DoWpro

Dawn of War Professional, also known as DoWpro, is a Mod for Dawn of War. The mod focuses on returning to, and enhancing, the gameplay-experience of Vanilla Dawn of War (i.e. pre-Winter Assault).

Features

Much of the original games' cut content was re-added in the mod, as well as in general, more toys for each faction to play as - the objective being that the player is generally given more choices as to the composition of their armies.

Space Marines are rebalanced around being an Elite unit army, with their Tactical Space Marines taking 3 population (from 2 in the base game).

Chaos forces play similarly to the Space Marines, but with a greater focus on melee combat and daemonic support units. Their vehicle choices are more limited than the Space Marines, but versatility in units like the Defiler allow one unit to cover many roles.

Orks are rebalanced around being a melee Horde army (like in vanilla), except that they have more varied armor types and ways to deal with hard counters (which Orks lacked in vanilla, noticeably against the Eldar Warp Spiders).

Eldar, being more like Vanilla, are no longer about massing Dark Reapers (which is the most prominent opening in later expansions, depending on patch).

The Imperial Guard are rebalanced towards being a Horde army, where a guardsmen squad costs 100 requisition instead of 160 for four models. In order to defeat Elite unit massed gunlines, the Imperial Guard rely on a combination of disruption, dense formations, siege warfare, and fighting in multiple places at once by utilising their numerical advantage. Expect atrociously high casualty rates even in victory.

Tau emphasize mobile firepower that is rebalanced more towards the use of infiltration, jetpacks, ambushes and diverse unit combinations. Additionally, Stealth suits begin as hunter kill units, instead of Tier 0 capper units (with Pathfinder units taking their place).

The mod implements a number of cosmetic and minor improvements, in an effort to help keep some of the units closer to fluff. As an example, the World Eaters-exclusive Khorne Berserker in Vanilla is replaced with a Black Legion-style Berserker that includes team colors to make it look like a Khornate unit that happens to be in the warband.

Significant changes to the factions' tech trees (and subsequent necessary rebalancing), such as Grey Knights and Khorne Berserkers being available in Tier 1.

A series of "pancake-style" tech-upgrades ala 90's strategy-games, e.g. StarCraft.

Removal of the Fire on the Move Accuracy Penalty implemented in Dark Crusade.

Tweaks have been made that reduce pathing issues, such as reducing model sizes of both infantry and tanks as well as the removal of clipping (similar to Starcraft).

Some factions are changed more than others; Necrons use a unique mechanic where they need to expand their area of control and actually gain resources in an effort to actually force them to take and hold territory and play more like the rest of the factions, as opposed to how they originally played.

DoWpro also implements new content from certain other mods (used with permission).

Resource Mechanics

Critical Locations provide twice the Requisition, which encourages map control or map denial. In addition, ambushes are encouraged as the enemy is lured out to capture them.

Power Generators rapidly scale in cost as you build more, which encourages raiding the enemy Power Generators. In addition, Power Generators explode on death.

Building a second HQ costs a significant amount of resources, but also provide significant resources. There is a defensive trade-off between building a second HQ and fully upgrading a Listening Post, because one provides more resources, the other provides more line of sight and defense, respectively. In the base game the Second HQ costs 700/150, whereas in the mod it costs 250/250.

Building a Listening Post no longer provides a gift of 50 requisition upon completion (essentially half of the principle cost). This encourages destroying the enemy Listening Posts, because instead of breaking even within 75 seconds it will take 150 seconds.

The Requisition resource upgrades were removed.

The Power resource upgrade now has a break even point after a few Power Generators have been built.

Both LP2s and LP3s build faster in the mod. LP2 takes 30 seconds (from 35). LP3 takes 20 seconds (from 45 seconds).

Combat Mechanics

Units in combat receive penalties to their reinforcement time. The main exception to this are Slugga boys. The penalty is significantly longer for elite units (like Terminators) compared to troop units.

Fire on the Move accuracy penalty has been significantly decreased.

