So, I dunno, maybe you've heard of this little game called Dawn of War 2?

[Kerensky287]

So, anybody remember Dawn of War? No? Well, I liked it. It wasn't that popular and it suffered from balance issues and obsessive compulsive expansion syndrome (there were 3 expansion packs in as many years), as well as shitty online support.

Anybody remember Company of Heroes? I thought so. It was somewhat of a spiritual successor to Dawn of War - it used a lot of the same mechanics the first did, as well as some new innovations - but it appealed to a wider audience, had better graphics and utilized a cover system that made the game feel far more strategic.

Dawn of War 2 is coming as well, and due to the somewhat less-than-popular status of the original, it hasn't been getting a lot of exposure.

I think it deserves a little bit more.

We don't know much about it yet, other than the fact that it's trying to innovate the RTS genre in a way that just hasn't been done for a long time.

Namely, the single player campaign includes no base-building whatsoever, and base management has been stripped to the bare minimum in multiplayer. This decision is designed to shift the focus from buildings, resources, tech tiers, and so on to the customization and clever use of your soldiers.

There will be a beta coming soon open to all the people who bought the most recent Dawn of War 1 expansion, Soulstorm, and we'll (I will, at least) probably have a better idea of how it's all going to work out when that happens. Needless to say, it's an event I'm really looking forward to.

EDIT: Oh, and the page I linked has a video of the singleplayer action, too.

[Jagos]

Not bad. It seems to be in the vein of what WCIII was doing with its RPG-esque dungeon crawling sections.

I actually like the fact you have quite a few different commanders and it helps to differentiate play styles.

Def. one to look forward to.

[Kerensky287]

Another big plus for the game:

Originally Posted by Videogamer.com

Install limits on PC games has caused quite a stir among PC gamers this year, with a number of high profile games, including EA's Spore, shipping with a restriction on the number of computers it can be installed on.

Dawn of War and Company of Heroes developer Relic, however, is taking a different approach with the high profile sequel. Lydell told VideoGamer.com: 'We are looking at some form of DRM for Dawn of War II, but we're heavily concerned with the consumer end of that, and the consumer experience. We want people to be able to play their games on multiple PCs. We want them to be able to play it with their friends, and most importantly we want any authentication to not be annoying or a detriment to the experience.'

So little to no DRM, possibly even in the vein of the Dark Crusade expansion for the original, which (after a patch or two) removed CD checking altogether.

Today was actually the big reveal day on multiplayer, so there are a number of sources if you're looking for more info. Some highlights from reading:
-The Tyranid commanders include (among one more that I'm not sure of) the Hive Tyrant, an offensive monster, and the Lictor Alpha, which is more stealth-aligned.
-The Eldar have a Warp Spider commander who can teleport himself and other units, and apparently the Avatar of Khaine (the race's ultimate unit) is a wee bit overpowered in the current build.
-Each team seems to have a unique resource gained from fighting opponents that are used to fuel special abilities; for example, the Orks have WAAAAGH power and the Tyranids accumulate Biomass.
-You can capture points that give you power AND upgrade them to produce more, but if it is captured, the new owner gains the benefits of any upgrades applied.
-It uses Games for Windows Live... which is apparently now FREE for both Gold and Silver accounts. It's about goddamn time.
-It should be out by March 2009. Meaning, the beta for anybody who bought Soulstorm should be starting aaaaany day now.

[Jay]

Any details on how this beta works, exactly? It says its "Invitation Only", but how do they send out invitations?

[Ugainius]

I hear it seems to be cross between Company of Heroes and the original DoW with a sprinkling of Warcraft III for good measure.

[Kerensky287]

Originally Posted by Ugainius

I hear it seems to be cross between Company of Heroes and the original DoW with a sprinkling of Warcraft III for good measure.

A sprinkling of Warcraft 3? Well, units can gain experience, but that's the only similarity it has with WC3 (at least that it doesn't have with the rest of the genre).

And regarding the beta: I'm fairly certain they'll do something like announce the beta, and then people can send in their Soulstorm CD keys or something... but yeah, they don't seem to have it as well thought-out as EA did with their RA3 and Generals 2 (hopefully Generals 2?) beta key system.

[Mirai Gen]

Dawn of War was awesome when I played it, as I love Warhammer in all of it's versions despite sucking at RTS games.

I will buy this when I get my new computer simply because they don't check for CDs. That's a huge thumbs-up for Progress!

[DarkDrgon]

I'd get this, as Im a huge 40k fan, but I love the base building in RTS games.

[DFM]

I was a lot more interested in this until I figured out just how far they were scaling back the number of units.

[Kerensky287]

Originally Posted by DFM

I was a lot more interested in this until I figured out just how far they were scaling back the number of units.

Normally I would agree but it seems that (for the Space Marines, at least, who suffered the most from the scaling back) the unit strengths have been changed to more reflect the fluff. Remember in the original when you'd have a squad of 10 space marines that was just your basic infantry unit? Now a squad of 3 marines can generally beat any other squad (yes, the full squads) in a one-on-one fight.

Plus, most of the races still have good-sized squads, from what I understand. From the videos, it looks like most of the races will still have 5+ people per squad, and each squad's contribution towards the fight will be much more important, as will their survival.

...And finally, while they're scaling back the number of units, they're scaling UP the number of explosions. That's never a bad thing.