We’ve got a lot of cosmetic content coming up on July 20th. Here’s the lowdown!
CAMPAIGN REWARDS
To start, we’ll be sprinkling the campaign with some well-earned rewards. Now, you can earn new player portraits as well as exclusive Elite skins upon completing certain campaign missions. The campaign menu screen has gotten a bit of a revamp, too, so you can see which rewards you’ll receive before you embark on a mission.
Don’t worry - if you’ve already completed the campaign, you’ll receive all rewards upon your first login after the patch goes live!
NEW SKINS
On top of the campaign reward skins, we’ve got plenty more coming your way!
This patch will introduce four new skins, a revamp of the Imperial Knight Paladin’s mastery skin, and eight skins that will allow you to customize the colours of select Elites. These “Customization” skins - as we’ve been calling them - will let your Elites sport your chosen Army Painter colours so they can lead the troops in style. Each of the new skins will also be customizable in the Army Painter. Having Elites better blend into your ranks is something you’ve been asking for, and we loved the spirit of making your armies feel more cohesive.
Custom skins allow you to choose your colours and badge
We read a lot of feedback on how you wouldn’t want Gabriel Angelos, Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens, leading your Ultramarines into battle - and hey, that makes a lot of sense! Now, campaign-based Elites can look more universal, letting you bring any Farseer into battle, instead of Macha specifically.
For the new skins, you’ll need to complete certain campaign missions in order to unlock them. If you already have the Imperial Knight Paladin’s mastery skin, the new look will be applied automatically. For all the Customization skins, you’ll get these just by logging in!
NEW MAP: MANUFACTORUM
This patch will also bring a new map, Manufactorum, into the fold! Manufactorum can be played in 2v2 or 3v3 scenarios and across all game modes. Here’s a sneak peek of what to expect!
UI IMPROVEMENTS
We’ve introduced some changes to Elite and doctrine selection, as well as improvements to how Elite information is displayed when you hover over their portraits. You’ll also be able to see what effects doctrines will have on your units just by mousing over them. This will help to make it easier to determine your loadout in the pre-game lobby by highlighting the differences between Elites and doctrines at-a-glance!
We’ve got a lot of cosmetic content coming up on July 20th. Here’s the lowdown!
CAMPAIGN REWARDS
To start, we’ll be sprinkling the campaign with some well-earned rewards. Now, you can earn new player portraits as well as exclusive Elite skins upon completing certain campaign missions. The campaign menu screen has gotten a bit of a revamp, too, so you can see which rewards you’ll receive before you embark on a mission.
Don’t worry - if you’ve already completed the campaign, you’ll receive all rewards upon your first login after the patch goes live!
NEW SKINS
On top of the campaign reward skins, we’ve got plenty more coming your way!
This patch will introduce four new skins, a revamp of the Imperial Knight Paladin’s mastery skin, and eight skins that will allow you to customize the colours of select Elites. These “Customization” skins - as we’ve been calling them - will let your Elites sport your chosen Army Painter colours so they can lead the troops in style. Each of the new skins will also be customizable in the Army Painter. Having Elites better blend into your ranks is something you’ve been asking for, and we loved the spirit of making your armies feel more cohesive.
Custom skins allow you to choose your colours and badge
We read a lot of feedback on how you wouldn’t want Gabriel Angelos, Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens, leading your Ultramarines into battle - and hey, that makes a lot of sense! Now, campaign-based Elites can look more universal, letting you bring any Farseer into battle, instead of Macha specifically.
For the new skins, you’ll need to complete certain campaign missions in order to unlock them. If you already have the Imperial Knight Paladin’s mastery skin, the new look will be applied automatically. For all the Customization skins, you’ll get these just by logging in!
NEW MAP: MANUFACTORUM
This patch will also bring a new map, Manufactorum, into the fold! Manufactorum can be played in 2v2 or 3v3 scenarios and across all game modes. Here’s a sneak peek of what to expect!
UI IMPROVEMENTS
We’ve introduced some changes to Elite and doctrine selection, as well as improvements to how Elite information is displayed when you hover over their portraits. You’ll also be able to see what effects doctrines will have on your units just by mousing over them. This will help to make it easier to determine your loadout in the pre-game lobby by highlighting the differences between Elites and doctrines at-a-glance!
