caterpillar generators
source: coleman generator
The Warhammer 40k universe is quite diverse, but one thing is certain: war. Set up in the war-torn galaxy of the Warhammer 40k universe (brought to you by Games Workshop), players of Dawn of War: Soulstorm wage war against each other as commanders of one of the powerful armies, fighting for or against humanity.
Dawn of War: Soulstorm is set up as an Realtime Strategy game, or RTS for short. Unlike standard board games where you take turns, with the help of computers, everything in an RTS happens in real time. Battle decisions have to be made in a split second, and in Soulstorm, any hesitation can reveal weakness, or even worse: bring about defeat.
Even with the support of your army behind you, as a player, you need to understand the concepts of war. Thus, here I am, to impart upon you the most basic survival guide as a commander.
With any RTS, the main objective is to defeat your enemy. To do so, you need an army. And in Soulstorm, you have to balance Resources, Technology AND your current army size. Of course, near the end, you want to have the biggest army with the best technology, crushing all who dare stand against you. However, being more realistic (or as realistic as you can get in a video game that has superhuman soldiers, aliens, orks, and elves,) you need to focus on surviving to the end. That means either killing your opponent or at least hold him off till you both clash in one great mass of blood and gore.
SPECIAL COMMANDS THAT NO ONE WILL TELL YOU…
First, communicating with your troops effectively is important. Sometimes you want the troop to take an out of the way path instead of the direct path, to surprise the enemy. Sometimes you want your buildings or squads to automatically requisition whatever you need onto the field. These commands will help you do so, commander.
Rally points – select a building and right click on the ground to place a rally point. The troops produced will automatically run/drive there.
Auto production – right click on a unit's portrait with a production building selected will let you automatically produce that unit. Very good tool in QS or during endgame.
Overwatch (or auto reinforce) – right click on the “+” sign that is used to reinforce a squad will make the squad automatically reinforce. This is definitely a must. Suppose you have a squad of SM. It costs you 50 req to reinforce the squad once. If you want to reinforce 4 times to bring it to full strength, and you did not do overwatch, then you would click the “+” 4 times. That puts an investment of 200 req, instead of 50. When you do overwatch, the req is deducted automatically from your total req. Thus, you can spend the 150 elsewhere while you wait for the squad to reinforce once. Very handy. Also, it will keep reinforcing if your troops are dying. Very good during long battles. Warning though, you could run out of resources very quickly if you try to overwatch a lot of squads at once.
Waypoints – Basically, to set a waypoint or queue up actions, you hold shift and the regular action key (be it left or right mouse click). For example, if you have a scout SM, and you right click on a SP, it will go capture it, right? Then if you hold down shift and right click on several points, the scout will then capture each one in the order that you have clicked. Very handy for micro management. Also, you can use this queuing method to set up paths to avoid enemy sight. This also works for buildings. Just hold shift before your left click to place the building. However, to queue buildings you have to already have the resources to purchase the building at the moment you queue. So don't queue too many!
TECH TREES
Every race in Warhammer 40k has their own technology. Dawn of War: Soulstorm was very good at implementing that in their design. However, as a general rule, you can watch WHEN you reach a tier in a tech tree, and compare that to others. With a specific goal in mind, you can fine tweak your gameplay.
Tier 0 = Sometimes used to describe the tech level at the very start of the game, before the barracks or equivalent is built and only builders and capping units can be produced
Tier 1 = The tech level at the start of the game. Can also sometimes refer to the tech level once the barracks or equivalent structure is built
Tier 1.5 = Generally refers to the race's tech level once the armoury or equivalent structure is built
Tier 2 = The tech level after the first HQ upgrade for SM/Chaos/IG/Necrons, at 55 Ork Pop + Pile O Gunz! for Orks, after Soul Shrine for Eldar, or after the Path to Enlightenment for Tau
Tier 2.5 = Generally refers to the race's tech level after the vehicle production building is built
Tier 3 = The tech level after the second HQ upgrade for SM/Chaos/IG/Necrons, after the Orky Fort upgrade for Orks, after Mobilize for War for Eldar, or after the Kauyon/Mont'ka Command Post is built for Tau
Tier 4 = The general term for the final tech level which unlocks each race's tanks and super units
STRATEGY CONCEPTS
Dawn of War is a RTS, and there's no escaping the Strategy part of the game. As with most RTS's, there are numerous different methods, sometimes specific to the game. Because this guide is meant to be a primer, I'm going to list the general strategies and leave the specifics for another time.
Rushing – When you mass up at Teir 1 and push into the enemy base while they are spending their resources elsewhere.
Turret rushing – variant of rushing. (Usually used by IG or Orks with Waaagh banners) Basically the player sends a builder very early in the game and build turrets right outside of the enemy's base.
Harassing – Decaping the enemy's points, destroying the generators… Avoiding the enemy commander…
Teching – opposite of rushing. Minimal to no troops built, and use all resources on research, with the goal of getting the best units in the shortest time. Generally used in non-1v1 situations.
Economic boom – very little troops at the beginning to focus on upgrading listening posts for better economic start so to make teching faster.
