Dawn of War Gold; Demo Out

An anonymous reader writes "It seems that Relic's Dawn of War has gone gold, and is due out on September 20th. Published by THQ, Dawn of War is a Real-time Strategy game based in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It's gotten a few previews so far - but why trust them when you can grab the demo? Unfortunately, a quick jog through Google didn't turn up any torrents."

Comments

Great Game with Balance Issues

[carcosa30]

I played the beta extensively from 1.3 to 1.4.

My opinion agrees with the general consensus that 1.3 was far better balanced than 1.4. The reinforcement times have been decreased since 1.3, causing a severe rushing problem-- in effect, you have factories pumping out units right inside the enemy base.

So, if the enemy tries to build tech, build listening posts for gathering resources, according to some people even building a power plant (!) he's going to be far behind when you get into his base with, say, three marine squads.

In effect, the reinforcement system amplifies the Law of Diminishing Firepower which states that in a firefight, a momentary advantage to one side increases on a geometric rather than linear progression. If you get behind by a squad, you are not only losing the firepower of that squad but you are losing the reinforcing ability of that squad, meaning that your enemy is not only whittling down your numbers faster, but he himself is increasing in numbers faster than you are.

Perhaps they will balance the problems by the time the gold comes out. I doubt it because there are many, many. I do think the problems are of a nature that will cause the game to get pale at mid- to high levels of play rather than making it not fun from the start; from what I saw of the game it's extremely cool anyway.

Especially if you loved the tabletop wargame. Those were the days...