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III - r_alexander_mueller
Hey everyone!
We heard you loud and clear. In response to your feedback, we’re releasing a balance patch to address top balance concerns this week.
Gameplay
Listening Post cost increased from 200 to 300
Our increase to the base Requisition rate made early game Listening Posts a no-brainer, which we feel are too effective at holding their ground relative to their cost. As a result, we’d like to increase their cost so that the choice of where to bunker down needs to be a more strategic one.
Pathing
Skimmers will now prefer to do shorter reverse-pivot moves instead of curve turns over short distances (these were particularly noticeable with move commands issued slightly behind and to the side of the skimmer)
Increasing vertical traverse speed
If you’ve ever controlled a group of skimmers, you know that occasionally they will perform fantastical wild turns when the distance doesn’t warrant it. Here at Relic, we’re holding a moment of silence for all the skimmers that were needlessly lost while trying to perform acrobatic feats in the midst of battle. This will be of benefit to all skimmer units, though it will have a greater effect on Eldar players due to the number of skimmer units they have available.
Overall, the Space Marines versus Ork matchup is very close to dead even, though it varies a bit per skill bracket. Although they’re in a better spot and while we are buffing Eldar, we do still feel there are a few issues that need addressing.
We’ve already addressed Tireless in last week’s patch, but we felt that we needed to dig a little deeper, as the Space Marine’s effectiveness doesn’t stem from a single doctrine choice.
Assault Marines
Reduced passive melee charge range from 30 to 10
Reduced passive melee charge speed bonus from 4 to 3
Recent changes to Assault Marines put them in a much better place than intended. One thing we did notice was that their passive charge range was extremely long and slightly faster than comparable melee units. This improved their ability to get on top of and stay on top of units even more pronounced than it should have been. Given that Assault Marines already have a tremendous gap-closing advantage thanks to Jump, their passive charge was brought in-line with other units.
Predator Destructor
Damage decreased from 200 to 150
Power cost increased from 275 to 300
Population cost increased from 17 to 19
Predator Annihilator
Power cost increased from 275 to 300
Population cost increased from 17 to 19
Alright, we admit that our last patch pushed the Predator Destructor too far. Our concern was that the role of this unit was muddy compared to its Annihilator counterpart, but as a result we’ve created a unit that is too effective versus all things, including the units that were meant to counter it. The plan is to bring down its damage, which consequently makes the Destructor versus Annihilator choice much more situational.
Diomedes
Elite Point cost reduced from 4 to 3
Health reduced from 3600 to 3100
Respawn time reduced from 240 to 200
Reduced melee attack true damage bonus vs. objectives from 50 to 15
Reduced critical strike true damage bonus vs. objectives from 100 to 30
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug where his True damage bonus wasn’t working correctly
Diomedes isn’t being fielded as often as we’d like, and we think that reducing his Elite Point cost should greatly improve his viability. The other benefit is that by introducing another 3 point Elite, Space Marines will have more to choose from at that stage of the game.
Once win rates settled after launch, it became clear that the Eldar were imbalanced. They had a much higher win rate than both Space Marines and Orks, though they were especially strong versus Space Marines. Dire Avengers were overwhelmingly picked over other early game options and the Wraithlord’s Improved Webways doctrine was nearing a unanimous pick rate in the upper skill brackets.
However, the combination of our May 31st Eldar changes and the improvements to not only Tactical Marines - but also to resource generation - have exposed the general weakness of the Eldar early game. Since the trading capability of Dire Avengers was weakened, we’ve consequently seen that win rate flip the other direction.
General
Eldar infantry unit speed increased by 1 across the board
Bonesinger increased from 6 to 7
Dire Avengers increased from 6 to 7
Howling Banshees increased from 6 to 7
Shadow Spectres increased from 5.5 to 6.5
Rangers increased from 6 to 7
Webway Gate
Requisition cost decreased from 150 to 125
Power cost decreased from 30 to 25
Speed bonus for non-elite infantry decreased from 3 to 2
Speed bonus for Vehicles, Wraith and Elite units remains unaffected
Webway teleportation changed in a big way. We understand that players liked how it felt to be so mobile all of the time, so we’ll continue to keep an eye on two things: 1) win rates and overall balance concerns, but also 2) does the faction feel appropriately Eldar?
