# Info on Dawn of War II



## Deacon316 (Apr 23, 2008)

Not sure if everyone already knew this so I'm copying and pasteing for those who would like some info.


- Uses the Essence 2.0 engine with Havok physics, all optimised for DX10 and multicore support. 
- It looks great, think of the DoW intro but with a bit less polygons here and there (in terms of lighting and all that it looks almost exactly the same). 
- Units also use CoH-like unit AI for awareness and pathfinding to find cover and such. 
- *While DoW 2 shares the same (upgraded probably) engine as CoH[ it won't be "CoH in space",/B] while soldiers in CoH will ask themselves if flanking the enemy is the right option, in DoW2 it will be more like Space Marines asking themselves if they should use their jetpacks to jump over an Ork squad to attack them in the back. Different settings, different kinds of warfare. 
- Preview only showed a destroyed city landscape, akin to DoW (but more detailed), other tilesets will offer deserts, jungles, mountains and other cities. 
- Only the Orkz and Space Marines were revealed, more races on the way obviously and to be to revealed later this year (though how many isn't known). 
- Co-op campaign for both the Orkz and Space Marines, apparently not for the other to-be-revealed races. 
- More focus on making units and squads unique; every unit has got a name (at least in the campaign it seems), more details and more animations. 
- Relic wants to give players rewards at the end of a mission like wargear (armor, weapons, rare objects); "Let's pimp out squads with cool stuff!", you will see these items in-game as well of course. 
- You'll fight your way through the campaign with the same squads. 
- You can't control more than six squads! I am not sure if this is campaign-only but the preview made it sound like it wasn't. 
- The squads are going to be a lot more interesting than before though. 
- A squad leader (one or several?) will need to survive if you want to complete a mission; you really have to look out for your squads and don't treat them like cannon fodder. 
- There is a lot more interesting commentary from the units as well; if your SM commander is holding a Thunder Hammer f.e. then the opponent will specifically comment on that, Ork Warchief saying something like "Ooh, nice hammer, but mine is bigger!". The warchief will say something else if the commander doesn't have the hammer. 
- The campaign lets Space Marines operate from a spaceship, you'll get a view of an underlying planet and you'll be able to choose from different missions (which are tagged with difficulty colours, green, blue and red). 
- Certain reward items won't be useable at once in the campaign, so they'll be taken back to the SM spaceship for research. 
- Dreadnought can now also trample Orkz. 
- No sea or air units (though jetpacks are still in of course). 
- Development team of 55 people has been working on it since September 2006. 
- Release in early 2009 or later. 



Makes believe my Black Templars are truly coming alive all the sudden.*


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Yeah the copy of PC Gamer that I read through sounded very similar and the screens were bad ass. Can't wait for this one.


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## Zyke (Feb 15, 2008)

Can't wait for the game myself. I love DoW, I love CoH, and this just seemed to combine them to create one super game.


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## Deacon316 (Apr 23, 2008)

I can see it now. My squads running in duck and cover formations taking on Orks. I'll get wiped out but damn it will be fun as hell.


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## Alexander_67 (May 5, 2007)

Sounds like a blend of the present incarnation of DoW, CoH and Squad command for the DS. 

Sounds like a much smaller game. Not a bad thing necessarily, the smaller the game the batter the focus but... well i get the feeling theres no bases, no buildings. Its sounds a bit too Squad command. You choose your forces at the start you go in you may win or die based on the choices you make at the beginning screen. Not the direction I envisioned the series going but it does sound alot more truthful to what the space marnies would really do. Sit on the battle barge pick a place to drop from orbit and perform surgical strikes ad infinitum. Is it what the orks would do though? I hope the orks campaign plays out very green tide esq or i'll be dissapointed. 

On the plus side Co-op campaign. Hell yes. Games nowadays not built with co-op are epic failures.


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## -xecutioner- (Dec 23, 2007)

sweet, i like the idea of giving you unit upgrades per mission. im looking forward to this game!!!!!