Units in melee receive a defensive bonus against ranged firepower. This is in addition to the morale regeneration bonus units already get in melee.

Heavy cover also reduce Line of Sight by 40%. Light and Negative Cover also reduce Line of Sight by 20%.

The morale regeneration bonus of cover was significantly reduced. For Heavy cover it is +25% (from +100%). For Light cover it is +15% (from +50%).

Certain units are affected to a different degree by cover's usual ranged damage resistance. For instance, Heavy Weapon Teams receive twice the normal benefit, whereas the Chaos Bloodthirster receives no benefit at all.

The line of sight of most units has been standardized to 25, with select units having (or upgrades providing) enhanced line of sight. This follows the gameplay mantra of 'Nothing is free, and you pay for advantages'.

Many weapons, such as Plasmaguns, have a weapon range beyond visual range. This encourages scouting ahead (perhaps with infiltration) to maximize the unit's capabilities.

Many weapons had their range tweaked to encourage positional tactics. For example, Plasmaguns had their range increased from 25 to 28. The Force Commander's bolt pistol range was reduced from 25 to 18, and his plasma pistol from 25 to 22. Combined with the cover line of sight change described above, this allows a player to force the enemy out of cover in a long range firefight.

Like in Tabletop, Morale Immunity in general does not exist.

Loss of Morale reduces movement speed by 10%, instead of increasing movement speed by 20% like in classic. Furthermore, it disables charge modifiers and stops ability recharge until morale is recovered. In effect, breaking the enemy morale helps you out maneuver your opponent.

The morale loss that a unit suffers as a result of a model dying has been increased. As an example, guardsmen lose 40 morale (from 30). In the base game the morale death penalty for squad leaders is higher, and this has been adjusted accordingly.

A vehicle that is reduced to 20% of its maximum hp suffers a 25% decrease in movement speed, until it is repaired. This does not affect certain vehicles, such as Dreadnoughts.

The Line of Sight radius of many buildings has been significantly reduced. LP2s and LP3s have increased line of sight, however.

Jump units (such as Raptors, Warp Spiders, Assault Marines and Stealth Suits) capture points at a faster rate than normal units, facilitating their ability to help you acquire map control.

Production Mechanics

For each unit of the same type that you build and is alive on the field, the production time is increased.

Upgrades tend to cost 30 seconds to build, standardizing timing window attacks. For Eldar, however, it tends to take 20 seconds. Notably, certain Tau upgrades are even faster. This is a significant reduction in time from the base game where upgrades often take between 40-60 seconds (depending significantly on race).

With all of Population upgrades and the Second HQ, your army size can reach 26/26. The primary exceptions are the Imperial Guard and Ork, who work differently. Without the Second HQ you reach 20/20, as per classic Dawn of War.

Builder production times have been doubled across the board, making it rewarding to hunt and kill them both during your raids or during the repair of enemy assets in combat.

Builder requisition costs have also been increased and standardized. For example, the Eldar Bonesinger went from 45 req to 90, the Chaos Heretic went from 60 req to 80 and the Space Marine Servitor went from 75 req to 90.

The cost for a Builder to fully repair a unit (vehicle or building) has been reduced across the board to 30% (from 75%). The exception is Eldar who, like the base game, advantageously costs 20%. This further rewards players for saving their vehicles, and punishes the enemy for not finishing them off. Like the base game, the cost of repair does not include weapon upgrades (such as the extremely expensive lascannons on a predator), and only includes the Requisition cost.

The rate at which Builders repair units has also been standardized to 30 per second each, with the exceptions of Eldar (25 per second each, balanced by the fact that the Bonesinger can teleport to the vehicle to repair it) and Ork Grots (15 per second each, which is unchanged from the base game. Remember that Grots come in a squad). The Imperial Guard can improve this via a research, which is a factional advantage.

Morale loss on Builders impairs their repair rate significantly.

