Gregory the Greater Knarloc's Great Quest - Dawn of War: Dark Crusade

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Bahumat: Oct 11, 2012

Obviously, the best solution to robots that can take over machines is Giant Mecha! Mont'ka!

Since we will then have access to Crisis Suits to escort O'Kais, we should roll South and see what terrible horrors the necron will try to kill us with.

# ? Aug 29, 2015 14:42

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# ? Apr 24, 2024 07:20

Stringbean: Aug 6, 2010

The dark crusade map seems so much bigger then the soul storm map. Is the gameplay any different between DC and SS or is it just "play with/out the Sisters"?

edit: mont'ka and south too

# ? Aug 29, 2015 15:03

anilEhilated: Feb 17, 2014; But I say fuck the rain.; Grimey Drawer

SS is running on a later balance patch, for example you only get Broadsides in groups of one in SS and three in DC. There's also some new units in SS, most notably each faction getting a plane.
Of course, SS also suffers from lack of testing and/or optimization, making it run shittily even on today's computers. Overall, the differences are pretty small.

e: Uh, Kauyon and North. I honestly find Mont'ka inferior.

# ? Aug 29, 2015 15:16

Neige: Mar 20, 2006; Pregnant Woman got pepper sprayed and kicked in the stomach? That ugly bitch was asking for it.

An extra vote towards showing the fancy guns of the Mont'Ka, then take the enemy head on by going North

# ? Aug 29, 2015 15:26

Onmi: Jul 12, 2013; If someone says it one more time I'm having Florina show up as a corpse. I'm not even kidding, I was pissed off with people doing that shit back in 2010, and I'm not dealing with it now in 2016.

Stringbean posted:

The dark crusade map seems so much bigger then the soul storm map. Is the gameplay any different between DC and SS or is it just "play with/out the Sisters"?

edit: mont'ka and south too

General fan consensus is the game got progressively worse with each expansion, culminating with Soulstorm being a rushed, buggy piece of crap. Honestly the fun of Dark Crusades campaign in general saves it.

Everything Dark Crusade Did Wrong posted:

First of all, Dark Crusade saw the implementation of what was, without a doubt, one of the worst "fixes" to a problem in gaming history. Having decided that combat was "too lethal" and that shooty units shouldn't be able to chase down and kill fleeing units, Relic introduced a flat change to the fire-on-the-move accuracy of every single unit: 15%. In one stroke, this "Fix" caused dozens of problems. No longer did the likes of Dreadnoughts ever see a weapon upgrade (because doing so would give it a functionally-useless weapon that would never hit as it moved towards close-combat and hindered its melee power to boot), and the weapon immediately made rapid-firing weapons dozens of times better than those that fired slowly, since it was much more likely that they could hit with a few shots than their counterparts. Vehicles and personnel intended to fire on the move (such as Terminators) became functionally useless, whilst the Eldar Fleet of Foot ability became tantamount to godmode (initially it reduced accuracy when activated, but now with the flat 15% fire accuracy, there was no reason not to use it when moving units.

The two new races were broken in half at launch, as well. Necrons required no resources and there existed multiple replays of players winning maps without ever capturing a single strategic point. It was possible for Necrons to go over the pop limit with Resurrection Orb, and the Lightning Field had no actual charge cap, meaning that it could potentially charge forever before discharging a burst of energy that could level a building in one shot. The Tau outranged everything, had no limit on Krootoxes, and had their tech tree lopsided so that one of their two available paths got both available upgrades (something that was never fixed in the patch). The Eldar Harlequin could fire a 10000+damage attack that would kill one unit in a squad, but due to how it was coded, could target and instagib a commander unit that was attached to said squad.

Further RAGE occurred when it became known that the "new" Imperial Guard unit, the Heavy Weapons Team, was revealed to have been in Winter Assault and had not seen use simply because it could not actively target enemies - which it still could not at Dark Crusade's launch. Yet more rage occurred when every single time anyone with anything remotely resembling common sense brought up flamingly stupid mechanics (such as Psykers killing themselves (which could be cancelled, no less) and Psykers breaking their attached squad when using Lightning Arc) were summarily dismissed despite pointing out the obvious (that this was loving stupid).

A patch was promised in short order, but it would be well over 7 months before Relic would eventually patch the game and leave a lot unfixed in the process. Numerous facets that Relic's internal balance team disliked about several other factions (such as the fact that Basilisks were artillery units) caused them to get nerfed, whilst factions that said balance team liked (Eldar) remained untouched despite thousands of complaints about the race being blatantly overpowered. Even after their nerfs, the Necrons and Tau remained hilariously unbalanced. A second patch was promised, but was quietly cancelled and the official site then proceeded to state that a second patch had never been announced.

in comparison to Soulstorm

Everything Soulstorm did Wrong posted:

Hopes were high for Soulstorm. Whilst it was obviously going to have difficulties from the first two games, it was being produced by Iron Lore, which took community input extremely seriously and added a number of new features intended to make the game the most balanced it had been since Vanilla. And in many ways, they succeeded. Balance was considerably improved (the problem with Tau tech remained), A number of problems were fixed, and serious consideration was made to ensure that the two new races - the Dark Eldar and Sisters of Battle - would not fall into the trap of the old. This would be Iron Lore's last produced game, and they wanted it to be a hit.

