[Guden Oden]

Boo hoo...

The only RTS I found thoroughly enjoyable since the magnificient Total Annihilation, and now it's over. Bleh!

Only 11 missions, that was a bit disappointing. It still achieved a pretty good balance between fighting orks, eldar and chaos tho, and the intermissions at set points of the maps were cool too and served to expand the rather well-crafted storyline.

Of course, the voice acting was over the top as usual in computer games. It's as if they feel that since 3D models can't recreate complex human expressions, the voice has to be exaggerated to a substantial degree. Particulary the chaos voices fell into this trap in this game, but it's a minor complaint. At least the voices acted WELL, which certainly cannot be said about all games! *cough*Final Fantasy X*ahem*

Sooo... Where's the inevitable expansion pack, huh?! The final mission is completely open-ended in nature, and like any good web browser, simply waiting for more stuff to be plugged into it.

Speaking of missions... None of them are really difficult, if played on the normal setting - which I did. Maybe it gets worse on the higher settings, but all I had to do now was porq in my base and stick to myself until I've built up sufficient strength to strike out and crush the opposition.

Even the final mission was pretty much a piece of cake really, despite the lack of strategic points near the main base. I made do with three of them, then built some hellfire dreadnoughts, two land raiders, marines and terminators and went out looking for the main badguy. I kept most of the hellfires along with three marine squads and the inquisitor to protect the base from an assault that never came, but better safe than sorry I always say.

The force commander together with the terminators, three marine squads, one group of scouts (for extra sight radius), land raiders and one hellfire made it to the north of the map with no losses. There the big guy found me and started pounding one of my land raiders. He nearly killed it, but I managed to manouver it aside as the guy started wasting my terminators instead. He got all but one, as well as all but one of my scouts too. I started rebuilding them at once of course. While I was busy with that his chaos marines and daemons shot up my damaged raider, but before the bad guy had time to finish chopping up my second raider he went down and the game ended... Bleh, I never got a chance to finish off the other two chaos bases!

Strange that the enemy wasn't more aggressive. Chaos didn't really try to assault me, he had machine pits but didn't build anything in them. All he did was send in a squad of marines every once in a while, and the randomly spawning daemons of course. Weird.

He should have been more aggressive, would have created more tension. Still, it was quite satisfying squashing chaos with extreme prejudice. Don't mess with the space marines!

[ANova]

I liked Red Alert 2.

[cthellis42]

It's never finished!

Just play it online. It's one of the few RTS'es I've actually enjoyed a decent clip online. (Best enjoyed playing with a few friends in team multiplayer games. I suggest you mainly stick to team games, as 1-on-1's can get old, fast.)

[Solzhenitsyn]

I wouldnt necessarily attribute the open ended nature of the campaign as an indicator of an add-on pack... I heard that Relic originally wanted to include a campaign for each race but cut the other three to focus on getting the game finished.

The game seems popular enough that the sales must have been pretty solid for a pc game, so id think an add-on would be par for the course, but so far theres been no word.

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Originally Posted by Solzhenitsyn

I wouldnt necessarily attribute the open ended nature of the campaign as an indicator of an add-on pack... I heard that Relic originally wanted to include a campaign for each race but cut the other three to focus on getting the game finished.

The game seems popular enough that the sales must have been pretty solid for a pc game, so id think an add-on would be par for the course, but so far theres been no word.

Yeah, it was apparently a bit of a suprise hit for THQ. If there had been a single player campaign for every race, (10 maps each, ie about another 30 maps) it would have made it a very complete game and serious game of the year contender.

[Spaceman-Spiff]

I love Dawn of War, but too bad there's only 1 campaign . I was looking forward to play the Ork campaign. Playing the skirmish/multiplayer isn't that interesting for me.

I hope they'll make an expansion for this game.

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Originally Posted by Spaceman-Spiff

I love Dawn of War, but too bad there's only 1 campaign . I was looking forward to play the Ork campaign. Playing the skirmish/multiplayer isn't that interesting for me.

I hope they'll make an expansion for this game.

Skirmish is actually more entertaining than I though it was going to be, and it gives you a chance to play the other races. Try it, you'll find it more interesting than you think.

When you think about it, a campaign is only a load of skirmish maps separated by the story told in the FMV/briefings.

[Fodder]

Originally Posted by Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.

When you think about it, a campaign is only a load of skirmish maps separated by the story told in the FMV/briefings.

But the maps can (and should) be much more creative in terms of gameplay and objectives. I'd feel ripped off if the SP campaign was just a bunch of deathmatches,

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Originally Posted by Fodder

But the maps can (and should) be much more creative in terms of gameplay and objectives. I'd feel ripped off if the SP campaign was just a bunch of deathmatches,

They really don't play that differently. Try one and you can see for yourself. It's worth it for getting to play the different units the other races have. There are also many different types of win criteria that you can select, so killing all the enemy is just one of the possible win conditions.