We want to recapture some more of the hit-and-run flavour but still make Webway Gates feel worth their value.
Dire Avengers
Dire Avengers range increased from 30 to 35
Previously Dire Avengers were effective enough to deal with most situations such that there wasn’t much need to use other units until Tier 2. After we reduced their range and reduced the shield doctrine, we noticed their usage swung too far in the other direction. Giving back some of their range will allow them to exploit their speed even outside of webway range.
Wraithblades
Increased Shields from 1725 to 1890
Increased Health from 1150 to 1260
Added passive melee charge on Wraithblades which has 10 range, a 10 second cooldown, lasts 5 seconds and grants 4 movement speed
Increased weapon range from 1 to 2
These units weren't built very often. We did observe that they often have trouble getting into melee in a timely manner, and these changes should address that.
Shadow Spectres
Power cost reduced from 30 to 15
Increased formation size
These units had a very low build rate, which isn’t ideal for a unit that’s supposed to function as anti-vehicle. We think that the combination of the Eldar speed increase, a Power cost reduction and increased formation size should make them less susceptible to area of effect damage. This, in turn, will make them more viable.
Autarch Kyre
Reduced speed of Eldritch Winds projectile from 15 to 12
After units are pulled to him, they are now knocked back, scattering them over a 15m area and preventing them from clumping on top of one another when landing
We’re looking to address the counterplay and the way units are clustering so that his combo is a bit harder to land and not quite as devastating without support.
Gretchin
Gretchin population cost reduced from 4 to 1
Oops, we neglected to change the Gretchins’ population cost when we looked at all the other units.
Shoota Boyz
Stikkbomb damage decreased from 90 to 60
Doctrines
Tonz ‘o Bombz: Stikkbomb damage decreased from 90 to 60
Shoota Boyz are a lot more viable now and while Stikkbombs are intended to deal more damage than other grenades, we want to reduce it a bit
Nobz
Taunt radius reduced from 20 to 15
Nobz are a really useful unit and we don’t want to do anything too drastic, but we do feel that their Taunt range makes it too easy to land on too many units.
Stormboyz
Their upgraded Suicide Bomma from scrap will do less damage versus structures
Kommando
Stun Trap damage type changed from Armour Piercing to True
Stun Trap damage is applied to the squad instead of individual entities
Bug Fixes
Stun Trap FX have been adjusted to accurately show the blast radius
We agreed with concerns that the Kommando's bomb damage was a bit too powerful, so we're changing this ability to be more consistent but less punishing at the same time. Instead of dealing 600 Armour Piercing damage to all units in a squad, it now deals 600 True damage to a squad.
This means that it performs the same against vehicle targets, better against Normal armored Elites like Gabriel, Macha, and Gorgutz, and better against lower health squads. On the flip side, it won't wipe out entire healthy squads in one shot. While previously the ability did exactly enough damage to kill a full Nob squad, now it will only kill one member. These changes should help make the ability feel more fair.
A NOTE ON DOCTRINES
We’re aware that there are doctrines for each faction that are dominant and others that are not. We’ll be addressing this with slight nerfs, but mostly buffs. This will take longer because we have to consider and test how much these changes can act as a multiplier for overperforming units. This may occur over several patch cycles, but rest assured that we’re keeping a close eye on them!
General
Fixed an exploit where users could change a Quick-Match game into an Annihilation game during the countdown
We heard you loud and clear. In response to your feedback, we’re releasing a balance patch to address top balance concerns this week.
Gameplay
Listening Post cost increased from 200 to 300
Our increase to the base Requisition rate made early game Listening Posts a no-brainer, which we feel are too effective at holding their ground relative to their cost. As a result, we’d like to increase their cost so that the choice of where to bunker down needs to be a more strategic one.
Pathing
Skimmers will now prefer to do shorter reverse-pivot moves instead of curve turns over short distances (these were particularly noticeable with move commands issued slightly behind and to the side of the skimmer)
Increasing vertical traverse speed
If you’ve ever controlled a group of skimmers, you know that occasionally they will perform fantastical wild turns when the distance doesn’t warrant it. Here at Relic, we’re holding a moment of silence for all the skimmers that were needlessly lost while trying to perform acrobatic feats in the midst of battle. This will be of benefit to all skimmer units, though it will have a greater effect on Eldar players due to the number of skimmer units they have available.