Unfortunately, Relic and THQ had other plans. The developers were forced by THQ to put in Flying units - something the Dawn of War engine was never designed for, cutting out a lot of units that had been heavily-demanded by fans (Wraithguard, Leman Russ Demolisher, Chaos Dreadnought, Techmarines, Wyrdboyz, etc) in favor of the aforementioned flyers. Said flyers were notoriously buggy, absurdly unbalanced (The Tau Barracuda for example, were capable of leveling a base on their own) or fulfilled a completely unnecessary purpose (Marauder Bomber for Guard when everyone and their grandfather wanted Valkyries, which would have been actually useful considering that bombers were of no purpose when one factored in Basilisks). The budget was slashed repeatedly and the amount of time Iron Lore had was stripped bare, forcing the developers to create a cut-rate campaign that felt like a total rehash. And of course we should not forget the voice actors and scripting that were either so terrible or "good" that they produced 3 famous memes within the WH40K fanbase: "Spehss Mahreens" and "Emprah" as said by Indrick Baldeale and METHUL BAWKSES as said by the Champion of the BAWKS GAWD, all of whom were voiced by Scott loving McNeil (who also brought us Cornholio the Cultist, bringing the total number of memes brought about by this game to at least six). And then, just to add insult to injury, Relic released the game with an earlier beta version of the program which had numerous bugs and balance problems, including a refresh bug for the Dark Eldar Dais Dark Scythe ability, which would cause it to deal thousands of damage and vaporize entire armies.

Still, even on release, the game was very well-received - and then, it happened. 19 hours after the game's initial launch, an infinite resource exploit was uncovered for the Sisters of Battle. By queuing up an upgrade for their listening post and then cancelling it, it was possible to get double the normal resource amount - ergo allowing you to do it rapid-fire for colossal amount of resources very, very quickly along with having infinite faith resource by simply auto-casting a faith ability so in-theory, a simple Celestian squad with a missionary attached could very well turn their durability like those of an Assault Terminator Squad with a Chaplain attached. After initially dismissing this as "not a real bug" and prattling on that players "should be happy with what they've got," a "hotfix" was promised within "one, maybe two weeks."

That one to two weeks turned into a nearly 9-month wait, whilst the game suffered horrendously. The "merit" system which was designed to award players with little collections of in-game multiplayer achievements was completely non-functional not only during this time, but after it. The lobby at launch read: "This is stand-in-news. Replace this with real news," and kept this for 6 our of the 8.65 months it took for the patch to hit. During this time, Automatch was broken and the use of a trainer (The Company of Heroes CheatMod, if anyone cares) allowing players to switch races on the fly and delete enemy buildings ran rampant, destroying anything that remotely remained of the game's competitive multiplayer environment. Smaller bugs and problems kept popping up during the wait: using dance of death would set Eldar players' resources to Zero. Charming an Ethereal with a Deceiver would give the Necron Army billions of hit points per unit. Observers could activate a Dark Eldar player's Soul Powers.

After 8.65 months, there was nothing left. The game was deader than a Sister of Battle at Matt Ward's place. But again, after 8 months of waiting and leaving the game to die, a small shard of hope appeared: the hotfix finally DID arrive which addressed most of the early problems present in the game, including the ability to use trainers in a multiplayer game and most of the SoB/DE bugs, which made the game relatively playable. However, much like how Zelda to the Nintendo Gamecube, it came too late and Soulstorm basically died out as many players just gave up on the game.

Relic had blamed everything from Steam to Gamespy to the black hole at the center of the galaxy for the delays, but everyone and their grandmother knew the full truth: they didn't give a poo poo because they were working on Dawn of War II. After the patch, the game remained broken with a lot left to fix (the Eldar remained blatantly overpowered and there were dozens of smaller problems plaguing each faction - all of which were easily fixed), but Relic was done with it and Dawn of War 2 was here. So if by some Emperor only knows reason you still want to play this game, you better just mod it out.

# ? Aug 29, 2015 15:30

Bahumat: Oct 11, 2012

Now, that being said: If you approached the game's multiplayer with the intent to have fun, then you could have serious fun with it: I had several games of semi-rp multiplayer FFA, where as the Guard player I was being bribed to work for the Dark Gods, then intimidated to help the space mehrines, then 'convinced' to help the Tau with their Greater Good, then manipulated by the eldar, then bribed again to help Chaos.

I had so much resources (from the cap points people gave me) I turtled the crap out of my base set up my basilisks so that I could suppress whoever was annoying me the most at the time, all the while sending random squads led by commissars into enemies to die for my amusement.

Another game involved myself and another eldar player (in a originally competitive game) ending up managing to abuse a specific map by teleporting a bonesinger up a mountain, and somehow being able to build a webway gate up there. Then we proceeded to research our stealth upgrade, bring out armies up onto the mountaintop and stall the game until we got bored of their attempts to snipe us off (and I kept running a bonesinger around to give myself the ability to bring my armies down to cap points and generally be an annoyance).

Eldar were and are stupid: at least the Necron ressurrection orb bug required set-up and planning to abuse.