Tiering Mechanics

Tiering is cheaper and faster within DoWpro:

Tier 2 tends to cost 250/100 (from 300/125) with a build time of 30 seconds (from 90).

Tier 3 tends to cost 250/200 (from 340/340) with a build time of 30 seconds (from 100).

Infiltration Mechanics

Dowpro has four specific types of stealth depending on unit; "invisible when in cover", "timed invisibility", "invisible when not attacking", and "invisible all the time".

"invisible when in cover" is a very useful addition because it opens up the lanes of many maps to potential attacks. For example, Blood River's center lane.

Keen Sight refers to the ability of a unit to reveal infiltrators.

Commanders tend to have a Keen Sight radius equal to half of their normal sight range. This encourages them to gap close (putting themselves at risk) in order to expose Infiltrators. Consequently, the loss of a commander (or it being low HP) exposes you to the risk of infiltrator units to operating unscathed.

Units marked by an icon in their production facility (such as a Barracks), possess Keen Sight. Notably, the Chaos Bloodthirster now has Keen Sight.

Frag grenades (which now have a Requisition and Power cost per use), artillery and grenade launchers reveal enemy infiltrators.

Turrets no longer detect infiltrators. LP3s now have Keen Sight, instead.

Population Mechanics: Space Marines

The following applies specifically to Space Marines, but applies to the other factions in a similar manner.

Squad Cap Research and Support Cap Research now build in 20 seconds (from 30/35 seconds respectively).

Their cost was also increased to 200/50 (from 150/0); Each subsequent research also increases in cost by +50/+50.

Squad Cap

Initial Population 9. This permits a combination of: Tactical Space Marines (3 pop, Tier 1), Scouts (1 pop, Tier 1), Grey Knights (3 pop, Tier 1), Assault Marines (3 pop, Tier 1).

Second HQ +3. Given that they have fully maxed their initial population, this permits any additional 3 pop infantry squad, but not a Terminator or Assault Terminator (4 pop, Tier 2.5) unless a scout squad dies.

Squad Cap Increase +3.

Vehicle Cap

Initial Population 3. This permits a combination of Rhino (1 pop, Tier 2), Landspeeder (1 pop, Tier 2.5), Dreadnought (2, Tier 2.5), Hellfire Dreadnought (2, Tier 2.5), Whirlwind (2, Tier 2.5), but not a Predator (4 pop, Tier 2.5).

Second HQ +1. This permits a predator (4 pop, Tier 2.5).

Machine Cult +2. This permits, without a 2nd HQ, a Land Raider (5 pop, Tier 3).

Vehicle Cap Increase +3. Even with Initial Population + Second HQ + Squad Cap Increase, you could not get both a Predator and a Land Raider (praise the Emperor!).

Having a Second HQ with your Machine Cult is the difference between having 2 or 3 dreadnoughts during the mid game.

Population Mechanics: Imperial Guard

In addition to the population below, the Imperial Guard can have up to 2 of each in Tier 1: Commissar, Priest and Psyker.

Squad Cap

Initial Population 8. This permits a combination of Guardsmen (2 pop, Tier 1), Kasrkin (3 pop, Tier 1), Ogryn (4 pop, Tier 2).

Infantry Command +2.

2nd Infantry Command +2.

Squad Cap Increase +3.

Vehicle Cap

The Imperial Guard use a unique resource, fundamentally different to Vehicle Cap, called Fire Support Resource (FSR). FSR is determined by both the infrastructure (both structures & addons) and infantry alive on the battlefield.

This means that the enemy can seek to slaughter your infantry forces, in order to prevent the oncoming onslaught of armoured divisions. It also provides an incentive for you to deploy numerous guardsmen to the battlefield.

In addition to being used for vehicles, it is also used for all Heavy Weapon Teams. This allows the Imperial Guard to engage in a protracted Tier 1 fight in a way the other factions cannot.

FSR is a regenerative resource and a cap that accumulates similar to how Requisition or Power does just with an upper limit. Each guardsmen (model, not squad) increases the FSR rate by +2. Each sarge by +4. Each commander by +5. Each minihero by +5.

