There is only War und sein Nachfolger [Aktuell: Penny Arcade Expo 2009]

With the recent release of our Dawn of War II World Builder, a flurry of map creation has been going on in the community. In addition to brand new maps, several long time fans of the game have recreated their favorite maps from the original Dawn of War game, and Sturmtruppen has been contacting map makers to include them in a map pack for DOW II. The map pack currently contains twenty-seven maps from various authors and is available for download from FileFront, and playing on them is a very simple process of running the installer and then firing up the game. Thanks very much for all your work Sturm, and to all of the map makers involved.

Relic Designer Sacha Narine was checking out the map pack on the weekend and posted some tips for map makers in the thread that everyone might benefit from. If you’re going to try your hand at map making, give them a read! He’s logged more than a few hours in the World Builder.

What is SCAR? It stands for Scripting at Relic and is a term we use when talking about the lua-based scripting language that is used to create our scenarios and other game rules. Today we’re making our SCAR documentation for Dawn of War II available for fans that are interested in modifying the game. Combined with our recently released World Builder, this documentation gives fans that are willing to put in some time and effort the tools to modify the game in some very significant ways or create something quite new.

As part of releasing the DOW II SCAR documentation, we have also opened a Modding Forum here on our community site to give players a place to share
their ideas and experience with SCAR and modifying the game. We’re very excited to see what the modding community comes up with!

Links:
Download DOW II SCAR Doc
Mods Forum
World Builder Forums

Observer Feature

We’ve added new observer and referee options to let spectators watch multiplayer battles and see the status of all players from a neutral perspective.

Retuned PvP Balance

We’ve also introduced a massive balance update to Dawn of War II’s multiplayer by retuning and diversifying unit roles, adding new abilities, and fixing many bugs and exploits. The balance update has been a result of our continued dedication to supporting Dawn of War II and the enormous amount of feedback received from our community during our ‘There is Only War’ beta in early July.

New Maps

‘There is Only War’ adds eight new maps to Dawn of War II, increasing the total map count to eighteen. The update also comes with the official release of World Builder, the Dawn of War II map editor. Now fans can create their own custom maps and wage war on community-created battlefields.

The full release of ‘There is Only War’ is almost here. The Update has evolved and expanded from its first inception to its final release to become Dawn of War II’s best update yet.

World Builder
• Added the World Builder how-to guide to the root directory
• Fixed a bug where adding a horizon-mesh would cause World Builder to crash

Observer Feature
• Pressing ESC now gets rid of the observer/replay attention arrow. If a unit is selected and an arrow is present, pressing ESC deselects the units. Pressing it again removes the arrow
• Selecting the HQ displays the player’s current tech tier

Balance Changes

Tyranid Balance Changes
• The Ravener Alpha’s Hardened Carapace grants 100 health
• Both Carnifexes cannot be repaired
• Sporemine durability vs. small arms increased from 60 to 150 hp
• Screamer Killer Venom Cannon damage increased to 75 from 55 and removes the Spore Cysts ability
• Tier 2 Carnifex damage increased from 200 to 250
• Zoanthrope damage increased from 70 to 80, energy cost reduction on Focus Blast from 80 to 65
• Termagant damage increase on Toxin Sacs upgrade from 1.2 to 1.35
• Tyranid Warriors’ hitpoints increased from 320 to 360, Barbed Strangler damage decreased to 45 from 60
• Hive Tyrant’s Venom Cannon damage decreased from 75 to 55

Ork Balance Changes
• Slugga Nob damage reduced to 85, Nob Squad Choppa damage increased to 100
• The Kommando knife no longer refunds energy and resets cooldown after killing a target
• Warboss’ big stomp radius UI was changed to 10 m
• Warboss’ Kustom Shoota can now fire on the move
• Warboss’ Angry Bits health regeneration lowered from 1.5 to 1, cooldown from 15 seconds to 30
• Tankbusta population cost lowered 4 to 3
• Slugga Nob Leader damage lowered (due to accidental buff)
• Warboss Stomp damage lowered 40 to 30
• Kommando Nob Leader’s hammer damage increased 100 to 175
• Slugga damage increased to 25

Space Marine Balance Changes
• Scouts can now repair while using a sniper rifle
• Set the Apothecary’s Rapid Fire ability to no longer knockback retreating units
• Force Commander with Terminator Armor now has a Cleansing Flame ability on his heavy flamer (costs 50 energy)
• Purification Rights damage decreased from 30 to 15
• Relay Beacon health regeneration rate decreased .4 to .15
• Force Commander’s hitpoints increased from 720 to 820
• Tactical Marine bolter damage decreased to 25
• Tactical marine melee damage reduced from 22 to 19

Eldar Balance Changes
• Purification rites no longer affects retreating units
• Spiritual rites radius UI was changed to 15m
• The Fire Prism’s explosive shot no longer affects retreating units
• Warpspider squad member hitpoints slightly reduced from 200 to 160, Exarchs from 240 to 200
• Fire Prism’s Focus Beam cooldown reduced from 4.5 to 3 seconds
• Debuff removed from Immolator
• Warp Spider Exarch’s Improved Targets are moved to tier 1
• Banshee’s damage increased to 35 from 33

General Balance Changes
• Zeal/Biomass/Psychic Might/Waaagh! amount from killing/losing units increased by 20%
• Piercing damage modifier vs. Heavy armor decreased to 67%
• Turret damage at long range increased from .15 to .3
• Turrets inflict increased supression, have a minimum range of 2 m, armor type changed to be more vulnerable from small arms fire .01 to .2
• Suppression weapons received the following changes:
• Setup and teardown times reduced by 1 second respectively
• 0.2 to 0.3 at long range
• 1 to 1.25 at medium range
• 2 to 2.75 at short range
• Suppression damage increased from 300 to 400

Bug Fixes

Tyranid Bug Fixes
• Fixed a bug where Bioplasma would not fire if targeted units ran out of the line of sight
• Fixed the broken image on the Ravener Alpha’s ‘exit tunnel’ ‘cancel construction’ ability

Ork Bug Fixes
• Shoota Boyz Aiming? Wotz Dat? tool tip no longer mentions immobility
• Nob squad tool tip mentions Meaner an’ Greener instead of Nob Kit
• Kommando squad tool tip no longer mentions Kommando Kit

Space Marine Bug Fixes
• The Dreadnought’s auto cannon ability previews its energy cost properly

Eldar Bug Fixes
• The Farseer’s Ghosthelm tool tip no longer mentions damage to self, mentions suppression
• The Farseer’s Mindwar tool tip mentions suppression
• Warpspider Exarch powerblades tool tip mentions they are effective against infantry

UI Bugs
• Added a missing tooltip for observers in the multiplayer games list
• Fixed a bug causing player loading bars to be cut off in 1280×1024 resolutions

Performance Bugs
• Fixed a bug that disallowed users with high-end machines to set their graphics settings to “Ultra”
• Fixed a fatal scar error involving Anti Armor in the campaign

Gameplay Bugs
• Fixed an exploit where repeatedly setting up and tearing down the Ranger’s sniper rifle would increase the unit’s firing rate
• Fixed a bug involving melee units targeting retreating units
• Stabilized randomness of units using special attacks
• Fixed an exploit where players could make units at the HQ retreat “towards” a relay beacon in the field
• Fixed a bug where clicking on a hero’s portrait would render targetable abilities unusable

Map Fixes
• Fixed an exploit in (6p) Ruins of Argus where players could build structures and move units in an impassible area

Post-game bugs
• Fixed a bug where incorrect trueskill values were shown after viewing a player’s statistics screen in the post-game
• Fixed a crash that occurred when viewing another player’s statistics during a game-starting countdown

Networking Improvements
• Fixed a networking bug that caused users to lag and disconnect due to a proxy communication problem

We’ve collected a vast amount of statistics throughout the beta of ‘There is only War’. Stats let us observe player behaviors and in-game trends which help us better identify exploits and gameplay inconsistencies. The information collected from the beta has been extremely beneficial in strengthening the full update.

Players online

There was an average of 8,367 unique users playing Dawn of War II throughout each day of the beta. An average of 25,335 matches occurred between the 1st and the 14th of July. The greatest number of people playing Dawn of War II during the beta of ‘There is Only War’ was on July 3rd. There were 10,911 unique users playing over 35,340 matches. It was great to see such a high volume of players during the beta. The numbers obtained from the beta prove our ongoing development of Dawn of War II has increased the longevity and viability of the game, and shows our fans are just as interested in playing the game as they were with it was originally released. Thank you for your support.

