loads of info in new PC gamer

[starrider]

since i dont see any topics about this yet, ill make one. just got home and lo and behold a new PC Gamer, with DoW on the cover! let me say it looks impecable. better then i had expected.

now for the iomportant info, as said in the german mag topic, theres gonna be four races in single playter, and a fifth in multi, and also, they're only saying that theres space marines, orks, and chaos.

nextly, no the sinlge players not about the ULtra marines. its a new GW endorsed, chapter called the "Blood Ravens" they get fluff, color scheme etc. and they get a game.

also, no unit persistance, they didnt say much except that it made the game harder, so they Axed it.

resouces, there are 2, power and "requistion" i dunno hwo power works but requisition works lik this. theres building A the longer u hold building A the more requisition points u get. easy.

building stuff. the example they used was orks. so to use what i know, orks are insticivly drawn to battle, so if u have an ork army of 30, more will come. if you build sometihng, say a chruch, more will come. and you bulding this like, if you have 30 orks, you can build building A, 50 orks, building B etc etc.

as for the rest, imm gonna edit this post once i look over the article more.

and, sincerest apologies if this has already been done.

[dewolfe]

Very cool. Hurry up with that update:!:

Anyway, does anyone know when PC Gamer hits the store shelves (for us non-subscribers)? :blah:

[starrider]

ok, the force commander who you'll guide through the campaign is named Gabriel Angelos. and, instead of the regular power sword, he weilds an inquisitorial hammer.

also, let me sayu that the flame effects from flamers look great from the screenies in the srticle. oh, and we get our first l0ok at a chaos unit. the almighty Bloodthister. how he works is, a chaos soldier can beocme possesd, you knw when this happens because of a little possesion icon on his health bar thingy. if this happens to a commander, sorcerer or aspireing champ, he becomes a bloodthister. catch? he only lasts a long itme if you keeep him in a constant state of battle, other wise he deteriorates over time and oges poof.

nextly unit control. click on one marine, you ge tthe whole squad, apparently makes for more effective management of tactis in massive battles, and if the screenshots are the norm, you'll need that.

nextly, things such as cover.say marine squad delta enters an area designated of cover, not all of it, but sya...7 out of a ten person squad.the seven in cover crouch down, go slower, but they're shots hit more often, and htey are as likly to get hit, while the other 3 remain the same.

morale. its a little blue bar under the health meter. which is traditionally green(in case any one cares.) say, squad delta is still in its cover, but gets routed, its morale falls, and loses efficeny, yells about how badly it wants to remain alive etc. see the dev post below for more info. now then, how do you affect your opponets morale? snipers are a good way. as are flamers.

oh and all this, this is before thininga bout the dreadnaughts, and artilary and all other manner of baddassness relic has yet to announce.

oh and one last thing i foun impressive, the screen shoot with the assult troops with the jumppacks flying over a horde of orks, looks truely impressive.


EDIT, one last thing, in the screen shot before the article, the big two pager, you cans ee our hero with his big ass hammer, in front of the dreadnaught, and next to a marine spurting blood. he may not be gabriel of the blood ravens, but he has the hammer, and the inqusitorial hammer to boot. a hint at color/chapter customization?

[Noir]

omg...I hate you

[Shadione]

Originally posted by starrider
morale. its a little blue bar under the health meter. which is traditionally green(in case any one cares.) say, squad delta is still in its cover, but gets routed, its morale falls, and it runs, tial between legs, the ehck away from w/e routed it, you can stop them after they run, but you cant get em to just stay and die.(not said specificly, but from wat was said, i belvie this'd be hwo it works). now then, how do you affect your opponets morale? snipers are a good way. as are flamers.

Believe it or not I have not read the actual article, but I wanted to clarify this point. Broken squads 'do not' run away. Instead they lose combat efficiency, so they can't shoot or fight worth anything. They also gain a bit of a speed boost. This is to encourage the player to run the troops away. Not taking away player control was a big focus on implementation of this feature. Having units run away on their own usually leads to confusion and frustration on the player's part, which we wanted to avoid.

