Oh HECK yeah...Dawn of War 2 soon to be announced!!!

[Wytefang]

This is a scan from a silhouetted page ad for the upcoming issue of PC Gamer - it's pretty obviously the shape of a space marine (in fact, a guy on Shacknews found the actually graphic, online, that they used for this ad). So it looks like we're getting our sequel to the awesomely enjoyable Dawn of War series on PC.

Tyranids baby!! w00t!!

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a229/wytefang/DSC00790.jpg

[ewabbie]

I love the Dawn of War series. I can't wait!

[Uprising]

Nice. RELIC is my favorite developer by far. I'm a huge fan of the Dawn of War series. I own the base game and all 3 expansions, although I think the last expansion...Soul Storm seems like an amateur hack job. I'd go so far as to say Soul Storm sucks.

I hope they make it in the same engine as Company of Heroes. CoH has spoiled me. From now on every RTS game that I play will be compared to CoH. So far nothing has come close.

And I hope for the love of GOD they keep it strictly PC. Please don't "cripple" the game and make is cross console.

[Wytefang]

I'm nearly certain that it won't be cross-platform and I totally, TOTALLY agree with you about Company of Heroes - no other RTS is anywhere as impressive after you've played that amazing game. It's the kind of thing that keeps me coming back to PC gaming, time and time again.

[gamjuven]

Awe sweet. I just got Soulstorm the other day. I can't wait. I hope they have tyranids. Although I'm afraid my computer probably won't be able to handle it. it gets really slow whenever I play Soulstorm, I can't imagine what it'll do when I have 100s of tyranids swarming all over the screen.

Perhaps it will be a fps game like battlefront or battlefield with spawning point capture and stuff like that. I hope they do amke a game like that. This is probably Dawn of War 2, which is awesome, but it seems really close to the release of Soulstorm. Perhaps this game won't be released till like 2010.

[AmishBurrito]

I'm nearly certain that it won't be cross-platform and I totally, TOTALLY agree with you about Company of Heroes - no other RTS is anywhere as impressive after you've played that amazing game. It's the kind of thing that keeps me coming back to PC gaming, time and time again.

Better than starcraft? I can't see how that could be possible... but I have never played CoH.

[Wytefang]

Well then, you've answered your own question, Amish. ;)

I've played both and Company of Heroes seems to me, to be a much better game - of course, CoH is a recent game with graphics and physics-based gameplay, so in that regard it has an unfair advantage. However, even at the base gameplay level, SC is all about hotkey and build order memorization and how fast you can punch keys on your keyboard and much less about true strategic acumen or tactical acumen, for that matter. Company of Heroes has a number of gameplay mechanics/features that bring the S back into RTS in a big way.

That's not to say that SC2 won't be awesome, I think they're (Blizzard) really going to do a great job with it but I'd hope that they innovate rather than just iterate or it'll be a less appealing RTS for many of us.

[Euryon]

awesome.
i was a semi-finalist for the original DoW beta tournament. I lost to a guy who went and played the developers in the final (and was subsequently owned by them).

DoW is one of the most innovative RTS games out there. It still falls prey to the use of tank rushing (which is a viable if annoying method), but is generally a very fun game.

Plus, Relic make kick-ass cut-scenes.

[Wytefang]

Agreed. That first game's cut-scene was one of the best I'd ever seen at that point in time (and until I saw Hellgate: London's cut-scenes, which were totally awesome).

The only bad thing about getting this news is that it'll probably be at least until sometime in 2009 before we get this game. Carp!

[Wytefang]

So what races does everyone think they'll be starting out with for this new game?

I'll hazard Space Marines (a new chapter), Tyranids (finally!), Imperial Guard (would be nice to see a better version of them, as it stands right now in Dawn of War 1, they're kind of wimpy, imho), and Orks.

I could see them substituting Eldar in place of the Imperial Guard, though, to create a truly eclectic mix of races for the first game.