Ranked 1v1 skirmishes were the most popular multiplayer game mode. 18.38% of all matches were ranked 1v1 battles, followed closely by ranked 3v3 skirmishes (14.44%). It’s no surprise to see such a high popularity of ranked 1v1 matches, but we’d eventually like to attract more players to all play modes of Dawn of War II.

Battle Durations

The average duration of all multiplayer skirmish maps played during ‘There is Only War’ lasted 15 minutes and 24 seconds. Ranked games consisted of 59% of all skirmishes, and were played over an average time of 12 minutes and 45 seconds. Unranked multiplayer matches lasted an average of 16 minutes and 36 seconds. Battles were fast and full of carnage. The lengths of the battles were appropriate with the fast, blitzkrieg-style of gameplay DOW II is known for.

We also looked at the time it took for the first shot to be fired on each map. Players could expect to wait the shortest average time of 24 seconds before being attacked on 6p Angel Gate, and the longest average time of 1 minute and 20 seconds before being attacked on 2p Leviathan Hive. The time a player has before the first-strike happens is important because a player’s initial tactics shape the style and intensity of the impending conflict.

Races, Maps, and Trends

The Space Marines were the most popular race during the beta. 36.6% of all unranked matches and 41.09% of all ranked matches were played as Space Marines. The Techmarine was the most selected hero, chosen 16% out of all ranked and unranked matches. The Tyranids were the least popular race during ‘There is Only War’, and were chosen only 17% out of all unranked matches and 12.76% out of all ranked matches. The average trueskill of Tryanid players was 12.5, lower than the average Eldar trueskill of 14.4 and the average Ork and Space Marine trueskill of 14.6. We’d like to see an equal distribution between each army, and we are continually looking at various types of data to see why inconsistencies between races exist. The full release of ‘There is Only War’ will address issues revealed through beta statistics like these, and our users will get a deeper, more balanced game as a result.

2p Siwal frontier was selected 13,684 times making it the most popular map during the beta. 2p Calderis Refinery and 6p Angel Gate were the most popular new maps, selected 13,523 and 13,519 times respectfully. Once we know a map is popular, we can review the positioning of its capture points, theme, and geometry to better understand what made it successful. Conversely, the data also allows us to analyze why an unpopular map wasn’t as popular as hoped. Reviewing our maps lets us make better decisions for future map releases.

We’ve also collected information from maps created in World Builder. 22 multiplayer skirmishes were played on nuvga, the most popular community-created multiplayer map. We’re glad our users have already tried their hand at creating new content for Dawn of War II. We look forward to seeing more progress and more mapping from our community when ‘There is Only War’ is fully launched.

It’s all about the Numbers

The numbers we’ve shown here are but a fraction of the data we’ve collected from the beta period, but crucial data used in the ongoing support we’re putting into Dawn of War II. The beta period was successful mostly due to your support and feedback, and the game will be even better upon the full release of ‘There is Only War’.

Thank you for participating in the beta and helping provide us with data to make the game even better.

The full update is coming sooner than you think. Keep checking this blog for more details.

The beta period of ‘There is Only War’ is now over. Thank you for your participation, feedback, and the bugs you have logged.

The beta has been successful due to the overwhelming amount of community feedback and support. We have received hundreds of balance suggestions, numerous bug reports, and countless suggestions to undoubtedly make Dawn of War II a stronger, deeper, and more balanced game.

The full release of ‘There is Only War’ will be out soon. In addition to the new content and balance updates included with the beta, the full release of ‘There is Only War’ is coming with even more bug fixes and balance updates.

Stay tuned to this blog for the announcement of the full release of ‘There is Only War’ and other Dawn of War II news.

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There is Only War Release Notes 1.4.2
========================
Balance Updates
Ork Balance Updates

Warboss
• Bang Bang Hammer damage bonus changed from 7% to 5%
• ‘Ard Boyz only affects melee damage

Tankbustas
• Tankbusta HP increased from 150 to 200 per unit
• Tankbusta Rokkit range increased from 40 m to 44 m

Sluggas
• Choppa damage decreased from 27 to 24
• Slugga Nob moved to tier 2, detection removed, decorator updated, tooltip updated

Shootas
• Shoota Nob moved down to tier 1, detection added, decorator updated, tooltip updated

Deff Dread
• Deff Dread Buzzsaw damage increased from 150 to 180

Ork Globals
• Ork passive Waaagh! generation rate reduced from 0.5 to 0.25

Lootas
• Lootas no longer have a Waaagh! cost on Hide Da Gunz

Stormboyz
• The Bomma Boyz upgrade now requires Tier 2
Eldar Balance Updates

Farseer
• Spirit Stones’ energy regeneration is now squad based
• Farseer’s Spiritual Rites now only heals infantry

Warlock
• Distort Field from 70% to 50% damage reduction, only affects ranged damage
• Channeling ability cost increase from 30 to 50
• Health buff from Channeling changed from +3 regeneration to 10 HP per second
• Warp Throw no longer affects retreating units
• Warp Throw Cooldown increased from 40 to 60

Rangers
• Ranger knockdown shot now does AOE
• Ranger HP increased from 100 to 150 per unit
• Energy cost on Kinetic shot reduced from 45 to 70
• Ranger Long Rifle cooldown reduced from 5.5 seconds to 3.5 seconds (The 3 second reload and 1 second fire time remain unchanged)

Banshees
• Decreased the damage of the Banshee power sword from 37 to 33
• Increased the special attack damage from 15 to 20

Wraithlord
• Wraithlord brightlance damage decreased from 90 to 60

Warp Spider Exarch
• Reduced the damage of Power Blades from 110 to 75
Space Marine Balance Updates

Scouts
• Scouts now have melee resistance
• Reduced Scout melee damage from 7 to 4
• Reduced the damage of the Scout’s Shotgun from 40 to 30

Tech Marine
• Moved Techmarine plasma gun to tier 2

Tactical Marines
• Tactical marine bolter damage increased from 23 to 27

Razorback
• Razorback upgrade no longer grants a speed bonus

Devastator Heavy Bolter
• Removed the Vengeance Rounds damage bonus against generators

Apothecary
• Spritual Rites now only heals infantry units
Tyranid Balance Updates

Zoanthrope
• Zoanthrope Focused Blast now slows by 60%

Spore Mines
• Reduced Spore Mine damage against vehicles from 300% to 125%
• Spore Mines changed from Tiny to Small size
• Spore Mines no longer affected by Catalyst
• Spore Mine damage reduced from 1 to .5 vs building_light

Lictor Alpha
• Jump ability cooldown increased from 6 to 30 seconds
• Decreased the healing percentage of Feeder Tendrils from 3% to 2%
• Fixed Lictor Hero Knockback

Lictors
• Lictor Flesh Hooks can target units in buildings

Carnifex
• T2 Carnifex can now heal at the HQ

Raveners
• Ravener HP decreased from 400 to 300 per unit
• Ravener Devourer changed to Bolter damage type, damage reduced from 110 to 85

Venom Brood
• Venom Cannon range increased to from 38 to 44

Rippers
• Rippers can no longer capture points
Miscellaneous Balance Updates

• Reduced the Autocannon damage against heavy armor from 200% to 100%
• Reduced the Explosive damage against heavy armor from 150% to 100%
• Reduced the Piercing_pvp damage against heavy armor from 0.75 to 0.6
• Reduced the Grenade_pvp damage against heavy armor from 1.5 to 1.25
• The damage caused by the Plasma Cannon weapon is now categorized under the Plasma Cannon damage type
Bug Fixes
Ork Bug Fixes

Warboss
• Warboss’ boss pole graphic now applies to fire resist armor type and will show up on Sluggas and other units with this armor
• Warboss’ kustom shoota now fires normally

Stikkbombas
• Stikkbombs can no longer be exploited by interrupting the throw

Kommando Nob
• Hide da Boyz de-camouflages units upon retreat
• Fixed a bug with the Kommando’s Extra Equipment regeneration
Eldar Bug Fixes

Warp Spider Exarch
• The Entangle ability can now be retreated from and does not affect retreating units
• Heavy Gauge Filament is now fixed
• Removed LOS requirement on Group Teleport
• Warp Spider Exarch can now group teleport into the fog of war

Guardians
• Guardian grenade tooltip no longer mentions suppression

Farseer
• Fortune hotkey changed to O

Avatar
• The Avatar now appears as a triangle on the minimap
Space Marine Bug Fixes

Apothecary
• Apothecary’s Rapid Fire ability has been changed to weapon knockback from ability knockback and no longer works on retreating units

Tech Marine
• Fixed Orbital Relay healing stacking with Techmarine’s Artificer Armor
• Fixed tooltip on Brothers in Arms ability
Tyranid Bug Fixes

Raveners
• Fixed Ravener Squad manual unburrow from breaking enemy weapons
• The manual unburrow ability no longer disables enemy weapons
• Poison Cloud now works when switching wargear

Warrior Brood
• Barbed Strangler upgrade no longer mentions health synapse

Carnifex
• Fixed a bug where casting bioplasma outside of the unit’s line of sight or range would cause it to go out of control

Hive Tyrant
• Fixed a bug where casting bioplasma outside of the unit’s line of sight or range would cause it to go out of control

Lictor
• Feeder Tendrils no longer heal when hitting buildings/vehicles

Stop reading this blog, log into Steam and start playing!

