DCPro reaches milestone 3.0

The DCPro team have kicked their version up to 3.0, you can get this excellent modification for Relic's Dawn of War from:

http://www.gamerslifeforme.com/downloads/dowpro/DoWpro-3-0-0-Full.exe = DCpro 3.0 Full

http://www.gamerslifeforme.com/downloads/dowpro/DoWpro-3-0-0-Update-Patch.exe = Update Patch

http://dow.lerp.com/maps/DoWpro300Full.exe << full

http://dow.lerp.com/maps/DoWpro300UpdatePatch.exe <

Here's the change-log for those curious souls:

2.03 to 3.0 changes (copied from the test version release thread on sanc)

The underpinning values of the 2.03-->3.00 transition were all about increasing the dynamic nature of the combat. Reducing camping and improving the flow of each race and mu. Essentially we were looking for less camping and more intensity with as little static play as possible. Ideally units should be moving at all times. We also took steps to more adequately represent the population value of individual squads relative to other squads eg. 2pop GM's are obviously inferior for pop to 2pop tacs and thus steps were taken to make a unit's strength more closely represented by its pop value.

At its core 3.00 is still obviously DoWpro. However, I'd encourage everyone who may have played an earlier iteration of DCpro to give this one a go. It differs sharply in terms of pace and in many ways offers a more coherent set of racial interactions. Most noticeably Tau and Crons have been dramatically reinterpreted and revised from their 2.03 iterations - they were essentially incomplete in the last release. However, every race has been systematically evaluated and adjusted as necessary to bring about the required gameplay - this should be obvious when reviewing the long list of global (changes that affect all races) tweaks.

Necrons:

Of particular interest to all DoW'ers should be Necrons who represent some truly unique gameplay mechanic innovations. It was obvious that 2.03 Necrons were lacking something that supported the race's implacable and arcane theme. Huge effort has been made in building on 2.03's Necrons and re-envisioning them to be a truly unique and challenging race to play. The result is a race who mirrors the slow purposeful pace of DC's Necrons but is further exemplified by a teleportation based movement dynamic and a reliance on the monolith - a strong reinforcing theme and a nod to fluff that I hope many fans will appreciate.

Tau:

Tau have been heavily remodelled to promote a better sense of dynamism and improve the internal balance of the race. The rework was less dramatic than Necrons but We think the result is still fairly different from 2.03's. Overall Tau are fundamentally an aggressive mobile race with strong mechanised infantry themes and a reliance on infiltration and elites. I think all Tau players will appreciate the improvements on 2.03.

Original five races

Finally, the original 5 races have been finely tuned and refined. Every race has changes and I've tried to get them all listed but its almost certain I've failed - so keep your eyes open for new goodies and alterations on 2.03 there's likely to be more than a few. DCpro 3.00 represents the most dynamic and polished iteration of DoWpro ever released and I hope that you all enjoy playing it. For those of you who may have written off DoWpro now is the time to give it another go to re-evaluate things.

Changelog:

General:

- Revision of decay rates on HQ's, crits, sp's

- Revision of HQ hp scaling

- Revision of all building HP's for building_med structures

- Revision of relic and crit req rates

- Revision of lp2 hp and build timers

- Adjustment of builder scaling and dmg taken from weapons....basically its harder to defend than previously. Good news for harassers.

- Adjustment of elites out of combat reinforcement to be much faster - not significantly better in combat however....they suffer strongly from attrition as before

- Revision of dps's to many units to smooth out performance issues

- Revision of morale for all heroes (anti-morale weaponry will now actually affect them meaningfully)

- Weapons are faster to equip than in 2.03...making it easier to adapt

- Stopped all special attacks vs ubers, builders and vehicles. This will confer more reliable dps in melee against these units.

- All race transports have 2 slots

- Increased dmg from most weaponry to builder units to permit more harassment to succeed even when the ol' servitor tries to repair the lp2

- All powerfist/klaws/hammers no longer have a setup time dramatically improving the utility of these weapons vs infantry

- Tiering speed now 30secs for all races (adjusted for non-meq races too)

- Remoted wait periods of most units to increase responsiveness in game

- *Note: There are literally hundreds perhaps thousands of DPS changes that have gone into 3.0 I don't feel there's any real purpose listing them individually when I supply a dps chart. If you're curious you can compare against 2.03's chart*

- MEQ units are now generally 3pop differentiating them from inferior non-meq units like Guardsmen (GM), firewarriors, cultists and kroot who remain at 2pop.

