View Full Version : Wait what, The final Dawn of war expansion?
That's right a third expansion for DOW. It's called Soulstorm.
Adds:
-2 new races, Dark Eldar and someone else yet to be revealed
-Air units
-The other 7 existing races get new units
-Dark Crusade style cmapagin that encompases a whole star systems worth of planets and their moons
-Stand alone like Dark Crusade
Content.
Podcast announcement of Soulstorm, 8 minutes right click-save as (http://208.49.84.50/buggo/podcast4.mp3)
Trailer, handcam capture so quality isn't good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB8MDvj-V9I
Screens, spoilered due to size.
http://www.relicrank.com/bloggo/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/mandrakes-capturing-a-strategic-point.jpg
http://www.relicrank.com/bloggo/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/imperial-guard-flee-the-wrath-of-the-dark-eldar.jpg
http://www.relicrank.com/bloggo/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/a-dark-eldar-field-base.jpg
Relic again is taking the tact they did with Dark Crusade of announcing 1 new race now (Tau then, Dark Eldar now) andthe other one as we get closer to relase, that being spring '08. If I was a betting man I'd say the other race is probably going to be the thrid human faction. The Inquisition. It's also being developed by and outside developer, but will be patched by Relic.
cegorach
11-23-2007, 19:53
The rumours are that the second added faction will be Witchhunters ( Ordo Hereticus of the Inquisition) - so Sisters of Battle included.:yes:
So then you'd have Dark Eldar Wyches vs. Witchhunter sisters if battle? :2thumbsup:
Vladimir
11-23-2007, 21:11
Oh dear, Dark Eldar? :devil: Cool.
Warmaster Horus
11-23-2007, 21:25
Nice! I'm definately getting it when it comes out. Nice bit of it being stand-alone.
Tyranids has been mentioned as a second race, I believe. Since there are Air units, it may be possible.
If not Tyranids, then... Inquisition, I guess.
Papewaio
11-23-2007, 23:50
Apparently there are already SOB videos so the money is on the flaming hot sisters.
Kekvit Irae
11-24-2007, 04:10
Sisters of Battle = luv :loveg:
My favorite army to play when playing table-top
Nice! I'm definately getting it when it comes out. Nice bit of it being stand-alone.
Tyranids has been mentioned as a second race, I believe. Since there are Air units, it may be possible.
If not Tyranids, then... Inquisition, I guess.
Relic has said every time that the 'Nids have been brought up, which is always BTW. That with the engine DOW runs on the Tyranids couldn't be done properly. Something about the numbers required to do them right aren't possible. Or rather that it would require a serious over haul of the games engine. The kind of overhaul that doesn't get done for expansions.
Warmaster Horus
11-24-2007, 11:58
True, but didn't they say Air units were impossible too? Sisters of Battle could be for the new unit for the Space Marine, since they've already got the Grey Knights.
Kekvit Irae
11-24-2007, 12:39
True, but didn't they say Air units were impossible too? Sisters of Battle could be for the new unit for the Space Marine, since they've already got the Grey Knights.
No, the Sisters of Battle will be an entirely new army (as they are in WH40k), not a new unit within an existing army.
More goodies: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/warhammer40000dawnofwarsoulstorm/news.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=tabs&tag=tabs;previews
Warmaster Horus
11-24-2007, 13:09
Oh! I see. Must have missed that.
Soulstorm looks, in any case, more than great. 4 planets. 3 moons. And for the first half of 2008!
Justiciar
11-24-2007, 13:50
I'll place my bet on the Tyranids. References to Dark Eldar, and the term Soulstorm seems to suggest a connection to the warp. That said, the Inquisition would be equally cool.
Kekvit Irae
11-24-2007, 16:56
:wall: :wall: :wall:
Tyranids are not in Soulstorm. If I even hear those two words in the same sentence again, I'll go ballistic. The two confirmed armies are Sisters of Battle and Dark Elder.
cegorach
11-24-2007, 18:41
Exactly.
From a natural born Ulthwé player (8 years already) - I must say the Sisters would be my army if I ever decided to play any Imperium army in the tabletop.
Interesting.
The engine is really starting to show it's age but I'm happy that it does.
Means I can still play it:sweatdrop: .
Looking forward to playing and unleash the waarrgggh.
Meneldil
11-25-2007, 23:50
Well, too bad the Adeptas Sororitas mod (http://dofw.free.fr/phpBB2/index.php) will blow away any Relic's SoB.
http://pogs.free.fr//Garde/WH//relic00049.jpg
http://www.heavydarkness.com/forum/dow/screens/fin_aout/Screens_Misc/Canoness_Friedric_08.jpg
Seriously, who wouldn't like babes with guns ? :D
Honestly, I'm a bit disapointed by this announcement. I really expected something new after DoW and its 2 addons. A W40K FPS or RPG would have been awesome.
But another expansion that will likely screw off the balance even more ? How boring.
The race mods for DoW are the most prime examples of hit and miss. Not that Relic ballance decisions are perfect (after 5 cap tanks, with a limit of 2 no one can say that). Just that even the insinuation of mods having better is lunacy. Besides Gamesworkshop gave 40k FPS rights to some no-name dev who made that Fire warrior PS2 game. And RPG rights (sort of) to the guys doing the 40k MMO. Finally Soulstorm is being developed by someone other than Relic. Think about it, they developed CoH and DoW x-packs at the same time. Now they need outside help for DoW while they work on CoH and something else (DoW2 :yes: ).