[Fallen Templar]

Personally Wyte I'm hoping for The 7(right?) army now retuned and added to plus Nids. I mean what was the point of making a Sisters of Battle and Dark Eldar race for one game? Plus I heart Tau

[Uprising]

Well, my only complaint for the Dawn of War series was that there was too many races. RELIC did manage to create 9 different races with 9 different play styles, which is kinda of crazy if you think about it. At the end though it feels like they are just trying to milk the series for all it's worth.

Anyway, I wouldn't mind if DOWII came out with only 2-4 races initially. I would rather have a few excellently designed races as opposed to 7-9 mediocre ones.

I think starting off with the Space Marines is an absolute must. Now, if they are planning on continuing with the Blood Ravens story from the original Dawn of War, which I think they should, you will have to include Chaos as well. So, that will give us the 2 standard good/evil armies. It's about time they put the Tyranids in. People have been wanting Tyranids since day 1. Imagine what they could look like in the essence engine!! Last race I would have for a final product is the Eldar. After those 4 I would settle for Orks and Imperial Guard. I really don't care about the other races.

[gamjuven]

I don't really want them to start all over with the races. I mean if you don't like some of the races don't play them. Although I would sacrafice the Eldar and Dark Eldar for Tyranids or a rebel grot army anyday!

I await with eager anticipation more news concerning the new game.

[Fallen Templar]

Well, my only complaint for the Dawn of War series was that there was too many races. RELIC did manage to create 9 different races with 9 different play styles, which is kinda of crazy if you think about it. At the end though it feels like they are just trying to milk the series for all it's worth.

Anyway, I wouldn't mind if DOWII came out with only 2-4 races initially. I would rather have a few excellently designed races as opposed to 7-9 mediocre ones.

I think starting off with the Space Marines is an absolute must. Now, if they are planning on continuing with the Blood Ravens story from the original Dawn of War, which I think they should, you will have to include Chaos as well. So, that will give us the 2 standard good/evil armies. It's about time they put the Tyranids in. People have been wanting Tyranids since day 1. Imagine what they could look like in the essence engine!! Last race I would have for a final product is the Eldar. After those 4 I would settle for Orks and Imperial Guard. I really don't care about the other races.Personally if they restart from the begining with the races they should throw the original 4 in plus 'Nids, Bring the other 5 back in an expansion and throw in the Squats

[Uprising]

Just a bump now that we have some new info and screens 8)

http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/888/888043/warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-ii-20080710032828989.jpg
http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/888/888043/warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-ii-20080710032831599.jpg
http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/888/888043/warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-ii-20080710032839208.jpg


Here is some info that has been collected:

Drop Pods can now hit enemy troops
- Space Marines are super soldiers. The magazine compared them to the Spartans of 300, though for the Space Marines it's more like "30"
- Less focus on resource gathering and building (which sounds like buildings are still in, but not to the same extent as DoW)
- Bridges are functional instead of just decoration, and can be destroyed with troops on them (though Assault Marines will automatically jump to safety)
- Assault Marines can deal damage with their landing
- Troops can shoot from buildings they enter, but can be screwed if the enemy bombs or flames the building
- Orbital Bombardment leaves a patch of molten earth where it hits
- Wargear can be collected on the battlefield and equipped on different troops
- Campaign missions may have multiple objectives (such as "save the civilians" or "get the wargear"), and you may have to choose between them... your choices can affect later missions- The instant reinforcement system is gone, but they haven't mentioned what it has been replaced with, although the journalist mentioned drop pods.
- If your named squad leader dies, it will apparently "change the way the game is played."
- RPG-like wargear upgrades will affect the entire squad, not just the sergeant.
- Cover can be demolished with grenades, flanking maneuvers, flamers, and melee units.
- Units will be very vulnerable in the open.
- Squads will "think" for themselves like in CoH- Single Player unit Death Mechanic, apparently this means that the death of a single squad member will have pretty hefty consequences in the single player campaign.
- Every Unit is named, and has full back story
- No resource gathering. This does not necessarily mean that there won't be some kind of resource system, just that the economy probably won't be based around using worker units to mine or gather resources. Though, this isn't much of a departure from DoW and CoH.
- MMO style wargear ratings (green standard -> purple epic items)
- Players base of operations is a Battle barge
- Dynamic World Meta Map
- Knock Back effects
- Sync Kills now known as Extreme Kills
- Interactive Battlefield, perhaps something in line with CoH
- Orks are kinda Slimy (this may just be due to the "glossy" look some of the ork models have right now)
- Multiplayer has Pre-Match Battle barge setting up
- Possible Mission specific units
- Army Painter Confirmed
- Dawn of War 2 is optimized to run on Multi-Core Systems
- You can possibly play DoW2 on 3-year old PCs with decent frame rates.- Members in a space marine squad will each have their own designated role in the squad, the examples used here were flank man (dunno if it is called that, but you get the idea) and weapons specialist. You can then equip each squad member in accordance with their role. For instance, the flank man might get an artificer armor and the weapons specialist a Mark IV heavy bolter.
- Buildings are not out, but they have a lesser role to play than in DoW. The comparison used was, that if base building in DoW had been placed on the backseat, then in DoW 2 it would be in the trunk of the car.- There will be two campaigns (cooperative mode supported): one for Space Marines and one for Orks. There will be no campaigns for other [tentatively possible] race(s).