You will need to restart your Steam client in order to opt-in to the beta

Open Steam, click on File, select Settings, then under the Account tab, click on the ‘Change…’ button under ‘Beta participation’. Click on the dropdown menu and scroll to find ‘Dawn of War II ‘There is Only War Update’
steambild
Click on the OK button to start downloading the files that will turn your retail Dawn of War II installation into the Dawn of War 2 ‘There is Only War’ Beta.

The Beta period will run until Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 to account for the delay.

Now – ‘THERE IS ONLY WAR’!

…seriously, its officially up. Stop reading… play the game.

Please check out our how-to-guide before starting the World Builder application coming with ‘There is Only War’. Reading this document should be your first entry point in creating your own community map for Dawn of War II.

The 10 page PDF file describes how you can create, publish, and play on a basic map. The document also clarifies how you can correctly place objects, set properties, and view impass maps.

Click hereto download the PDF.

It comes with great regret that we need to delay the launch of the ‘There is Only War’ Beta to tomorrow, Thursday, July 2nd at 2:00 PM PST (22:00 GMT). We are experiencing an unforeseen technical problem and believe it will be resolved in the next 24 hours.

We know you’re all really excited to get your hands on the new maps, balance and features – so are we. Please bear with us.

-The DOWII Team

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THERE IS ONLY WAR RELEASE NOTES 1.4.1
========================

New Content

World Builder
• World Builder, the map editor is now available to allow users to edit, create, and add new maps to multiplayer games
• Open the world builder by navigating to C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\dawn of war 2\ world_builder.exe.
• Save maps to C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\dawn of war 2\Assets\Maps\PvP
• It is recommended to have an 8800 GT class video card, or be able to run DOW II with ‘high’ graphical settings

Maps
• Added 8 new multiplayer maps to the game
• (2p) Calderis Refinery
• (2p) Outer Reaches
• (2p) Leviathan Hive
• (4p) Calderis Refinery
• (4p) Golgotha Depths
• (6p) Calderis Refinery
• (6p) Angel Gate
• (2p) Legis High Stratum is now available for all Dawn of War II owners

Additional UI Content
• Added an RSS news ticker to the title screen that will show critical game updates, news, and information
• The Main Menu News tab is now controlled by RSS. You can subscribe to the RSS feed at: dow2news.relic.com/relic/dow2/news/english.xhtml
• Added a new PvP loading screen tip about Sweeping Advance
• The PvP loading screen now shows loading progress bars for each player in the game

Game Options
• You can now freely change the Number of Tickets needed to win a match (250, 500, or 1000)
• You can adjust the Starting Resources of a match to be standard or high
• Added the option to end a match by conceding defeat in Ranked and Custom Games in the F10 Menu. Team games require a unanimous vote to Concede.

Campaign
• Various new pieces of wargear have been added to the Campaign. Can you find them all?

Observer Feature

New Fog of War Options
• Choose between both teams’ viewpoints
• New option lets observers see enemy movements beneath the Fog of War

Telecast Features
• Attention Arrows let telecasters highlight a squad, object, or piece of terrain with an easy click
• Large mouse cursors for Low-resolution webcasts

Improved Replays
• All new Observer UI features are also available in replays
• More options for removing UI elements let you make awesome screenshots of Dawn of War II action

Observer Hotkeys
• Hotkey “G” toggles the Fog of War
• Hotkey “A” tags a unit with an arrow
• Hotkey “W” toggles the size of the cursor
• Press hotkey “F” to cycle through the Fog of War settings
• Hotkey “H” toggles the Observer Panel Visibility
• Hotkey “T” toggles the replay speed

Referee Feature

• A referee is similar to an observer, except with additional functionality available only to the referee. Referees can send text chat messages to all players and they can pause the game.
• The action of all players is halted when a referee pauses the game
• Observer/Referee slots must be opened by the host
• Observer/Referee mode is only supported in custom, unranked games
• Referees are selected by the host. Any number of observers can be granted referee privileges
• Referees have the same hotkey functionality as observers, but can also pause the game by pressing the “PAUSE” key

Eldar Balance Updates

Global Eldar Balance changes
• Reduced the regeneration of the Seer Council from 1.5 HP to 0.5 HP
• Decreased the Webway population cost from 5 to 3
• Decreased the sight radius for the Webway from 20 to 5
• Changed the name of ‘Conceal’ ability to Distort Field
• Reduced the cost of Swift Movement from 120 Psychic Might down to 50
• Reduced the cost of the Crackshot ability from 150 Psychic Might down to 50
• Reduced the cost of the Distort Field ability from 175 Psychic Might to 75
• Increased the cost of Eldritch Storm from 650 Psychic Might to 750
• Reduced the cost of Seer Council from 600 to 450
• Decreased the Psychic Might cost of Spider’s Brood from 400 to 200

Banshees
• The Banshee Exarch’s health has been buffed from 160 HP to 200
• Removed power cost on Banshee Squads
• The power sword’s damage has been increased from 34 to 37
• The Aspect of Banshee effect now increases HP by 20%
• To use Fleet of Foot Banshee squads require the Aspect of Banshee upgrade

Farseer
• Doom Effect has been decreased from 75% to 40%
• Reduced the energy cost of Doom from 50 to 40
• The cost of Singing Spear has been decreased from 170 requisition 55 power to 130 requisition 40 power
• The cost of the gravity blade has been reduced from 200 requisition, 50 power to 150 requisition, 30 power
• The damage-reducing effect of Fortune has been decreased from 50% to 30%
• The energy cost to use Fortune has increased from 30 to 45
• The effect of Rune Armor has increased from 50 health to 100 health
• The energy gained from the Rune Armor wargear has been changed to +125
• Spirit Stones now cost 80 energy to cast and is no longer a limit break ability
• Spirit Stones now regenerate 60 units for the targeted unit instead of its previous 150
• Spirit Stones now heal 200 HP
• The suppression resistance gained from the Spirit Stones’ ability has been reduced from 100 courage to 50 courage
• Farseer’s Mind War supressing effect has increased from 20 courage to 100 courage

Guardians
• Guardian squad HP has been increased from 90 to 100
• Fleet of Foot now requires the Battle Equipment upgrade to be equipped
• The cooldown time of Plasma Grenades’ has increased from 35 seconds to 60 seconds
• Plasma Grenades no longer suppress enemy units
• Guardian squad’s requisition cost has been increased from 270 to 300
• Shuriken Catapult’s damage has been increased from 12 to 15

Brightlance
• Reduced the weapon cooldown from 4 seconds to 2 seconds
• Decreased the unit’s damage from 180 to 90
• Increased the HP of Brightlance crew members from 160 to 220
• Removed the Beam Scorch ability from Brightlance Platforms

D-Cannon
• Removed knockback from the D-cannon weapon
• Increased the HP of D-Cannon crew members from 160 to 180

Rangers
• To use Fleet of Foot, the squad must have the Pathfinder upgrade
• Decreased the Health of rangers
• Pathfinder is now a Tier 1 upgrade
• Added Kinetic Pulse: a Ranger ability that fires a high-impact, low-damage blast of kinetic energy that can knock a single unit down
• Removed the Rangers’ Suppressive Volley ability
• Changed the cost to spawn a squad of Rangers from 360 requisition 25 power to 300 requisition 30 power
• Added setup/teardown time to the Long Rifle of 1.5 seconds
• Reduced the cooldown time on the Long Rifle from 7 seconds to 3.5 seconds
• Increased Ranger Long Rifle damage from 160 to 180

Falcon
• The Scatter Laser’s damage has been decreased from 34 to 28
• The Pulse Laser’s damage has been decreased from 60 to 45

Shuriken Cannon
• Reduced the mid-range damage of the Shuriken Cannon from 1.6 to 1
• Increased the long-range damage from 0.15 to 0.2
• Changed the cost of the unit from 270 requisition to 210 requisition and 30 power