Chaos:

- Starting pop is 10

- Tactical marines, Zerkers and Raptors cost 3 pop

- Armoury/sac pit gives champion to csm/rap/serk, tier2 gives +2 members (cults still t2 champs)

- Cultist POTD resarch gives +25hp and a 20% speed buff

- max 4 defilers. Defilers nerfed generally.

- Daemon prince weaker HP wise

- Oblits and PSM moderate HP buffs since 2.03

- Daemonic mutation merged into daemonic speed to reduce research load

Eldar:

- Entangle on a global timer, lasts 12 seconds, 50ish seconds to reload (u can cast entangle only once no matter how many squads you have)

- DR nerfed vs terminator armour 20% --> crisis suits should now be great DR counter. Banshees in turn will counter Crisis rather than DR's.

- Banshees 3 pop , cost upped to 55/5 , hitpoints upped to 315

- Banshees buffed vs terminator armour 40%.

- Firedragons 315 health, terminator armour. FD have small fotm now. Also reload rate improved. Mass increased to decrease disruption effect (but still lighter than many units).

- Listening post health buffed to 1400, lp2 1600

- Falcon/prism health nerfed to 2400

- Webways hold 4 squads

- Falcons 2 slots. All inf take 1 slot

- Plats cost inf pop

Imperial Guard:

- -50starting req

- T2 50req cheaper

- kasrkin cost 3 pop, lowered max kasrkin (8 + sarg) and GM squad size (9 + sarg). Mass accumulation was too much and made IG quite the imba.

- GM are now 100req for 5men starting squad

- GM capping speed improved

- GM smaller max squad size of 10 instead of 12 to reflect alterations in meq pop allocation (eg. 3 pop 9 man tacs were UP compared to 12 man 2pop GM when massed)

- Kasrkin have fewer men in t1 (6 + sarg) and t1.5 (7 + sarg). 8 + sarg with mech shop they're also now 3pop in line with the 3pop global meq changes

- sent AC nerfed vs terms

- small HH buff, Let em burn rescaled into a 20sec ability

- chimera speed buff

- listening post hp buffed to 1600 , lp2 same 1600

- +1 HW for GM in t3

- Ogryn building_low nerfed. It was lol. Still damn good (x2 psm)

- Priest +5 power and +10hp, svisc damage to greater daemons nerfed

- CS in combat reinforce now x2 instead of x1.25, slight pistol buff

- Assassin decreased keen sight radius, +20/+10 cost hike

- Inq CC dps to monster med n high buffed esp to the hammer

- Firing line now global ability and effectiveness buffed

Necron:

- slower NL build timer

- 15% inf_med nerf on NW's

- increased % chance of wraith sync kills to 40% from 30%

- displacement arc ability added

- NL now takes 68sec to build instead of 75

- Phase shift 10 sec instead of 12

- NW's now do 10-30 dmg to inf_high with special attacks

- Scarabs now counter monster_low aka krootox/knarloc

- Infantry cannot reinforce unless next to monolith

- Infantry cannot teleport unless activated by either: being morale broken, displacement arc ability applied to squad, ascension grid ability applied to all cron units

- Infantry can only teleport to: pylon, generators, monolith

- Phase shift is global ability and not available to wraiths until purchased from archives

- Tombspyders can make scarabs again

- All hero spells tweaked and most have activation costs now

- Scarab max 2, +1 with tombsypder scarabs for combined total of 3

- Pariahs totally overhauled. Much much better and now really quite scarily good

- NW's/Imm's/FO's dramatically slower than 2.03 --> approaching DC speed

- FO's morale aura adjusted: now decreases max morale of nearby enemies. More FO's = higher the reduction. Pariah's and DL w/ nightmare shroud also have this aura

-

Ork:

- Nob Leaders cost 3 orky pop

- BigMek costs 4 orky pop

- Docs cost 2 orky pop

- Sluggas reinforce slightly slower

- PoG 75 power

- Grot bomb more dangerous

- Alteration of Trukk movement values

- Smaller SB and Shoota max squad sizes

- MANz buffed...they're fairly scary now icon1.gif

- Rokkit and burna upgrades merged into "More Burny and Boom" 1n2

Space Marines:

- Starting pop cap is 11

- Timers reduced slightly on most units

- Armoury gives tacs and asm the seargent instead of +2 members, they get +2 members at tier2

- Skull probe now degens in hp

- scout CC dmg x1.8 buff

- Tactical marines and asm take 3 pop cap

- Librarian: 40% buff to anti-daemon. 20% nerf to anti-commander dmg. Thus chappy is the anti-commander + brawler + self buff caster unit. Libby is anti-daemon + offensive caster.