When squads break, you also get a visual indicator, and they start yelling unpleasant things about wanting to live and such.

[starrider]

ah ha, it wasnt really clear about that, so i took a guess. thanks for clearing it up.

all it said on the subject was:

breaking cover involved the next trickey obsteacle--morale. currently represented by a blue bar under the green health bar of each unit. when a unit is routed, it will alreat you to its decision to flee its position.

[Shim]

If the Ultras aren't the single player chapter...Than the screens are probably from multiplayer or skirmish games....Which might mean multiple color schemes/chapters for marines...in MP at least...

And now that this pcgamer is out can Relic freely release information?

[DemonTalons]

WHOA 2 extra races in multiplayer. I LOVE YOU RELIC!! The screens look awesome btw.

they're only saying that theres space marines, orks, and chaos.

I just saw this part after re-readin it and does that mean that the 2 new races are just variants of the original 3 races or that they only mentioned the 3 races.

[Maximus Decimus]

just bought the mag and damn u beat me to it!! err. the 3.5 preview thread doesnt do the preview any justice and i strongly encourage u to get this mag. i bought the NA one so it is here right now too.

the chap master has a inquisitor thunder hammer. the first level is in a spaceport and levels range from "bombed out cities to jungle locales and numerous designs in between". the enemy ai will assess situations and choose what cover to use, run away, etc. for requisition pts u hold key areas and the longer u hold it the more u get(for troops i believe) which is EXACTLY what i wished for, awsume. u can control the camera just like in homeworld and even slow time time into slow mo. there will be greater daemons and it shows a bloodthirster. they will be summoned and posses a aspiring champ, lord, sorceror etc then from what i read u click on a button and it shreds its way into reality. it also mentioned something about civilians being in the game which could lead to fun outcomes lol.

from what iv read i think this game will blow any rts out of the water this year and definetly beat GC2.

so ehem when do we get to see a trailer lol?

- source North American April issue PCGAMER.

[Shadione]

Originally posted by starrider
now for the iomportant info, as said in the german mag topic, theres gonna be four races in single playter, and a fifth in multi, and also, they're only saying that theres space marines, orks, and chaos.

This is also not correct. There are 4 races in MP, with a fifth making an extended cameo in SP only.

[starrider]

oh? it siad 5 in multi.

:goes to check mag:

guess it was at fault and not me.......oh well 5 races is 5 races. its all good.

[DarthFelth]

sounds very nice indeed, well i was hoping for a hint at what the other races are

[Noir]

I would think Neocrons or Tau for the fifth race

[hybris]

Originally posted by Shadione
When squads break, you also get a visual indicator, and they start yelling unpleasant things about wanting to live and such.

Well then, isn't the logical thing to flee (as in the original game) if the troops want to live, wont fight and so on?

If they really, REALLY wanted to live, they wouldn't just stand there yelling about it, but fleeing the battle field. I think it would mean an unecessary manual action, instead of having the fleeing part automatically.

I always sincerely HATE all actions in RTS, which you have to active individually (like healing troops, magic and so on) instead of doing the logical thing, to enable the troops to do it on their own if at all possible. Either that, or at least an option to select preferences if to flee automatically or nor.

[Maximus Decimus]

yeah u make some good pts but in my opinion the way they have done it is fine because then if i need i can leave the unit fighting so they hold up the enemy for strategic purposes.

[Shim]

Can Marine squads be broken?

[DarthFelth]

i but sometimes, they get scared and dont care that gotta hold a bridge however i do see why it would be done that way

[deggy]

Well the logical decision isn't always to flee. There are times when a strategic sacrifice is called for, or reinforcements are on the way, or dammit you just don't want to give up, and numerous other actual logic issues that prevent fleeing from being the logical thing to do.