Warlock
• The cost of the Witchblade of Kurnous has been increased from 125 requisition, 30 power to 125 requisition, 35 power
• The cost of equipping Warp Throw has increased from 100 requisition, 20 power to 100 requisition, 40 power
• Cloak of Shadows has had its requisition cost decrease from 150 to 100
• The health-regeneration effect of Channeling has been increased from 2.5 to 3

Warp Spiders
• Increased the HP of Warp Spider’s from 160 to 200

Warp Spider Exarch
• Increased Warp Spider’s Dual Deathspinner damage from 35 to 46
• Increased the Exarch’s HP from 160 to 240

Warp Spider Exarch (Hero)
• Decreased the cost of the Power Blades upgrade from 170 requisition and 70 power to 130 requisition and 45 power
• Decreased the cost of the Improved Warp Generator upgrade from 125 requisition, 40 power to 110 requisition, 30 power
• Group Teleport now requires the Improved Warp Generator upgrade
• Decreased the power cost of the Shimmer Orb from 35 to 25
• Units shielded by a Shimmer Orb are knocked back if hit by grenades or plasma devastator shots
• The cost of Anti-Grav Grenades has been decreased from 200 requisition, 50 power to 120 requisition, 40 power
• Decreased the cost of Improved Targeters from 100 requisition, 35 power to 100 requisition, 30 power
• Added a teleport effect to warn players of Warp Spider group teleportation target

Wraithlord
• Decreased the damage of the Shuriken Cannon from 210 to 70
• Decreased the Shuriken Cannon’s cooldown time from 1.5 seconds to 1 second
• Changed the ‘weapon family’ of the Shuriken Cannon from heavy bolter to bolter
• Decreased the cooldown fire rate of the Wraithlord’s Brightlance from 4 to 2 seconds
• Decreased the damage of the Wraithlord’s Brightlance from 100 to 90

Fire Prism
• Explosive Shot has been reduced in damage from 120 to 70

Ork Balance Updates

Global Ork Balance Changes
• Buffed the damage of More Dakka, it now increases ranged damage by 25%
• More Dakka no longer reduces cooldown
• Reduced the wait time of the Roks impact from 2.1 seconds to 1.1
• Reduced the Waaagh cost of Kult of Speed from 275 to 125
• Reduced the Waaagh cost of Hide Da Boyz from 150 to 75
• Reduced the Waaagh cost of Use Yah Choppas from 150 to 75
• Reduced the Waaagh cost of ‘Ard Boyz from 150 to 75

Deff Dread
• Decreased the cost from 300 requisition and 70 power to 250 requisition, 45 power
• Decreased its HP from 550 to 450
• Decreased Buzz Klaw damage from 170 to 120
• Increased the Burnaz ‘n Bits cost from 50 requisition, 20 power to 200 requisition, 20 power
• Increased the effect of Burnaz ‘n Bits from 125 HP to 300 HP
• Reduced the Waaagh cost of the Rampage ability from 75 to 35

Kommando Nob (Hero)
• Increased the range of Twinlinked Shoota from 25 m to 32 m
• Changed the cost of the Rokkit Launcha from 105 requisition, 65 power to 150 requisition, 50 power
• Decreased the cost of Improved Camouflage from 100 requisition, 45 power to 100 requisition, 35 power
• Boom Time makes the Kommando drop a stun grenade upon retreated
• The Kommando no longer drops a grenade when he is killed
• Changed the number of Stikkbombs thrown from 1 to 5
• The damage gradient of Booby Traps now gives less damage on its outer radius and more damage on its inner radius
• Changed the damage of Booby Traps to 75/125/175 depending on the unit’s proximity
• Decreased the cost of Booby Traps from 135 requisition, 20 power, to 120 requisition, 20 power
• Increased the duration of Hide da Boyz from 20 to 40 seconds
• Removed initial energy cost from the infiltrate ability
• Kommando’s Extra Equipment increases the hero’s HP regeneration rate to three times his normal rate
• Kaboom damage was changed from 400 + 100 to 300 + 100

Kommandos
• Decreased the cost of Kommandos from 400 requisition , 75 power to 400 requisition, 40 power
• Increased the damage of the Shoota from 25 to 29
• Nob leaders are equipped with a hammer when the squad is upgraded
• Love Da Dakka no longer requires infiltration
• Reduced the Waaagh cost of Love Da Dakka from 10 to 5

Lootas
• Decreased the damage of the Beamy Deffgun from 3.5 to 2
• Decreased the cooldown of the Deffgun from 1.6 seconds down to 1 second
• Lootas now have an infiltration ability called Hide Da Gunz
• The Hide Da Gunz ability requires setup time, but zero energy to use

Mekboy
• The Mekboy is now melee resistant like the other heroes
• Decreased the damage of the Shoota from 47 to 42
• Decreased the damage of the Beamy Deffgun
• Increased the effect of the Battery pack from 25% HP to 400 HP
• Decreased the energy consumption of the Battery Pack from 100 to 40
• Increased the cost of the Battery Pack from 85 requisition, 20 power, to 100 requisition, 20 power
• Decreased the cost of upgrading to the Beamy Deff Gun from 180 requisition, 65 power to 150 requisition, 40 energy
• Decreased the energy consumption cost of Electric Armor from 40 to 10
• Decreased the cost of Electric Armor from 170 requisition, 30 power to 120 requisition, 30 power
• Mines now have a setup time, deal minor damage, and suppress units
• The Kult of Speed ability no longer stacks
• Mekboy now has a repair ability

Nob Squad
• Decreased the cost of a Nob Squad from 600 requisition, 100 power to 500 requisition, 100 power

Shoota
• The Aiming Wotz Dat? ability suppresses targets faster than before
• Reduced the Waaagh cost of Aiming, Wotz Dat? From 6 to 3
• Increased the damage of Shootas from 10 to 12
• Increased the cost of the Big Shoota from 40 requisition, 20 power to 75 requisition, 20 power
• Increased the damage of the Big Shoota from 36 to 37
• Decreased the Big Shoota’s range from 49 m to 43 m

Sluggas
• The requisition cost of Sluggas have been increased from 270 to 300
• Increased the damage of Choppas from 17 to 27
• Increased the cost of Burnas from 30 requisition, 10 power to 50 requisition, 15 power
• Decreased the cost of Burna melee damage from 45 to 50
• Decreased the Burna cooldown from 3 to 0.3 seconds
• The Slugga Nob Leader is now a stealth detecting unit
• Upgrading to a Slugga Nob Leader no longer requires Tier 2
• Reduced the Waaagh cost of the Recklessness ability from 35 to 18

Stikkbommas
• Decreased melee damage from 26 to 17
• Stikkbombas now throw 2 bombs per member instead of 1
• Altered the cost of Stikkbommas from 330 requisition, 10 power to 280 requisition, 30 power
• Increased the upgrade cost of the Bomma kit from 30 requisition, 10 power to 30 requisition, 15 power
• Increased the squad size from 3 to 4
• Decreased the population cost from 4 to 3
• Reduced the damage of Stikkbombs from 175 to 58
• Increased the range of Stikkbombs from 30 m to 50 m
• Reduced the Waaagh cost of throwing a Stikkbomb from 4 to 2
• Decreased the health of Stikkbommas from 200 to 150

Stormboyz
• Choppa damage has been increased from 19 to 27
• Increased the cost of Improved Rokkit Packs from 25 requisition and 10 power to 50 requisition and 20 power
• Choppas are now categorized as power weapons
• Increased the cost of Stormboyz from 400 requisition, 20 power to 400 requisition, 40 power
• Reduced the Waaagh cost of the Bommaboyz ability from 45 to 20
• Increased the health of Stormboyz from 160 to 180

Tankbustas
• Changed the damage type of Rokkit Barrage from rocket to artillery
• Increased the scatter reduction of Rokkit Barrage from 40 to 48 (scatters less)
• Reduced the Waaagh cost of Tankbusta Barrage from 25 to 12
• Tankbusta build time reduced to 6 seconds

Warboss
• Increased the Bang Bang Hammer’s damage from 130 to 150
• Bang Bang Hammer hits now increases the speed of surrounding friendly units by 0.15 m/s
• Kustom Shoota now has a knockback ability called ‘Shoot ‘em Good
• Removed the passive knockback effect on the Kustom Shoota
• The limit break cost of ‘Cybork’ has been decreased from 800 HP to 400 HP
• Decreased the HP cost of Angry Bits from 800 to 200, you need only take 200 points of HP damage before Angry Bits can be cast
• Angry Bits now adds 1.5 m/s of speed to the Warboss when activated
• The Trophy rack damage reduction effect has been reduced from 50% to 25%

