates from Somerset in their own playable campaign, as well as five others (one for each race).


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