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Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 3:21 pm
by Orkfaeller
I think I've never ever got as mad at this game as I did yesterday.
I actually snapped at some guy at the end of the evening.
From the six games I played yesterday I wanted to strangle myself in five of them.
To get to the point -
PEOPLE DONT UNDERSTAND HOW TELEPORTER RELAY BEACONS WORK -
And it doesnt matter if you try to explain it to them, I almost wrote a novel in team and lobby chat yesterday -
I really believe that the "casual" Dawn of War II player ( including those in ELITE ), those who do not play Techmarines themselves, dont understand how relays work. Maybe most of them havent even seen one in their life, the only ones I ever see are the ones I build.
The pure sight of it seems to freak them out that hard that their first reaction is to retreat away from it, I cant explain it otherwhise.
Is there ANY way to reach those players who dont visit the forums to teach them how to operate beacons?
Like Loading Screen Tips?
Or putting a sprite over the Beacon?
I swear, I'm not going to survive another gameplay session like this.
______________________only a small collection_______________________
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 3:22 pm
by Orkfaeller
I'm just so f''king desperate ...
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 3:27 pm
by Dark Riku
XD Aren't there already loading tips about the land raider redeemer and beacon?
If not I guess it could be added. And replace some of the useless ones.
I thought they were planning on changing them anyway.
Haven't payed attention to loading tips in a long time though

Will check it out again.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 3:34 pm
by Sub_Zero
The most entertaining thing about newbies is when they fail to disable retreat button and getting raped by melee units desperately trying to retreat to base.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 3:49 pm
by Lulgrim
Some of my fondest DoW memories involve cheese blobs, their death trap beacons and plasma cannons / assblasters.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 4:20 pm
by Indrid
Nuke magnets.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 4:22 pm
by Orkfaeller
Thing is, the ork player on one of the screenshots. He wasnt bad. He had a sensible build. Kept his commander alive. Didnt loose squads, bashed power, but just didnt use beacons. I dont think its just a newb thing
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 6:03 pm
by Nuclear Arbitor
i can tell you from experience that i often do not notice if team mates have beacons and when i do they're either not in a position to help me or i forget to use them.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 6:28 pm
by Arbit
It's awkward trying to disable the beacon while you're getting swamped with melee, and that second or two of fumbling plus the stop and go can cost you a squad. Not to mention you can forget you've activated a beacon and you think your heavily damaged squad is healing back at base when really it's getting butchered at the beacon.
I try to use them when possible, but I can't blame someone for forgetting or choosing not to use it. It takes a little getting used to and there aren't frequent opportunities to practice.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 6:56 pm
by Vapor
Arbit wrote:It's awkward trying to disable the beacon while you're getting swamped with melee, and that second or two of fumbling plus the stop and go can cost you a squad. Not to mention you can forget you've activated a beacon and you think your heavily damaged squad is healing back at base when really it's getting butchered at the beacon.
I try to use them when possible, but I can't blame someone for forgetting or choosing not to use it. It takes a little getting used to and there aren't frequent opportunities to practice.
I've never tried this because I don't play much TM, but you should be able to assign the beacon to a hotkey (like 0) to make it easier to (de)activate. 0+Q... Works on gates and tunnels at least.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 7:14 pm
by Orkfaeller
Okey, guys, I'm not talking about "not noticing" or "forgetting to activate it"; I'm playing Techmarine since beta as my main, I've seen everything -
I'm really convinced that a HUGE part of the playerbase does just not know how they work or what they do.
This is how I write in chat -
"going to build a Relay Beacon at X"
"Beacon ready"
"dont forget to activate it"
I anounce my beacons three times, should I place one.
And then I see players retreating past the beacon, not once, not twice, not three times but through the ENTIRE game, 20 minutes, 30, 40 minute long games without retreating to it even ONCE.
"PLEASE make use of the beacon"
"DONT FORGET, you have to click it to activate it"
Most people do not understand what beacons do.
Many believe they only work for yourself or only work for space marines.
And not just "newbs", even people who put many many hours into the game.
I know it may be hard to believe, but most people do not forget, or what ever, they dont know. I have to put up with that evening and evening for years now, yesterday something snapped inside me.
There has to besomething you can do to educate people. ANYTHING.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 7:18 pm
by fok12
Maybe they can't handle the sheer epicness of a teleporter beacon

