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Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

Platform(s): PC
Genre: Strategy
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Relic
Release Date: Feb. 19, 2009

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'Dawn of War II' Making Its Last Stand Tomorrow

by Rainier on Oct. 13, 2009 @ 1:05 p.m. PDT

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is set in the grim, war-ravaged world of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40k universe -- a dark, futuristic, science-fiction setting where armies of technologically advanced warriors, fighting machines and hordes of implacable aliens wage constant war.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is set in the grim, war-ravaged world of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe – a dark, futuristic, science-fiction setting where armies of technologically advanced warriors, fighting machines and hordes of implacable aliens wage constant war. Developed by critically acclaimed RTS developer Relic Entertainment, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II ushers in a new chapter in the acclaimed RTS series, as ancient races – including the dauntless Space Marines and savage Orks - clash across ruined worlds on a mission to claim the galaxy and preserve their own existence. Powered by the re-vamped Essence Engine 2.0, the next evolution of Relic's proprietary game engine made famous in the award winning Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II will deliver fast-paced RTS action with ferocious melee and ranged combat in fully destructible environments. Immersing players in an in-depth non-linear single-player campaign and a fully-co-operative multiplayer mode, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is set to deliver the most visually-stunning Warhammer 40,000 setting ever created.

The Last Stand is a brand new co-op survival game mode in which you take control of an individual hero unit (Tactical Marine, eldar Farseer or an orc Mekboy) in a multiplayer team and enter a battle with impossible odds. Team up with two squad mates in an attempt to hold out for as long as possible against 20 waves of relentless attackers, leveling up and gaining expereince as you progress (and you don't loose it when you die). This update will also include two new multiplayer maps.

New Content

The Last Stand

Added The Last Stand, a new arcade survival mode where teams of three fight waves of increasingly deadly enemies
Added new unique wargear, abilities and effects to the three heroes in The Last Stand
Added The Last Stand leaderboards
Hero progress is stored online and is associated with a player's gamertag

Multiplayer Maps

Added (2p) Quest's Heresy map
Added (4p) Hydris Chasm map
Multiplayer Balance Updates

General Balance updates

The cost of the tier 3 upgrade is now 300 requisition, 150 power up from 200/100
XP granted for Hormagaunts, Termagants, Sluggas, and Shootas has been brought in line with other tier 1 units
Flame resistant armor type has been lowered to 25% fire damage mitigation, down from 50%
Generator health has been increased to 600 from 500, a 20% increase
All walkers except the Wraithlord had their speed increased from 4 to 4.5 m/s
All personal teleport abilities now start on cooldown
Walker charge cooldowns reduced from 8 seconds to 5
Snipe damage now does 125% to heavy armor
Melee heroes have had their weapon skill increased to 70 from 60. This will increase their chance to special attack units and reduce their chance of being special attacked. Heroes include: Force Commander, Apothecary, Warboss, Hive Tyrant, Lictor Alpha, Warlock and Farseer.

Eldar Balance Updates

The Warlock's immolator blade damage over time is now set to piercing damage
Telegraph on the Warp Spider Exarch's mass teleport now displays ~3 seconds before arrival
The cast times on the Farseer's Doom, Fortune, and Guide spells have been removed
Squad plans on rangers removed to correct erratic behavior
The Eldar Avatar's Khaine's Wrath ability no longer damages nob squads that have activated the frenzy ability
Ranger kinetic shot radius increased from 4 meters to 5.
Ranger detection range increased from 30m to 40m
Warlock Immolate and D-Cannon singularity no longer harms invulnerable units
Aspect of Banshee health bonus increased from 20% to 30%
Aspect of Banshee cost increased from 75/20 to 100/20
Shuriken Cannon damage increased from 210 to 300
Brightlance crew hp increased to 825 from 660
Warp throw moved to tier 2
Warp throw cost reduced to 100/30

