This will be my workbook post. Here, I'll try to play around with the text controls. Notice that the fonts here are of different sizes. The rule, I think, is to put down all the text first before performing doodads.
If anyone has noticed, I've deleted my previous post - it's got too much endemic errors to make me let it live longer. The presentation of the topic is also botched - I was explaining the features of a particular side of an RTS game to a reader who probably hasn't played it yet.
I shall rectify that error now.
Dawn of War Basics
Controls and Gameplay
Dawn of War is a real-time strategy (RTS) game. Unlike chess, where each side takes turns, one after the other, in RTS games the sides perform their actions simultaneously, thus creating a sense of excitement as to who can outsmart who faster.
DoW is a point and click game - you select units and structures with your mouse, and click on some buttons on the game screen to give them commands, or on the map to give them orders. No keyboard-pounding action here, I'm afraid. :)
It's a war simulation - you gather resources, build up the necessary production facilities, gather an army, and try to conquer your opponent with it. All in all, a regular RTS pattern - gather, build, and attack.
Distinguishing Features
There are two resources involved in creating an army - Requisition points and Power. Requisition points are gathered by capturing Strategic Points, Critical Points and Relics. Power can be obtained from Generators. Capturing key areas and building Generators increase the rate at which these resources trickle into your reserves.
DoW offers a twist in army management - squads. Infantry are requisitioned in squads of 1-5 units to start with, and can be commanded to recruit more members to increase a squad's capability. This recruitment can be done even in the middle of combat! Squads need not be monotonous - some members of a squad may be assigned different weapons from their comrades (as in a real-life army), and squad leaders may be assigned to them to improve their performance. Lastly, there are some infantry units that do not come in squads when they are created, but may join a squad, increasing their survival chances.
This is because squads take damage as a whole - the damage is distributed evenly to all members, as opposed to direct damage when attacking a unit that is acting alone, i.e., a vehicle. In the crudest terms, a squad is a meat shield for special infantry units, who more often than not are support units like medics or powerful attack units. The more members the meat shield has, the better.
Vehicles also can be tweaked - a Predator tank, for example, may exchange its main artillery gun for a laser cannon, in the same manner that a squad may be assigned weapons to deal with various situations. This customization to the point of twinkiness is a direct translation of the War Hammer 40,000 tabletop miniature game into the PC-RTS format (The minis game is turn-based.). The point-value limit of the tabletop game has been replaced with a Squad and Vehicle cap, which prevents massive rushes of generic troops to drown the enemy. Quantity is good, but quality is too. A 16-Ork attack force equipped only with axes and pistols is going to flounder when faced with an Eldar hovertank. An 8-strong Space Marine Squad, half of which are carrying Missile Launchers, with an Apothecary to heal wounds and a Sergeant with a Plasma Gun will take said hovertank down with only minor casualties.
It seems that researching upgrades for your units is a must for any strategy game that wishes to score in the market. It stands to reason - it is easier to maintain a small body of well-armed troops than a horde of spear-wielding peasants. DoW is not without this requisite, which is a trend that Blizzard's games started - if you don't research and upgrade, you die. Upgrades come in the form of extra weapons, special abilities, or in passive bonuses (say, to each unit's health).
My task here is done. Hopefully, I can move on to the wonderfully biased unit descriptions in my next posts.
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