Overall, the Space Marines versus Ork matchup is very close to dead even, though it varies a bit per skill bracket. Although they’re in a better spot and while we are buffing Eldar, we do still feel there are a few issues that need addressing.
We’ve already addressed Tireless in last week’s patch, but we felt that we needed to dig a little deeper, as the Space Marine’s effectiveness doesn’t stem from a single doctrine choice.
Assault Marines
Reduced passive melee charge range from 30 to 10
Reduced passive melee charge speed bonus from 4 to 3
Recent changes to Assault Marines put them in a much better place than intended. One thing we did notice was that their passive charge range was extremely long and slightly faster than comparable melee units. This improved their ability to get on top of and stay on top of units even more pronounced than it should have been. Given that Assault Marines already have a tremendous gap-closing advantage thanks to Jump, their passive charge was brought in-line with other units.
Predator Destructor
Damage decreased from 200 to 150
Power cost increased from 275 to 300
Population cost increased from 17 to 19
Predator Annihilator
Power cost increased from 275 to 300
Population cost increased from 17 to 19
Alright, we admit that our last patch pushed the Predator Destructor too far. Our concern was that the role of this unit was muddy compared to its Annihilator counterpart, but as a result we’ve created a unit that is too effective versus all things, including the units that were meant to counter it. The plan is to bring down its damage, which consequently makes the Destructor versus Annihilator choice much more situational.
Diomedes
Elite Point cost reduced from 4 to 3
Health reduced from 3600 to 3100
Respawn time reduced from 240 to 200
Reduced melee attack true damage bonus vs. objectives from 50 to 15
Reduced critical strike true damage bonus vs. objectives from 100 to 30
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug where his True damage bonus wasn’t working correctly
Diomedes isn’t being fielded as often as we’d like, and we think that reducing his Elite Point cost should greatly improve his viability. The other benefit is that by introducing another 3 point Elite, Space Marines will have more to choose from at that stage of the game.
Once win rates settled after launch, it became clear that the Eldar were imbalanced. They had a much higher win rate than both Space Marines and Orks, though they were especially strong versus Space Marines. Dire Avengers were overwhelmingly picked over other early game options and the Wraithlord’s Improved Webways doctrine was nearing a unanimous pick rate in the upper skill brackets.
However, the combination of our May 31st Eldar changes and the improvements to not only Tactical Marines - but also to resource generation - have exposed the general weakness of the Eldar early game. Since the trading capability of Dire Avengers was weakened, we’ve consequently seen that win rate flip the other direction.
General
Eldar infantry unit speed increased by 1 across the board
Bonesinger increased from 6 to 7
Dire Avengers increased from 6 to 7
Howling Banshees increased from 6 to 7
Shadow Spectres increased from 5.5 to 6.5
Rangers increased from 6 to 7
Webway Gate
Requisition cost decreased from 150 to 125
Power cost decreased from 30 to 25
Speed bonus for non-elite infantry decreased from 3 to 2
Speed bonus for Vehicles, Wraith and Elite units remains unaffected
Webway teleportation changed in a big way. We understand that players liked how it felt to be so mobile all of the time, so we’ll continue to keep an eye on two things: 1) win rates and overall balance concerns, but also 2) does the faction feel appropriately Eldar?
We want to recapture some more of the hit-and-run flavour but still make Webway Gates feel worth their value.
Dire Avengers
Dire Avengers range increased from 30 to 35
Previously Dire Avengers were effective enough to deal with most situations such that there wasn’t much need to use other units until Tier 2. After we reduced their range and reduced the shield doctrine, we noticed their usage swung too far in the other direction. Giving back some of their range will allow them to exploit their speed even outside of webway range.
Wraithblades
Increased Shields from 1725 to 1890
Increased Health from 1150 to 1260
Added passive melee charge on Wraithblades which has 10 range, a 10 second cooldown, lasts 5 seconds and grants 4 movement speed
Increased weapon range from 1 to 2
These units weren't built very often. We did observe that they often have trouble getting into melee in a timely manner, and these changes should address that.
