The journey towards 7.0 (Part2) news - Unification Mod - Dawn of War: SoulStorm for Dawn of War

In our last Dev Blog, we covered two of the new factions coming to 7.0, the Praetorian Guard and the Night Lords. Today, we will be having a look on two more new factions, the Unforgiven Fallen Angels and the mighty Vostroyan Firstborn.

The Fallen Angels are a completely new faction, that while we have teased in older times through the Dark Angels, they have never been their own stand-alone race mod. This also means that Cypher will be permanently moved to the Fallen Angels with his old spawning mechanic removed as is no longer needed(but the Primaris Judiciar will become a regular trainable unit as part of the Dark Angels from here onwards).

For this one, it is better to have Fuggles, the FA project lead himself explain the race with his own words:

The fallen angels are a splinter group of the dark angels and are persecuted across the galaxy. As they are rebels they no longer have access to the full resources of their loyalist brethren. So how do they continue? One theory is they start attracting mercenaries to fill the ranks. The fallen have to be discrete as so many people want them dead, and I figured they would use a network of agents, smugglers and thieves who can get hold of things with few questions asked.

The system of Power through Knowledge (PtK) was intended to represent this as you have a growing network of agents being recruited to your cause (not all believe they are traitor and some just want to fight) and this gives you access to more illicit trade routes. This is reflected literally as you get a percentage of power based on the amount of requisition you currently hold and adding an element of risk/reward to savings.

This also manifests in the player having more access to better technology as the game goes on, again as the network improves. The capping of agents based on the number of buildings means you have to invest in them as you go along and this created a tech tree that improves over time but also allows you to be deteched by your opponent.

After play testing this system then it became more strongly it's own way of teching, leading to the more renegade technology, which becomes a counterpoint to the regular space marine progression tree which is quicker initially but is more expensive and only allows for the traditional space marine tech.

Like last time, our splendid friend and assistant TheLaughingMax has prepared a sneak peak of the Fallen Angels, showing the mechanics and their army in action. As always, it should be noted that all you see and hear are still a Work in Progress, like for example the UI which has been adjusted after the video was taken.

Up next, we the moment we know a lot have been waiting for, the return of the Vostroyan Firstborn.
As with the Praetorian Guard standalone race mod, the Vostryans have been one of the more older mods we have made. However, it was in a great need of a complete overhaul to all its aspects before it could return triumphantly to the fold. A task we have been working tirelessly for months and we all believe and hope you will enjoy.

The Regency of the Vostroya during the days of Horus heresy refused to send armies to fight on the side of the Imperium, even though they claimed to remain loyalists. After the end of that conflict, they would have met the same fate as other traitors to the Emperor had not been their friends and allies within the Adeptus Mechanicus who vouched for their loyalty and their determination to atone for this sin. And as such, the Vostroyans dedicate all of their Firstborn(as well any other individual of age and training) to fight in the Imperium's armies, with sheer and fervent will and of course, their artesian skills and weapon the AdMech so graces.

In 7.0, this is translates in the change of the army doctrine the faction employs form turtle centred to a more steamroll approach. In addition, the Vostroyans employ a special mechanic to emphasise their friendship with Mars, which is what we call ''Harmony with the Mechanicus''. As we explain in the HQ description itself, when the support cap is equal or greater than the infantry cap, many of the army units gain new weapon upgrades and abilities. An example are the Firstborn Squad, who only field their relic lasguns-which compared to other Guard based races, are more refined and therefore stronger- but when they reach ''Harmony'', they are allowed to field on Arc Rifle per squad.



In different words, you could say that the more mechanised your army is, the more influence Mars extends on you, barring the corresponding gifts. Be advised though, everything does come with a price, literally. These upgrades are not cheap and even though are vital into winning battles, you can't do it without a proper backbone to support them.
This is why a balance must be maintained between and expand your army carefully to turn them into the true fist of vengeance of the Emperor they so aspire to be!

Of course, we can't show all surprises at once-these we will let you see for yourself once the time comes.

At this point, I would like me as Kekoulis(as project lead for the 7.0 Vostroyans), personally to give a big shoutout and appreciation to one of our newest members in the team, General Shepherd who has assisted in coding the VF rework beyond the call of duty, Ma_theos33 for working with me in the VF art rework(his grand textures skills we all are sure know already) and of course to Tracer_Krieg and our dedicated team of VAs behind the Vostroyan and Praetorian Voice Over projects, which truly bring to life the armies through their voices!

Lastly but not least, a huge thank you goes to our Tzeentchian collaborator, Caldaris, who has prepared a video showing the Vostroyans in action. We recommend watching it fully until the end for a neat surprise. Obviously we have to repeat here that everything you see and hear are still largely a Work in Progress.

With this, we conclude this day's Dev Blog. Thank you once again for your time and staying. We truly hope you will enjoy everything we have in store for you in 7.0. As for the next dev blog, when all things are ready for it, we will be covering the Renegade Guard rework. Trust us, it is so big, it warrants its own dedicated dev blog!

Until then, take and have fun everyone!

- Team Unification