Dawn of War 2... What do YOU want to see?

[Markas]

Hello there. One of my favourite games of recent times has been Dawn of War: Dark Crusade. I'm sure we all have ideas as to what we want to see in Dawn of War 2, perhaps heading to us this year, so heres mine-

I) Incorporate CoH system

Though I've only played the demo of CoH even I know a fine combat system when I see one. Incorporating a version of this system I feel would bring it closer to the boardgame, and make it more strategically indepth. More things to hide behind I would like, rather than the scant artillery holes and ruins. This with cause you to husband your troops more and tie in nicely with the reinforcement system outlined below.

II) Completely new resource/reinforcement model

Controversial this one, perhaps. I felt the above model in Dawn of War was too tailored to 'spam troops and send them out'. I liked the reinforcement system but being able to do so in the middle of battle seemed rather odd. My ideas are:

*In the single-player campaign, the campaign map is made up of small provinces. You enter an neutral/enemy province with a small army made up of units created up to a maximum the 'army cap' you begin with allows. If you conquer a province, the buildings you created (As in D.C) remain. HOWEVER...

*You cannot make unit-creation buildings! You have to fight with the army you arrive with, and those if you have requested reinforcements from adjacent provinces. You may, however, reinforce your units from a barracks by moving your depleted units into the vicinity of the barracks.

Buildings for Space Marines-

Barracks (To reinforce nearby troops)
Plasma generators (To power buildings)
Machine cult (To repair or change vehicles' weapons)
Automated defenses (For killing stuff)
Field hospital (Troops recover health much quicker. In my propsoal troops only regain a small amount of health but never all). Add apothecaries to increase the recovery rate.
Armoury (To arm squads with specialist weapons only when in vacinity of building)
Library (Research psychic powers you want to use this battle). Same as D.C.


*Requisition, used for buying initial units on the campaign map and reinforcing units, is gained each campaign turn from the provinces captured. Requisition in battle-maps is gained from capturing strategic points etc (As in D.C). Requisition rate is SLOWED DOWN.

*The player may call upon reinforments from adjacent friendly provinces. Let us say you end your turn and the enemy attacks your province. A window with 'Orks attack your province' appears. You have two buttons- 'Defend province' and 'ask for reinforcements' The former takes you straight to the battle and you defend with the forces you garrisoned there (As in D.C). The latter allows you to send for reinforcements from garrisons in adjacent provinces (if you have any!). Depending on geography, features like roads, space ports etc the reinforcements take time to reach you in-game.

Let us say you ask for reinforcements from a neighbouring friendly province before commiting to battle. You are facing a very large attack force and your garrison is small. The neighbouring province is seperated from the one you are defending by mountains. Reinforcements will arrive twenty minutes into the battle. You must hold on until reinforcements arrive! or will even they not be enough? If you lose some or all of your reinforcements they are removed from the province you requested them from (or otherwise whats left returns).

III) More capturable random buildings

More buildings for tactical usage e.g:

Bunkers-

Usable for strategically important map areas. Ranged infantry can enter and hold the bunker to gain a massive defensive bonus. Enemy infantry can enter from the rear and a melee battle is randomly decided. The loser is destroyed. Troops with high melee are the best at taking bunkers but need to be replaced by ranged infantry for utilising the bunker as a firing platform. Imperial Guard can build a tunnel to network captured bunkers. Kill-joys can destroy bunkers with explosive weapons.

Ancient/alien factories-

Perhaps dilapidated factories you can take and hold to aid in requisition? And also they aid on the campaign map in boosting requistion each turn.

Ruined buildings-

Similar to the system in D.C but they can be destroyed by artillery/explosive weapons by armies generally weak at taking fortified defensive positions e.g Tau. I.G.

IV) Random events, weather in battle-maps?

Perhaps storms effect flyers, machines etc. Some provinces you battle in suffer from earthquakes or mudslides, affecting buildings and infantry respectively. The Warhammer 40k boardgame has lots of examples of random events I'm sure could be drawn upon (I haven't played for 12 years but I'm sure there are). Perhaps neutral units could hamper both sides e.g raiders and mutants attacking your bases and forces.

V) More units

More units. E.g the eldar- Striking scorpions, for example, could be given a bonus to taking bunkers to differentiate between them and Howling Banshees. Swooping Hawks and Phoenix Lords too, mayhaps.

Well thats the end of my Dawn of War 2 wet dream. Basically, more indepth strategy and a slower pace. Not to everyones' taste but it's my dream so there

What do you want to see?

[Skyler]

I would like to see a game that incorporates real intense WH20k immersion,with RPG elements in FPS (Space hulk) c.q. RTS form.

This game scenario can be placed on a remote but important civilized planet where a chapter of space marines has been given the task to defend the planet against xeno's(tyranids).This chapter would have taskforce of a hundred or more SM,(70 SM on the planets surface and 30 as reserves on the barge) their battlebarge and the assistance of the planetary imperial army.

The emphasis of the game would be survial, because next to the marines and the imperial grunts you would have no reinforcements except the ones from the barge to replace your fallen soldiers.
The already small SM chapter, limited soldier supply, the big planet being infected and overun with nids would certainly sum up the atmosphere of what it means to be a SM: a small band of brothers facing overwhelming odds against a foe that seems utterly unstoppable in a fight for a black and white outcome.

The SM chapter would of cource be outfitted with the usual SM armourment and personel including a chapter captain, sergants, librarians, psychers, terminators, dreadnoughts, scouts, predators ect and would armed with the conventional weapons.

The SM could build bases on the planet with support turrets and buildings for upgrades, furthermore because the scale of the SM force is relativaly small every marine should be named so that you will have a real chapter of SM you can grow found of.

Your mission would be to defend the planet at all cost, failure would result in the purging of the planet via the battlebarge because it would be a to big of a risk to let the nids have the planet.

The planet interface would be that of the UFO series, battles could be in realtime or turnbased mode.