Kekvit Irae
11-26-2007, 05:09
I have faith in Iron Lore. Titan Quest proves they can do something right.
I also have faith in the WH MMORPG since Mythic did quite good with Dark Age of Camelot.
Meneldil
11-26-2007, 14:59
The race mods for DoW are the most prime examples of hit and miss. Not that Relic ballance decisions are perfect (after 5 cap tanks, with a limit of 2 no one can say that). Just that even the insinuation of mods having better is lunacy.
Well, though I wouldn't go as far as saying that DoW mods are perfect, I still think most of them have nothing to be ashamed of.
Steel Legion was overall great, though quite buggy.
IDH is fairly balanced (not worse than vanilla DoW DC), and offers a fun new faction.
Tau mod was only a beta, so is the tyrannid one.
Overall, I'm not sure mods screw up the balance between races that much. In fact, many race mods also try to fix the obvious vanilla DoW balance issues.
I also have faith in the WH MMORPG since Mythic did quite good with Dark Age of Camelot.
I wouldn't want to crush your hopes, but WAR beta has been a painful disappointment. The game was unhappily yet another failed WoW-copy. They promised us PvP, and we only got endless PvE farming.
I trully hope they'll fix that before the release, but I somehow doubt it :no:
Kekvit Irae
11-26-2007, 15:09
They promised us PvP, and we only got endless PvE farming.
This makes me happy. :tongueg:
*not a fan of PvP*
I have mixed feelings about this expansion. First and foremost I seriously love the DoW series, in no small part due to the fact that it's based on the Warhammer Fantasy/40K universe which is one of the most visceral, fun and politicially incorrect ones out there. DoW, Homeworld and Company of Heroes are among the few RTS games I can actually tolerate. Relic knows how to take the typically dull and banal RTS genre and make it appealing to me. Not that all other RTS games are crap but the traditional Warcraft/Starcraft/Command & Conquer/Supreme Commander build & zerg formula bores me to tears.
Despite the lack of compelling storyline & plot the Dark Crusade stand-alone expansion is a great addition to the series. I love the fact that all the races are playable and I love the decision by Relic to incorporate a grand campaign and strategic map into the game. On the other hand my biggest problem with Dark Crusade is the grand campaign game; the new campaign being fresh and original but its execution is a tad uninspired. The strategic AI is also appallingly bad and it takes no effort at all to trounce it. The worst part is Relic has made no attempts to improve the strategic AI in any of the patches. Hopefully Relic will address all the deficiencies of Dark Crusade's campaign game in Soulstorm.
Thanks to a dedicated and fanatical modding community I still play DoW regularly against the AI using custom maps (Survival maps FTW) and excellent mods like Skirmish AI or DoWXP. Thanks to these great mods the game never grows old.
Beyond this I think I reflect the general disappointment many DoW fans have had with the announcement of Soulstorm. Not that we don't look forward to another DoW expansion but I believe most of us were hoping for an official announcement for Dawn of War 2 and the hopes that it would be ready for release by the end of 2008. With Soulstorm scheduled for release early/mid 2008 it seems highly unlikely that DoW2 will be released before early/mid 2009.
I wouldn't want to crush your hopes, but WAR beta has been a painful disappointment. The game was unhappily yet another failed WoW-copy. They promised us PvP, and we only got endless PvE farming.
I trully hope they'll fix that before the release, but I somehow doubt it :no:
How do you know this? Did you get into the beta? From what I know the full PvP/RvR areas were not incorporated into the beta before it was locked up for a two month upgrade/overhaul so it's too early to condemn the game for its lack of PvP. I'm guessing but I daresay WAR's PvE features and areas were probably much easier to incorporate and balance which is why they were the mainstay of the early beta builds.
Besides, WAR's release date was pushed back again with a rough release window for the 'first half of 2008' instead of early/1Q08. WAR's beta is scheduled to reopen again in December and when that happens the developers have said that many of the previously unavailable RvR areas and PvP scenarios are going to be functional.
Meneldil
11-26-2007, 22:22
Well, I didn't get personaly into the beta, but I was able to level a character up to rank 16.
I'm not blaming WAR for its graphic, or for its lack of PvP/RvR. I perfectly know most PvP areas weren't yet in game (though there was like 2 or 3 instanced PvP areas a la WoW).
I'm blaming WAR because, unlike what Paul Barnett has been telling us for months, the game looked like any other average MMORPG.
It seriously lacked something special.
Despite all the "We dont want players to log on because they think they have to, but because they want to have fun", WAR seriously look like another MMORPG in which you'll spend more time grinding than actually having fun.
On the other hand my biggest problem with Dark Crusade is the grand campaign game; the new campaign being fresh and original but its execution is a tad uninspired. The strategic AI is also appallingly bad and it takes no effort at all to trounce it.
It has a strategic AI? :laugh4:
Seriously, your mention of a strategic AI made me do a double take, as I never thought that the AI was trying to win the campaign. It was more, I was freely maneouvring to pick maps in order to win it - with a few defensive battles thrown in.
The strange thing is - the kind of simple Risk style map that DC has should be one where it is possible to program a servicable strategic AI (as Shogun showed). But maybe this is where we hit the limitations of the RTS genre? I agree with Spino, DoW is one of the few traditional RTS games I can appreciate. It does the traditional RTS stuff very well, but it still remains tied to its conventions (as the strategic points, base building etc demonstrate).
Still the campaign of the new expansion offers a bigger sandpit to play in, so maybe that will allow a rather more interesting strategic level.
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