- chappy significantly reworked:

--> has perma enabled charge

--> 20% dps buff. Further 20% anti-comm buff. 40% nerf to anti-daemon

--> litany of hatred morale immunity removed. Now adds +200 morale

--> Catechism reworked: now is 8sec spell that boosts chappy + attached squad's speed by 30%, halves all dmg done to the squad, increases unit mass of all units in the squad and adds +6hp sec regen for all units in the squad. Thus you use chappy and attached squad to charge into mass of troops like DR's --> Chappy is now linebreaker unit.

- ASM meltas dps tweaked

- Term ML dps tweaked

- AT's stun values nerfed to be shorter duration

- *Note* There is a bug with chappy/libby --> whilst you're going t3 u cannot buy a new one. This is a result of the current system in which you can only get 1 (aka either chappy or libby not both) in t2. A necessary bug.

Tau:

- vespids 3 pop

- Kroot hound dps buffed esp vs terms

- Carnivore rifle dmg buffed vs builders. Carni dps buffed moderately vs terms --> ideally hounds are required to tackle terminators

- Markerlight ability now slows 25%

- FW's speed same as PF's. Range scales with sarg and target finders research (bah Idk tau words...they're silly anyway tongue.gif)

- TC is not perma cloaked with t3 wargear

- TC dps adjusted

- PF rails/HH/Broadside rails nerfed (no longer AoE)

- Vespid dps, costing and HP all adjusted

- New Tau ethereal Fx's

- Drone bury function tweaked

- All elite requirements adjusted: Crisis/broads/krootox/knarloc require 2 basic FW/Kroot squads. Similarly Vespids and SS's no longer require basic troops.

- Caps for vehs revised

- Vespids now tied to montka. SS's tied to kauyon path.

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The aim of this brief guide is to outline some of the more fundamental gameplay changes made in the modification. These range from the return of hard counters, line of sight changes, to scaling squad build timers. A big thank you to Kurtcos who wrote tho original articles i ripped this article from :D

Basics

DCpro plays more like "classic" DoW than Dark Crusade. This means that T1 is now an integral part of the game, and securing a stable economy and establishing an army are of paramount importance. All units scale far more effectively than in DC, which leads to less unit redundancy as the game progresses, so gone are the days of your T1 mass being pwned by a T2 unit (GK & Chappie anyone??).

Hard Counters

They're baaaaacck! DCpro see's the return of the hard counter system originally seen in DoW. This means the certain units/weapons reform FAR better against certain target's than others. Amongst the best examples of this system are the elder aspect warriors. Dark Reapers are a hard counter to heavy infantry (e.g. Tacs, Termies, CSM, Zerks, FW's etc) and Warp Spiders are a hard counter to light infantry (Scouts, cultists, GM's etc). To familiarise yourself with which weapon counters which armour type, I suggest you check the DPS chart, found in the DCpro install folder.

Infiltration

The infiltration system has received a MAJOR rework from DC, and there are now three different types of infiltration. These are: cover infiltration, timed infiltration and permanent infiltration. All three types of infiltration are disabled by detectors, or by grenades. Each type of infiltration has a symbol which is now displayed on the unit's icon in their production building. Shield: Cover infiltration, Hourglass: Timed infiltration, and eyes: permanent infiltration.

All heroes now detect at approx ½ of their "true" sight range, and other detectors are now identified by a purple eyes symbol on the unit's production icon. Just for the record, Turrets no longer detect.

Line of Sight (LoS)

In DCpro, LoS has been massively reduced to a standardised viewing range for most troops. Only heroes and a select group of special units or unit upgrades have the ability to "see beyond". Not all of these troops are infiltrators and their role has been crafted to maximise this feature - their special skill of having superior LoS. This has some sweeping gameplay consequences. The established rule within DCpro is that you must PAY extra for superior LoS. LP2's have better LoS than LP1's - encouraging teching to increase your Intel. To expand your knowledge of the map and the enemy you'll need to continue to invest in scouting specialists all throughout the game - failure to do so will offer your opponent more opportunities to outflank and outmanoeuvre you. In short, LoS matters and you'll need to think more carefully about how you expand and direct it. You'll have now more options (and indeed a reason) to scout, since they can remain unseen more time, and this, combined with DCpro infiltration system, adds more possibilities to scouting strategies and scouting units.