It's Real Time Strategy, not Real Time Decisions Made For You (gentle ribbing). For maximum combat effectiveness you ALWAYS have to get in there and get your hands dirty.

At the very least, a broken unit will behave like any other overwhelmed force in a conventional RTS, it will stand there and die (if the opponent persists in pressing the advantage). Now however, you have an indication of when the fight has turned against you and you can make an educated decision about what to do next.

[blood_angel]

Christ, dont GW realise if they stick in the Blood Angels, Ultramarines, Space Wolves, Dark Angels and a couple of the other standard chapters theyd get every space marine player wanting it?

Blood Ravens, pah! No doubt theres a codex waiting in the wings too.

[Noir]

Codex Blood Ravens!

[Russian Ninja]

I've got a question. Exactly how is hand-to-hand combat handled with guys who don't have choppy choppy swords (say, tac marines or shoota boyz). Do they attack by whacking people with their rifle butts or whatever they've got in their hands, or do they simply just continue shooting like many other RTS' as if they weren't affected. (I assume if the above is true then do they loose some of their effectiveness as a bolter stock is definately not as powerful as the high explosive round it launches).

Also, how exactly are assault troops handled in this respect. By ordering an attack, do they go in charging and firing their Sluggas or whatever they've got at their intended victims? Do they use grenades?

[Shim]

All marines have at least a knife...quite big knives...monomolecular edged too...

[Shadione]

Originally posted by Rusian Ninja
I've got a question. Exactly how is hand-to-hand combat handled with guys who don't have choppy choppy swords (say, tac marines or shoota boyz). Do they attack by whacking people with their rifle butts or whatever they've got in their hands, or do they simply just continue shooting like many other RTS' as if they weren't affected. (I assume if the above is true then do they loose some of their effectiveness as a bolter stock is definately not as powerful as the high explosive round it launches).

Also, how exactly are assault troops handled in this respect. By ordering an attack, do they go in charging and firing their Sluggas or whatever they've got at their intended victims? Do they use grenades?

Most units can fight in hand-to-hand and ranged combat. When in hand-to-hand they use rifle butts, or combat knives, or whatever melee weaponry they are equipped with. We use a stance system that allows you to determine whether units prefer melee or ranged combat, and it defaults to a logical preference depending on the unit. So, order Ork Boyz to attack and they'll charge into melee by default. You can switch this stance on the fly, which is really useful for marine squads who are more versatile depending on the enemy.

[blood_angel]

Just thinking there about this 'speed boost' you get when a squad is routed.
Could it be open to abuse? Like shooting on your own assault squad with jetpacks to rout them, then moving them to some inital target faster, then having them become 'normal' again.

[Shim]

Originally posted by blood_angel
Just thinking there about this 'speed boost' you get when a squad is routed.
Could it be open to abuse? Like shooting on your own assault squad with jetpacks to rout them, then moving them to some inital target faster, then having them become 'normal' again.

I don't think you'd want to do that, as you'd probably have kill half the squad to rout them!

How will the "And they shall know no fear" rule work for Marines?

[Maximus Decimus]

well actually u DONT wanna go killing ur own men since they have this resource/unit limit/whatever system that is briefly described in the article and deals with "tech trees" but not in the conventional sense. if say ur ork army has 30 orks then u can purchase more things such as some sort of a banner that attracts more orks to ur cause and when u suffer heavy losses u go down a tech tree and are limited again until u build up once more. this makes me value my forces and makes me have to make decisions such as retreat, instead of sacrafice and build more like in the usual RTS.

so so so u devs have gone loose with some info and clarifications? i like it.. i like it!

[starrider]

Russian, unless the screenies decive me, the assault squads fly inot and out of CC, using there jump packs.