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## buddy999 (Mar 1, 2008)

*dow2*

ifs its based on company of heroes it will be awesome:biggrin:


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## CommissarHorn (Apr 14, 2008)

Theres no tech-tree. They want it to feel alot like the actual table top game so they want you to get attached to your men, by naming squads and customizing their weapons and adding crap to their uniforms.


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## cheesetown (May 21, 2008)

this game is gunna be off the chain main
i cant wait!!!

also with the new 40k mmo....gunna be nice


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## darkreever (Apr 3, 2008)

CommissarHorn said:


> Theres no tech-tree. They want it to feel alot like the actual table top game so they want you to get attached to your men, by naming squads and customizing their weapons and adding crap to their uniforms.


Sounds very reminiscent of chaos gate; you went through all of campaign mode with the same guys and no replacements. Everyone had a name and statline unique to them, improving over the course of the game, each marines death was a big one back then and will be for this one if its even close to the same...


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## Untitled401 (May 12, 2008)

I wonder if you can play online? and if so, i wonder how that's going to work?
Seems like the game focuses more on micro skills which kinda evens things out a little for new players and veterans alike. Its not about who can tech the fastest or spam the most anymore. Its all about how you control your squads and what you equip them with. Can't wait :biggrin:


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## Fluff'Ead (Aug 22, 2007)

* Dawn of War 2 gameplay Trailer!*












But seriously:
http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/879/879620p1.html
Clicky and scroll down


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## Dies Irae (May 21, 2008)

i think i will have to change my graphic card...and i will do it if i can play this awsome game!!!!!

PS: rofl (dancing terminators...)
EDIT: 1:43 to 1:50


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Going to be sooo cool.


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## angels of fire (Dec 4, 2007)

Lols, that vid made me laugh for ages.


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## Untitled401 (May 12, 2008)

Fluff'Ead said:


> But seriously:
> http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/879/879620p1.html
> Clicky and scroll down


That was sick:shok:

but here's more info from RelicNews Forums:
(Note: I only copy and pasted so i have no idea how accurate this info is about DoWII. It all sounds similar but some features described below may not be in the game so dont get your hopes up) 

UK PC Gamer (04/07/2008)- 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

US PC Gamer (04/16/2008)
- 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

PC Powerplay (05/01/2008)
It should be noted that this article's information is limited entirely to the single player portion of the game. 

- 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.

Danish PC Player Preview (05/05/2008)- 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.

Russian Igromania Preview (05/07/2008)

- 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...

GameStar German Preview (July 2008 issue)

Figured I'd update this one and save Noble the trouble... keep in mind that this info is based on the previewer's point of view, and like any of the other non-English previews there may be mistranslations from German or slight errors on the previewer's part.

- 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.


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## ULF (Jun 4, 2008)

Any word on Tech Marines, or Bikes?


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## lightmonkey (Apr 1, 2008)

or nids....


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## ClubnBabySealz (Jun 5, 2008)

sounds like its going to rock


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

Hmm....the only have what you start with thing makes it sound somewhat like ground control, which I loved, or maybe going back further back to WHark Omens, though less army based and more squad based. to so this could be really sweet. Makes the game all about tactics and warfare rather than who can get the most production facilities up the quickest.


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## Ghost Of Caliban (Jun 11, 2008)

yeah the more rpg like it is the happier and better i think it will be, less amrines means more chances to customise each squad to fit their role perfectly, can't wait!


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## lightmonkey (Apr 1, 2008)

if its going this way then the chance of them making nids playable are slim...


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

lightmonkey said:


> if its going this way then the chance of them making nids playable are slim...


oh I don't know, maybe they'll find a way for you to get you really attached to that spinegaunt squad? maybe you'll be able to level up that ripper swarm with experience? "oh no, my level 8 ripper swarm! how will I ever replace them!"


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## Sexiest_hero (May 16, 2008)

With that genestealer unit with "Bob" the broodlord leading them. I can see myself crying over Bob's death. "Why did you kill him? He only wanted your denim pants."


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