Dawn of War Codex

Is there a simplified game guide for this mod/game where basic things are explained?

I have NO idea what unit is good vs what other unit, what counters what, all I see is piercing damage, heavy melee, light armour etc, I have absolutely no idea what this means.

Banshees counter tacticals because what? Heavy armor vs what?
Nothing ever tells me if the same banshees counter assault marines, ork boys, terminators etc? (and why).

Same goes for pretty much every unit. I have no idea what can counter or at least stand up to say, bloodletters in melee because everything is bogged down in weird melee types.

This also goes for HQ wargear. What is the difference between a thunder hammer and a force halbeard? What is good v what? Nowhere is this explained, least of all the game itself. When I see nobs I have no clue what wargear to choose for the commander, power sword, plasma pistol, pfist etc or what to upgrade the tacticals with, missile, plasma gun flamer..

The game is extremely non user friendly in this regard.


I really dont need another chart where units are listed with details such as bolter damage, piercing damage, heavy melee and so on because that tells me absolutely n o t h i n g.

Thus: is there some user friendly, simple game guide in its most basic form out there?
What units are countering what and why?
What wargear are good against what and why?

Well sadly, this is a very big game to write a whole guide about anything. I learned this game from watching Indrid casts, which is probobly the best way to learn after playing the actual game.

On the good side, the game is very easy to learn. There are lots of different power weapons, but you don't have to learn all of them one by one. Once you know what power weapons do, its 50% over. Same goes for plasma / inferno weapons, flamers, heavy melee, etc.

There are some guides on Steam it self, but they are written for retail / vanillia / not elite mod.

Best way to learn this game as soon as possible:

1-) Watch Indrid casts as much as you can
2-) Ask specific questions to forum, we like to help people. For example, what am I supposed to do against x, and why? etc.
3-) Play the game. Humans learn from experiance and practice, not from straight raw information.

Also, you can use our Codex for specific information about what does what. It is not a guide, but raw information can still make work for you at his stage.

https://dawnofwar.info/codex.php

Tom- wrote:Is there a simplified game guide for this mod/game where basic things are explained?

You can blame me for not making one I've been procrastinating for about 10 years now.

Anyways, until I make a full guide here are some simple things:

* Look at units by their range. Melee, medium and long range. Melee are units like Sluggas. Medium range are units like Tactical Marines. Long range are essentially artillery like the D-Cannon. Long range is weak to what can close in on it, medium is weak to melee that close in or long range that they can't get to and melee is weak to anything that it can't get into close range with. Melee units also take less damage from melee and ranged when in melee. Melee units also have a "charge" where they get increased speed when close to a unit they're attacking.

* Special attacks are attacks other than the standard ones that the unit would do. They are based off of melee skill and if you have a higher melee skill you will have a higher chance of making a special attack. Special attacks may do things like knockback or AoE damage.

* There are different ways of doing things. Speed bonuses to help units move around, knockbacks to stop units from closing in, large AoE attacks, shields, pulls, infiltration, buffs and other such things.

* Normal infantry armour takes damage evenly from pretty much everything. Heavy takes less piercing damage(like standard Termagaunt fire) and more from plasma or power melee. Vehicle armour takes less damage from everything but takes regular damage from AV(anti-vehicle) sources like heavy melee or missiles. Super heavy armour takes way less normal piercing damage and is weak to plasma and AV weapons. Ranged AV do very little to non-vehicles due to accuracy and size mechanics. Vehicles are big so missiles will have good accuracy vs them but regular units are small so you'll miss and do nothing. There are some inconsistencies that don't fit with this for balance or lore reasons but you'll learn them as you play. Starting squads having fire resist for example because people going for an early flamer was too powerful.

* Units that are retreating take less ranged damage but more melee damage and grenades do 10% less. Once you're in base there's an aura that reduces all damage by 50%.

* Cover grants ranged damage mitigation. Green grants the most. You can get into cover by holding right click in the area and choosing the direction. Buildings offer ranged resistance as well as melee denial but is weak vs things such as flamers.

Codex wrote a guide on tactics you should read: https://www.dawnofwar.info/forum/viewto ... f=11&t=718

Ah ok, thanks. That was pretty good for a general basic description and will help out.
Appreciate the time you took.

If you use discord or some other voip, I think I could take some time to go through the basics with you

If early units have a resist against tactical flamers because flamers would otherwise be to powerful early on why isnt the early sentinel nerfed as well. The sentinel pretty much steamrolls everything early on.

"If you use discord or some other voip, I think I could take some time to go through the basics with you"

Just got the discord app on puter but it would be of no use to game dow2 with me, compared with the people playing in the casts (indrid) I suck so much that it´s not even funny.
Even terminators seem fragile with my lack of quick attention and handling easy computer capping for me is like a frustrated game of never ending whack-a-mole.

Tom- wrote:If early units have a resist against tactical flamers because flamers would otherwise be to powerful early on why isnt the early sentinel nerfed as well. The sentinel pretty much steamrolls everything early on.

"If you use discord or some other voip, I think I could take some time to go through the basics with you"

Just got the discord app on puter but it would be of no use to game dow2 with me, compared with the people playing in the casts (indrid) I suck so much that it´s not even funny.
Even terminators seem fragile with my lack of quick attention and handling easy computer capping for me is like a frustrated game of never ending whack-a-mole.

You just need to learn how to deal with Sentinels. Use ranged(1 or 2 squads) and get in cover when you can. Getting a suppression team is a good way of area denial against them and if they try to run up and stomp just focus it. Or just use Vengeance Rounds as SM and destroy them easily During army engagements you want to focus the Guardsmen repairing it as opposed to the Sent constantly regening health.

Hi!

There is also an old vanilla DOW2 Basic Tactical Primer for beginners, by Octopus Rex, originally posted on RelicNews Forums (RIP):
https://vdocuments.net/basic-tactical-primer.html

It's not up to date with the Elite mod, but it's a good read to learn the basic mechanics and concepts of the game.

https://dawnofwar.info/codex.php?page=e ... t_glossary

Also this if you're looking for the very, very basics of the game, and what the codex terms mean. Made it a long time ago now.