[Shadione]

Originally posted by Maximus Decimus
well actually u DONT wanna go killing ur own men since they have this resource/unit limit/whatever system that is briefly described in the article and deals with "tech trees" but not in the conventional sense. if say ur ork army has 30 orks then u can purchase more things such as some sort of a banner that attracts more orks to ur cause and when u suffer heavy losses u go down a tech tree and are limited again until u build up once more. this makes me value my forces and makes me have to make decisions such as retreat, instead of sacrafice and build more like in the usual RTS.

so so so u devs have gone loose with some info and clarifications? i like it.. i like it!

Actually, that's only for Orks. The races all of unique tech trees, so only the Orks need mass up to field their best units, because, well, the best units don't show up until there is a big enough WAAGH! to justify it.

"They shall know no fear" - Marines in DoW recover from being broken faster than the other races, and generally have stronger morale, and stronger morale-recovering abilities.

Yes, we can let loose with a bit of information, basically clarify what is now out there.

[Maximus Decimus]

nice, hmm wonder what the different tech trees are like but im not gonna get that from u am i? lol.

keep up the good work! its looking like the best RTS of the year.

[Soupy]

The 5th race is Jay Marines, they launch Krispy Kreme donuts at game designers on other projects, distracting them long enough to slip by unnoticed.

[Shim]

I hope Soupy doesn't have any creative control on DoW lol

[z-beam]

will the chaos tech tree be the same to plain space marines?

as for the fourth race i'm guessing at gw's new baby that will be released to coincide with the newest addition of the tabletop game...

[Russian Ninja]

Originally posted by starrider
Russian, unless the screenies decive me, the assault squads fly inot and out of CC, using there jump packs.

That's just Smurf Assault Marines. When I say Assault Squads, I mean any unit that's got a big sword and a matching pistol and generally screams loudly and hacks other people up. Most are on foot. But regardless though, do they use grenades?

[Synectikos]

test

[DarthFelth]

ahh, you dont need pistols and swords, big axes of Khorne do the job

[Shadione]

Originally posted by Rusian Ninja
But regardless though, do they use grenades?

I cannot comment on this as of yet.

[Shadione]

Originally posted by z-beam
will the chaos tech tree be the same to plain space marines?

Sorry, can't comment at this time.

[Maximus Decimus]

lol damn! u guys are quick. are u at least able to tell us if there will be any sort of information released before E3?

[Shadione]

Originally posted by Maximus Decimus
lol damn! u guys are quick. are u at least able to tell us if there will be any sort of information released before E3?

Probably not.
:jaw:

[deggy]

Heh, E3 is only 2 months away... you can make it that long can't you? Most people haven't even got their PC Gamer yet!!!

[Soulblighter]

got the pcg today and i must say its a must buy.. fantastic screenshots and a good deal of info. one thing that needs to be said is in regards to the orks. these screens are a lot darker and really show off the vicious nature of the ork.

[thesamonthemoon]

Most people haven't even got their PC Gamer yet!!!

[DarthFelth]

nope, i ant

[dArKB*****d]

IS any of this gonna be in the Uk PC Gamer, I've been unable to locate any info on DoW it's infuriating

[DarthFelth]

i hope so, go im english

[ÜberJumper]

Originally posted by Shadione


Probably not.
:jaw:

:-) Liar.

[Tacit]

The information in the PC Gamer article is what we're able to reveal to the public at the moment. Anything that isn't in the article regarding other races, tech trees, units, storyline, etc., cannot be commented on at the moment.

I just wanted to cover that in a blanket statement, so the designers can get back to doing what they do best, which is make great games.

Thanks for your understanding.

[Shadione]

Originally posted by dArKB*****d
IS any of this gonna be in the Uk PC Gamer, I've been unable to locate any info on DoW it's infuriating

There should be info in the UK Gamer in the near future, but I couldn't say when.

[dArKB*****d]

i hope when you say near future that means next months edition

:hide: lol

[Vijil]

stupid PC Gamer still isnt out in NZ...