Overly Chatty Penguins

The Ready Room => Off Topic => Topic started by: BlaqWolf on August 02, 2004, 08:43:53 PM

Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: BlaqWolf on August 02, 2004, 08:43:53 PM: i would just like to inform you all that i have just been accepted into the warhammer 40k open beta.

i'm so excited i nearly crapped my pants! if anyone else has been accepted into this, please tell me! i wanna play some of you guys! however, the file is 600 meg and i am on a 56k modem.... so it'll be a few days or so... (plus there's a 128 minute wait... damn fileplanet...)

just thought you'd all like to know that :D :D :D
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Kodiac on August 02, 2004, 08:54:26 PM: i want in....how much do i have to pay to get in?
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Anarki3x6 on August 02, 2004, 11:38:24 PM: havent tons of people already been in the beta from a while ago as long as theyre fileplanet subscribers ?
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Leaderz0rz on August 03, 2004, 03:30:11 AM: yea i was in the beta a month or so ago with baconflaps
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: BlaqWolf on August 03, 2004, 09:31:52 AM: Quote
havent tons of people already been in the beta from a while ago as long as theyre fileplanet subscribers ?
shut up

i was excited

:p
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Sustained on August 03, 2004, 10:01:28 AM: o_O

We wants it! WE WANTS IT!

I play the tabletop game. With little figurines and stuff. Anyone care to post a preview of what the game is like?
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: BobTheJanitor on August 03, 2004, 10:07:09 AM: I used to play wh40k all the time back when I had more time time to sit around and paint minis and such. I had an awesome Tyranid army and wicked Chaos army, and a decent collection of Eldar as well. Between me and the friends that I used to play with, we had just about all the armies. It was good times. I'd like to know how this works as well. Is it going to be close to the originals, or are they making some sort of WC/SC ripoff with different graphics?
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Niteowl on August 03, 2004, 10:47:22 AM: insert normal plug i always do, that i know one of the relic coders :p
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: lolfighter on August 04, 2004, 06:58:38 AM: Quote
insert normal plug i always do, that i know one of the relic coders :p
Please Niteowl, don't forget us normal people when you become famous. ;)
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: johnjacobjingle on August 04, 2004, 08:53:23 AM: i've played w40k as well, and would also love to hear back about this game.

*seconds bob's movement* please let me know if it sucks or not
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Niteowl on August 04, 2004, 10:47:54 AM: i'll nevair forget you guys, and lf, when i become the most famous person to ever know the dev of a game! yeah!

;)
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Malevolent on August 04, 2004, 12:56:03 PM: Yeah, I'm supposed to download it for Blaq, since my internet is a little faster, but FilePlanet doesn't like me...

But it does look like the game could be some fun.
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Jefe on August 04, 2004, 06:45:18 PM: So far, it's one of the best RTS's I've played.
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: BlaqWolf on August 04, 2004, 07:02:26 PM: Quote
Yeah, I'm supposed to download it for Blaq, since my internet is a little faster, but FilePlanet doesn't like me...

But it does look like the game could be some fun.
[snapback]24918[/snapback]

...and what are you doin on the boards? GET DOWNLOADIN!!!

*cracks whip*
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Jefe on August 04, 2004, 08:11:25 PM: We need to get some LM games going on this
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: killer_of_spiders on August 04, 2004, 08:16:56 PM: it is one of the top rts games i have ever played.

if anyone wants to paly pm me or something.
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: johnjacobjingle on August 04, 2004, 10:01:10 PM: any idea when it's gonna be out?