Wartrukk
• Increased damage
• Increased the HP of the Wartrukk from 350 to 400
• Decreased the upgrade benefit of the Wartrukk’s Reinforced Plating from 300 HP to 200 HP

Nobs
• The Nob Frenzy ability now makes the squad invulnerable for its duration
• Hammer damage decreased from 110 to 100
• Choppa damage has been increased from 75 to 100

Looted Tank
• Reduced the cost of the Don’t Press Dat ability from 70 to 35

Space Marine Balance Updates

Global Space Marine Balance Changes
• Decreased the Zeal cost of Angels of Death from 500 to 250
• Decreased the duration of Angels of Death from 15 to 8 seconds
• Decreased the cost of Assault Terminators from 700 requisition/ 900 Zeal to 500 requisition/ 500 Zeal
• Decreased the cost of Terminators from 700 requisition/ 900 Zeal to 700 requisition/ 500 Zeal
• Decreased the cost of Drop Pods from 500 requisition, 400 Zeal to 100 requisition, 200 Zeal
• Calling a Drop Pod no longer deploys a Tactical Marine Squad
• Drop Pods no longer reinforce Terminator Squads
• Removed the speed debuff on ‘For the Emperor’
• Decreased the cost of the Venerable Dreadnaught from 750 requisition, 750 Zeal to 700 requisition, 400 Zeal
• Increased the health of the Venerable Dreadnaught from 1200 to 1600
• Reduced the Zeal requirement of Blessing of the Omnissiah from 250 to 120
• Reduced the Zeal cost of For the Emperor from 125 to 50
• Reduced the Zeal cost of Laraman’s Blessing from 225 to 125

Apothecary
• Increased the health of the Apothecary from 500 to 550
• Altered the cost of the Power Axe from 80 requisition, 25 power to 100 requisition, 20 power
• Increased the cost of the Master Crafted Bolter from 85 requisition, 25 power to 125 requisition, 25 power
• Armor of Apothecarion now reduces the movement speed of the Apothecary to 15% speed; previously it rendered the unit immobile
• Decreased the healing effect of the Armor of Apothecarion from 5% to 2%
• Decreased the healing effect of the Armor of Apothecarion from 5 seconds to 3.5 seconds
• Decreased the cost of the Armor of Apothecarion from 200 requisition, 80 power to 200 requisition, 60 power
• Decreased the damage of Purification Rites from 50 to 30
• Decreased the cost of Improved Medical Equipment from 120 requisition, 30 power to 100 requisition, 20 power
• Decreased the effect of Combat Stimulants from 75% to 40%
• Decreased the energy cost of Combat Stimulants from 50 to 40
• Increased the cooldown time from 30 seconds to 40 seconds of Combat Stimulants
• The Purification Rites ability knocks back and damages enemy units that are close to the heal target

Assault Space Marine
• Decreased the squad cost from 550 requisition, 50 power to 500 requisition, 50 power
• Changed the Armor type of the ASM from Infantry to Heavy Infantry
• Increased the HP of individual squad members from 325 to 400
• Increased chainsword damage from 34 to 35
• Changed the cost of Melta Bomb upgrade from 30 requisition, 15 power to 50 requisition, 30 power
• Melta bombs no longer immobilize, but instead reduce a vehicle’s speed to 40%
• Melta bomb effect duration has been changed from 20 seconds to 15 seconds

Devastator Squad
• Changed the cost of Devastators from 345 requisition, 0 power to 250 requisition, 30 power
• Reduced the mid range damage of the Heavy Bolter from 1.6 to 1
• Increased the long range damage of the Heavy Bolter from .15 to .2
• Added the Vengeance Rounds ability: High damage barrage by the SM Heavy Bolter that does no suppression damage; it also does light damage to vehicles
• Added Advanced Targeting: an upgrade that allows the use of Vengeance Rounds
• Changed Focus Fire to Vengeance Rounds, adding +5 damage per hit
• Increased the energy cost of the Advanced Targeting Upgrade 20 to 50

Devastator Plasma Cannon
• Slowed the projectile speed of the Plasma Cannon from 40 m/s to 35 m/s

Force Commander
• Decreased the cost of the Stormshield from 150 requisition, 30 power to 125 requisition, 25 power
• Decreased the damage of the Thunder Hammer from 175 to 125
• Increased the energy cost of the Power Fist Flesh over Steel from 50 to 80
• Decreased the cost of Artificer Armor from 125 requisition, 25 power to 100 requisition, 20 power
• Added Teleport Ability to the FC’s Terminator armor
• Decreased the cost of Terminator Armor from 300 requisition, 150 power to 200 requisition, 100 power

Razorback
• Increased the cost of the Razorback from 240 requisition, 40 power to 300 requisition, 60 power
• Decreased the health of the Razorback from 450 HP to 400 HP
• Reduced the effect of Extra Armor ; it used to add 300 HP, now it adds 200 HP

Predator
• Added Extra Armor, an upgrade granting the tank extra health

Scouts
• Increased the damage of the Scout Bolter from 11 to 13
• Added Explosive Shot ability to Scout Shotguns, a conical blast that grants knockback
• Added the Advanced Infiltration Training ability, an upgrade that unlocks the infiltration ability for a scout squad
• Removed the AOE on the Scout Shotgun
• Increased the damage of the Scout Shotgun from 11.5 to 40
• Scout Sniper Rifles now have a setup and teardown time of 1.5 seconds
• Scout Sergeant upgrade no longer requires Tier 2
• Shotgun upgrade no longer grants infiltration
• Sniper upgrade no longer grants infiltration
• Increased the speed of the Scout from 6 to 6.5

Tactical Marine
• Reduced the Flamer cooldown from 0.3 to 0
• Flamer burst info values have been reduced from 3 to 5 seconds to 1 second
• Reduced the reload frequency of Flamers from 6 to 8 bursts to 10 bursts
• Changed the squad’s armor type from infantry to heavy infantry
• Increased the squad’s capping speed from 1 to 1.5

Techmarine
• Increased the damage of the Bolter; it used to be 42, now it is 60
• Increased the damage of the Plasma gun from 76 to 90
• Decreased the cooldown of the Plasma gun from 2.5 to 1.5
• Consecrated Bolters now require Tier 2
• Decreased the energy activation cost of the Brothers in Arms ability from 25 to 10
• Decreased the energy drainage of the consecrated bolter ability from 4/s to 3/s
• The Brothers in Arms ability no longer grants a cooldown bonus
• The Master Crafted Bolter no longer requires Tier 2
• Decreased the cost of the Master Crafted Bolter from 100 requisition, 40 power to 100 requisition, 30 power
• The Artificer Armor mines’ damage has been increased from 50 to 75
• Decreased the energy cost of Artificer Armor mines to 45; previously it was 65
• The damage of Bionics Powerful Sweep has been decreased from 45 to 65
• Decreased the effect of Signum Armor from 75% bonus damage to 50% bonus damage
• Increased the cost of Signum Armor from 135 requisition, 25 power to 135 requisition, 30 power
• Increased the Refractor Field’s ratio of damage taken to energy drained from 0.25 to 0.125
• The Orbital Relay Beacon now has a retreat toggle, allowing you to toggle whether or not you want to retreat to that point or the HQ

Tyranid Balance Updates

General Tyranid Balance updates
• Changed sight range on Capillary Towers from 20 m to 5 m

Tyranid Global Balance Changes
• Reduced the Biomass cost of Brood Nests from 225 to 100 Brood Nests no longer autoreinforce units
• Increased the health of Brood Nests from 200 HP to 300 HP
• Increased the cost of Mycetic Spore from 300 requisition / 400 Biomass to 400 requisition / 175 Biomass
• Decreased the cost of Warrior Vanguard from 500 requisition, 300 Biomass to 400 requisition, 150 Biomass
• Without Number now spawns Hormagaunts, Termagants, and Warriors

Carnifex
• Carnifex has been moved to Tier 2
• Thornback upgrade grants the Carnifex the Pheromone Cysts ability
• Pheromone Cysts allow the Carnifex to spawn Ripper Swarms
• Decreased Bioplasma damage down from 100 to 70

Screamer-Killer
• Added the Screamer-Killer, a ranged Carnifex unit to Tier 3
• Screamer Killers are equipped with a Barbed Strangler
• Screamer Killers can be upgraded to equip Venom Cannons
• Increased the damage of the Screamer-Killer’s Barbed Strangler from 85 to 150
• Decreased the 8 m AOE Bioplasma damage size down to 5 m