Seriously though, unless the beacon is in a (very) defensive position I don't think its easy to try and disable it so you can retreat to base in the middle of a combat.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 10:24 pm
by Lag
I always go "wtf" when I select a squad which is at base and beacon is selected as retreat point, and I try to retreat it to the beacon. It just goes "derp?". Shouldn't it retreat to the beacon ffs?
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 10:28 pm
by Orkfaeller
It retreats to what ever is closest.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 11:49 pm
by Dark Riku
Lag wrote:I always go "wtf" when I select a squad which is at base and beacon is selected as retreat point, and I try to retreat it to the beacon. It just goes "derp?". Shouldn't it retreat to the beacon ffs?
I'm stunned you still don't know the mechanics of the game by now XD
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Wed 13 Nov, 2013 11:58 pm
by Vapor
Lol it would be funny in a team game to have a few beacons scattered across the map, if you have the micro you could swap retreat points and choose an optimal retreat path, and use them for quick travel. Trololololol
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Thu 14 Nov, 2013 12:23 am
by Commissar Vocaloid
fv100 wrote:Lol it would be funny in a team game to have a few beacons scattered across the map, if you have the micro you could swap retreat points and choose an optimal retreat path, and use them for quick travel. Trololololol
That would be ridiculously OP and hilarious.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Thu 14 Nov, 2013 12:25 am
by Arbit
Hah, a network of buildings that let you quickly travel across the map?! Next you'll tell me they should be invisible and cost only red to build! *trollface*
I remember the old days when you didn't have a choice whether it was enabled or not. *shudder*
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Thu 14 Nov, 2013 2:19 am
by Nuclear Arbitor
fv100 wrote:I've never tried this because I don't play much TM, but you should be able to assign the beacon to a hotkey (like 0) to make it easier to (de)activate. 0+Q... Works on gates and tunnels at least.
i've tried but never been able to hotkey gates; idk why.
i'm under the impression, although i've never test it, that units always retreat towards the base, stopping at a beacon if it's on and between the unit and base. if it actually is to nearest that's good to know and could still be used to shorten travel time.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Thu 14 Nov, 2013 5:20 am
by Lulgrim
Nah the direction doesn't matter, actually when Ret came out and Land Raiders were crazy we did a bunch of lol team game base rapes by driving a LRR in and "retreating" all armies there.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Thu 14 Nov, 2013 6:57 am
by ThongSong
I read the title as 'Teaching Players how to Bacon'
mm bacon
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Thu 14 Nov, 2013 9:25 am
by Vapor
Lulgrim wrote:Nah the direction doesn't matter, actually when Ret came out and Land Raiders were crazy we did a bunch of lol team game base rapes by driving a LRR in and "retreating" all armies there.
What happens if a Sorceror teleports the land raider to a new location while units are mid-retreat? Do they reverse direction and start going the other way?
I wanna see someone teleport a land raider to behind their opponent's base for massive retreat lulz.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Thu 14 Nov, 2013 3:06 pm
by Lag
Orkfaeller wrote:It retreats to what ever is closest.
Really? I thought it works like the British HQ Truck as it is the same game engine.
Thanks for the tip.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Thu 14 Nov, 2013 8:56 pm
by Tex
Good idea on the sorc warp. That is a fantastic abuse idea for an ork/sm/chaos combo.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Fri 15 Nov, 2013 2:13 am
by Vapor
For a more accessible alternative, teleport a friendly techmarine behind the enemy base with Sigil and have him build a beacon there.

Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Fri 15 Nov, 2013 5:17 am
by Lulgrim
Building turrets behind enemy HQ has been done forever, there's just the risk that you get luled doing it. On some maps you can bypass turrets T1, on some you might need a transport (well you could borrow a GK Rhino in T1).
When we introduced GK I was expecting ppl to go for sneak Rhino + Purgation base rapes in T1.5 to kill off HQ turrets early. I remain slightly surprised I've never seen it.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Fri 15 Nov, 2013 6:44 am
by Commissar Vocaloid
Lulgrim wrote:When we introduced GK I was expecting ppl to go for sneak Rhino + Purgation base rapes in T1.5 to kill off HQ turrets early. I remain slightly surprised I've never seen it.
brb raping turrets with GK Rhino combos.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Fri 15 Nov, 2013 10:04 am
by Rataxas
Who Was playign TM in that match ? you ?
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Fri 15 Nov, 2013 10:07 am
by Rataxas
Orkfaeller wrote:Okey, guys, I'm not talking about "not noticing" or "forgetting to activate it"; I'm playing Techmarine since beta as my main, I've seen everything -
I'm really convinced that a HUGE part of the playerbase does just not know how they work or what they do.
This is how I write in chat -
"going to build a Relay Beacon at X"
"Beacon ready"
"dont forget to activate it"
I anounce my beacons three times, should I place one.
And then I see players retreating past the beacon, not once, not twice, not three times but through the ENTIRE game, 20 minutes, 30, 40 minute long games without retreating to it even ONCE.
"PLEASE make use of the beacon"
"DONT FORGET, you have to click it to activate it"
Most people do not understand what beacons do.
Many believe they only work for yourself or only work for space marines.
And not just "newbs", even people who put many many hours into the game.
I know it may be hard to believe, but most people do not forget, or what ever, they dont know. I have to put up with that evening and evening for years now, yesterday something snapped inside me.
There has to besomething you can do to educate people. ANYTHING.
i would not use your beacon also if its placed in wrong part of the map... and i belive it was.
Re: Teaching Players how to Beacon.
Posted: Fri 15 Nov, 2013 1:16 pm
by Lag
Lulgrim wrote:Building turrets behind enemy HQ has been done forever, there's just the risk that you get luled doing it. On some maps you can bypass turrets T1, on some you might need a transport (well you could borrow a GK Rhino in T1).
When we introduced GK I was expecting ppl to go for sneak Rhino + Purgation base rapes in T1.5 to kill off HQ turrets early. I remain slightly surprised I've never seen it.
What would you gain from it? I don't see turrets giving you red. Maybe XP?