As a special part of the LoS dynamic, Necrons have a special feature, since many of their tactics are based around denying the enemy LoS. Some of their units, abilities and buildings (such as the all new Necron "Pylon" summoned by the Necron Lord) project a "Blinding Aura" that reduces LoS of surrounding enemy units, forcing them to get closer to your gauss weaponry and flaying claws...Necrons indeed seem to appear out of nowhere in DCpro!

Squad Scaling

In DCpro, the maximum number of members per squad was increased as you tech your way up the techtree - this is known as Squad Scaling. For example: you could have 6 tactical marines per squad in tier 1, and when you build an armoury a sergeant becomes available, and +2 members with T2, whereas terminators, available in t2 start out with 5 members, get +1 with T3 and another +1 members with the Orbital Relay structure.

Reducing squad sizes like this in T1 decreases the ability of T1 units to raze a base. However, as T2 units didn't get uber buffed, making a big T1 army is actually useful, thus intense T1 combat occurs as both players jockey for map control and produces those great early game micro and macro intensive battles that people miss from good old vanilla DoW. Also, as you tech, you'll see how your T1 troops scale effectively, and do not become obsolete from one tier to another, as happened in WA and DC. The result is that we still have T1 fights that lead into T2 fights with mixed armies in which new T2 units are useful without making the previous tier's units obsolete.

DCpro has also implemented a system in which units' production time is increased each time you build one - this is known as Squad Timer Scaling. What this means is that each duplicate squad you build has a progressively longer production time, depending on how many of said unit you have in the field. This effectively means that it's easier for a losing player to rebuild quickly than it is for a big force to get bigger due to this system (minimising slippery slope). It also encourages a player not to lose whole squads and to retreat - reinforcing is faster than building your 6th squad.

Finally, DCpro now fully incorporates In Combat Reinforcement Timer Scaling meaning that reinforcement times have been tweaked to be longer when the squad is either firing or being fired upon. Elite units now suffer longer reinforcement times in combat than their non elite counterparts (e.g. Termies compared to Tacs), meaning they have more difficulties in prolonged combat, as each casualty hurts way more. This way, use of elites becomes more specific. You'll use them for special determined actions, e.g. to spearhead of an attack, while you give them support with other units to ensure their effectiveness and survival.

Certain races as a whole suffer more from In Combat Reinforcement Timer Scaling more than others. IG for example has few penalties - more meat for the grinder! SM/CSM/Necrons however, suffer harshly - you can't just spam more uber marines reinforcements in record time......make do with the super humans you have and crush the enemy with 1/4 their number like any respectable marine player.

Multi HQ System

One of the bigger changes we have made in DCpro, is we have tied the number of production buildings to the number of HQ's you have on a strict rule of one structure per HQ (with a couple of races having a 2:1 ratio). We have done this, as in DC, there is no real need to build additional HQ's. Why bother when you can build 10 Barracks or Machine Bays with 1 HQ?

Your standard 1v1 maps will play the same as they always did - what this has changed is how large maps play. In a small map, you get your usual base, barracks, vehicle depot, armoury, etc, However, in large games, when greater numbers and faster tech becomes more important to get map control or defeat your closest opponent, the opportunity to build a second HQ becomes a lot more appealing. This 2nd HQ will allow you to have a second production building of each type and extend your maximum pop up to 26/26 or equivalent in the case of Orky pop. With this larger production output, resources in bigger maps can be better utilised and the larger 26/26 population limits change the style of combat into a larger sweeping army advance rather than the more typical high micro combat of smaller maps.

"Geesh this sounds crazy and weird". It IS different to how DoW has played before - particularly on big maps and in larger team games. I'll explain the reasoning further. Consider that on a small map for most races you get roughly 1 barracks per HQ. Why would you really need more? In a small map - you probably won't, in DoW/WA/DC multiple structures were extreme rarities. In larger maps where eco is higher you'll want to get more troops out - particularly because your production slows due to DCpro's Squad Timer Scaling. Now it becomes a good idea to build that 2nd HQ and get a 2nd barracks - you'll be able to out produce your opponent if he fails to get 2nd HQ. Also with a second HQ the max pop extends to 26/26 (instead of 20/20) thus the overall scale of combat is potentially larger. Timer scaling limits spam though and its really only possible to get 26/26 with 2 sets of production facilities going and macroing well - larger population doesn't mean spam peeps! DCpro has many systems integrated that prevent spam from occurring despite the raised pop level maximums. Basically the message here is larger combat is now a possibility - it won't really affect small maps at all....it just extends the scope of gameplay that DCpro is suitable for. It also adds structure and framework to team games, reducing the spam and improving the overall experience for the player. Remember restrictions aren't bad IF they improve the overall player experience - I think this is what has happened here with DCpro.