Hive Tyrant
• Improved Synapse effect has been decreased from 50% to 25%
• Reduced the damage of the Tyrant’s Charge; previously it was 20, now it is 15
• Decreased the -70% effect of Psychic scream down to -25%
• Decreased the 160 requisition, 50 power cost of the Venom Cannon down to 140 requisition cost, 40 power
• Decreased the cost of Bonded Exoskeleton from 185 requisition and 45 power down to 140 requisition and 40 power
• Increased the Warp Field cost of 125 requisition and 20 power to 125 requisition and 25 power
• Decreased Bioplasma damage of 100 down to 80
• Decreased the AOE of Bioplasma; previously it was 8 m, now it is 5 m

Hormagaunts
• Increased the requisition cost of Hormagaunt cost to 375; previously it was 300
• Decreased the speed of Hormagaunts from 7.5 to 6.5
• Increased Scything Talon damage from 11.5 to 17
• Hormagaunt HP has increased from 65 to 81
• Added the Adrenal Glands ability, which increases Hormagaunt speed, and allows them to leap on opponents

Lictors
• Lictors are now in Tier 3
• The Lictor’s HP has been increased from 600 to 1000
• Increase the damage of the Lictor from 51 to 75
• Increased the cost of the Lictor from 300 requisition and 30 power to 500 requisition and 50 power
• Flesh Hooks no longer knock back retreating units
• Removed initial energy cost from the infiltrate ability

Lictor Alpha
• Feeder Tendrils now heal upon successful hit
• Feeder Tendrils no longer heal when killing an enemy unit
• Decreased the 7% healing effect of Feeder Tendrils down to 3%
• Decreased the 20 second suppression effect caused by Scything Talons down to 10 seconds
• The 100 requisition and 25 power cost for Scything Talons has been increased to 100 requisition and 40 power
• Decreased the 130 requisition and 30 power cost of Toxin Sacs down to 100 requisition and 20 power
• Decreased the 45 energy cost of Toxic Cysts down to 30 energy
• Corrosive claws’ cost has been decreased from 150 requisition and 60 power down to 120 requisition and 40 power
• Changed the name of the Loner upgrade to ‘The Lone Hunter’
• Removed initial energy cost from the infiltrate ability
• Pheromone Trail no longer reinforces units automatically

Ravener Alpha
• Crippling Talons’ damage has been decreased from 110 down to 80
• The Crippling Talons’ slow effect no longer affects retreating units
• Acid Splatter’s damage has been decreased from 110 down to 60
• Decreased the Corrosive Devourer’s cost of 135 requisition and 60 power down to 150 requisition and 50 power
• Decreased the 150 requisition cost of Hardened Carapace down to 100
• Strengthened Sinew now grants the Fleet of Claw ability
• Strengthened Sinew no longer grants the passive speed increase
• Decreased the damage of Toxic Miasma from 15 down to 7.5
• The initial energy cost of Toxic Miasma of 7 has been increased to 10
• The Corrosive Devourer’s damage of 160 has been reduced to 100

Ravener Brood
• Moved raveners to Tier 1
• Reduced the power cost of raveners from 75 power down to 45 power
• Added the Ravener burrow strike ability, which allows Raveners to tunnel underground and knockback units at the target location
• Added the Enhanced Muscle Coil ability, which restores the original Ravener burrow ability.
• Decreased the damage of Scything Talons from 65 down to 35
• Changed Scything Talons to a power weapon
• Decreased each Ravener’s 450 HP down to 400 (the Squad HP is now 1200)

Ripper Swarm
• Removed the Ripper Swarm from the HQ

Termagants
• A Termagant squad now costs 300 requisition
• Decreased the 7.5 m/s speed of the Termagants down to 6 m/s
• Increased Termagant’s 60 HP up to 81
• Added Toxin Sacs upgrade that grants Termagants the Crippling Poison ability, which slows targets to a crawl for a short period of time
• Decreased the Devourer damage of 8.5 down to 7.5
• Decreased the Devourer’s cooldown of 2 seconds down to 1 second
• Removed the Devourer’s knockback

Spore Mines
• Added Bio-Plasma Detonation, a new spore mine ability that allows them to explode for massive damage after a short build-up

Warrior Brood
• Increased the power cost of the unit from 15 power to 30
• Changed the cost of Warriors from 400 requisition and 15 power to 300 requisition and 30 power
• Removed Venom Cannon upgrade
• Decreased the squad’s damage from 25 to 22
• Decreased the range of the Warrior’s Barbed Strangler from 44 m to 30 m
• Changed the Scything Talon to a power weapon
• Decreased the damage of Scything Talons from 22 to 18
• Changed the cost of the Adrenal Gland upgrade from 100 requisition and 30 power to 200 requisition and 20 power
• Increased the damage of Adrenal Glands from 33 to 45
• Increased the Barbed Strangler’s damage per second from 45 up to 60

Venom Brood
• Added a Warrior Brood that comes outfitted with a Venom Cannon. Available in Tier 2
• Venom Cannons are now exclusively anti vehicle weapons

Zoanthrope
• Warp blast damage of 120 has been reduced to 70
• Decreased the cooldown of the warp blast from 4.7 to 0
• Decreased the vehicular damage of the warp blast from 1 to 0.1
• Focused Warp Blast damage has been decreased from 200 to 100

Bug Fixes

Ork bug fixes
• Fixed big stomp so that it properly animates and wears off at the right time
• Fixed an issue where the Beamy Deffgun could rotate on the spot without setup or cooldown time initiating
• Fixed a bug that prevented Kommando squads from upgrading to have a Kommando Nob Leader if a previous Leader died in combat

Eldar bug fixes
• Fixed a bug where Haywire grenades were not responding upon usage
• Fixed a bug where Haywire grenades were sometimes missing their target
• Fixed a bug when switching between modes on the Fire Prism
• Fixed Mind War so that it now simulates a weapon hit

Tyranid bug fixes
• Fixed a bug where the Carnifex was not properly affected by synapse
• Tunnels can no longer be repaired
• Fixed a bug where spore mines were unaffected by phase shift and anti-grav grenades in-game
• Fixed charge range action to work with squads
• Fix melee movement hitch for hormagaunts
• Fixed an issue where the user could see opponents through the fog of war during the first frame of the match
• Fixed a bug where purchasing the Lictor Loner (Lone Hunter) wargear would drain 75 energy
• Fixed a Lictor jump bug
• Fixed a bug that caused the Lictor to freeze when commanded to jump
• Sped up the pre-fire stage of the flesh hook attack, reducing the windup and ‘busy time’ for the unit
• Fixed a bug causing the Lictor to lock up if it fired its Flesh Hooks at the same time its target became unconscious
• The Lictor’s Flesh Hooks can no longer be used on generators
• Fixed the Lictor Alpha's Terrify ability failing to work in multiplayer games

Space Marine bug fixes
• Fixed a bug where Melta bombs were not responding upon usage
• Fixed a bug where unloading a squad while throwing a smoke grenade caused the razorback to become unresponsive
• Fixed a bug where the apothecary heal ability counted as 2 revives
• Added minimap blip for relay beacons

General gameplay bug fixes
• Fixed a bug where build effect animation and audio still played after canceling a unit; it was an exploit in some cases where a user could lag someone else’s machine by spamming a build and immediately cancelling it, if someone else was attacking their base
• Fixed a bug where ability effects were appearing through the fog of war
• Race Headquarters can now be cancelled without spawn effects appearing
• Headquarters no longer regenerate their own HP
• Fixed an issue where retreating did not disable weapons properly
• Fixed an issue where units would become unresponsive and chase targets despite being issued commands to stop
• Fixed bug where the post game stats screen did not shutdown the name replay dialog box when another player forced it to close indirectly
• Fixed a bug that made units unresponsive if players triggered an ability at the same time an upgrade was completed
• Fixed a bug that caused leader-upgraded squads to lose their keybindings if all units, except the leader were killed
• Fixed a bug where squads would get stuck in their capture state
• Fixed a bug where retreating units slowed down due to other squads having the right of way when retreating
• Improved unit movement and added pathing fixes for retreating units
• Fixed a bug where a squad would automatically take cover if a retreating unit ran past
• Abilities tied to wargear no longer have their recharge timer visually reset when switching between wargear items
• Fixed a bug where a hero’s upgrade queue and spent resources were not cancelled upon death
• Fixed a bug that prevented units from throwing grenades on staircases and inclines
• Limit breaks are now prevented from charging while the limit break ability is active
• Fixed a bug where tanks would randomly turn when unloading
• Fixed a bug where walker vs. walker sync kills would not grant Waaagh/Zeal/Biomass/Psychic Might
• If a unit’s ability fails to fire, its energy is refunded and the ability’s cooldown time is prevented
• Fixed a bug where a unit's ability cooldown was not being reset after the unit teleported or resurrected
• Ork Waaagh Banners, Ork Turrets, Space Marine Beacons, Webway gates, and Space Marine Turrets are now crushable by vehicles when they are being built
• Fixed a bug where you could see unrevealed garrisoned buildings through the Fog of War