Shadow Spectres
Power cost reduced from 30 to 15
Increased formation size
These units had a very low build rate, which isn’t ideal for a unit that’s supposed to function as anti-vehicle. We think that the combination of the Eldar speed increase, a Power cost reduction and increased formation size should make them less susceptible to area of effect damage. This, in turn, will make them more viable.
Autarch Kyre
Reduced speed of Eldritch Winds projectile from 15 to 12
After units are pulled to him, they are now knocked back, scattering them over a 15m area and preventing them from clumping on top of one another when landing
We’re looking to address the counterplay and the way units are clustering so that his combo is a bit harder to land and not quite as devastating without support.
Gretchin
Gretchin population cost reduced from 4 to 1
Oops, we neglected to change the Gretchins’ population cost when we looked at all the other units.
Shoota Boyz
Stikkbomb damage decreased from 90 to 60
Doctrines
Tonz ‘o Bombz: Stikkbomb damage decreased from 90 to 60
Shoota Boyz are a lot more viable now and while Stikkbombs are intended to deal more damage than other grenades, we want to reduce it a bit
Nobz
Taunt radius reduced from 20 to 15
Nobz are a really useful unit and we don’t want to do anything too drastic, but we do feel that their Taunt range makes it too easy to land on too many units.
Stormboyz
Their upgraded Suicide Bomma from scrap will do less damage versus structures
Kommando
Stun Trap damage type changed from Armour Piercing to True
Stun Trap damage is applied to the squad instead of individual entities
Bug Fixes
Stun Trap FX have been adjusted to accurately show the blast radius
We agreed with concerns that the Kommando's bomb damage was a bit too powerful, so we're changing this ability to be more consistent but less punishing at the same time. Instead of dealing 600 Armour Piercing damage to all units in a squad, it now deals 600 True damage to a squad.
This means that it performs the same against vehicle targets, better against Normal armored Elites like Gabriel, Macha, and Gorgutz, and better against lower health squads. On the flip side, it won't wipe out entire healthy squads in one shot. While previously the ability did exactly enough damage to kill a full Nob squad, now it will only kill one member. These changes should help make the ability feel more fair.
A NOTE ON DOCTRINES
We’re aware that there are doctrines for each faction that are dominant and others that are not. We’ll be addressing this with slight nerfs, but mostly buffs. This will take longer because we have to consider and test how much these changes can act as a multiplier for overperforming units. This may occur over several patch cycles, but rest assured that we’re keeping a close eye on them!
General
Fixed an exploit where users could change a Quick-Match game into an Annihilation game during the countdown
This article was originally published inPC Gamer issue 305. For more quality articles about all things PC gaming, you can subscribe now in theUKand theUS.
We’re playing Dawn of War 3 and all getting duffed up individually. We decide to team up and take on other players in the intense 3v3 power core mode. You have to contest resource points across the map, then march into the enemy base and blow up the shiny enemy power core. Phil picks Space Marines, Samuel picks Eldar and Tom picks Orks. We’re up against two Ork armies and an Eldar one.
The players:
Phil Savage: has played a little bit of Dawn of War II, but that’s about it. Likes the big robot.
Samuel Roberts: is pretty well-versed in Dawn of War, but didn’t do spectacularly at the DoW3 closed beta.
Tom Senior: has played a lot of Dawn of War, a lot of Dawn of War 2, and a few games of DoW3. Likes Orks.
Samuel: I send my Bonesinger builder units to grab a couple of the nearby capture points in the centre and top lanes while I start churning out the Eldar’s basic Dire Avengers. We leave the point at the centre of the map for now. No need to start a fight while we’re still assembling an army. I send my Dire Avengers to a point north of our base, where Tom’s building up his Ork force.
Tom: The map is arranged into three loose ‘lanes’ and I’ve got the top one. Scouting ahead I discover I’m up against more Orks, so it’s going to be a glorious greenskin massacre up north. A couple of units of Sam’s Eldar arrive at a key moment as we push ahead to secure the mid-lane resource point and fend off a sizeable enemy force. We both throw down some forward base buildings and make the place our home. The crappy, wobbly Ork buildings look completely shambolic next to the Eldar’s sleek, glowing structures.