- Depending on complexity missions are divided into red (hard), blue (medium), and green (easy). Besides mission objectives there will be long-term goals that will require completion of several missions (and a certain set of objectives thereof). These long-term goals may be completed in different ways and mission sequencing is up to the player.

- There will be hidden missions that may be unlocked if certain time and quality criteria were met when completing previous mission objectives.

- There will be no base building whatsoever. Here's a direct quote: "I.e., you will not have to build bases at all." Though, the Danish PC Player preview did say that buildings were in, but relegated to a more tertiary role. This might mean we'll see some sort of static "home base" structure, but there won't be any building placement or construction involved. Note, however, that it has not been stated whether this applies to multiplayer.

- Each unit in a squad will have their own name, look and specialization.

- Unit specialization is configurable. Configuration is not defined based on the player choosing from a defined list of options. Instead, unit specialization depends on what artifacts and objects (that can be acquired on the battlefield) they are equipped with.

- You can take up to six squads per mission. It might mean that you can try a stupidly heroic option of taking on a red mission with just one squad. And it most likely means that there will be more than six squads to choose from prior to any given battle.

- All squad leaders have to survive in order for you to complete a mission.

- Some missions will require you to make choices such as whether you try to save as many civilians as possible or try to grab some new equipment instead. There will be consequences to all of these decisions.

- The primary focus is on infantry. Vehicles will be powerful but few and far between. Air and naval units are not in.

- Scale of all buildings, vehicles, units and objects looks very natural.

- Buildings can be garrisoned. Buildings and terrain objects can be destroyed (in a strategic way such as to block / form paths and make new cover areas). New craters will provide cover too.

- Jump packs will allow jumping on top of almost any building. But it has not been said whether higher ground will provide any strategic advantage... - Six marines per squad.

- Each squad will have it's own specific role to fill.

- Developers didn't talk a lot about resources but they explained that resources will be used to research new technologies or recruit new soldiers.

- Both the space marine and ork campaigns will be co-op.

- Wargear items are randomly given but it's based on the level of the mission (if you play the 1st mission , you won't have the best wargear).

- There will be wargear for squads, for vehicles, and for leader units.

- There will be primary and secondary objectives. - The Intro is like a animated comic (comic in the style of wh40k, more like grim drawings)
- The guys from the magazine saw no on-map player-build buildings during the presentation
- Exploding Barrels
- Collapsing on-map buildings can apperently hurt nearby Units
- System requiernments NOT higher than for CoH (dev quote)
-Upgrades for the Hero
- 2 Slots for Weapons
- 1 for Armor
- 3 for support Items
- Squadmembers gain experience and if they die they can be replaced with new members on the field ( new = starting at 0 regarding the experience
- Bolterbarrels glow after shooting
- Posession of stratigic locations more important than in dow (this system was updated with a "innovative element")
- All info on the Singleplayer; NO Info on the Multiplayer in this article

Additional Information:
- The player can choose from different missions to begin, setting a path with which will exclude him from playing certain other missions - this should add to replayability.
- Boss fights in the vein of the teaser trailer - the opponents will start into a fully animated fight after a short verbal exchange. These duels are basically scripted, yet the player retains control over certain special maneuvers.
- There's an Ork campaign
- Co-op mode
- Article mentions upgrades like poisoned ammo for bolters and powered barbs for chainswords.

