Version 9.0 introduces a whole new gameplay experience as the mechanics of the game have changed drastically compared to Soulstorm. Here are all of the important changes you should know before going into the newly remade Redux mod.
- Armour is what primarily defines how different this release is compared to previous installments. Soulstorm's class-based armour system was defined by certain weapons being effective against a certain class of unit (i.e. Lascannons vs Vehicles or Plasma Guns vs Heavy Infantry, etc). Instead, the armour of Redux reflect the rules of the 8th edition tabletop game where there is a gradual effectiveness that encompasses more and more unit types. A Lascannon isn't just good against vehicles, it's effective against every unit below a vehicle's armour level.
This system introduces two primary attributes at play: For units, it's Armour and Toughness and for weapons, it's Armour-Piercing and Strength. Each of these counter the other and determine how effective a weapon will be when used on an enemy. If the enemy has high armour like a Terminator, a Multi-Laser will barely deal enough damage. If the unit has high toughness like a Squiggoth, a Power Sword might not be very effective despite its efficient armour piercing. The mod now has up to 30 armour types with infantry having 3 levels of toughness and 5 armour levels (15 total). Vehicles, aircraft and certain relic monsters all have specific armours using the new armour rules while commanders, buildings and daemons are no longer specified. Tooltip strings have been updated to show you the unit's Armour level and Toughness level and weapon upgrades will specify its Armour-Piercing and Strength.
As mentioned prior, dealing damage is now on a gradual scale depending on a weapon's Armour Piercing and Strength. A weapon with high AP and Strength means it can counter virtually any unit on the field but another aspect determines how it's used: Reload Time. The Lascannon is one of the most powerful weapons to utilize in the game but the downside is that it fires every 6.5 seconds. One shot can kill almost any infantry unit but that damage and effectiveness should mainly be used against single heavily armoured and tough units like tanks or monsters. A good example is a Sentinel armed with a Lascannon vs 15 fully reinforced Guardsmen armed with Plasma Guns. The Sentinel can kill one Guardsman every 6.5 seconds but would require 1.6 minutes to kill the squad. In that time, the Sentinel would easily fall to the Plasma Gun fire. Weapons like Heavy Bolters would be a better choice despite not having very good AP or Strength as its rate of fire would wipe out the squad much quicker.
- Morale has been changed significantly and can lead to devastating results if broken. Previously, morale would only make units less effective at combat whereas Redux will cripple your squads even further to where they can easily be left for dead. The effects of broken morale will cut a unit's accuracy in half, decrease movement speed and refire time, disable melee charging, and most importantly, make the squad lose control completely. If infantry morale breaks, they will be stuck to whatever command was given beforehand and not be allowed new commands. This means they can easily become sitting ducks and die to enemy fire. Commanders are the only units unaffected by the loss of control consequence. Abilities can still be used so Sergeants and Commissars can still restore morale through Rally and Summary Execution. Despite broken morale being deadly, it will rarely occur. Morale can be damaged only through two methods: abilities or squad mortality.
- Reinforcing now uses the FoK system where units require base structures and Listening Posts to reinforce. Buildings will allow both yours and ally forces to reinforce whereas transports like Rhinos and Chimerae will only allow your forces to reinforce. Costs have also been changed to reward you for keeping infantry fielded. Soulstorm made both the unit production costs and reinforcing costs use the same value. A Space Marine is just as expensive to field from the Barracks as he would be reinforced from a squad. In Redux, reinforcement costs cut the unit's value in half. If a squad dies on the field, you would have to pay double the price per unit to build them from your base. This is to be more financially beneficial for keeping your squads alive. Due to Commanders always being expensive during production, their death will give you back 1/3 of their base cost as an incentive to utilize them more.
Now for some possible questions you might have when playing 0.9 for the first time.
What happened to the campaign?
- Due to the game being completely changed from the ground up, the campaign is no longer supported by Redux and won't be for the rest of its existence. The armour system defines virtually every aspect of Dawn of War and changing that meant completely overhauling all the game's files to accompany it. The campaign not only adds to the enormous work load I have to do but it might not even be well balanced with these new armour types. I also rarely ever play single player and thus I don't have the knowledge to rework it. Plus, cutting it completely out meant making the mod less bloated.
Why are there only three races?
