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MyNameDidntFit
01-17-2011, 06:25 PM
http://community.dawnofwar2.com/sites/all/themes/custom/dow2_retribution/images/top_header.jpg

For those of you who don't know, Retribution in the second stand-alone expansion to Relic's Dawn of War II, coming off the back of the events of the first expansion; Chaos Rising.

Those of you who have played the Dawn of War II games will know that they throw the traditional RTS build out of the window, with essentially zero base-building and a heavy focus on unit management. It seems, however, that this latest expansion will head back towards the standard RTS format of the original Dawn of War games--well, a little bit at least. This was prompted by the inclusion of the new Imperial Guard race. For you folks unfamiliar with Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Imperial Guard are a bunch of guys who don't quite follow the one-man-army format of the Space Marines you all likely know as the figurehead of the universe... they're more of a 'keep throwing corpses at the enemy until they drown in the blood of our men' kind of organisation... and they also really, really, really like tanks. BIG tanks. With BIG guns. And artillery.

... but before my innate 40k nerd takes over this thread with things you don't want to hear: Relic have announced a public beta for the game that will culminate in the creation of a Day-Zero patch to the game.

The first phase of the beta opens on the 31st of January to 'global press and key Dawn of WarŪ community members'. The second phase opens on the 1st of February to anyone who has pre-ordered the game via Steam (damn bastards, I ordered my physical collectors' edition >:| ). The third phase will hit on the 8th of February and will be open to anyone who owns a Dawn of War II title on Steam.

The beta will run until February 24th when it will stop and the Relic team will take to using the feedback to create the Day-Zero patch I mentioned earlier.




Source. (http://community.dawnofwar2.com/blog-post/dawn-war-ii-retribution-beta)

Wally
01-17-2011, 08:31 PM
With Tau, Space Marines (Iron Lords), Orks and Blood Angels armies I guess you could say that I am a huge 40K geek. I’ve also Played the original Dawn of War series: DoW, Winter Assault, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm and loved them all. But I never picked up the Dawn of War II stuff; I guess I just got side tracked. How does the DoW II series compare to the original series? I’m guessing that I would enjoy it but how does the game play vary? There was actually a fair amount of difference in presentation if not in basic in battle mechanics between say Winter Assault and Soulstorm.

MyNameDidntFit
01-17-2011, 08:54 PM
They don't compare at all. They are completely different games.

I had about four paragraphs here on the different bits and pieces of the game, but then I lost it so, instead I'll just go with this: the gameplay is now very much oriented towards each individual squad being an important piece in the game. The campaign features zero building--instead giving you four squads to deploy each mission that level up, gain loot and otherwise be awesome. The multiplayer sees you having a single base structure, power generators at points and a couple turrets--I don't personally like the MP, but that's me. The Last Stand, a MP variant is awesome and sees you and two others playing as a hero unit--Chaos Sorcerer, Space Marine Captain, Eldar Farseer, Ork Mekboy or Tyrannid Hive Tyrant--against increasingly difficult waves of enemies.

Uh, I could carry on a whole bunch more because I love the crap out of this game, but I wont 'cause Betty, Jason and Arch are waiting on me for some TF2... but I'll end on a happy note:

Add me on Steam (http://steamcommunity.com/id/corey174), I've got a spare copy from buying the THQ pack when I already had it--it's yours.

Wally
01-17-2011, 09:00 PM
Sir you are a Saint, a Scholar and a Gentleman! :D I’ll add you this evening when I get to my home system.

--

Added you yesterday as Nox.

Archangel
01-17-2011, 10:51 PM
Well, I'll give 'er a spin some time (pre-orderer, here) and see how this whole basebuilding shizzle goes.