In short, multiplayer was fun if you didn't take it too seriously and tried to have fun with it. Or played orks, because playing orks is always amusing.

# ? Aug 29, 2015 16:11

Cythereal: Nov 8, 2009; I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

Lord_Magmar posted:

Also I sure hope we get to see the transformation in this map at least because I don't think it's shown up yet and it really is something to behold.

It will. It's scripted, and in my experience leads to a merry round of chase-the-transport-round-a-doodad.

# ? Aug 29, 2015 16:20

Pimpmust: Oct 1, 2008

There's is a bugfix mod/patch for Soulstorm that I'm using now, although I think the biggest step back in the campaign is the lack of good non-stronghold special battlefields (the webgates are... kinda that? Except boring).

# ? Aug 29, 2015 17:48

anilEhilated: Feb 17, 2014; But I say fuck the rain.; Grimey Drawer

Now, the one thing you most likely noticed if you happened to try out the campaign was the fact that LOADING A MAP TOOK THIRTY MINUTES.
I don't think they ever fixed that: now it runs better just because the computers got better.

Also, speaking of DC: two things I won't forget are putting hard caps on just about all specialized units as opposed to balancing them, and removing customization options from a lot of stuff that had it in the original DoW (like tailoring your Predators' arsenal to fit the situation).
e: Oh, and let's not forget how Chaos got shafted in the whole "everyone gets a new unit" thing: their new guy is an alternate form for your commander you get when you unlock all his wargear.

anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Aug 29, 2015

# ? Aug 29, 2015 18:08

Image21: Feb 15, 2012

I think you have to go Monk'ta here for two very specific reasons. Well three but he goes down after awhile. Those two reason just eat infantry don't even try.

# ? Aug 29, 2015 19:44

Iretep: Nov 10, 2009

Decided to try out the bug fix mod for soulstorm. I'm already reduced to tower rushing with IG on hard and the sororitas have a 9 defence map. On turn 4. Not sure if this is because of the AI mod that comes with the mod or if this is just insane bad luck. :negative:

Iretep fucked around with this message at 05:04 on Aug 30, 2015

# ? Aug 30, 2015 05:00

Sally: Jan 9, 2007; Don't post Small Dash!

Quick note: I just want to make sure that anyone choosing Kauyon over Mont'ka, because they're aware of "certain events" later in this map, remember that Crisis Suits count as "infantry".

Also, I forgot some general tips, so i'm gonna post them here'n edit them into my earlier post:

GENERAL STRATEGIES:

Always remember that IT'S A PERFECTLY LEGITIMATE STRATEGY TO RUN AWAY. I mean, there are some pretty sweet epic battles you can get into if you and the enemy get your forces built up enough to reach a maximum state of conflict, but the Dark CrusQuiade campaign can get long and frustrating if this happens for every single attack and defense. Also, as much fun as it can be to get "stuck in with da boyz", letting your AI opponent get to the point where they can field such massive armies lessens your chances of winning. If you find that the enemy is getting the upper hand and you're consistently having difficulty turning it around, it's often better to just quit. Like the Ork saying goes, you can always go back and have another go at it, so it's not like you lost the fight. Quick strikes into a base to take out key structures are far more effective than waiting to amass a throng of soldiers to go toe-to-toe with the enemy armies. To summarize: if you find yourself drowning in enemy soldiers and are unable to make any headway OR are consistently losing ground, it's more cost and time-effective to quit and try again. To add to that--

PRESERVE YOUR HONOUR GUARD. They get expensive, and that requisition can be better spent on fortifying your base defenses on the map screen or saving them for building Forward Bases (if you get that perk). Honestly, the Honour Guard are so powerful that losing them can be a severe blow to a fight. This is why quitting a losing match can be beneficial, as if you quit while your Honour Guard are still alive, they will all be preserved. If they die in the conflict, you'll lose'em, so what's the point? Note that Honour Guard units are unique and have higher stats than Honour Guard vehicles, which really just allow you to start a map with a vehicle.

Quick strikes at an enemy base are always preferable to turtling while you fortify your own defenses. An enemy army is defeated, meaning they are completely wiped out from the map, units, buildings, and capture points, if you destroy their HQ. The AI sometimes tries to mitigate this by building a second HQ, but that usually only occurs if their first one takes a critical amount of damage. So FOCUS ON DESTROYING HQS.

Had the AI relocate its base or set up somewhere else? ALWAYS BE CAPTURING STRATEGIC POINTS and reinforcing them. (This especially helps with Eldar, which can teleport their HQ). If you are stuck looking for the last building to destroy, having strategic points all over the maps help. They provide you with a constant visual glimpse of an area that you can keep an eye on to catch enemy builder units and squads that travel past them. Unenforced strategic points can always be captured, so having Listening Posts upgraded on those points are great in case they're able to kill any stray builder units. Furthermore, Upgraded Listening Posts are always nice if the enemy gets the advantage over you and you need to retreat, as any sort of attacking turret will slow them down. So don't forget to upgrade them! (Particularly if you're playing as the Necron, since Obelisk Posts aren't self-sufficient until at the maximum upgrade).