- troops automatically search for cover ( if there is none, they'll try to blast a crater in the ground to get cover )
- troops can hide in buildings and fire from the windows
- small arms fire ricochets from armored units like Dreadnoughts, giving the player visible feedback as to which weapons are effective/ineffective to combat certain units.

I personally can't wait.

[Uprising]

Eldar just announced as the third race. Check out the superb vid.

http://www.thq-games.com/uk/features/show/3835

http://www.thq-games.com/uk/thqtv/index/1642

[gamjuven]

Eldar just announced as the third race. Check out the superb vid.

http://www.thq-games.com/uk/features/show/3835

http://www.thq-games.com/uk/thqtv/index/1642

uggg... I hate the eldar. O well. I wonder if they will have another race as well as the orks and space marines.

[cabbageheat]

I loved the original, and have all the expansions except the Soulstorm (wrong title?) that was released recently. Right now I'm just trying to work my way through Dark Crusade, which has proven to be a challenge.

But the environments in this game are beautiful, can't wait to have some more sci-fi RTS battling. (I wish Heroscape would release some kind of sci-fi terrain or hex or even LOS blockers of some kind. . .that is besides the point however).

[Elf_Archer]

I like Eldar and Tau the best. They are the Elves and Imperial Forces of the future.

Go Eldar!

[Uprising]

EDIT: Remains PC Exclusive. Relief washes over Uprising in an awesome wave.

EDIT: Awesome new vid

http://www.gamespot.com/video/945727/6193807/videoplayerpop?

[Uprising]

ZOMG!!!1


http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/900/900039/warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-ii-20080819095045310.jpg
http://community.dawnofwar2.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/edited_final3.jpg

[Velenne]

Holy crap! I just stumbled on this thread. Man I'm excited about this game now!!

[gamjuven]

Awesome, tyranids. Finally. Now I really have to figure out how to update my computer.

[Uprising]

Awesome, tyranids. Finally. Now I really have to figure out how to update my computer.

Just built a new computer about a month ago with all the new games coming out in mind. Dawn of War II, Starcraft II, Diablo III..etc. Once those games come out you won't see me here for a long time 8)

[Velenne]

And Spore, don't forget about Spore.

[Uprising]

Spore!

[Uprising]

Updated vids. Watch the trailer all the way till the end. Good stuff


Gameplay (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/38613.html)
Extended Trailer (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/38608.html)

[Velenne]

That extended trailer is GLORIOUS!!! FOR THE EMPEROR!!

[Fallen Templar]

Tyranids have been confirmed
http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/14243516/warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-ii/videos/dow2_meet_the_tyranids_082008.html

[Uprising]

Tyranids have been confirmed
http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/14243516/warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-ii/videos/dow2_meet_the_tyranids_082008.html

:lastweek:


http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?p=652015#post652015

;)

[Fallen Templar]

Tyranids have been confirmed
http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/14243516/warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-ii/videos/dow2_meet_the_tyranids_082008.html

:lastweek:


http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?p=652015#post652015

;)Woopsie ^_^

[DeadEye]

Still Humans will always prevail!

Go Space Marines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh yeah and that extended version was FLIPPIN SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!

DeadEye

[Elf_Archer]

Eldar!

What races do you want to see in teh expansion pack, only pick 2 please!

Imperial Guard
Tau

[Zelrig]

Chaos Space Marines
and Tau

[Elf_Archer]

I like Tau because of there long-ranged dominance.

Imperial Guard because of large numbers of people that look cool.

Eldar because of there speed.