Sentinel (20 FSR), Hellhound (40 FSR), Griffon Tank (40 FSR), Chimera (40 FSR), Basilisk (50 FSR), Leman Russ Battle Tank (80 FSR), Baneblade (120 FSR).

Notice that the Landspeeder and Rhino cost 1 pop, yet the Sentinel costs half the FSR of the Chimera. Mobile Infantry is relatively more expensive for the Imperial Guard.

Commander Mechanics

The fall of a commander wrecks the morale of nearby units, taking away 66% of their max Morale and Morale regen rate for 20 seconds.

Commanders now have access to wargear that allow you to adapt to the enemy forces, to augment your soldiers, to undermine your enemy. There are both similarities and differences to the wargear accessible to each faction.

They are purchasable so long as you have captured at least one Relic, further encouraging map control.

Avoid the death of your commander, for their build time and cost increases with each upgrade.

Commander wargear of the same Tier are mutually exclusive. Upon the completion of a second HQ the other wargear are unlocked for as long as the second HQ remains alive.

Fully upgraded Commanders tend to destroy non-upgraded Commanders in melee.

Wargear tends to build a lot faster than normal researches, taking only 10 seconds.

To get an idea of what commander wargear provides, see the following tables:

Space Marine Force Commander Wargear
Wargear	Tier	Costs	Bonuses
Champion's Cincture	1	60 requisition, 30 power	Increases Sight radius by 5 and HP by 100. Enables the Rapid Deployment ability which reduces the target unit's setup time by 80% and reload times by 15%.
Iron Halo	1	50 requisition, 50 power	Increases Health Regen by 1 per second, HP by 100, and provides 15% ranged damage resistance.
Bracer's of the Righteous	2	100 requisition, 60 power	Increases HP by 150, and Melee and ranged damage increased by 5%. Enables the passive Inspiring Aura, which increases the damage of nearby troops by 10% and reduces incoming ranged damage by 5%.
Heroism's Pedastal	2	80 requisition, 50 power	Increases HP by 350, mass by 50, and enables melee charge.
Master-Crafted Artificer Armor	3	160 requisition, 120 power	Increases HP by 450, and provides melee damage resistance of 20%. Enables the Battlecry ability, which increases nearby unit's damage by 40% and morale by 200 for 10 seconds.
Orbital Relay Link Transponder	3	250 requisition, 200 power	Enables the Orbital Barrage ability.

Tau Commander Wargear
Wargear	Tier	Costs	Bonuses
Advanced Sensor Array	1	60 requisition, 40 power	Increases Sight and Keen Sight radius by 10 and HP by 150.
Advanced Jetpack Booster	1	60 requisition, 40 power	Increases Fire on the Move accuracy by 20%. Enables the Jetpack Booster ability, which provides a massive burst of speed for a short period of time.
Gun Drone Control Unit	2	80 requisition, 60 power	Allows the Tau Commander to purchase gun drones. Increases the number of drones purchasable by 1.
Shield Drone Control Unit	2	80 requisition, 60 power	Allows the Tau Commander to purchase shield drones. Increases the number of drones purchasable by 1.
Iridium Armour	3	140 requisition, 100 power	Increases HP by 450, and provides melee damage resistance of 20%.
Stealth Field Generator	3	180 requisition, 150 power	Provides both timed and cover infiltration.

Unit Scaling Mechanics

Squad sizes increase throughout the game, in response to reaching the next tier and purchasing infrastructure, research or addons. In the case of horde units this can be substantial. The particulars of what mechanic increases what unit, and by how much, varies by race.

As the player progresses through the tech tree, the rate at which units scale is much flatter than the base game. Previously, units of the next tier would rapidly increase in combat capability by HP, Damage, Movement speed, Sight and even Armour type.

