In Dominus, choose to control a force of Titans from the loyalist Legions of Astorum (Warp Runners), Gryphonicus (War Griffons), Crucius (Warmongers) or Osedax (The Cockatrices), or choose from the traitorous Chaos Legions of Mortis (Death Heads), Vulcanum (Dark Fire), Damnosus (Lords of Ruin) and Fureans (Tiger Eyes).

Utilising the tabletop Titan Legion rules system as its foundation, Dominus features an easy-to-play yet deep strategic and tactical experience via its streamlined command system, which sees you and your opponent giving turn-based activation orders to your Titans simultaneously, resulting in fast-paced battles. It successfully marries this strategic play with in-game cut scenes as the gargantuan Titans exchange volleys of cannon shots, blistering laser blasts and other epic, super-powered weapons of the far off future!

While luck will play a part as you trade blows with your foe on the futuristic battlefields of the 41st Millennium, your path to victory lies in your army list building and how you manoeuvre your units upon the battlefield. As a commander, you will have access to the most classic, iconic Titan units from the Warhammer 40,000 universe: Warhounds, Reavers and the gigantic Warlord, for both the Imperial and Chaos factions. Each of these Titans will have multiple variants available, featuring different weapon configurations, thereby enabling your Titans to fulfil the battlefield role your strategy demands.

Adeptus Titanicus: Dominus will feature a "living battlefield" that employs unit and battlefield animations to show players the Warhammer 40,000 universe they know and love.

We're getting close to releasing the first Major Update to Adeptus Titanicus: Dominus

Total Overhaul of the Battlefields

We have completely redone the first three battlefields for this update. In response to feedback received about the look and feel of the battlefields, Glenn has painstakingly recreated each of the three existing maps to improve and extend Dominus' aesthetics—in doing so, he has also set a new, much higher bar, from which all the battlefields yet to come will likewise benefit. This has taken Glenn a LOT of time, but we think you will agree the new maps were worth the wait when you play on them.

Optimisations and Performance Improvements

Glenn and I have done a lot of work to improve the game's overall performance, which will particularly benefit those of you playing on older hardware.

This has been achieved in several ways, but most notably by implementing Unity's level of detail (LOD) system. In the new build, building models will increase in details as you get closer, but the trade-off is that there may be some visible changes now and then as buildings transition. This will be more noticeable on some battlefields than on others, depending on lighting, but is hopefully not too noticeable or jarring—and we think it's worth the trade-off, anyway, as this technique will also allow us to add EVEN MORE DESTRUCTIBLE BUILDINGS!

Glenn has already started planning his first Dense Urban battlefield, which is something many of you have requested—and we have wanted to do!—so Glenn and I are pretty pumped for that.

Cinematic Mode

We have added a new Cinematic Mode (which will be turned on by default, but can be turned off if you don't like it) that selects pseudo-random camera positions around the Titans as they execute their orders.

Stress

The first Major Update brings in the new Stress mechanic, which fans of the 6mm tabletop game will recognise as stemming from the "blast markers" rules. Stress adds a new strategic layer to the game, as you will need to manage how much stress individual Titans are suffering. Here's how it works.

As a battle progresses, your war engines will suffer Stress from the strain that enemy attacks put on the god-machines and their crews. Your Titans can each suffer Stress equal to their starting Damage Capacity, and a new Stress meter/status bar will appear above your other bars (Void Shields and Damage) so you can see at a glance how much Stress your engines are coping with—or not coping with!

Each enemy attack will add to your Stress meter, regardless of whether or not damage was done—as Stress captures everything from the physical to the mental—and any actual damage done further adds to the Stress meter. When the Stress meter hits 100%, the war engine will temporarily shut down, becoming completely ineffectual—in game terms, this means that if it has not already been activated that turn, it will be set activated.

At the end of each turn, in the End Phase, each Titan will shed just over half the Stress it is carrying and return to a fighting stance, so Titans that were forced to shut down in the previous turn will return to active duty in the new turn.

Close Combat

We have added the 4th Edition's Close Combat mechanics, along with the first close combat weapon system—the Reaver Power Fist!

Close combat is a MASSIVE game-changer for Dominus. All princeps will have the option of going in for "hand to hand" combat when they find themselves in close-quarters battles, whether armed with close combat weaponry or not, but those crews that have selected close combat weapons for their Titans will RELISH IT and actively seek it out upon field of battle!

Close Combat is DECISIVE—meaning it's frequently deadly. Close combat occurs inside of the Titans' void shields, which means any damage done completely bypasses the combatant's shields, hitting the armour directly.

In an assault, Titans armed with close combat weaponry will have a massive advantage over those without. For example, the Reaver's new Power Fist weapon system is adding THREE EXTRA HITS in any close combat (over and above the Reaver's standard six hits—standard hits are equal to the Titan's starting Damage Capacity) and the Power Fist's extra hits are all TITAN KILLER hits, each of which can do up to THREE DAMAGE with NO ARMOUR SAVES! As you can probably appreciate, even just one Power Fist turns your average Reaver into a close-quarters killing engine—and you can have TWO OF THEM if you're happy to forego most of your ranged shooting capability!

That's the trade-off, of course: carrying more punchy weapons means taking less shooty weaponry—it's up to you to decide what these new close combat weapons are worth to you, and whether or not you want to bring them for your battles.

It's also important to understand that close combat occurs both ways—the engaging Titan will hit its enemy and the enemy will hit it back! This differentiates close combat from normal shooting attacks, where the enemy does not shoot back within the activation (unless it was on Overwatch).

The Future

We hope you agree there is plenty to look forward to in the first Major Update, but of course that's not where the story of Adeptus Titanicus: Dominus' development ends. There's a LOT more to look forward to as Dominus comes together, most notably new environments, new weapon systems, new variants, and of course the single-player campaign!

Adeptus Titanicus: Dominus is now available on Steam Early Access for just US$9.99