When fighting each army, SOME BUILDINGS ARE MORE CRITICAL THAN OTHERS. Here's a quick low-down on buildings that you should prioritize as targets when facing against them:

ELDAR - Fuckin' Webway Gates. People who have problems with Eldar buildings teleporting around maps, or shrouding themselves, need to target these structures with a vengeance. They're the little hook-like buildings the Eldar drop all over the place (they're needed for squad/vehicle caps, contain the stealth/teleport upgrades, and for provide area for construction). Destroy any Webway Gate you see. They go down quick and it prevents the Eldar from moving buildings around or cloaking. In fact, if it's becoming a problems, target the Webway Gates before the Eldar HQ. I mean, if you have the firepower, target the HQ first, but if you see the buildings start the teleport process (they start to sparkle), focus all attacks on Webway Gates. Oh, and Webway Gates can also be used to quickly teleport Eldar around the map to other Webway Gates, so, yeah, as if you didn't have enough reasons to target them.
TAU - Tau are kind of unique in that no buildings present any real priority. Barracks and Vehicle Beacons, I suppose, since you don't want to deal with reinforcements--but Tau vehicle reinforcements aren't too big a concern, since if you're in their base far enough to be blowing up buildings, you'll probably be close enough to any newly spawned vehicles to overwhelm their weak defenses before their attacks start doing any real damage. The AI in the campaign is frustrating in that it can and will build Tau Listening Post Turrets all over the base--even though this is not a thing the player can do. This is frustrating since the rail cannon can be pretty damaging. Still, blow up any building as all Tau buildings are necessary for their squad/vehicle cap, so you can potentially thin the attacking army by blowing up even a Command Post or Path of Enlightenment.
SPACE MARINES - Always take out a Machine Cult. Space Marine vehicles have fantastic armour and melee attacks. Taking out a Machine Cult before it can spawn any Dreadnoughts (or worse, tanks) is always preferable to the long-term health of your attack. Also try to take out any Orbital Relays you see. That will prevent the AI from using Orbital Bombardment (and the AI is great at remembering to use Orbital Bombardment), and will also stop them from Deep Striking their infantry amongst your forces.
CHAOS SPACE MARINES - Honestly, more or less the same as the Space Marines. Destroy their Corrupted Machine Cults first. Tanks and Defilers are always frustrating to deal with. Chaos doesn't quite an equivalent to the Orbital Beacon, but the Sacrificial Circle and Daemon Pit allow for Deep Strikes. Sacrificial Circles are less of a problem since Horror Squads are easily overwhelmed, but a Daemon Pit could mean Obliterators, and that would be a problem.
ORKZ - Always be knocking down Waaagh! Banners. They go down easy, so it's a quick time commitment to deprive the Orkz of a necessary resource and it means they have one less turret. Depriving the Orkz of the means of vehicle production is always nice, too. Killz Kans are a pain to put down in the middle of a base siege, and Orkz with a Relic could potentially have a Squiggoth in production.
NECRON - Honestly? Plasma Cores and Obelisks. The Necron don't use requisition, only power, so depriving them of Plasma Cores is a quick way to slow down their army. Yeah, Necron Warriors don't cost anything, but each built squad takes longer to make. You can expect to face one Necron Warrior team in rapid succession, but fielding multiple Necron Warrior squads takes a long time. This is similar with Plasma Cores, as each additional core takes longer to build and costs more Power. Necron are power hungry, so any destroyed Plasma Core will slow down Scarab construction of other potentially dangerous Necron buildings as they'll reprioritize to making new Cores. Taking out Obelisks slows down Scarab build speed, so even a large Necron army can be slowed by keeping their power and build speed low.
IMPERIAL GUARD - Pretty much every Imperial building is dangerous since they add to squad/vehicle caps and can teleport infantry around within them. If you need a high-priority target, though, their means of vehicle production is always the best bet. Imperial vehicles are some of the most dangerous in the game, so preventing the Guard from building them is never a bad thing.

I will point out that, in general, if you see a turret, you should take it out first, Turret damage can quickly add up, but they can't be reinforced like squads, tend to be the frailest of buildings, and take time to repair. Upgraded Listening Posts should also be a concern if they are near a targeted building, but turrets should be destroyed before Listening Posts, since turrets go down faster.

# ? Aug 30, 2015 06:08

Onmi: Jul 12, 2013; If someone says it one more time I'm having Florina show up as a corpse. I'm not even kidding, I was pissed off with people doing that shit back in 2010, and I'm not dealing with it now in 2016.

I am not managing this Necron strong hold well. I've managed to secure up to the first point, but then inevitably I'll be swarmed with the Necron hordes while needing to leave people at base to manage the loving constantly reviving assholes

# ? Aug 30, 2015 06:15

BlazetheInferno: Jun 6, 2015

Interesting note about those Tau Listening Posts - there's a specific reason they get placed like that. As mentioned (and subsequently mocked via Broadside), the Tau do not have a "Stationary turret" building, as other races do. However, when auto-placing a base and structures around the map, the AI always has a few (or perhaps many) turrets scattered around their pre-placed base. With the Tau lacking an actual turret, the designers decided to substitute the next best thing - an upgraded Tau listening post, minus the Strategic Point.

