Hi all,

Don't know if you've already aware of this but just saw a thoroughly awesome E3 video teaser for DW2. Hopefully I got the link below right but in any case its on the official DW2 website. Enjoy!

http://www.dawnofwar2.com/us/videos#/video?id=2&size=lg

That looks pretty awesome to me. Only suggestion is perhaps to have full length greaves for the lower legs rather than just the Knee Pads (they look abit 'skateboardish' !) I seem to remember some of my old models had those and I think they'd go well.

How essential are the NPC's to the core of the game? Are they important for balancing reasons or more for 'atmosphere' like the thunderhawk spawning system? As Typheron said AI is bloody hard (it's often the big stumbling block in many commerical games). If it's not vital for game balance maybe it would be worth dropping the AI controlled characters from the initial release. You could always try to add them in later once the core is finished. It might be easier once the basic mod is released as you could devote more time to that one problem. Same goes with the thunderhawk type spawning. Just a suggestion.

Damn it. It looks like I might have to reinstall that god awful Steam and the less awful half-life 2 so I can give this mod ago when it's released!

I think I agree with Reaper. Obviously having a functional SDK for the team is important but I wouldn't worry so much about releasing it to the public until after the mod has been released. Whist the team has internal testing to get a good feel for how the mods going to play third party mappers won't have this experience until release. I believe that without this you can't really set about creating decent community maps.

any chance of having the movie in something other than crappy avi

Hi all,

I have fresh queries, this time about the maps. I recall reading somewhere that the general theme was going to be an urban based conflict. While all Imperial buildings are going to be similar no matter what planet they're on (grim, gothic and foreboding springs to mind!), the Imperium is a big place and different systems can have wildly different local architecture. Can anyone tell me what kind of theme is being aimed for in Exterminatus? From the few screen shots I've seen it appears to be a kind of dirty industrial look.

It's looking pretty good. Just a quick question - are those test maps? Only ask because the browny/red map is abit, well, browny/red And the Tyranids seem to be the same kind of browny/red. It makes the level look alittle bland - kind of like the old quake maps. Need more contrast! Oh and I suppose technically browny/red is actually called orange. Come on stupid brain start working properly.

I really like the idea of excess points going towards the team. It would probably benefit those players that join abit later in the round, allowing them to compete on a similar level to the other players how already have the good stuff. I can see it not going to well with certain elements of the online community (CS:S players I'm looking in your direction), but then maybe it will keep them away! Good for me, good for the community but not necessarily good for the mod as a whole.

You really need to see it in action to properly assess whether it's too difficult to spot or not, ideally with other visible models running around blasting stuff to distract you. Hmm, I'm just stating the obvious aren't I I like it though. Reminds me abit of Predators from Alien vs Predator. Hopefully the balancing will be better than AVP though!

Hi all,

It's been a couple of months since I last checked out this mod so I thought I'd have a quick peek to see how it's progressing. The new models look quite nice. Am I right in thinking that the Marines will now get AI planetary defence forces?

Is there an estimate for how long it'll be before something playable is up and running? Erm that's it really.

Thanks,
Deadmeat

What about the Space Marines rather spiffing power armour? That should provide quite significant protection against some attacks (fleshborers for example).

I didn't say boltguns were conventional weapons, I said the theory behind the use of semi-auto and full-auto modes of fire would be the same as modern weapons.

Personally I think the fluff about the bolter being complex and unreliable is ridiculous - what the hell is so complex about it? All the bolter itself does is trigger the propellent within the shell casing to launch the bolt from the barrel, after which the bolts own propellent ignites. It's the ammunition that is complex, expensive and difficult to manufacture.

I always think of the bolter as having both a semi-automatic and full-automatic fire modes, using a principle similar to modern day assault rifles - for most situations the weapon is used in semi-auto because it's easier to control, allows for greater accuracy and conserves ammunition. It's only at really close ranges, often in built up areas where Line Of Sight is very limited where the greater firepower of a fully automatic weapon really pays off. I don't see the bolters automatic rate of fire being especially high though, prehaps 4-6 bolts per second (compared to about 8 rounds per second for a WWII SMG).

I guess there's some kind of mimimum pressure / mass increase necessary to activate the detonator. If a bolt  was shot into water it wouldn't detonate until it reached a depth at which the pressure would be sufficient to cause it to explode. I'm not sure how well the rocket propellent would work under water though.