Graphical bug fixes
• Fixed a bug where units using two handed ranged weapons would always be aiming while walking, and not in combat
• The Carnifex now appears as a triangle vehicle indicator on the minimap
• Fixed an issue where the scything talons animation was not synching properly with its animation
• Upgrade decorator added for Slugga Boy Nob
• Fixed a bug where HQ decals would revert to the default display when being re-shrouded in the fog of war
• Fixed a bug where a unit’s death animation would play twice if it occurred simultaneously with an upgrade completion
• Fixed a bug where Tyranid generators could be selected when the cursor was outside its bounding box

Text Bugs
• Fixed an issue where the chat box was not scrolling on game setup screen
• Fixed Seer Council tooltip
• Fixed a warlock text bug
• Fixed a Ravener text tooltip bug
• Fixed help text on the Warboss, Kommando Boom Time, Kustom Shoota, and the Shoot'em Good ability
• Fixed loota help text
• Updated several upgrade tooltips to specify if they grant abilities
• Updated loading screen tips to reflect newly-introduced abilities and tactics

Campaign
• Secondary objective minimap pings have been updated to be better aligned to map markers
• Stalwart Companion will now add +1 Stamina on the barge, as a bonus the stamina will be removed when the Stalwart Companion is removed as well
• Fixed a bug where squads close to levelling are displayed as having levelled up when viewing the post match screen after losing a mission
• Fixed a bug where the undo button would disappear or lose functionality if the user allocated points for their squads while speech is playing on the inventory screen
• Fixed a bug where the client's cursor disappeared when changing planets if the client was rotating a unit model on the battle barge

Matchmaking
• Matchmaking has been improved to take NAT type into account during random matches. This should improve matchmaking performance, and reduce “churn” due to failed joins

Co-op
• Fixed a bug where the client's game crashed to the desktop if the client selected Exit Game from the Pause menu while playing a mission

Improvements

Stability
• Fixed a crash when players sign out during loading a PvP game
• Fixed a crash that occurred when the host/client moved one of the two squads back to the Squad Deployment screen
• Fixed minor miscellaneous scar issues

Performance
• Fixed an issue where attached splats were continually generating new geometry near the headquarters in PvP games

UI Improvements
• Your Hero can now be rotated in the hero selection panel
• Improved the searching skull animation and visual consistency on the find a game UI screen
• On the PvP teams setup screen, players on your team have their names highlighted in blue, and enemies have their names highlighted in red
• Added news ticker that shows RSS updates to the title screen
• Moved intel events position down so that the MP player list would not interfere when opening the top event cue
• Rank and Performance bars have been removed from the Find a Game party panel. Both statistics were misleading and encouraging bad player behavior that was negatively impacting Matchmaking
• AI mini-map pings have been disabled

Post-Game
• TrueSkill is now displayed in the post-game stats screen for Ranked games

Audio Improvements
• Improved surround sound output; previously surround sound was dictated by the user’s camera focus

In-Game UI and Graphical updates
• Added new icons for the Screamer Killer, the Venom Brood, the ork infiltrate ability, the Scout shotgun ability, the Space Marine infiltrate upgrade, Tyranid crippling poison, Tyranid Bio Acid Discharge, Tyranid Burrow Strike ability, the Ravener muscle coil ability, the Techmarine's Powerful Sweep ability, the Tyranid Toxin Sacs upgrade , and for the Ork Shoot ‘Em Good ability
• Units now fade when destroyed (instead of popping out of existence)
• Added new EULA disclaimer on opening title screen for optional Beta participants
• Changed the hotkey for rangers and spore mine detonation
• The Techmarine's Powerful Sweep ability icon is now a new, unique icon
• The Zoanthrope Focused Warp Blast now has distinct hit effects and focused tracer to distinguish it from the standard shot

Army Painter
• Unlocked new colors and new badges

AI Improvements
• Vehicle operators avoid heavy weapons with setup times
• The AI now evaluates the demand for weapon upgrades as the value gained against the enemy army
• Improved squad responsiveness when threatened

‘There is Only War’ has become our largest update yet. Along with the sheer breadth of additions, changes, and updates, there were some errors published in the most recent list of release notes.

The following changes are a part of ‘There is Only War’, but were incorrect or missing from the first list. These changes have been retroactively integrated into the 1.4.1 release notes:

Rangers
• The health of Rangers has not changed (the health reduction was an error as many have speculated)
• The Ranger Long Rifle damage is still 160 (not 180 as previously listed)
• Reduced the cooldown time on the Long Rifle from 7 seconds to 5.5 seconds (not 3.5)

Falcon
• Pulse Laser weapon is now categorized under the Venom Cannon weapon family (this was omitted)

Mekboy
• Decreased the cost of upgrading to the Beamy Deff Gun from 100 requisition, 60 power to 150 requisition, 40 energy (1.3.2 numbers were incorrectly listed)
• Mekboy has always had a repair ability (incorrectly listed)

Sluggas
• Increased Burna melee damage from 45 to 50 (previously listed as a decrease)

Tankbustas
• Tankbusta build time has been reduced to 24 seconds (previously listed time was 6 seconds per entity, which was confusing)

Global Space Marine Changes
• Decreased the cost of Assault Terminators from 900 requisition/ 700 Zeal to 500 requisition/ 500 Zeal (Requisition and Zeal numbers were swapped)
• Decreased the cost of Terminators from 900 requisition/ 700 Zeal to 700 requisition/ 500 Zeal (Requisition and Zeal numbers were swapped)

Assault Space Marine
• Changed the squad cost from 550 requisition, 25 power to 500 requisition, 50 power (1.3.2 numbers were incorrectly listed)

Tech Marine
• The damage of Bionics Powerful Sweep has been increased from 45 to 65 (previously listed as a decrease)

Zoanthrope
• Decreased the cooldown of the Focused Warp Blast from 4.7 to 0
• Increased the energy cost of Focused Warp Blast to 80 (this line was omitted, causing the cooldown of the Focused Warp Blast to seem confusing)

Global Balance Updates
• The rate at which the HQ’s healing aura heals units has been reduced by half for all races (omitted from notes)
• The amount of Waaagh/Zeal/Psychic Might/Biomass granted from killing a unit and a unit being killed has been reduced for all units (omitted from notes)
• Retreating breaks stun (omitted from notes)

Lootas
• The Hide Da Gunz ability requires setup time, and costs 20 Waaagh (omitted from notes)

Hormagaunts
• Increased the requisition cost of Hormagaunt cost to 300; previously it was 240
(both numbers were incorrect)

Lictor
• The Lictor's Vanguard ability now makes infiltration free (omitted from notes)

Many thanks to those of you who answered the bell and submitted questions for this interview with Jonny Ebbert and Clint Tasker. The two designers sat down to discuss the major update coming for Dawn of War II, There is Only War! They got into what’s new for each of the factions, what they’re looking for from the upcoming beta we’ll be conducting for this update, and answered quite a number of fan questions. Sit back, relax, and prepare to get an ear full in this 35 minute Q&A!

(We garbled a couple of words, it means someone cussed.)

Here’s an exclusive Battle Report narrated by Relic’s Multiplayer Designer Josh Long and Game Balance Designer Stefan Haines. The new replay UI is used in the 24 minute video to watch Stefan Haines and Braden Chan duke it out while they play as Space Marines and Orks respectfully. The battle is waged on the new Tyrannoformed 2p map, Leviathan Hive.

Josh and Stefan provide a play-by-play of the action while revealing new Ork and Space Marine changes introduced from the balance update of ‘There is Only War’. The video shows how to use combinations of unit types to directly counter opposing forces. You’ll see how sharper unit roles and newly introduced abilities result in greater strategic depth.

The Battle Report is also available to download on Steam in 720p if you want a 944 MB high-resolution view of the carnage.

We here at Relic can’t wait to release ‘There is Only War’, and know the changes reflect a more engaging and balanced multiplayer experience. If you haven’t done so already, check out the first Developer Battle that we posted earlier in the week. It shows a Tyranid vs. Eldar battle on the new Outer Reaches map.

Stay tuned on this blog for more updates, more information, and details on how to participate in the ‘There is Only War’ Beta coming later this summer.

‘There is Only War’ includes the official release of World Builder, the Dawn of War II map editor. Once the update is released, players can create, edit, and play on their own community-created battlefields.