I m able to locate one of my buildings. I select it, and click on the picture of a Space Marine. A drop pod arrives from space, and men come out of it. This is progress.
Phil: Samuel and Tom immediately set to work building units and capturing points. I’m still trying to work out where my things are, and how to make more men. Samuel asks me to capture the southern control point, and I reply in the affirmative. Secretly, though, I have no idea what the control point is, or what I’m going to capture it with. I knew I was going to be out of my depth here, but I didn’t think it would be this bad. I try to parse the minimap, and realise that it’s swarming with yellow and blue icons. The yellow is moving and growing, the blue isn’t. That means I’m blue. Thanks to this, I’m able to locate one of my buildings. I select it, and click on the picture of a Space Marine. A drop pod arrives from space, and men come out of it. This is progress. I send them to what I assume is the capture point.
Tom: I build loads of axe-wielding Boyz. I respect the audacity of warriors that are happy to bring axes to a giant robot laser fight, but I also know that they will not last long. Happily, though, I can press a button that makes them punch the air and get hyped up. I use their enthusiasm to push up and grab another resource point on my lane as Sam’s Eldar change position.
Samuel: Phil’s being pushed by Orks and Eldar on the lower side of the map, so I send my troops over there, as Tom seems to have a pretty good handle on his lane. I help Phil fight them off one of our resource points. They bring an Ork elite, so I use a mix of Dire Avengers, melee-happy Howling Banshees and cloaked sniper Rangers to fend them off. From here, I decide to keep my army on Phil’s lane, since together our skills probably add up to one decent RTS player. The centre lane isn’t particularly well-guarded, but so far they haven’t tried to push us there so it’ll probably be OK. I build a warp gate near Phil’s resource point, which buffs my nearby troops. I’ve also upgraded my buildings so they can now teleport around the map—which will help as me and Phil try our luck at pushing that lane. Time to start building our armies up.
I build a warp gate near Phil s resource point, which buffs my nearby troops. I ve also upgraded my buildings so they can now teleport around the map
Phil: I’m pretty happy that I managed to repel the enemy’s exploratory advance through nothing more than luck and Samuel’s invaluable help. I’m starting to get the hang of how to build things, too. I discover that my weird cyborg dude—one day, I will learn the Space Marine’s names—can build new buildings. I start plopping things down and randomly clicking on menus, and pretty soon I’ve built a nice little force of men with guns.
Samuel: Let me assure you, Phil, that I have no idea what I’m doing either. I’ve just built one or two of every unit in the vague hope that when we push, something will counter something else. I am not vying for Pro status. How’s your lane going, Tom?
Tom: Orks! Orks! Hundreds of Orks everywhere. My army repeatedly clashes with enemy Ork forces, and I’m getting the upper hand. My forward base is now a shabby little town that spits out big green delinquents, namely the Ork’s toughest warriors—Nobs. Orks need to gear up at scrap piles so I’ve built a copse of towers to create piles of junk. The Nobs rummage around, hack together some huge two-handed axes and then follow waypoints to the front line where they smash up my opponent’s ordinary Orks with ease. I push right up to the shield generator and manage to destroy it. The enemy Eldar force come across to push back, but that just gives Phil and Sam another huge opening.
Samuel: Phil and I decide to push, on Tom’s suggestion. We target the next capture point on the bottom lane and roll out. It’s not much of a fight, really—we’ve both got pretty big armies at this point and we take it almost straight away. But the enemy isn’t going to let it go without a fight. After we take the point and start building our resource points on top, the enemy realises what we’ve done and a pretty gigantic Ork army is suddenly on our doorstep.
It s an elegant two-fist approach. One fist is a big angry Ork army, and the other a multicultural alliance of bastards in giant robots.
Phil: Oh snap, the Orks are here! Despite the success of this point capture, my army is a little worse for wear, and I haven’t finished building reinforcements. Again: I click randomly on stuff. That’s how I realise that earlier I’d managed to accidentally queue up the drop pods I didn’t realise I had. They slam down from space, and yet more marines pour out. It looks really cool, and, best of all, intentional. Suddenly, my army’s back up to strength. I think I actually cackle.