That's why those strategic-point-less listening posts are scattered around the Tau base. They didn't get built after the match started, they were pre-placed there at the start of the match as a substitute for stationary turrets.

# ? Aug 30, 2015 06:41

Onmi: Jul 12, 2013; If someone says it one more time I'm having Florina show up as a corpse. I'm not even kidding, I was pissed off with people doing that shit back in 2010, and I'm not dealing with it now in 2016.

Oh good I got to the final part of the Necron stronghold and then it kicked into overdrive and wiped me the gently caress out. thank goodness for multiple in-mission saves.

gently caress it. I'm just going to run Thule to the victory point, drop an orbital bombardment and then run back out. if I had the teleporter this would take about a minute.

Onmi fucked around with this message at 13:56 on Aug 30, 2015

# ? Aug 30, 2015 13:52

my dad: Oct 17, 2012; this shall be humorous

Rhinos?

# ? Aug 30, 2015 16:26

goatface: Dec 5, 2007; I had a video of that when I was about 6.

I remember it being shit.; Grimey Drawer

Mehtal Bawkses

# ? Aug 30, 2015 16:29

INTJ Mastermind: Dec 30, 2004; It's a radial!

Chaos took the Necron stronghold in my campaign before I had a chance to attack it. What happens if I attack a previously defeated stronghold map held by another race?

# ? Aug 30, 2015 16:31

my dad: Oct 17, 2012; this shall be humorous

INTJ Mastermind posted:

Chaos took the Necron stronghold in my campaign before I had a chance to attack it. What happens if I attack a previously defeated stronghold map held by another race?

A normal battle, sometimes on a different map than usual. For example, you obviously aren't going to fight in the Necron catacombs.

# ? Aug 30, 2015 16:33

Onmi: Jul 12, 2013; If someone says it one more time I'm having Florina show up as a corpse. I'm not even kidding, I was pissed off with people doing that shit back in 2010, and I'm not dealing with it now in 2016.

my dad posted:

Rhinos?

Nope, sprinted him down, attached him to an Assault Terminator squad when he got back to my forward base and hopped back up to the entrance while wagging his massive Daemonhammer at the Nightbringer and his gigantic army.

I lost almost all of my honor guard though, but still most of my provinces have "Literally all the turrets are built outside your base with a forward base at every entrance." which make them hilariously easy to take over.

EDIT: Pictured, the opening to Gorutz's attempt to take back some territory. I'm shocked he managed to set up his base amidst my gun field.

Onmi fucked around with this message at 16:45 on Aug 30, 2015

# ? Aug 30, 2015 16:38

Sally: Jan 9, 2007; Don't post Small Dash!

^^^^^ see? Orkz CAN use stealth! Set up their opening bases without you even noticing.

INTJ Mastermind posted:

Chaos took the Necron stronghold in my campaign before I had a chance to attack it. What happens if I attack a previously defeated stronghold map held by another race?

Necron have a different map, for sure. It's a gigantic sprawl of interconnected catacomb tunnels and is even worse to defend and attack than the Pavonian Heartlands. It's an actual nightmare. Tau play on an empty version of their stronghold map, same with Imperial Guards. I've never had a previously defeated stronghold match in the Space Marines, Eldar, Chaos, or Ork base.

# ? Aug 30, 2015 18:59

BlazetheInferno: Jun 6, 2015

Incidentally, it's the same map you play on if its YOUR stronghold and you get attacked.

Of course, you generally have to sit around doing nothing forever for the AI to actually try it.

# ? Aug 30, 2015 19:22

Onmi: Jul 12, 2013; If someone says it one more time I'm having Florina show up as a corpse. I'm not even kidding, I was pissed off with people doing that shit back in 2010, and I'm not dealing with it now in 2016.

BlazetheInferno posted:

Incidentally, it's the same map you play on if its YOUR stronghold and you get attacked.

Of course, you generally have to sit around doing nothing forever for the AI to actually try it.

It's actually how you speedrun the game. You end turn endlessly until one army is left (hopefully the IG) then you knock them off in 3 maps as the Space Marines using Grey Knights with a Chaplain

EDIT: I'm wondering which base to do next, I don't have the personal teleporter on Thule yet, and the Nekrons are down. I'm right next to the Guard again so I might just wipe Alexander off the map while he's small-time.

Onmi fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Aug 30, 2015

# ? Aug 30, 2015 19:25

Sally: Jan 9, 2007; Don't post Small Dash!

Velius posted:

I've been trying to do an Ork campaign alongside the LP (which is very enjoyable) and none of the plot cutscenes are happening. I'm running Windows 10. Is this a known issue, or do the plot things just only happen with strongholds? I'm really not getting the Gorgutz experience so far and it's making me sad.

Forgot to reply to this, but I'm running this LP on Windows 10, so I don't think the OS is your problem. But yes, plot scenes only happen on Strongholds.

# ? Aug 30, 2015 20:34

Sally: Jan 9, 2007; Don't post Small Dash!

habituallyred posted:

Mont'ka, go North but minimize the damage to those artifacts. When this war is over we want archaeologists all over this planet so we know what to look for next time. And that disintegration technology could be useful for waste management at least.

