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

3dgamers.com

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

3dgamers has a torrent running, I used it.. yesterday after reading about this on penny-arcade. It's a pretty quick torrent, and I should probably start seeding again for the /. crowd.

Re:3dgamers.com

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Here's a link to the torrent.

Re:3dgamers.com

[herulach]

Also filerush has one. clicky maxing out my connection at the moment.

Re:Awesome game

[phoenixTMW]

I agree - at first glance, this game is pretty well done. I don't know much about the Warhammer universe, but the ways resource gathering and troop building are implemented make a LOT more sense than other RTS games. Instead of having harvesters gather "ore" and "building" infantry, capturing and keeping strategic points gives the player an influx of "prestige", if you will, and troops are dropped down from orbit (for Space Marines, at least). One quibble I have is that the troops don't really exit from the building structures; they just sort of appear. But I also like the fact that individual Marine squads can be upgraded and reinforced.

No go at cedega

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately, the demo does not even install under Cedega (The program formerly known as winex) - the installer hangs with 100% at the end :-(

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...

Re:Great Game with Balance Issues

[Rakthar]

The devs yanked the 1.3 reinforce system because it ruined balance. A dev posted this on the relic forums:

"The reason we removed the reinforce time modifier in 1.4 is that it threw unit balance completely out of wack. We'd spent months balancing all the units against one another using an established reinforce time, and changing that time basically threw all that work out the window (the Orks in particular suffered with this change). We would have had to re-balance the units practically from scratch, and that was far too great a risk so close to shipping."

He also mentions his intention to try to see the "reinforcements come much more slowly in battle" system reimplemented at some point (in a different post)

"The most frustrating thing about this whole issue for us is that I think we're 'all' in agreement. Reinforcement mods were a great addition in 1.3, and I want them back right now. That very fact should show how serious we consider this balance issue to be that we would stall putting in a change that we all agree will make the game better in the long run.

I say stall because no, we aren't going to let this one rest. We can't re-visit this issue for release (which should give you an idea of how close we are), but unless lightning strikes me down we will re-visit it."

So there you have it, why the reinforcement system in 1.3 was removed.

RTS vs RTT vs TBT

[Dachannien]

I'd rather see WH40k developed into a turn-based tactical game, much as the tabletop game was. But barring that, real-time tactical would be better (a la Myth 1, 2, and 3), and would solve the issues with squad reinforcement being unbalancing (since you wouldn't reinforce your squads in combat). Strategic issues could be taken up in a meta-game of sorts, in between combats, and the results of those combats would affect the outcome of the strategic game.

Too late now, I guess :p

Re:RTS vs RTT vs TBT

[TheLoneDanger]

"I'd rather see WH40k developed into a turn-based tactical game, much as the tabletop game was."

And why exactly would Games Workshop (the company behind Warhammer 40k) want that? They make their money selling the tabletop game. Why sell a videogame version that would dilute the market for the original, and more sustainably profitable game?

It is much smarter to make games that COMPLEMENT the core product of the W40k tabletop game. If you want to play something like the W40k tabletop, then play the tabletop. But they can allow videogames that let you experience the universe in different ways (and possibly increase interest in the tabletop game) without cannibalizing their own market. I mean, I wish they would make another (good, as in not Fire Warrior) FPS that could make you feel how terrifying confronting a Carnifex or Hive Tyrant or Bloodthirster is supposed to be.

Re: dawn of war demo

[nexex]

i installed that gamespot downloader once a long time ago, i believe it is a virus

Actually...

[darkfnord23]

The 41st millennium doesn't start until the year 40,001.

Matt

Necromunda

[mrgreen4242]

I used to LOVE playing another one of GWs games, Necromunda... for those who haven't seen it, it is a table top miniatures games where you control a gang in a post apocolyptic future, and you battle other gangs for territory, which in turn let you gain more money, recruits, and weapons/equipment.

It's rule system is similar to 40k, but it's on a smaller scale - gangs are 8-12 mini's, and each unit 'develops'. That is they start out fairly weak, and gain XP for kills, survivng battles, etc, and in turn, gain HPs, skills, abilities, etc. They can also get impediments and advantages from being wounded in combat, but living through the battle overall. All-in-all it was really fun.

Anyways, I was thinkign that this could be the KILLER MMORPG, because it would break the mold that EQ set. You wouldn't control just a single player, but a gang of 8-12 thugs. You battle other players via a RTS engine for territory, or could form alliances, etc, with other players. I think that it has defianate potential, since it's not just another EQ clone. The PVP would keep the PVPers happy,a nd the fact that you have 8-12 characters all the time should help keep the non PVPers happy, as it's not like your lvl 94 Palandin with Armor of Wonderment gets PVPed and you have to start all over again.

I think that there is a fantasy version of Necromunda out there, too, which may work better in the current market where all MMORPGs seem to be fantasy stuff.

Oh well, long enough post, but just one last thought... since the non battle elements could be handled via (very nice graphical) menu's, and the battles would only encompass up to say 4-6 players, this seems like it is something that wouldn't require massive server bandwidth/storage/power, and could be a really interesting opensource project...

Anyone interested in discussing that idea should email me at mrgreen4242 (at) infojunkie.net...