Samuel: I deploy the Eldar’s leader power, the Eldritch Storm. It’s essentially a sci-fi whirlwind that fucks with everyone’s shit. It arrives at just the right time. Between us, we easily push back the Ork assault. I teleport my base forwards, and start adding some heavier troopers such as Wraithguards and deadly Shadow Spectres to my army. Farseer Macha is also among them—an elite who can throw and activate a radius spear attack. Our forces are swelling, and it feels like we’ve got the upper hand. I feel bad that we’ve abandoned Tom, but then he seems be doing OK in that top lane. He seems to have made his way to the enemy resource generator on that side—a bit ahead of where we are.
Tom: It’s an elegant two-fist approach. One fist is a big angry Ork army, and the other a multicultural alliance of bastards in giant robots. By taking it in turns to push we’ve kept the enemy in a state of imbalance, and now they’re resource-starved thanks to the fact that we own most of the map. All we have to do now is convert our resource advantage into a push that can bring down the power core and win the game. I’ve unlocked my giant Morkanaut robot, which can take insane amounts of damage and launch a rocket-powered fist at enemies. I also have enough elite points to call down a meteor. I’ve pushed over the enemy turret and my Ork opponent seems to have largely given up. I keep building until I hit the population cap. That’s a lot of Orks. This could be the time to finish it.
Phil: Are we winning? I think we might be sort of winning. This is a surprise to me, but we do have the advantage of being a group communicating over Skype. This, it seems, makes up for my incompetence. Once again, Samuel and I push the bottom flank. We’re heading to the Elite control point. For a while it looks like we’ll be able to roll through unchallenged, but finally, as we ascend the stairs to the point, we clash into a horde of Orks and Eldar. Time for my secret weapon: a big laser robot of death. I call in my elite unit, and the missiles start flying.
I command my Morkanaut to punch the whirlwind. This helps no one.
Samuel: Yeah, so I basically lost my entire army during that push for the Elite point. We’ve taken out the enemy’s turret and generator on this side, though. Luckily, the fight went on for so long that I’ve got plenty of resources to generate another in no time. It feels like we’re close to victory, with the enemy now running low on resource points. Phil and I knock over the defenceless point at the centre of the map, then prepare for a final push.
Tom: My PC has rarely been tested as much as it is during this final fight. All six players apparently have access to their faction super ability, because there are at least three meteors, a space laser and various electric whirlwinds in the fight. I lose track of my army in the carnage. I double-tap F1 to centre the view on my general. He’s wandered into the middle of everything, the idiot. All my Nobs have been incinerated too. I command my Morkanaut to punch the whirlwind. This helps no one.
Samuel: I’ve got no idea what is going on in this cataclysmic final encounter, but there is so much death. I unleash a last-minute Eldritch Storm, and the scale of the chaos is ridiculous—there are enemy Orks and Fire Prism tanks everywhere. At the end of the fight, I just have Bonesingers left, and Phil’s being shredded too. We won’t need to rebuild to push again, though. The power core is about to be destroyed by the remaining forces of Tom Senior.
Phil: I’ve been bemused through the majority of this match, but this final push really takes the exploding laser death cake. The world is naught but light and fury, and my armies are being melted by a ridiculous onslaught of stuff. They did well, though, and I’ve even got a few snipers left taking pot shots at the core. I think we’re about to win, so I’m just going to enjoy the show.
Tom: All my Orks are dead. Nothing in the universe of Warhammer 40K could survive what just happened to the enemy base. Luckily as the fight was starting I built five long-range artillery cannons, which now sit just outside the apocalypse, passively shelling the area until the core capitulates. Nothing else lives. It’s a very 40K outcome.
Samuel: I feel I was being strategic for the first two thirds of the game. In the final third, I merely appreciated the brawl. But what great fun. I’m certain this will be the only time I’m ever part of a winning team in Dawn of War III.
Thanks for sharing all your great feedback with us after our Community Update last week. We appreciate your patience with us. We’re so excited to release our major Annihilation Update today. Get ready to wipe the floor with your foes in our new multiplayer mode!!
Headlining this update are two new Annihilation modes, which work in Custom Matches on all existing maps including our new release, Mortis Vale. This new battlefield is available for 2v2 and 3v3 across all multiplayer modes, boasting an open feel with lots of flanking opportunities.