Necron sympathizer located, O'Kais! Back to re-conditioning and re-education for you, Haa'bit Tuallee'red. Did Macabee send you???

BlazetheInferno posted:

Strike to the north, first - the threat up there is irritating and immediate, and will directly hamper your ability to leave your base with anything that can't cliffjump. The threat to the south on the other hand is, as far as I can tell, completely dormant until you plant the bomb.

As for Kauyon or Mont'ka, I'll say Mont'ka, simply to show off the fun toys it gives you some more. Though be careful with them. People who've played this mission know what I'm talking about.

Maekrix Waere posted:

Its a hard decision between Kauyon and Mont'Ka, but I'm gonna have to go Mont'Ka because the Hammerheads' railguns will be useful against any Monoliths you run into, and the Crisis Suits' jump packs let them have surprising mobility in the twisty caverns.

As for the energy sources, go North for now, and South once you have a force of Crisis Suits with Stealthsuit support.

akulanization posted:

Mont'ka and south just to be contrarian.

Overwhelming support for Mont'ka, but the Cadre is divided on which location to attack first. There is slightly more support for North, but many feel we should split out forces and strike at both.

Then that's what we shall do. The main army will go North and I will lead a small strike team over the cliffs to the South. I'll take the War Council's advice and wait for the Crisis Battlesuit team to be formed. Earth Caste, what's our status?

NEARLY FINISHEd COnSTRUCTION OF POWER CORES. WE BUILT ONE ON TOP OF A TOMB SPYDER IN YOUR HONOUR, SHAS'O.

Heh, very good.

COMMAND post is READY, SHAS'O.

Stealthsuits, Crisis Suits, with me!

Of course.

Shas'o!

Strange architecture the Necron have. Is this the "New" Brutalism?

Heads up! Necron Monolith ahead.

It's nearly fully active! Take it down from afar, don't endanger yourselves.

There, that wasn't so bad.

There are more! It's an entire field of Monoliths!

They're currently inactive, but those batteries are charging. Let's tear them down before they have a chance to come back online--we don't want to have to deal with them on our way back out.

We'll capture this point!

The Monoliths are dust, Shas'o, but this is taking a while.

Vespid Stingwing Elders, join us on the battlefield. We have use for your unique skills.

I see what you want. These Monoliths shall fall before us.

Watch those Gauss Cannons!

This is the biggest defense the Necrons have managed to put up in this area so far.

This is the last one. Hey, I want you to make sure you pay attention to that Crisis Battlesuit in the top left-hand corner of this screenshot.

See that? Crisis Battlesuits are rad in that their targetting optics allow them to fire upon two discrete targets simultaneously. In this case, a Necron Battery and Monolith. Hey, Shas'vre, you having any trouble there?

None at all. Such things are child's play.

Shas'o, we found something.

Hmm. Sensors indicate no activity from that tunnel opening. If we can find another access, we can move troops through them.

That's it, Shas'o. We've taken the Monolith field with minimal resistance. No major losses to report for our team.

Excellent, let's check in with the Main Force Battlegroup. Strike Command to Main Force, what is your status?

Status is green, Strike Command. We ran out of space on the plateau to construct a Vehicle Beacon, but we believe we can manage on foot. We trust our leadership.

Aww, that's very kind! Flattery will get you everywhere, you know.

He is speaking about me, O'Kais.

Aun'el? What a pleasant surprise.

I figured that if I made an appearance on the battlefield, you'd be less likely to sacrifice yourself in some suicide run.

That's probably true, but Necron resistance has been light. I'm confident I can deliver the bomb and escape without trouble.

Nevertheless, I am here now. I shall assist by leading the Main Force.

Of course.

Pathfinders, scout ahead. Locate the source of that vile energy.

Aun'el!

Uhh, what are those?

Attack Scarabs. Generated by Tomb Spyders at a cost to their own health. They're quick and can create large swarms. Very fragile, and don't pose much threat to infantry. They can quickly overwhelm vehicles, though, and are efficient at demolishing buildings.

They're done. We think we've located the source of the energy, too.

It appears to be some sort of tower. There are deactivated Necron around it.

I think it just turned on.

Are you reading this, O'Kais?

I am. Sensors are picking up strange energies emitting from that structure. Their signature matches the energies used by the Necron Lord. That beacon must be a fearsome weapon. Destroy it before it reaches full power.

Uh oh, they reactivated!

Shut them down again!

Interesting. One of the Necron Lord's many abilities can revive broken Necron units on the battlefield. It seems this tower does the same, generating a field that resurrects all nearby fallen Necron. We must destroy it. If it manages to reach full capacity, it could resurrect all fallen Necron across the catacombs!

We are deathless, interlopers. Under the shadow of the Beacon of Unlife, the fallen rise again.

"Beacon of Unlife"? That's a stupid name. Did you come up with that on your own, or is that what the Necron Lord calls it? Oh right, the Necron Lord can't talk. That name is your own idiot invention.

You have no flair for words, O'Kais. You always were a charlatan.

You know what? Let's not leave this to chance. This is Aun'el requesting an orbital strike from the Air Caste.

We read you, Aun'el, but, uh, not sure if we can comply with your request. You do realize you're underground, yes?