What can I do?
World Builder lets you add victory points, power nodes, and requisition points under Urban, Desert, Tyrannoformed, and Jungle map tilesets. You can deform terrain, place cover objects, choose the weather, and define the size of the map. Maps can be released for two, four, or six players.
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How do I use it?
When released, World Builder can be opened from the local DOW2 directory. It will also include a sample map and a documentation file explaining how to publish a basic map for online play. It is recommended to run World Builder on a PC that handles Dawn of War II on ‘high’ or ‘ultra’ graphics settings.

When is it released?
World Builder is yet another part of our massive ‘There is Only War’ update coming out later this summer, and will be available when the beta goes live in early July.

Sounds Awesome!
The tool is being released to further open Dawn of War II to the modding community, to give fans the ability to contribute new content and increase the longevity of multiplayer. We here at Relic are looking forward to see what you have to contribute, and can’t wait to get pwnd while playing on some awesome community-created maps.

Get ready, for ‘There is only War’!

I may have zoomed out too much...

Check out the Dawn of War II Steam page to see a brand new Battle Report narrated by by Jonny Ebbert, the lead designer on Dawn of War II, and Clint Tasker, a DOW II balance designer. The 24 minute video uses the new observer feature to showcase a battle between Colin “Hamu” Hamilton, a Tyranid player, and Braden “bC” Chan who plays as Eldar. The battle takes place on Outer Reaches, a two-player map designed to be an homage to a map from the original Dawn of War game.

Jonny and Clint reveal balance changes, unit updates, and new strategies introduced in the ‘There is Only War’ update. They also explain how tier-1 pacing has been adjusted to make the early game more interesting to play.
The video is also available to download, if you want to view a 720p, 745 MB high-resolution version of the action.

The video shows how ‘There is Only War’ brings diversity to unit roles between armies, and introduces strategies that players can use to directly counter an opposing force. We’re excited to roll out ‘There is Only War’ and know you’ll love the update once you get your hands on the Beta.

This is the first of two Developer Battles we’ll be posting this week. The next video will showcase Space Marines against Orks. Keep checking the site to find out how you can participate in the ‘There is Only War’ Beta launching later this summer.

Head on over to Steam to check it out!

It made good sense to us to invite GameReplays.org to check out the new observer and replay functionality that we’re putting into the upcoming There is Only War update for Dawn of War II. After all, the website is built around replays and it is for them and fans like them that we’ve been at work on improving this part of the game.

Our thanks to Bentguru, Senior Gamecaster from GR.org, for coming to our offices in Vancouver to check out a build of the game that gave him a first look. You can check out an interview with Bentguru about his trip and the shoutcast that he compiled of a game from right here at Relic in their two part feature:

Interview with Bentguru, Guru of "There Is Only War"
http://www.gamereplays.org/dawnofwar2/por…ic-update-patch

GameReplays.org Reveals Exclusive Footage of new Dawn of War 2 Features
http://www.gamereplays.org/dawnofwar2/por…er-update-patch

Zusatzinformationen

What are the three bar graphs showing?

They show Requisition, Power, and Waaagh! accumulated resources. It lets you see who is floating resources, or who is close to firing a nuke. Income rates are available on the other side.

What do the buttons up top do?

These are the telecast features and fog of war options. The down facing arrow is a UI arrow that can be used to highlight a squad, object, or a target on the ground. It places an arrow much like an objective arrow from the campaign. The cursor button is the "Large Cursor" button, and swaps the mouse cursor for a larger, webcast friendly mouse cursor. The "show infantry in FOW" button shows the enemy team underneath FoW.

All of these buttons are hotkeyed, so they are available when the panel is closed.

What does a referee do?

This was requested by some tournaments. Referees can pause the match, and have the ability to chat to all players. Normally observers only chat amongst themselves. The host of a custom game can designate any number of players as referees.

What type of games can we observe?

Observer is available in all custom games. It's up to the host to open up observers in their match.

http://community.dawnofwar2.com/viewtopic.php?p=394429#p394429

To answer some questions:

Max # of observer slots:
1v1 = 6
2v2 = 4
3v3 = 2

Any slot can be made a 'referee' at the host's discretion.

Observers are peers in the match so they can lag the game if they have a crappy connection or their settings are jacked. This is why we have the observer slots closed by default and it's a host choice to open them.

The Beta will only be open to owners of DOWII.

http://community.dawnofwar2.com/viewtopic.php?p=394864#p394864

Hey guys,

I wanted to give you some more information on the new maps that we are releasing in our new update coming this summer. These maps were a labor of love for many on the team; the design comes from a large range of thoughts, ideals and philosophies. And the art, well you can see for yourself that the art is amazing. So without further ado, let’s get into it.

Calderis Refinery (2P, 4P, 6P)

These maps were designed by me; Clint Tasker for those that don’t know. I wanted to try something new with Calderis Refinery and build a map that can scale across the different game modes we have in the ranked ladder, and maybe some other game modes to come later. The art goal was to see the different stages of excavation for a large Imperium facility. So you will see different boundaries depending on the size of the map you play.

6P
The 6P version of this map is designed with all the players starting an equal distance away from each other in a pie shape. Their spawn locations are segregated and each player has certain responsibilities based on his location such as securing resources, VPs or just holding important choke points. The middle of the map is a giant bowl of chaos, where every player’s path intersects allowing for many flanking opportunities. But be careful because you are highly likely to run into the enemy here.

4P
The 4P version has had its boundaries pulled in and points rearranged. Both players on a team start next to each other but once out on the map can take different paths and secure different areas. This map is very team oriented however and you can quickly cross it to help your teammate out if he gets in trouble.

2P
The 2P version has also had its boundaries pulled in, even more so. And also had some of its points removed as well as rearranged. Calderis Refinery 2P is a bit large for a 1v1 map but players will be drawn into combat due to the strategic placement of points of interest.

Calderis Refinery 2P

Outer Reaches (2P)

Outer Reaches was designed by Stefan Haines, a balance designer on Dawn of War 2. He is also a huge fan of the original DOW and this is his tribute to a very popular map. In outer reaches, most of the power and a VP are spread down the middle as well as a vital req point useful for scouting. The rest of the points are spread around the outer area of the map far from the reach of your opponent. In the center of the map is a large bombed out shrine to the emperor, which is the key flanking opportunity on this map. This map is just beautiful to look at and should be equally as fun to play on.

Outer Reaches

Legis High Stratum (2P)

Originally a retailer exclusive map, LHS now will be released to the entire DOW2 community. We’re happy to share this map with all our fans. Originally designed by Josh Long, a multiplayer designer, this map boasts some unique features. One of which is the destructible walls found in the center of the map. Depending on how these walls are used can change the gameplay on this map in a number of ways. For example, do you crush or destroy your side for easier access to the center VP? Or do you leave it intact to more easily defend a valuable power point. Set high atop an Imperial hive city, Legis High Stratum should surely appeal to those fans wanting more cityscape style maps.

Leviathan Hive (2P)

Leviathan Hive is an absolutely stunning map set in a heavily Tyranoformed jungle on Typhon. These ancient ruins have never seen such terrible corruption. LH was originally designed as a 2v2 map by Jeff Turner, our senior development tester. After several playtests we felt it was solid and sent it to art, but after further examination we felt it was too small and easily campable as a 2v2. With Jeff’s permission I made some slight modifications and turned it into the 1v1 it is today. A simple map, but rich with gameplay opportunities; the two most important points on the map are intimately nestled away on two hills with line-of-sight blocking and minimal choke points. These encourage intense firefights against dug in positions.

Leviathan Hive

Another Shot of Leviathan Hive

Golgotha Depths (4P)

Golgotha Depths is a conversion of a single player Meridian map. This is another hive city ravaged by Ork hordes. Converted by Stefan Haines with assistance from the rest of the team, this map has a unique layout as each player starts in a separate corner. Skirmishes often break out over the scattered resource points around the outer edges of the map but the real battles occur in the sunken center area where the neutral VP and a stash of resources lie.

Golgotha Depths

Angel Gate (6P)

Angel Gate is the map that everyone wanted as soon as they completed the Angel Forge missions in single player. AG was converted by John Capozzi, the original designer of the Angel Forge missions with some assistance from the multiplayer team. This map we always felt would make a good multiplayer map with the large barren road down the middle and the tangled mess of urban terrain on either side. Battles on this map almost always end with intense fire fights between the two sides. The neutral VP rests at the top of the map in front of the gate itself. Other VPs and resources are buried on the players’ sides of the map so contesting them is always risky.

Angel Gate

I hope you enjoy these, we worked hard on them.