p.s. errr, i'm kinda lazy, anyone got a link to their homepage ;-)
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: ThoraX on August 05, 2004, 12:25:31 AM: how can i get in on this? where do i sign up? I have a tyranid army m'self. would be cool to see them in-game.
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Anarki3x6 on August 05, 2004, 01:58:01 AM: hmm i just signed up for the beta on fileplanet, and i must say, this rts is exquisite ! go grab it while you can !
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Uranium - 235 on August 05, 2004, 11:25:10 PM: I did and the installer was corrupt.
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Anarki3x6 on August 05, 2004, 11:43:30 PM: youre corrupt. and if anyone wants to play a random game or comp stomp in DOW then pm me on irc :)
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Grimm on August 06, 2004, 02:48:59 PM: Downloaded and installed, gonna play it a bit to get used to the controls and setup and such.
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Grimm on August 07, 2004, 12:02:52 PM: After playing a bunch of rounds on the Tutorial map and a couple games online, I've determined that this is a pretty fun game. Of course, because of my nature to perform terribly at any RTS (I can't micro to save my life, I like to use the Starcraft approach of "choose-a-unit-and-mass-it-to-hell-to-overrun-your-opponent" which doesn't work well in any game but SC), I've only been playing games against comps. Maybe someday I'll take RTS games more seriously, but it becomes less entertaining when things become more serious. So, I think I'll continue having fun with my sadistic little Chaos Marines >:D (Chaos Marines are sooo cool <3 ).
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Anarki3x6 on August 07, 2004, 06:12:24 PM: bleh, i just like to tech up real fast , then make the biggest baddest unit available to own all the other people with :)
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: johnjacobjingle on August 07, 2004, 07:39:12 PM: i second grimm's approach, except for the choosing part. my choice is limited to race. 'toss? i lose. zerg? lings of course! terrans? marines up the wazoo! the more of each unit the bettter *grins*

i'm a big fan of the little pathetic units in HUGE numbers
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: ThoraX on August 08, 2004, 03:41:06 PM: im havin trouble downloading this (stupid fileplanet)
anyone know of any mirrors or have the installer and can send it to me?
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Dirty Harry Potter on August 08, 2004, 03:45:30 PM: erh, what's your problem o.O

and on another note, i'm downloading it in the night. so i'll be ready to play it tomorrow.
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Anarki3x6 on August 08, 2004, 08:21:57 PM: i think a new patch is coming out within the next couple days , cant wait, the game will be even more bad ass :)
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Malevolent on August 08, 2004, 09:08:05 PM: Quote
im havin trouble downloading this (stupid fileplanet)
anyone know of any mirrors or have the installer and can send it to me?
[snapback]25444[/snapback]
Sorry, Thorax. Fileplanet is the only place to get it. Someone can send it to you, though (I don't have it yet).
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Dirty Harry Potter on August 09, 2004, 12:05:34 PM: bah my download failed after like..... 270megs, because my net funked up during the night, and i can't continue on the cache file :'( have to redownload in the night.
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Malevolent on August 09, 2004, 09:47:57 PM: Mine will be done tomorrow (if it's not corrupted). Finally. My friends got corrupted (I wouldn't of downloaded if his was fine). :huh: *crosses fingers*
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Dirty Harry Potter on August 12, 2004, 01:53:55 PM: I have a friend who's a real WH40k fan, problem is, i didnt tell him about the Open Beta, or that the game even existed :p(i don't really talk to him on a day to day basis.) So i'm wondering if anyone got a CDkey during the Open Beta period that i can get, if you just got the CDkey but never downloaded the game, or you find it boring or similar....thank you in advance.
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Uranium - 235 on August 12, 2004, 03:01:50 PM: Okay, my big review on this. And if you know anything, it's that I'm always right.

I'm not a hugely huge RTS fan. The thing about RTS games is that there's 3 catagories of games - Sucky games, okay games, and awesome games. Unfortunately, unlike say FPS titles, the RTS genre suffers from an overwhelming majority of 'sucky' and 'okay' games. Finding an awesome RTS game is like picking your nose and pulling out gold boullion. A sucky game is 'Perimeter'. An okay one is 'Generals'. This is why I don't play many RTS games, because the 'okay' games are given rave reviews that frankly they don't deserve (on a subrant here, for example, why the hell did Generals try to combine 'modern warfare' with a bunch of high-tech neogizmo bull^^ that makes no sense at all? That's one of the many reasons I thought that game was stupid). So when I do get an RTS game, I only either play the Campaign mode or AI skirmish. Playing RTS games against other people usually isn't a battle of wits, it's a battle of who memorized their hotkeys and can mash them faster. Whatever.

Dawn Of War, I think, is a 'meh' game. There's many things about it that just rub me the wrong way. I think it's better then Generals, but not as good as Total Annihilation. Kinda fits in the gray ground around there. I'm basing most of this review off of the Space Marines since I like them the most.

Graphics - Graphics, and I don't give a ^^ what you think, you're wrong if you disagree with me - graphics usually make or break a game. Go piss in your own pool if you think I'm wrong, but if you bring it up I will beat this fact into your skull and you will lose.