I am well aware.

...and?

And I expect you to follow orders. Fire up your cannons, blast through the earth if you have to! We are Tau, our weapons are peerless!

B-but--

I've sent you the coordinates, get blasting!

Of course, Aun'el.

Coordinates locked, commencing orbital strike.

A perfect hit!

The tower! Something's happening to it.

Kroot and Tau win again.

Oh, come on!

Aun'el, Shas'o, there is a second tunnel entrance just beyond that tower.

Another access to the abandoned tunnels? Good, we can move troops through there.

There are two active tunnels by that strategic point. Eliminate all Necron resistance and take that point!

I hunger, Shaper. These Necron are inedible.

They are not true food, but mere golems. Do not despair. At least they are not like those abominations, the Tyranid.

Yech. The most foul and tasteless of all beings.

How fare you, O'Kais, any changes?

A couple of Macabee's personal minions showed up reciting bad poetry. Really moody stuff. It's overwrought garbage.

We came up with a game to play with them. See, first we knock them flat on their asses. The we wait for them to stand back up--

--and then we disintegrate them, along with their half-baked couplets!

This pleases me. Meanwhile, we have secured the strategic point and will prevent these tunnels from being used by the Necron as an attack point. Our Earth Caste Drones have also set up some Vehicle Beacons. Hammerhead Gunships and Drone Squads are en route to our location.

I just want it on record, that the Air Caste does not enjoy flying into these catacombs to drop off vehicle parts.

Duly noted.

Aun'el, O'Kais, we need to plan the next step of our incursion. Allow me to present our possible routes:

First of all, note the yellow line. That marks the path of the abandoned tunnels we have secured. If you wish, O'Kais, we can move forces between the South and North with relative ease. The tunnels aren't massive, though, so don't expect anything too large to fit through them. They will be invaluable for our infantry, though.

O'Kais, your southern Strike Force has a number of options. You could head towards the Relic in the centre of the catacombs. Capturing that would allow the Kroot to bring in a Greater Knarloc. We are also en route to strike at another Necron energy source. We can easily make our way to the western-most energy source, or even to the southern-most source. The choice is yours.

Aun'el, you can likewise take the northern Main Force to the Relic, or you could take it to the northern-most energy-source. Going north would also allow us the opportunity to take the Slag Deposit from the Necron.

Note: we do not have to keep our forces divided. You can reunite them through the abandoned tunnels, or even have them meet at the Relic. There are many possibilities.

Understood. I shall let the War Council decide where I shall take the Main Force.

As always, I defer to the War Council. Where do you want the Strike Force?

# ? Aug 30, 2015 23:46

The Lone Badger: Sep 24, 2007

Let's take that relic and trample the necron under our feet.

# ? Aug 30, 2015 23:54

bunnyofdoom: Mar 29, 2008; Jaxxon: Still not the stupidest thing from the expanded universe.

Main force hit the slag, strike force hit the relic, if for no other reason than to deny it to the Necrons.

# ? Aug 30, 2015 23:58

Luhood: Nov 13, 2012

Shas'O, Aun'El, if I may make a suggestion? We can't forget our ultimate mission just for the sake of wiping out the Necrons, for remember: There is no true way of wiping out the Necrons. As long as they're able they keep rising up. Hence we should ignore the southern post and make due for the innermost point post-haste, to drop of the payload and seal these things down here in the dark.

Therefore I say our Aun'El should take his forces and take out the Northern-most post while our Shas'O takes out their Western-most post. After that I'd suggest meeting up to take the Relic before heading for the true objective, ultimately ignoring and at most defending against the southern post.

# ? Aug 31, 2015 00:09

Lynneth: Sep 13, 2011

bunnyofdoom posted:

Main force hit the slag, strike force hit the relic, if for no other reason than to deny it to the Necrons.

What this man said is good.

# ? Aug 31, 2015 00:15

my dad: Oct 17, 2012; this shall be humorous

Far North, Far South, envelop the Necrons!

# ? Aug 31, 2015 00:18

Theantero: Nov 6, 2011; ...We danced the Mamushka while Nero fiddled, we danced the Mamushka at Waterloo. We danced the Mamushka for Jack the Ripper, and now, Fester Addams, this Mamushka is for you....

Take the relic to prove that space dinosaurs beat space robots.

# ? Aug 31, 2015 00:47

Dr. Snark: Oct 15, 2012; I'M SORRY, OK!? I admit I've made some mistakes, and Jones has clearly paid for them.
...
But ma'am! Jones' only crime was looking at the wrong files!
...
I beg of you, don't ship away Jones, he has a wife and kids!

-United Nations Intelligence Service

bunnyofdoom posted:

Main force hit the slag, strike force hit the relic, if for no other reason than to deny it to the Necrons.

This is a good plan, because we're going to need that relic in short order.

# ? Aug 31, 2015 00:53

Onmi: Jul 12, 2013; If someone says it one more time I'm having Florina show up as a corpse. I'm not even kidding, I was pissed off with people doing that shit back in 2010, and I'm not dealing with it now in 2016.

