Dark Crusade is really hard.

[WitOfTheKing]

I got Dark Crusade and I'm playing on the normal difficulty. No matter how fast I capture my points the enemy is always WAY ahead of me with a crap ton of soldiers before I even have the chance defend myself and this is only the SECOND battle. If the strength is only 3 on this battle I can't even imagine how difficult the higher number ones are. Please help, am I doing something wrong, when the match starts I always immidietly start making infantry units and capping points and have my builders make an armory and listening posts and plasma generators, but no matter how fast I am the enemy always has an entire army with missle launchers and plasma guns and destroys my guys. I really want to enjoy this game but the AI on the enemies is too fast.

[The nameless Gamer]

Games from the Dawn of War franchise are quite fast-paced, so you need to speed up your actions. Do you have experience in other real time strategy games?

[WitOfTheKing]

Originally posted by The nameless Commander:

Games from the Dawn of War franchise are quite fast-paced, so you need to speed up your actions. Do you have experience in other real time strategy games?

I don't with rts.

[The nameless Gamer]

Well, as someone who's been playing RTS games for about 20 years I'd say that Dawn of War is not the best starting point into the genre. Age of Empires II is much better to start with, but there is also a lot of room to improve there. And every RTS game requires notable dedication to even learn.

[Paradoks_DB]

There were some similar threads in the last week here - see if you can find some hints there (I can copy-paste my answer from one of them if you want). If you don't have the experience with RTS games I suggest that you restart on easy and play until you feel comfortable - then you can play the campaign on normal using another race.
And if your main problem is speed, then just use active pause - it really helps.

[{KILLA}VOD]

I can suggest to start watching some online games, learn some build order to start so you can have a speed start with some success!

[CrYpTiC]

what I do is I rush one of the enemy bases with my hero and honour guard... its usually enough to knock out one of the bases early on. The other base is than more managable and you could take your time building up your base and taking over the map.


you were referring to the campaign right?

[HunterSouls]

all i can say is need be fast even with small troop, use a lot time commander with small squad..dont matter how many time the troops dies as long commander dont die! just be fast and create defense point and always focus in capture points

[lich0]

- if you have trouble micromanaging your army and building your base at the same time use active pause
- be aggressive; try to capture points asap
- don’t reinforce squads early; it's better to have two four man squads to cap points than one eight man squad; you will want to add troops when you have a steady resource income
- build listening posts and upgrade them in chokepoints and near your base; you can add some turrets later on
- when you build a substantial infantry force you'll be able to enforce control over the map and keep your enemy in their base while some of your troops continue to cap points around the map
- later in the campaign you'll have access to elite units which are available right from the start of the mission - use those to your advantage

- you can use shift to queue up orders; ctrl+number (1,2,3...) to group units - press number key to quickly select that group; you can right click the reinforce button and weapon upgrade button to automatically use them

What army are you playing with?

[WitOfTheKing]

Originally posted by lich0:

- if you have trouble micromanaging your army and building your base at the same time use active pause
- be aggressive; try to capture points asap
- don’t reinforce squads early; it's better to have two four man squads to cap points than one eight man squad; you will want to add troops when you have a steady resource income
- build listening posts and upgrade them in chokepoints and near your base; you can add some turrets later on
- when you build a substantial infantry force you'll be able to enforce control over the map and keep your enemy in their base while some of your troops continue to cap points around the map
- later in the campaign you'll have access to elite units which are available right from the start of the mission - use those to your advantage

- you can use shift to queue up orders; ctrl+number (1,2,3...) to group units - press number key to quickly select that group; you can right click the reinforce button and weapon upgrade button to automatically use them

What army are you playing with?

Space marines.

[syrik]

Been nearly a decade since I played through the campaign, but I just started it again recently since I learned I could use my old keys to get Steam keys. If memory serves, DC (Dark Crusade) doesn't like to let a player get a clean sweep. It basically forces you to lose from time to time (or nearly). Also, the game gets easier as you go because you earn your Honor Guard (elite units you can start each mission with). Soulstorm doesn't do that (honor guard is same) and is much easier in general. Also, in DC the races aren't remotely balanced. Necrons are OP as hell, easy to base build, ridiculously high damage and survival. Space Marines are strong as are Chaos. Tau has great range and crap everything else (till you can get the hounds and dinosaur thingy, aka late game). I never really played as Eldar, Colonial Marines or Orks because I felt they were just weaker.