Micromanagement – to tell your troops exactly what to do in battle, such as “dancing” or “tying up units.” At the highest level it becomes an art, really.
Dancing – Moving your ranged units out of melee range constantly when your opponent sends melee units at your ranged units to tie them up. This avoids damage for the ranged unit. Sometimes done with waypoints so a player can dance more than one squad.
Tying up – Sending melee units to ranged units to make sure they do not shoot.
Macro-management – Economy vs. Technology vs. Military. Always a balancing act between the three.
CHOOSING A RACE
With 9 different races to choose from in Soulstorm, a starting player might feel confused or intimidated by the number of choices. Each of the Warhammer 40k races have their own flavor, and their own advantages. With that in mind, imagine going into an ice cream shop with unusual flavors. You then proceed to ask the employee questions about their flavor. No matter what the clerk tells you, you're going to have to try for yourself.
Of course, I'll be the clerk for the day. (”But sir, all the armies taste like metal and gunpowder!”)
I highly recommend learning Eldar as your first race. They require a good amount of micro/macro management, so the learning curve will be a little sharper the normal. However, if you can master the Eldar, you will master micro-management and will have a very easy time picking up the other races. Space Marines are also a good race to learn in the beginning, since they're generally good all around. In the end you'll have to experiment with each race yourself to be able to figure out which race is your favorite.
Space Marines – (SM) – If you like strong basic troops that can take a good beating, then this is the race for you. Notable traits: Their sergeants have the ability to restore morale of the group; they have four different special weapons available to the basic SM troop; Orbital Relay building allows deep-striking and orbital bombardment.
Chaos Space Marines – (CSM) – Do you like huge daemons fighting on your side? If so this is the race for you. At end game, you will have at least one huge daemon fighting for you, and if you have a relic, then you will have two. Notable traits: CSM troops can be upgraded at tier 3 with infiltration; generally the CSM will have heavy tanks faster than other races.
Eldar – If you like sneak attacks, then this is the race for you. The troops are very good at what they are designed to do, but not good at doing other things. (Melee units are good at melee, but really suck at ranged… etc.) Notable traits: Their buildings can be infiltrated if it is near a webway gate (The infiltration upgrade is a onetime cost of 100 req and 100 power.); up to 10 squads can be stationed in one webway gate and teleported to another; the builder has the teleport ability; buildings can be teleported; the Avatar increases the squad cap to 24 instead of the normal 20, and the vehicle cap to 30 instead of the normal 20.
Orks – If you like a lot of troops that can take a good beating, then this is for you. (Also, they have really funny voice acting.) Orks have a more obscure tech structure, and is not recommended to be played as the first race. They are truly a unique race, with an Orky population count and the Waaagh resource. Learn more here: http://wiki.reliccommunity.com/Orky_Pop_and_Waagh%21. Notable traits: Most of their buildings have guns to protect them, even their listening post (exception: generator and bigga generator.)
Imperial Guard – (IG) – The IG have even more in numbers then the Orks, but their troops individually… suck. However, they're cheap! If you love tanks, and I mean LOVE tanks, then they are the race for you. Notable traits: able to station troops inside the buildings, and will have the flexibility to call them to any other building “through tunnels” with minimal wait time; awesome tanks, most famous the baskilisk (or “Earth-Shaker”) which can fire at astonishing range to destroy buildings; strongest builder unit.
Tau Empire – “Eat plasma fire~!” Yes. They really say that. And they have an Asian accent. How interesting, huh? Well, their troops are the most feared in ranged combat. I have once made the mistake of sending my infantry into a firefight with the fire warriors… I ended up losing all of my infantry and they lost one squad out of six. Notable traits: Ranged combat MASTERS. However, their units take time to set up before they can fire, and that is one of their major weaknesses. This race requires some good micro as well.
Necrons – Necrons are special in that they only require power, and no requisition. However, that does NOT mean you do not have to capture SPs. SPs will determine how fast your units build. Notable traits: Only the monolith produces units; Necron Lord (commander unit) is the strongest commander of all the races, with three special abilities chosen from the Forbidden Archive.
Dark Eldar – (DE) – The DE are all out about offence. Their units are considered “squishy” (though not as weak as the IG troops) but they deal an insane amount of damage. Notable Traits – did I mention insane amounts of damage? Their buildings build automatically, so your builder does not have to stand there and build. Also the DE have a special resource called “soul essence,” harvested either at a slave chamber or off the corpses of your enemies.
Sisters of Battle – (SoB) – Do you like fire? Are you often called a pyromaniac? If so, this is the race for you. They burn stuff. That's all I have to say for them. Notable trait – their flamers are really good at disrupting enemy infantry units. However, they also have heavy bolters (up to 5, 1 more than SM). The Living Saint can resurrect itself.
Conclusion
After this brief introduction, you will want to learn more to become better. Unfortunately, no matter how much I write on paper, you'll need to see action. Learn from the best. Then be the best. Simple. GameReplays.org contains replays posted by the best players, and you can learn their strategies and make them your own.
Now equipped with this new found information, I am certain you will bring bloodshed to the battlefields in the Dawn of War universe. Good luck, have fun, and don't forget to stick your enemies' heads on spikes.
source: coleman generator