Question about campaign and factions

[Mr.Person]

So, if the main campaign is based on the Imperium, what do you do with the other factions besides skirmishes?

I dislike games that are nothing but skirmish after skirmish with no feeling of conquest or progression like a campaign, and I plan on playing Eldar. What I mean is, like Dawn of War 1, there are some fantastic mods for skirmish, but I end up turning them off and playing the campaign just because I feel like I am actually accomplishing something.

So if I choose Eldar to play as primarily, will the only thing I really get to do is skirmish and PVP?

*also I haven't been following it much, are Eldar even in yet and if they are, are they good?

[Lack of Stuff]

There is currently no single-player campaign for Eldar outside of Skirmish mode. They are in the game. Asking if they are good or not is going to get you alot of completely polar answers. Some will tell you they are the most OP thing ever created in any game ever made, others are gonna say they have been nerfed into the ground and are not worth using. I think playing them yourself would be the best way to see if they fit your preferred tactics and playstyle.

[Mr.Person]

Bah, I figured there would be no campaign for them, but I have been watching TBs videos on the Orks and the gameplay looks really fun, but I know Orks arent gonna be my playstyle. I usually try to play defensively, and I like the way the Eldar ships look.

Unless they add Tau anytime soon I am gonna be playing Eldar lol. Will pick this up after exams are over.

[obliviondoll]

Eldar ships are built for speed. Instead of regular shields, they have holofields which only provide a benefit to the ship while it's moving. If you can keep your ships mobile, they are tough for enemies to land hits on (which is a huge advantage).

The campaign is purely about the Imperial perspective, but you can fight some battles allied with the Eldar.

If you are just playing Eldar, you have skirmish mode as pretty much the only option - at least for now (there may be patched in or DLC campaigns for other factions - I expect DLC or nope to be more likely though, unfortunately). The skirmish mode doesn't have any storyline to it, but it does at least give you a sense of progression - as you build up experience/ranking, you can buy new ships, upgrade them and customise them to a certain degree to suit your preferences.

[Lack of Stuff]

A lot of ppl are lobbying for some sort of more generic conquest mode that could be played for all factions but it's anyone's guess if something like that will ever be implemented. I think a conquest mode without faction specific story events/cutscenes would be the most economical way Tindalos could expand on the single player though.

[Mr.Person]

Originally posted by Lack of Stuff:

A lot of ppl are lobbying for some sort of more generic conquest mode that could be played for all factions but it's anyone's guess if something like that will ever be implemented. I think a conquest mode without faction specific story events/cutscenes would be the most economical way Tindalos could expand on the single player though.

Yea it should be like Dawn of War Dark Crusade/Soulstorm, those were really fun and only had slightly different cutscenes.

My question about the Eldar though, is if you have to keep them moving, and all their guns face foreward, how do you keep the enemy in the line of fire, but avoid torpedoes and keep your fields up? That all requires turning

[Lack of Stuff]

Originally posted by Mr.Person:

Originally posted by Lack of Stuff:

A lot of ppl are lobbying for some sort of more generic conquest mode that could be played for all factions but it's anyone's guess if something like that will ever be implemented. I think a conquest mode without faction specific story events/cutscenes would be the most economical way Tindalos could expand on the single player though.

Yea it should be like Dawn of War Dark Crusade/Soulstorm, those were really fun and only had slightly different cutscenes.

My question about the Eldar though, is if you have to keep them moving, and all their guns face foreward, how do you keep the enemy in the line of fire, but avoid torpedoes and keep your fields up? That all requires turning

Speed in and fire your pulsars/torpedoes then manuever away so you don't get blasted. Eldar have no broadsides at all so you don't want to hang around duking it out like Imperials.

[obliviondoll]

Originally posted by Mr.Person:

My question about the Eldar though, is if you have to keep them moving, and all their guns face foreward, how do you keep the enemy in the line of fire, but avoid torpedoes and keep your fields up? That all requires turning

Basically, you don't. They're hit and run ships, you can't get constant dps with them.

[Mr.Person]

Hmm sounds hard, if you have to keep running in, doing damage, running back out all the while being shot at while trying to retreat for another strafe run, it sounds like they will be taking heavy damage the whole time.

If you guys played the Tabletop game, how does the Tau play? They would be my next fav faction probably (hope they add them)

[Daliena]

Originally posted by Mr.Person:

Hmm sounds hard, if you have to keep running in, doing damage, running back out all the while being shot at while trying to retreat for another strafe run, it sounds like they will be taking heavy damage the whole time.

If you guys played the Tabletop game, how does the Tau play? They would be my next fav faction probably (hope they add them)

Holofields give lance weapons an unavoidable 80% miss chance if fully charged, and shear quite a bit of accuracy away from macro fire as well when far away, so it's not like you'll get instantly popped as long as you don't slowly wander into 3k distance or something.

Pulsars, the main Eldar weapon system, have a stock range of 6k (9 for the battleship) and can be upgraded with another 3k. And this is in a game where sensor ranges start at 5k, and only two ships that I can think of can get past 7.5k sensor range without using probes or beacons. Best case (for the filthy Xenos anyway) your enemy never even gets a target lock on your ship and can't return fire at all.

Pulsars also fire in a relatively rapid burst followed by a lengthy cooldown rather than the steadier damage of other factions which fits the "Get in range, unload and then boost away giggling about primitives" thing.

[obliviondoll]

Originally posted by Mr.Person:

If you guys played the Tabletop game, how does the Tau play? They would be my next fav faction probably (hope they add them)

Very much about long range weapons. Torpedoes are replaced with missiles, which are able to be guided while in flight. Their Ion Cannons (macrobaterry equivalent) are a fairly long-range weapon, and railguns fill the role lances have in other factions.

Tau actually have 2 fleets, kind of. The original fleet were converted merchant ships, and have a distinctly different style from the Tau tabletop designs, while the later ships are designed for combat and fit the Tau aesthetic a lot better.

I haven't seen much of them in TT, but they seem to have some Eldar-esque elements to their behaviour as well as a lot of feel similar to how Chaos work (they're also mostly about longer-range engagement).