We’re also introducing three new doctrines (one per faction) that allow the construction of turrets.These doctrines will be automatically unlocked for all players and can be used in Power Core mode or in the new Annihilation modes.
As a final token of our appreciation, we’re adding three Elite skins to your inventories - House Raven Imperial Knight Paladin, Exalted Wraithknight, and the Deathskulls Gorkanaut. We call them our Engines of Annihilation. Just log in, equip them, and bring the pain!
There’s plenty more to dig into below. Take a look and hit up the forums if you have any questions. We’ll be at the ready.
Thanks again, and enjoy!
New
New modes: Annihilation Classic and Annihilation With Defenses
New doctrines: Tarantula Turret, Big Shoota Turret, and Shuriken Grav Platform
New map: Mortis Vale (3v3) and (2v2)
Free skins: House Raven Imperial Knight Paladin, Exalted Wraithknight, and Deathskulls Gorkanaut
Gameplay
Fixed an issue that makes Elite healing around a player’s HQ and production structures more consistent
Maps
Mortis Vale (2v2) has been added into the Custom match and Quick-Match map lists
Mortis Vale (3v3) has been added into the Custom match and Quick-Match map lists
Tactical Marine
Doctrines
Tireless: Speed bonus decreased from 3 to 1.5
Tireless: Speed bonus will kick in 15 seconds after being out of combat, up from 11 seconds
Tireless: Speed bonus now begins 15 seconds after spawning a squad of Tactical Marines, instead of instantly
Tireless: A decorator icon now displays your progress towards the speed bonus
We did buff the damage on Tactical Marines significantly, which we do feel was warranted. However, the Tireless doctrine acted as a multiplier. It allowed them to cover too much of the map and gave too big of an advantage in early skirmishes. We will continue to monitor this doctrine’s usage rate and cross-reference its impact on games.
Terminators
Doctrines
Focused Shot: Fixed an issue where slowed targets did not display the slow icon
Imperial Knight Paladin
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where Ion Shield sometimes failed to block certain shots
Imperial Knight Solaria
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where Solaria's weapons were not disabled during the wind down of Gatling Barrage
Ranger
Bug Fixes
Changed Sensor Beacon to be single-cast when a group is selected, meaning they won’t all use their ability in the same spot when the order is given
Fire Prism
Bug Fixes
Fire Prisms no longer play their death animation when being levitated (but not killed) by Orbital Bombardment
General
Fixed an issue where Windows taskbars set to the left or top of the screen would not be hidden
Fixed issue where skimmer units that were knocked back onto negative space were instantly killed
Fixed issue where WAAAGH! Towers would sometimes stop producing scrap
Campaign
Difficulty tuning on several campaign missions (1, 11,12, 13), mostly on Normal difficulty
Fixed an issue in Mission 2 where loading a saved game could stop Varlock Guard units from moving
Fixed an issue in Mission 6 where the mission could stall if the enemy recaptured one of the two arrays from the player
Fixed an issue in Mission 9 where loading a saved game could cause Deffkoptas to fail to enter combat, blocking mission progression
Fixed an issue in Mission 13 where Elites sometimes wouldn’t gain experience
Fixed a terrain issue on Mission 17 which could cause an Elite to become stuck
Multiplayer
Fixed most common instances of an issue where spamming hotkeys allowed multiple resource add-ons to be constructed on a single resource point; additional instances of this bug are still being investigated
Rotated some heavy cover on Stratum P2-8 near the middle of the map to allow for easier access
Fixed a spot on Charon’s Rest where an Elite could become trapped
User Interface
Added support for Exclusive Fullscreen and Windowed display options
Changed the placement of several front end components to group player name, icon, and Skulls together
Fixed an issue where quitting after a match loss would cause units to change colours
Fixed disconnect behavior while on the Elite info screen
Fixed an issue where the paint scheme list was cut off for players 3, 4, 5, and 6 in an 3v3 lobby
Fixed a rare issue where Quick-Match players would become stuck in a black screen after the game countdown
Fixed an issue where the Texture Detail option would not correctly save when applied
Art
Fixed an overlap issue on the Meganobz mastery skin