Ork Balance Updates

The Mekboys's electric armor now drains 6 energy/s, increased from 4/s
Waaagh Shout cost has increased to 20 from 15
Big stomp works on Spore Mines
The Looted Tank is now affected by the Entangle ability
The Kommando's Luv Da Dakka ability no longer takes them out of infiltrate when used
Mekboy now has to set up after using the 'Ave a Taste ability
The Mekboy can no longer teleport while using the Mega Rumblah ability
Moved Stikkbommas to T2, Stkikkbommas now deal suppression damage
Moved Lootas to T1, changed their damage to equal a Space Marine's Heavy Bolter
Loota health increased to 250 from 200
Increased suppression on Deffgun
Deff Dread rampage no longer has health requirement
Looted tank cost increased to 400/100 from 350/100
Nob Frenzy now renders Nobs immune to most types of knockback.
Stikkbomma stun grenade and stikkbomb range increased to 60 meters
Stikkbomma stun grenade cooldown increased from 30 seconds to 60 seconds
Stikkbomma stun grenades now explode on impact
Stikkbomma stun grenades now no longer require a Bomma kit upgrade
Stikkbomma stun grenades are now thrown in groups of 4
Stikkbomma stun grenade cost changed from 20 Waaagh to 10
Stikkbomma Bomma kit upgrade removed.
Stikkbomma stikkbomb damage type now deals 150% damage vs heavy armor, up from 125%
Stikkbomma squad cost changed to 360/20 from 280/30
Kommando hero shotgun ability changed from pie area-of-effect to circle area-of-effect
Slugga upgrade changed from 50/15 to 85/20, increases HP by 10%

Space Marine Balance Updates

Techmarine's powerful sweep no longer affects retreating units
Techmarine's powerful sweep damage increased from 40 to 60
Scout shotgun knock back ability now causes suppression
Scout shotgun cost changed to 75/15 from 40/20
Scout weapon skill increased from 50 to 100
Damage on the Techmarine's consecrated bolter has been increased to 60, up from 51
Damage on the Techmarine's master crafted bolter has been increased to 65, up from 60
The Venerable Dreadnought is now affected by the Entangle ability
Orbital Bombardment no longer effects units that are invulnerable
Assault Marine health increase on level increase reduced to 10% from 15%
Tactical Marine health increase on level increase reduced to 10% from 15%
Plasma gun damage reduced from 90 to 70
Plasma gun damage vs infantry reduced to .7 from 1
Plasma pistol damage reduced from 25 to 15
Missile launcher upgrade time increased from 15 seconds to 30 seconds
Apothecary Power Axe energy regeneration reduced from 20 to 15
Apothecary Master-Crafted bolter damage reduced from 75 to 65
Battlecry now grants knockback immunity in most cases

Tyranid Balance Updates

Hormagaunts have had their HP and damage decreased 10%
The Hormagaunt adrenal gland upgrade now grants +1 speed, down from +1.5
The Hormagaunt adrenal gland upgrade increased in cost to 75/20
The Hormagaunt weapon skill increased to 55
The Hormagaunt cost reduced to 270 requisition
Increased the HP of the Zoanthrope by 25%
Zoanthrope damage type changed to deal 150% damage to heavy armor
Zoanthrope accuracy increased to 100%
Zoanthrope damage decreased to 60 from 80
Zoanthrope shield absorption ratio changed to 0.3 from 0.2.
The cost of the Lictor Alpha's toxic cysts has increased to 120/25, up from 80/20
The Lictor Elite jump, Toxic Cysts moved to tier 2
Flesh hook cooldown increased from 40 to 70 seconds
Barbed Strangler radius has decreased to 6m from 7m
Termagants' devourer damage has increased from 7.65 to 8.8
Termagant Toxin Sac upgrade now increases damage by 45%, up from 35% and increases max health by 10%
Spore Mines are now affected by mines and burrow traps like ordinary units
Spore Mines no longer explode when killed by another unit
Spore Mines are now susceptible to melee attacks
Spore Mines health decreased from 150 to 120
Warrior Adrenal gland upgrade reduced from 200/20 to 100/20
Warrior Adrenal glands now increases their HP by 20%
The Ravener Corrosive devourer damage increased from 100 to 135
The Ravener Acid Splatter now affects fire resisting units
The Ravener Crippling Talon debuff effect increased to 35% from 25%
Tyranid synapse death now inflicts 14% damage to regular units and 10% to Carnifexes

