The War hammer 40k games....... some questions

[Nouw]

Now from a fanboy this may be sound biased but it is one of the most goddamn awesome RTSs known to man-kind. This is a unique experience you won't find, especially in Starcraft. Answering your three questions, there are a total of 6 Dawn of War Games. Dawn of War 1 w/ expansions Winter Assault, Dark Crusade and Soul Storm. Dawn of War 2 w/ expansions Chaos Rising and Retribution. Most of them are a blast to play. And comparing it to Starcraft wouldn't be fair since the style of gameplay is very different. Avoid SoulStorm if you don't want to waste money but since more mods are coming out for it, it may be worth a try.

-You gain resources via capturing points for starters, not from mining. And that's not even the case for some races. The Orks gain resources by fighting and Necrons by adding pillars of some sort.

-The battles are one of the most brutal I've seen in strategy gaming, forget the shooting animations units throw at each other. In Dawn of War, the units can go up close and personal. Exchanging slashes and blows. And if that wasn't awesome enough, the sync-kills [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRiU2N03Rzs] will blow your mind.

-Campaigns are entertaining enough to be played in the style of Total War. If you get your hands on SoulStorm, a laugh is guaranteed.

-Skirmishes made this game what it is for me. Those long gruesome battles with friendly and enemy AIs made it so much fun.

-Mods. Did I mention the mods? There are hundreds of mods from the big ones (Firestorm over Kronus) to the skins (since this game has an Army Painter, people usually create their own custom banners and symbols.)

/fanboy-ism.

ohhhhh...now that DOES sound pretty cool

can it stand up without multiplayer?

I loved this game without even using the multiplayer. The beauty for me lied in the long, epic skirmishes with AIs.

Then again I was a youngster so playing with friends is your best bet.

 

[Switchblade1080]

6.) Unlike Starcraft II, you will see every scratch of detail in a gritty atmosphere. sawing guts, still living bodies impaled by painful pointy weapons, armies getting bludgeoned by a rampaging giant...

ohhhhh...now that DOES sound pretty cool

can it stand up without multiplayer?

This mod can stand up without multiplayer...Single player skirmishes are STILL fun with this mod

http://www.moddb.com/mods/purgation-of-kaurava
It requires Soulstorm, but you won't regret getting it...

Here's an ingame video/tribute of what the physics and gore are like in Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising (Standalone Expansion pack; I recommend Retribution though)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMYeTnB8QX8&feature=related

EDIT - BEHOLD!! THE ARMY OF ELFEN LIED!!!

Spoiler

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

2. Both are well worth the money, but I personally prefer the first to the second.

Except soulstorm. Unless you want to laugh at the awful voice acting.

Part of the charm, really.

No...no. You're right, it was godawful.

Soulstorm had so many bugs I thought the Tyranids were a secret invisible race.

 

[Switchblade1080]

There is SSpro though . A balance mod that does a fuckton of bugfixes and balancing....

 

[Riddle78]

There was a little heard of FPS Warhammer 40K game released for the PS2. Fire Warrior. You play as a Tau Fire Warrior (duh) throughout the game. It's been FOREVER since I played,but I remember solid gameplay. Srsly. If you don't wanna play a Warhammer 40K RTS,get Fire Warrior if you can.

 

[Grufflenark]

The first post answered most questions.

But don't buy Soulstorm even if you want all races.
Soulstorm is just..
Terrible..

 

[Inkvizitorius]

Dawn of war. If you want try campaing, try first and expansion, winter assault. But be warned: game is pretty dated. But for mechanics, go for soulstorm and jump into skirmish. You will be shocked from variety of races that game has. And they are not copy's of each others, every single one plays very differently from another.


Original dawn of war 2 campaing is more grind feast. I wouldn't recomend it for trying. Go for expansion- chaos rising. It has a most solid campaing, but for multiplayer, you must buy another expansion- retribution. Single player and multi player is completely different games! And I would strongly reccomend to try it, but be warned: multi player is extremely unforgiving to new players. In this game, even much more expensive units, can be easely beaten by foes, who they supposed to counter in the first place!