That said, each race plays differently. Space Marines and Necrons are hammers, upgrade, load up with bolters/Necron staves and charge. Chaos is a mobile hammer, strong assault but not like the others. Eldar are all about mobility, kiting etc. Colonial Marines and Orks are swarm armies, they overwhelm with numbers.

Different people play differently. I always liked to build and upgrade, then go fight. Probably why I liked the stronger/tankier races. Mobility and kiting are micro managment and I'm not good at that. So is swarming, weaker units, more reinforcement, requires more resources and attention.

If you like the Space Marines, grab 4-6 requsition points, build generators, focus on the basic Marine Squad and upgrade while defending. Upgrade mostly with bolters and an occasional rocket launcher. Don't worry about lazers or flamers. Once you can field 4-5 bolters per squad and 5-6 squads yer almost invulnerable. Group squads as ranged or melee, don't mix them. Much easier to move melee out of danger that way, for example the Grey Knights and Hammer Terminators or Assault Marines. Make sure to start building power stations early as well as listening posts on captured points and upgrade them. Also vehicles. Space Marine vehicles are stupid powerful, especially the Dreadnaught. Again, bolters over lazers and you can repair vehicles. Lastly, heroes. Your starting hero, the Chaplain and the Librian. Get them, use them. Learn their abilities hotkeys and use them constantly on cool down.

Also, what the guy above said about waiting to fill out squads in the early game is huge. Your first priority is resource generation. Till you get 6 generators, your upgrade building and the ability to equip 4-5 bolters (yes, weapon upgrades are more important than more squad members), more squads are way better than units per squad. Once you get around 80-100 power and requsition generation, you can start adding squad members freely.

Basically that's whats worked for me. Marine squads, fully upgraded with a leader and bolters, occasional rocket. Dreadnaughts and heroes (and Terminators, but you only get 2 in this campaign, sadly). Walk straight into the enemy, watch them all die.

Oh yeah, almost forgot....this game is a roll of the dice type of game. If you don't like the matchup you got last time, save often, reload, reroll and chances are, someone you don't like got attacked and your situation was made better.

[charlin]

I'm playing 40k on the pc for the first time, and so far i'm loving it. finished DoW, now i'm trying to beat DC.

If you're bad at microing, the best tip i can give you is use the pause thing. you can pause the game, issue all the orders you want around, then unpause. this is ridiculously useful, specially when you have too many things to manage at the same time. You shouldn't be having too much trouble, specially this early. First thing, go to the place that gives industrial production bonus ASAP. There's a optional mission there, if you gather 1900 power within 20 minutes you automatically win. So just use your RP to build generators and spend RP to make defenses for your base, but DON'T use any power. with 6 generators it should take only a little over 4 minutes, and you can defend your base very easily with just the squad leader, maybe one honour guard and some marines. After you conquer it, you'll start every battle with 2000 requisition points, instead of 1000, which is a huge improvement. also you already start the campaign near that province so w/e.

other things you should consider:

as stated before, necrons are OP af. avoid battles with them at all costs. wait for other races to take their provinces and then attack. if it doesn't happen, just go around exterminating every other race, leaving them for last.

i also play as space marine, and i have found orks and imperial guards to be the easiest races to beat. could be just me, though. anyway, consider checking the race that owns the place you wanna strike.

always capture the most points you can before destroying enemy HQ, even if your resource generation is already capped. when an enemy attacks it, you'll have most of the map generating resources for you and also have visibility of almost all of it.

dreadnoughts. you will learn to love them. regular ones for tanking and mashing, hellfires for killing huge crowds of infantry. RP-wise they are cheaper than a regular marine squad, so unless you got no power source, they should be easy to get. unless i get them very early, i always get the lascannon upgrade. the hellfires can deal with infantry easily enough already.

apothecaries. they might seem frail but dear god these ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ can take a pounding. their damage is rather weak (same of a space marine without a heavy weapon, i believe) but they have ridiculous defense + high regen. plus they don't count towards unit cap, and are very cheap to make. you may want to consider using them to scout, as they are cheaper than scouts and early on doesn't matter if the enemy sees you, you won't die anyway.

i don't know exactly how it works, but the first time you fight on a map, you'll only be able to build up to 6 generators. next time, you can build more, probably 6 for every fight, idk. remember that to keep getting better power generation.

that's all i guess. hope it helps. oh, and remember to save the game after every win. this way if you screw up and lose, just reload and try again.