Improvements

Optimized sound files to reduce the amount of RAM they consume
Added additional effects to 6p and 2p Calderis Refinery Maps
Enabled pathing prediction for walkers and improved the predicted interaction between tanks and walkers
Users are now able to select Ultra FX fidelity
General AI improvements involving better resource and economy handling
Added a readme.txt file for Traditonal Chinese to the root folder

Bug Fixes

Adrenal glands, aspect of banshee, warrior adrenal glands, crippling poison upgrade and battle equipment stat bonuses should no longer fall off when loading into a hold
Fixed tooltips for: Luv Da Dakka, Proximity Mines, Warriors, Heavy Flamer on FC Terminator, Carnifex Venom Cannon
Fixed a positioning bug in 4p Calderis Refinery where players were only able to place one generator at around a specific listening post
Fixed a bug where melee units would not respond if they were overlapping the melee circle of another melee entity
Fixed a bug preventing melee units from automatically attacking vehicles when in melee combat
Fixed a bug causing ranged units to be unresponsive when being attacked by enemy melee units
Fixed a crash caused by casting an ability after changing squads while the game is paused
Fixed a crash caused by HTTP request being in progress when HttpRequest object is destroyed
Fixed a bug involving units standing unresponsive while in melee
Fixed miscellaneous crashes involving squad combat states
Fixed a bug causing grenades to fall through craters
Fixed an issue where the user's Champion status might not contribute to their 'Hail the Champion' achievement
Fixed bug where units would rarely leap after teleporting units they were engaged in melee with
Players that drop during the loading screen no longer show up in the post-game summary screen
Added sound cue when a player drops from a match

Ork Bug Fixes

Fixed problems with Ork sync kill markers and non-looping sync death animations

Eldar Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug where the Banshee warshout ability disappeared if all Banshee units were killed except the squad's Exarch
Removed squad plans on rangers to correct erratic behavior
Fleet of Foot fires simultaneously between Eldar heroes and regular units when both are selected

Space Marine Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug where the Dreadnought's death animation was missing an explosion effect

Tyranid Bug Fixes

Fixed a sound effect issue with the Ravener's burrow ability
Fixed an animation bug involving the Zoanthrope's warpblast
Fixed a bug involving the unreliability of the Hive Tyrant's invulnerability
Fixed a bug where the Ravener hero's burrow ability would break if its energy was too low
Fixed a bug where the Zoanthrope's warpblast would fire regardless if the unit had line of sight of its target
Fixed missing sound for Screamer-Killer ability under some conditions

Each Tyranid is a living weapon, perfectly adapted to its designated function, but each creature is no more than a single cell in a galactic entity governed by a monstrous Hive Mind. As the Tyranid hive fleets drift through space they strip all life from the worlds in their path, leaving nothing but scoured rock in their wake…

Dawn of War II multiplayer will feature four playable races, twelve unique multiplayer heroes, five multiplayer maps, 240 online ranks to achieve, 110 visual armor upgrades, and 90 pieces of hero wargear. Throughout the multiplayer modes, any race combinations can be on the same team.

Game modes:

  • Automatch: All games are victory point win conditions; you can win by victory points or by destroying the enemy base.
    • Head to head
    • 3 vs. 3 team games
  • Custom Games: Custom games can be any size up to 3v3 and can be played on Live or on LAN. Custom games can be played with either victory point or annihilate only win conditions.

…In the war zones of Warhammer 40,000, the Tyranids are instinctive masters of swarm-tactics and close combat. Frequently appearing by the thousands across untold numbers of world, they always outnumber their opponents, a fact that often guarantees their victory. Each Tyranid is equipped with diamond-hard rending claws, razor-sharp teeth, and a variety of other bio-weapons suited to both close quarters fighting and ranged attacks. What’s even more fearsome are the monstrous creatures striding through a Tyranid swarm like Carnifexes and Hive Tyrants, true behemoths who tower over even the largest of tanks and mechanised units. In total, the Tyranids are a cold and brutal opponent to face. Even the best warriors in the galaxy can only hope to stall the Tyranids’ advance.


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