[Fodder]

I haven't played Dawn of War's SP campaign, but in for example the AOE, C&C and WC/SC games there are a lot of levels that are very different from a skirmish game, and they are what make the campaigns worth playing.

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Originally Posted by Fodder

I haven't played Dawn of War's SP campaign, but in for example the AOE, C&C and WC/SC games there are a lot of levels that are very different from a skirmish game, and they are what make the campaigns worth playing.

(shrug) They are not that different in DoW, which is what this thread is about. Take the FMV/briefings out of the DoW Campaign, and you get a load of skirmish maps. That's not a bad thing, as it means you get extra play out of the skirmish maps without the levels feeling inferior to the SP campaign. It's not so much that the SP maps are poor, just that the skirmish maps are still very good fun.

As I said, there are loads of selectable win conditions for a skirmish game, as well as multiple AI enemy and allies, all the other races with their different units and playing styles, and some very large maps. There's more to it than just a 1v1 match on a small map.

If you enjoyed DOW and are lamenting the lack of campaigns for the other races, you're not doing yourself any favours if you don't check out the skirmish games, even if you only play against the AI rather than online.

[NIB]

Rts games and especially dow(dawn of war) should be played online. Single player campaigns is just a waste of time where you are just introduced to the units and the races(and hopefully even get a decent scenario like sc). It really pisses me off when ppl play against the ai and whine about how the ai isnt good enough. Computers can barely play effectively a simplified tbs like chess(only managed to do that in the last few years) , do you really expect them to play complicated rts like dow?

Go online and kick some human butt. Its much more enjoyable and much more competitive than beating the crap out of ai.

as 1-on-1's can get old, fast

1vs1 cant get old fast. You obviously dont know how to play the game and dont understand the game mechanics. Dow has very interesting game mechanics like morale, cover and ranged/close combat. These things add tons of depth to the game.

Dow was started out as a badget title thats why it has so poor single player campaign. But at around midway, relic saw that they had a winner in their hands. So instead of wasting their time on developing single player compaigns, they concetrated on multiplayer balance issues and bugs.

Anyway, the biggest disadvantage of dow is its crappy online interface and especially its lack of friend list. And this is really sad cause dow was made with online gaming experience as its prime objective. But according to relic, they are working on it. Also download the patches which not only balance the game but add more maps(and some of them are really good). If you really want to get into dow, go to www.dow.sanctuary-network.com which is the biggest dow forum with over 4,000 members(for a game that is relatively new, it has tons of members). The official relic forums are just insanely overmoderated crap with tons of noobs and no useful info.

[Randell]

Originally Posted by NIB

The official relic forums are just insanely overmoderated crap with tons of noobs and no useful info.

and last time I was there, a disabled search function

[Guden Oden]

Originally Posted by NIB

Go online and kick some human butt. Its much more enjoyable and much more competitive than beating the crap out of ai.

I prefer more relaxed combat than is possible against human opponents, especially better ones. I want to be able to build a lot of the biggest stuff and then just roll across the map like an unstoppable tidalwave. Only idiot human players would allow me to pull that off. Besides, I would like to be able to take a break and watch some TV during a battle, go have a cup of tea, maybe visit the bathroom. Netmatch games typically can't be paused.

Being so narrowmindedly against skirmish gaming strikes me as somewhat unintelligent actually. I'm sure you're an accomplished player, but do realize not everybody likes to play their games the same way you do. That's why there's chocolate AND vanilla ice cream available you know, to cater for different tastes.

[Randell]

Originally Posted by Guden Oden

I prefer more relaxed combat than is possible against human opponents, especially better ones. I want to be able to build a lot of the biggest stuff and then just roll across the map like an unstoppable tidalwave.

then make your next game Nexus, no building, just big spaceships.

[NIB]

I prefer more relaxed combat than is possible against human opponents, especially better ones. I want to be able to build a lot of the biggest stuff and then just roll across the map like an unstoppable tidalwave. Only idiot human players would allow me to pull that off

Actually there are plenty of ppl that like to play like that(aka casual gamers). If you bother logging on gamespy(aka lamespy), you would find many games that have titles like "No rushes" or "Noobs only" or they start with an insane ammount of resources(so you can get whatever army you want pretty fast) and things like that.

I'm sure you're an accomplished player, but do realize not everybody likes to play their games the same way you do

I understand this. Some need to play games to relax, others need to play games to get adrenalin rushes and increase their ego by beating other ppl. Some like doing both. For example, i often log on late at night and before i go to sleep, so that i can play some long "get all upgrades/units before attacking" games. Sometimes, if i have time and i am in the mood, i play ranked games which most likely end within 5-10 mins.

[IgnorancePersonified]

skirmish games of TA on the caldera map against 3-4 ai's kicked arse!