[lich0]

I'm currently going through the campaign on hard with SM and this is what I do.

- first you need to plan your campaign movement; focus on easier provinces; get some honour guard units; get the space port if you can soon (I got it on turn 3) as being able to hit any province on the map is huge and with the fury upgrade (two attacks per turn) it gets ridiculous;

- take care of your honour guard as they're fairly expensive units that cost campaign resources; SM have only single unit honour guard which will die if put into a lot of enemy fire; I usually delegate them to defensive roles while my regular force sweeps the map; prioritize getting Terminators and Dreadnoughts, Reclusiarch is great too

- later on when you have a bunch of honour guard you can rush the enemy base early if it's close (especially when there are two on the map); Thule with some wargear, two Terminators, two Dreadnoughts, two Veterans and the Reclusiarch should suffice, send in two Tactical Squads when they are ready

As for army composition this has worked so far for me:

- 3-4 Tactical squads; Plasma guns if I'm going against heavy infantry (CSM or Necrons); at least one squad with flamers against Orcs and Eldar; against Imperial Guard I rather upgrade one or two squads with Heavy Bolters; add an apothecary to each squad and the Librarian if going against large infantry forces

- Grey Knights as soon as I can, sometimes I go straight to Tier 1 HQ right after getting 3 Tactical Squads; add the Reclusiarch and those guys are walking tanks with good damage and will keep your enemy busy and your TSs free to engage with ranged fire

- usually I don't bother with Assault Squads since they don't last long; one squad can be good as an addition against Eldar or Tau; they're great against IG though, I get them early and don't add Grey Knights

- I get two Dreadnoughts (one Hellfire) and two Predators

- add two Terminator Squads and you're unstoppable - this should be enough to tackle large enemy forces and bases

[{KILLA}VOD]

just play!

[Latharion]

I've just recently started playing DoW:DC again. I've finished the campaign many times over the years. Several things come to mind that may explain why the OP is encountering such heavy resistence early on.

First, when you attack a region for the first time, the number that region has is equal to the relative strength of the defending force. A 1 to 3 usually means one base with some defenders. Pay close attention to where the enemy leader is curretly residing on the main map before you choose the region to attack. If this is your first or second region, avoid an engagement at a map region containing the enemy leader, as it will contain far more forces than one without.

Second, the enemy AI sometimes likes to "rush" your base. He does this with what forces he currently has available. If you can weather that storm, then the AI will have to take time to build another force, so you should be free to move about and capture points/erect listening posts.

Some tips for the SM...

Do not spread yourself too thin early on.

Build turrets at choke points.

Don't bother reinforcing your squads until after you have built the squads you want first. It's cheaper and faster to build a squad of 5 than it is to pay for each new member.

Aim toward a goal of acquiring both Terminator squads. You can only have one squad of each (not counting Honor Guard units). They dwarf any other infantry troop in the SM arsenal.

Create mech units. Predator tanks work wonders, although you are limited to two of them.

As stated previously, apothecary units are wonderous units. They make the difference between saving a squad and having to remake it. Plus they do NOT count against your supply cap!

Use scout units in conjunction with tanks or Whirlwind vehicles as they can spot for those units. Those vehicles have ranges that are farther than their own line of site. With a spotter they can hit target from well out of the enemies range.

Finally, if you are having trouble playing DC on "Normal" difficulty, start a new game on "Easy" and play through that once to get the feel for the campaign and the enemy AI. Then go back to your "Normal" campaign. You will probably discover that your experience has now prepared you for the harder challenge.


FYI, to the user that made the comment concerning power generators, here is the way that works...

You can build 6 power generators for every Stronghold you build. So if you build 3 strongholds, you can build 18 power generators. The Super power generators do not count against that total so build on those slag sites whenever you can.

One more quick note to the OP. If you remove all of the enemy's strongholds, you remove the enemy entirely. You do not have to destroy all of his buildings to win the region. Just knock ouit his stronghold and you've won. It's probably not a great idea to do this the first time you attack a region though, as the structures you built will remain for the campaign.

[AnaLoGMunKy]

One sentence that will change how you play: Learn some build orders :)