Graphically, this game is remarkably boring. The explosions were nice. That was about it. First of all, I don't know if it was the textures, or the models themselves, but units seem to be very low-detail to me. When you're zoomed all the way out, it looks fine, but zoomed in, when you compare Dawn of War to say, Ground Control 2, DOW just doesn't even come close. A good example is the Assault Marine. Basically, in your default view, the Assault Marine looks like a regular marine, but with a MASSIVE BOX glued to his head. It just looks awful. Also, the Eldar I hate. Now, I don't play WH40K on the board, and I never will, but I can't honestly think that people actually play an army whose infantry units all seem to look like Ronald McDonald in Power Ranger armor.

The particle systems were somewhat off as well. A powerfist ripples with electrcity. The Librarian sword courses with power. However, many times the systems don't line up. I've had my force commander have lightning coursing out his ass at points. Secondly, there's only about 4 particle systems. Smoke, fire, electricity, and dirt. You'll get used to seeing the 'smoke' a lot since every vehicle in this game seems to run on a coal-fired engine and pumps out more pollution then an SUV.

The animations are smooth, however, and units, as I said, look just fine zoomed all the way out. Melee combat, however, can look very vice many times, though it'd be nice to have them 'sync' a bit more (So when a unit hits another, he 'recoils' with pain, then strikes back instead of both swinging at each other like kids at a pinata). The death animations are also nice, and there's even some 'special' ones. Killing a soldier with your Force Commander in melee combat will cause him to do a little stabby stabby thing with his sword, then kick the enemy's body off it.

The weapon effects are less then desirable. Your average bullet effect is riddled with lame. The game randomly draws a line from the unit to a place arbitrarially around your target. The result is that your marines look like they're both crosseyed, blind, have their helmets on backwards, and are having an epileptic siezure caused by having a stroke with advanced parkisons at the same time. I have absolutely no idea how they are killing things, but with tracers flying 600 feet behind and around the target, and not actually HITTING it, they somehow do it. Fire (flamethrower) effects are also pretty good looking but I never figured out if the flamethrower actually does anything besides lower morale, since I would tell units to attack and the flamethrower guy would stand at the assend of the battle trying to set friendly units on fire. Another good one is when you have a Commander unit (Librarian, Force Commander, maybe even a Sargeant) with a plasma rifle, they shoot straight up in the air instead of their target. They aim at them, sure, but the bolts to WOOSH straight up.

Gameplay - Gameplay is pretty good, but I despise micromanagement, and if you can't micromanage, you're pants in this game.

First of all, one of the most irritating things I noticed is the squad behavior commands that don't actually work. You have a lot of settings. Hold Area. Hold Ground. Attack Ranged. Close to Melee. Stuff like that. The kicker? NONE OF THEM SEEM TO DO ANYTHING AT ALL! I set a squad of Bolt Gunner marines to 'Hold Ground', and the description itself says 'UNITS WILL NOT MOVE, BUT WILL ATTACK ENEMY UNITS IN RANGE'. So I leave them. I come back later and they're scattered all over. Why? Because they RAN AFTER UNITS. Another good one - I have a squad of Assault Marines. I jump them into combat (Assault Marines are good for melee and are bad at ranged attacks) so I set them to 'Use Melee Attacks' while they're in transit. They land, draw their peashooter pistols, and open fire at point blank range. Nevermind that they have a chainsaw stowed in the massive fuglyass box glued to their head, they're using pistols to kill units at close range. I was flabbergasted, so I checked it again. Sure enough, I was supposedly telling them to 'Close to Melee Combat' and they were utterly ignoring me. They died.

A neat effect is the 'morale' of a 'squad'. A squad consists of any number of marines, from 1 to 9, 10 with a sargeant, and 11 with a special unit attached as well. The worst part? Morale is based BY SQUAD. Having 9 squads of 5 marines each is more effective then having 5 squads of 9 marines. Pretty :Ding dumb if you ask me. Balance also isn't there. Eldar units tend to pack more punch then anything else and it's no secret that they're easy to win. Likewise, an orc army relies on an assload of little infantry units, and Space Marine Dreadnaughts are both fast and cheap to produce, and with upgrades, can slice through a billion orc soldiers like cheesecake.