Question... can those necrons build more towers, or is the Titanium Wars version of this map just complete bullshit? Because in the Titanium Wars version of the map They had 3 Beacons of the Deciever in the field on monoliths cloaking everything. There was a lot of loving cloaking going on, and the Space Marines do NOT have a good way to fight invisible foes.

I just wish to know if this is expected or a case of "Modders going to Mod"

# ? Aug 31, 2015 02:44

Cythereal: Nov 8, 2009; I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

Onmi posted:

Question... can those necrons build more towers, or is the Titanium Wars version of this map just complete bullshit? Because in the Titanium Wars version of the map They had 3 Beacons of the Deciever in the field on monoliths cloaking everything. There was a lot of loving cloaking going on, and the Space Marines do NOT have a good way to fight invisible foes.

I just wish to know if this is expected or a case of "Modders going to Mod"

It's modders. Normally, there's one beacon of each and they do not get rebuilt. The Necron stronghold, if you can weather the opening, is normally pretty easy for a stronghold as long as you're thorough and hit every secondary objective before going after the main target.

# ? Aug 31, 2015 02:53

Sally: Jan 9, 2007; Don't post Small Dash!

Ha, yeah, that's not in the base game. This Titanium Wars sounds interesting. I think I'll check it out after I finish the LP proper...

# ? Aug 31, 2015 03:58

Onmi: Jul 12, 2013; If someone says it one more time I'm having Florina show up as a corpse. I'm not even kidding, I was pissed off with people doing that shit back in 2010, and I'm not dealing with it now in 2016.

Blind Sally posted:

Ha, yeah, that's not in the base game. This Titanium Wars sounds interesting. I think I'll check it out after I finish the LP proper...

I'm mostly okay with the stuff it brings to the table, but yeah the Stronghold was just... a nightmare. the majority of it was spent slowly crawling forward with Terminators, Devastators and Tactical Marines setting up a kill-field of plasma and assault cannons, slowly crawling through the tunnels with Whirlwind support. Also they change the way Honorguards work, they can be reinforced and upgraded.

# ? Aug 31, 2015 04:10

kvx687: Dec 29, 2009; Soiled Meat

Onmi posted:

Question... can those necrons build more towers, or is the Titanium Wars version of this map just complete bullshit? Because in the Titanium Wars version of the map They had 3 Beacons of the Deciever in the field on monoliths cloaking everything. There was a lot of loving cloaking going on, and the Space Marines do NOT have a good way to fight invisible foes.

I just wish to know if this is expected or a case of "Modders going to Mod"

Hm. Did the modder change something related to stealth as well? I mean, yeah, the Space Marines have probably the second-worst detection ability in the game, but the Necrons have the worst, and it's pretty trivial to upgrade your skull servos to be infiltrated, at which point they might as well be invincible unless there's gauss turrets around. I don't think they automatically degrade in this game either.

# ? Aug 31, 2015 06:35

Onmi: Jul 12, 2013; If someone says it one more time I'm having Florina show up as a corpse. I'm not even kidding, I was pissed off with people doing that shit back in 2010, and I'm not dealing with it now in 2016.

kvx687 posted:

Hm. Did the modder change something related to stealth as well? I mean, yeah, the Space Marines have probably the second-worst detection ability in the game, but the Necrons have the worst, and it's pretty trivial to upgrade your skull servos to be infiltrated, at which point they might as well be invincible unless there's gauss turrets around. I don't think they automatically degrade in this game either.

Wraiths can detect infiltrated units.

They also gave Scout Sergants the ability to use a Voxcaster ability that's supposed to reveal infiltrated units, but in practice is so short range I've never found anything with it. Detecting stealth as the Space Marines is pure hell, especially against Eldar who can stealth every building seemingly for free, and obviously the gimmick of the Necron stronghold we're thinking of being spammed more often makes it hell to fight.

For those who don't know, the only units the Space Marines have that can break stealth are the Skull Servo's, with no offensive capability and take up a spot in your squad better reserved for the apothacary, and the Librarian, a hero unit. You would think that their scouts, who are pretty pathetic all around, would at least be able to SCOUT infiltrated units, but nope.

Onmi fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Aug 31, 2015

# ? Aug 31, 2015 06:40

Veloxyll: May 3, 2011; Fuck you say?!

kvx687 posted:

Hm. Did the modder change something related to stealth as well? I mean, yeah, the Space Marines have probably the second-worst detection ability in the game, but the Necrons have the worst, and it's pretty trivial to upgrade your skull servos to be infiltrated, at which point they might as well be invincible unless there's gauss turrets around. I don't think they automatically degrade in this game either.

Pretty sure that's Orks. Unless I;ve forgotten a detector all Orks get is Gorgutz+ Mek.

Stealth with no detectors is REALLY obnoxious.

# ? Aug 31, 2015 06:42

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# ? Apr 24, 2024 07:20

Sally: Jan 9, 2007; Don't post Small Dash!

Veloxyll posted:

Pretty sure that's Orks. Unless I;ve forgotten a detector all Orks get is Gorgutz+ Mek.

Stealth with no detectors is REALLY obnoxious.

Mega Armoured Nobz, too.

# ? Aug 31, 2015 06:44

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Gregory the Greater Knarloc's Great Quest - Dawn of War: Dark Crusade

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