Issues and Criticisms

DoWpro's focus on Tier 1 battles with significant attention paid to expanding and holding territory as opposed to the fast-tech-and-fight gameplay of Dark Crusade and Soulstorm is not for everyone. It also has a number of gameplay issues and bugs all its own.

The mod removes Flyers.

It also fundamentally changes how the factions added in the expansions play, and not always for the better. Those who are fans of how existing factions or mechanics already work or feel (e.g. the uniqueness of the Necrons, which the mod removes, or Dark Crusade infiltration) will not enjoy it.

Balance has focused primarily on 1v1s, as opposed to team games.

Games less frequently reach Tier 3 or Tier 4 (which is a Tier level that some players may prefer).

Units feel much more fragile than they are in the originals, because the Fire on the Move changes allow for more concentrated firepower as multiple units gang up on a single unit.

This ironically makes for a game that while certainly much more varied than Vanilla, also tends to culminate in much more protracted battles over the course of a given match, and can quickly boil down to drawn-out battles of attrition dictated by "who makes the first major mistake". In certain match-ups, such as Orks vs Imperial Guard, this is very noticeable.

If there is a specific Build Order that you wish to play (which worked in DC/SS), there is a decent chance that it is no longer viable in DoWpro. For example, 3x Dark Reaper is not as viable, as they are now hard counter units. Also, it is much harder to aggressively place turrets as they require a Control Zone to be built in.

The mod encourages early game transports (as they can be built from the HQ). However, transport gameplay is not as smooth as Starcraft (perhaps due to the game engine?), which hardcore RTS fans may not like.

Chaos is now more similar to the Space Marines (like in Vanilla), whereas in WA/DC/SS Chaos is significantly different and more unique.

The complex counter system means that there is a steep learning curve from the original. For example, Flamer weapons are highly effective against Demons.

Optimizing your units requires that you understand what armor types every unit has in the game, and roughly how well every unit's DPS performs against those armor types. Incorrectly targeting the wrong enemy unit is often excessively punishing, and encourages players to analyse Damage Per Second spreadsheets.

Even some units which keep fundamentally the same role they had in the original game may be changed in implementation, to the point where their use is fundamentally different in practice.

Jump pack units are less mobile in DoWpro. For example, in the base game at full charge the Assault Marine Squad will have 2 4/9 jumps available, requiring 110 s total to recharge from empty. In DoWPro, it is 1 4/9, approximately. From full charge if you jump, there is a 20 second timing window as you wait for your next charge.

Progressing through the Tech Tree as Eldar can be confusing if you're unfamiliar with the vanilla game.

If you was a fan of the Eldar Ranger squad (as in DC/SS), then you may be unhappy because it requires upgrades to achieve the same ranged harassment potential.

Tau is now a mobile shooty army instead of a stand-and-shoot army, which may or may not be in your favor depending on how you like your Firewarriors. On the other hand, you can now pick both Kauyon and Mont'ka within a single game.

Tau lacks the emphasis on shield drone squads that currently exists in Tabletop 8E, which Tau fans may favor.

The Imperial Guard have two pieces of Wargear called Ordo Xenos and Ordo Malleus that upgrades the Inquisitor, but where is Ordo Hereticus?

Certain build orders, such as opening with ASM or Raptors, are now more difficult to perform.

Artillery units such as Basilisks and Whirlwinds no longer do tons of damage, which is what you'd expect from artillery. Instead, they are used primarily for disruption, morale damage, and some building damage.

Certain combos from DC/SS no longer exist in the same way, for example Grey Knight's Psychic Inquisition combined with the Librarian's Smite for impressive Area of Effect damage.

Further, it has a number of unique bugs (some of which might be blamed on the core game-engine), some of which are only avoidable by being aware of them (i.e. have to actively be played around by the player). Core gameplay changes, such as Fire on the Move no longer reducing accuracy as significantly, exacerbate pathing issues on some maps, which hurts Horde armies more than Elite armies.

Links

• http://www.moddb.com/mods/dowpro - Mod DB page.