The AI is less then phenominal. For all my experiences, the AI would usually pressure me a lot at the beginning, then just amass troops but do nothing with them. I attack their base and fight a ton of soldiers, but if I kill them, they stay dead. Eventually I wanted to see what an AI would do if I left it with no soldiers, just some builder units, and plenty of Control Points (or victory locations, whatever the :D they are). All he did was build.... SCOUTS. Yes, that's right, he has a vehicle pad, several builder units and resource points, but is building nothing but scouts, and attacking me in waves of two. Oh boy. The most I'd ever seen it do was build lots of Landspeeders and charge them at my anti-vehicle Dreadnaughts (note: Dreadnaught = huge and strong. Landspeeer = weak and light) like car bombs. The AI also didn't seem to ever upgrade squads with heavy weapons, though it would reinforce them to larger squads.

The default controls are pants, namely camera controls. This is RELIC who made HOMEWORLD, RELIC who INVENTED FREE-FLOATING CAMERA, and they don't even use the middle mouse button for camera rotate? The ALT key? What the hell? Not to mention the camera seems to go :Ding insane if you bring it down to ground level and push it against the ground. You'll do stuff and suddenly your camera is flying off into space. Finally, the biggest irk of them all, you can't zoom out far enough. Hardly any game ever gets this right. We have sattelites that can read a lisence plate from space. The Space Marine buildings crash to the earth from above. Orbital strikes. And after all that they haven't invented a way to view a battlefield from afar yet.

Another stupid thing is about the buildings. The Orc buildings fly in on a jet and are launched and smash onto the ground. The Space Marine buildings fall from space. Maybe I'm not getting something here, but wouldn't it make sense to, oh, I don't know, use the buildings to SMASH ENEMY UNITS?

In conclusion, it's a fun game, but nothing to get really excited about. It's not 'the next starcraft', not by a long shot.

(Let it be known that Jefe finds this review incredibly and utterly offensive and violently objectionable)
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: lolfighter on August 13, 2004, 07:34:12 AM: And if you try to tell me that graphics don't matter, I'm just going back to playing Angband. Or nethack. Or NS, maybe? Or Deus Ex? A SNES game? Pacman? Pong?
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Sustained on August 13, 2004, 09:28:26 AM: The Eldar pretty much look like that in the board game too, yeah ^_^
They're more wussy in DoW though. At least in my opinion.

The reason you don't use the drop-pods to kill the enemy is that they're dropped from orbital range using a tracking device on ground level. They're not too precise. Also, most areas where you call one down, you have a friendly fleet protecting the dropship. This goes for the other races too, hence you can't just fly over the camp of the enemy and hurl stuff at 'em. That, and they're hella-expensive. That's for the Space Marines, anyway.

The Orcs are less cost efficient and would hurl stuff at the enemy if they could. But they're even more inaccurate than the Drop pods used by Space Marines, and the enemy would probably just move aside.

That side, erh, this isn't a very realistic game. Of course you can't splatter the units of the enemy with your buildings, that'd be unbalanced and not very fun.

In the boardgame the assault marines use their bolt pistols too, but nevermind that. I think that either it glitched, or something else happened, 'cause it works fine for me. As for the "Hold ground" thing, you'll notice that there's actually two varieties of this, "Hold area" and "Stand ground". Once makes your unit protect an area, and the other makes them stand still and not move at all.

As for the the zooming ability, well, meh. That's a personal preference for you, I guess. I'm quite content with the max view. But! even in the WH40k game you can't communicate too well between large distances. The enemy will attempt to bring down your communication or even worse, take a sneak peek. Hence, no orbital sattelites.

Also, remember this is a beta, duuuude. Although you probably won't like the final version too well either, just remember it's not finished yet.
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Dirty Harry Potter on August 13, 2004, 09:33:53 AM: so Uranium, you don't want to play it anymore :D?
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Anarki3x6 on August 13, 2004, 11:39:49 AM: >_> erm.. the graphics are almost as good as gc2, just less detailed i guess, but theyre still pretty good, and about the units what the feck are you talking about... they look perfectly fine and good like theyre supposed to...
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Grimm on August 13, 2004, 12:03:31 PM: Two words: Beta Test.
Title: Warhammer 40k Open Beta
Post by: Uranium - 235 on August 13, 2004, 12:37:06 PM: Quote
Two words: Beta Test.
[snapback]26111[/snapback]

Few more words for you: The patch Vivendi just released? They said it was the last one for the beta, bar any crippling bugs.

Quote
That side, erh, this isn't a very realistic game. Of course you can't splatter the units of the enemy with your buildings, that'd be unbalanced and not very fun.

I know but I just thought it was really goofy how the Empire propells seven thousand tons of steel from space but not as a weapon ;D