Wargear

Sadly, this ubercool feature never made its way into Skirmish games. This does not hold true for DCpro. Wargear is now available in every Skirmish/MP Game you play, and for EVERY race. It will allow you to customize your commander, and even more importantly, create great diversity and excitement within the gameplay.

Normally, in vanilla DC when you start a game, your commander is your safest bet in the T1 battlefield. Unfortunately, in tiers2/3 they tend to become eclipsed by the second hero, usually a spellcaster, who gets better abilities than the regular Commander and eclipses the usefulness of your T1 army leader.

The DCpro team wanted to reinstate the might and dominance of the primary hero - whilst at the same time make them less boring and more diverse in their playstyle options. To do that, we've reinforced a game element that had been a little bit forgotten. Relics. In every expansion, the need to capture Relics has waned with only uberunits for your race requiring them. Some races don't even need them at all. This has changed in DoWpro. Relics are necessary from T1 to deploy all your wargear as well as your later game elites.

Essentially to get shiny gadgets for your commander, you must ensure that you have a captured Relic. Wargear is available in form of addons for one building of each race. Being an addon means that if you lose the building, you lose the wargear piece. So be careful. Those addons cost both req and power, so you need to manage your resources better, and you'll have to choose between having a killing machine hero and few troops, or a weaker commander and more numerous or upgraded troops.

In every tier you gain access to newer and better wargear pieces, so it's not like "going to tier X and clicking every research". Upgrading your commander is something that you make along the whole game. There are two types of wargear - Premium Wargear and Weaponry (also known as Basic Wargear). There are six Premium wargear choices per race, two per tier with a further two basic wargear pieces in T2 and another two in T3. Sounds complicated....but the icons and tooltips make it blindingly obvious

Premium vs. Basic Wargear

Remember Multi-HQ system? It affects wargear, too. Premium wargear pieces are exclusive - this means that for each tier you may only choose one piece of wargear from your two choices - once you have purchased a piece the other in its tier set will become unavailable. Therefore once you have made a premium purchase, you'll have to go up another tier to get another premium choice. This brings us back to the Multi-HQ system. You'll need to get your second HQ and second relevant wargear production building - should you do this you'll be able to buy a complete set of wargear! What does this imply? In bigger games, it is easier to get an uberhero than in small skirmish. This is also more fluff-friendly, because greater commanders won't be seen or "made" in small battles, but in the greatest ones. It also means that games don't simply end at T3 (equivalent of DC's T4) because there's still more wargear you can unlock (not to mention production capacity!) by getting a second set of buildings.

Let's discuss how premium wargear will affect the playstyle of your commander. Each Tier, as I mentioned, unlocks 2 new premium wargear choices. The key feature as mentioned is that you can only really choose one piece in a normal game and both those pieces will dramatically differ in the way they upgrade your hero. Two examples:

You can get your SM Force Commander to have

a) Champions Cincture, which enables an ability that when activated on a friendly squad, will dramatically increase the speed that squad sets up their heavy weapons. Clearly the FC with this wargear is a great support hero for your Heavy weapon teams!

b) Iron Halo, which dramatically increases your commander's resistance to ranged damage. A FC with an Iron Halo is capable of tanking loads of ranged damage and is great for disruption

So, you choose one and you "lose" the second wargear option until your second HQ is built. That choice then affects the way you play with your commander, as a tactical/combat supporting unit, or as a uber-resistant melee unit that will take lots of punishment. Clearly there are knock on effects for the way you use your regular troops too - perhaps with a more durable commander scout builds would be more viable or with his rapid deploy ability - missile or HB harassing is improved.

There is a drawback to wargear. Heroes cost extra for each piece of wargear you choose! Why shouldn't they? A uber hero should cost more to rebuild than a basic non-blinged one. This also lends itself to strategic thought. For example in T3 the Chaos Lord can either choose the Daemon Prince Wargear piece to permanently change himself into a daemon prince OR he can get the much cheaper Daemonic armour upgrade. Armour is nowhere near as good a buff as daemonic ascension - but then again it costs FAR less! This means that if you're feeling tight for cash but still want to upgrade your CL it'd be a smarter idea to get the armour so you could afford to rebuild that CL rather than the far more expensive Daemon prince should he die in combat. The same reasoning applies for all the heroes. The message here is don't worry about spam - we've already made wargear a self limiting feature. It adds to gameplay, not detracts.