- As mentioned prior, the work done to revamp the armour system meant redoing almost every game file pertaining to a certain race. I chose to redo Space Marines and Chaos Marines as they share similar dynamics and values and redid Imperial Guard as a race that doesn't have high armour to see how balanced it would work between the three. The next installment of the mod will include Eldar and Orks and every installment afterwards will add in 2 more reworked races until we hit 1.0. Just give it time.
Is Redux balanced with these new changes?
- Yes and no. It's entirely situational. The APD (armour piercing damage), unit armours AND weapon ranges are entirely out of my control as they all pertain to the stats found in the 8th edition codex. Everything else is adjusted to make those aspects fit better into the gameplay such as health, weapon damage, movement speed and etc. However the damage effectiveness has such a high contrast now that the weakest of armour types will die very easily and the highest armoured/toughest units will seem unkillable, even more so compared to Soulstorm. This is why vehicles are more expensive and take longer to build as they can survive much longer on the battlefield. Just know that I've been constantly changing weapon damages and health values to make sure things balance out better.
If commanders use the same armour as infantry, won't they die easily?
- Not entirely. To make commanders last longer when fielded, I've applied damage reduction values to them as they are more immune to both ranged and melee damage. In fact, lots of units use the damage reduction modifiers inspired by the rules within the codex. For example, Terminators use the Crux Terminatus so they will receive 10% less damage after Personal Teleporters have been researched. Daemon units are Daemonic so they're given 15% reduced damage. Wargear for commanders like the Iron Halo (Force Commander), Sigil of Corruption (Chaos Lord) and Refractor Field (Lord General) can be acquired through commander health researches, further increasing their damage resistance.
Edited by: Eranthis
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Feedback, sorry if this is not the right place to post this.
Initially I was skeptical of the changes however after playing a few games I've grow to enjoy the more impactful and demanding combat. Breaking moral feels far more consequential than before which I enjoyed, I do feel like it might be a bit too punishing especially for melee units. The new graphical effects and icons are a sight to behold and add a lot to the atmosphere of the game. I have one main piece of criticism:
1- Cultists feel too weak (cannon fodder melee units) , I understand that they serve the role of cannon fodder however I think their squads die too quickly , by the time they reach melee combat half their squad is dead and their moral breaks shortly after. Their broken moral is far more punishing with the new system pretty much guaranteeing the death of the squad.
Basically your changes to the : economy which encourages player to keep their squads alive makes unit types that die easily worse and durable units better. This is made worse by your changes to the moral system as loosing models on a squad causes the squad's moral to break. This is very punishing usually leading to the death of the squad. Please consider giving cultists a slight buff to their health and/or model number and/or moral points.
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Eternity6 wrote:
Feedback, sorry if this is not the right place to post this.
Initially I was skeptical of the changes however after playing a few games I've grow to enjoy the more impactful and demanding combat. Breaking moral feels far more consequential than before which I enjoyed, I do feel like it might be a bit too punishing especially for melee units. The new graphical effects and icons are a sight to behold and add a lot to the atmosphere of the game. I have one main piece of criticism:
1- Cultists feel too weak (cannon fodder melee units) , I understand that they serve the role of cannon fodder however I think their squads die too quickly , by the time they reach melee combat half their squad is dead and their moral breaks shortly after. Their broken moral is far more punishing with the new system pretty much guaranteeing the death of the squad.
Basically your changes to the : economy which encourages player to keep their squads alive makes unit types that die easily worse and durable units better. This is made worse by your changes to the moral system as loosing models on a squad causes the squad's moral to break. This is very punishing usually leading to the death of the squad. Please consider giving cultists a slight buff to their health and/or model number and/or moral points.
Noted. Cultists have the weakest armour in the game so they do easily die. When they get revamped, they'll have a few more pros added to them. I'll look into upping their health. Maybe give a buff to aspiring in general. Their melee was severely nerfed due to low armour units like guardsmen getting massacred by their numbers but they will struggle with high armoured units. Overall it's expected to have low armoured squads replaced or die off in the game.
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Noted. Cultists have the weakest armour in the game so they do easily die. When they get revamped, they'll have a few more pros added to them. I'll look into upping their health. Maybe give a buff to aspiring in general. Their melee was severely nerfed due to low armour units like guardsmen getting massacred by their numbers but they will struggle with high armoured units. Overall it's expected to have low armoured squads replaced or die off in the game.
What about increasing their number count and morale instead of increasing their health? That way they would keep their theme of being cannon fodders.
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