game was awesome, loved the cinematics and the story, took elements from the books which was really interesting from anyone who is right into the halo universe.
the LCE was great too, i especially liked the case and playing the mythic maps with only <1000 people.
@ narcogen: elites dont weild dual swords, only the arbiter, and hes awesome so its ok by me.
annoyingly the covenant vs human in multiplayer is a little biased, especially in deathmatch, because you just build a temple, then leader rush. <5minute game unless theyre prepared for it.
all in all an excellent attempt at console RTS, by far the best ever seen, and the story alone kept me playing through it almost all the way through in one sitting.
Submitted by n00b (not verified) on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 5:22am.
I've made it through the first four levels. Story and cinematics are very gripping. The comic book in the limited edition is also a neat prequel to the events. You get some interesting background info on Sgt Forge, Capt Cutter, and Dr. Sanders (?). As always, some of the military info in the comic book doesn't line up with reality (at least 21st century reality), but I've accepted I just have to let that stuff slide.
As usual, I plan to play through the entire campaign before I touch multiplayer. I don't like hearing that covenant can "leader rush." Rushing is a RTS tactic that I do not enjoy, but I employ it sometimes out of necessity. I seem to remember a certain AOE game where I quickly built a barracks outside FoulBreed's camp and repeatedly pwned his villagers with sling throwers. I have more fun when nobody uses rushing, but I also don't advocate rules like "no attacking in the first __ minutes." I'll never agree to a rule outside of the game that could keep me from winning.
I'm having trouble completing the optional "achievement objectives" for each campaign level. For example, the 1st mission has an achievement for running down 50 grunts with warthogs. The damn gunner kills 2/3 of the grunts before the warthog can hit them! On the second or third mission the achievement is awarded for destroying every methane tank. I explored pretty thoroughly and destroyed an entire methane factory, and rescued both warthogs, but apparently I didn't get them all.
Scoring is pretty interesting. You get a time multiplier bonus and an objective multiplier bonus. I am not sure how the base score is calculated, but it appears that the best score comes from achieving all objectives quickly.
I would like to group units into "task forces" like Skyler mentioned previously. Scenario: I have a battle going on at one end of the map and my base is attacked at the other end. I would like to station a very small force (perhaps a hornet, warthog, and squad of Marines) at the base to defend it. However, I haven't yet discovered how to do that. My best solution right now is to send all the hornets to quickly quell the invasion, but I would prefer to not take all of my hornets out of the main battle.
If you have any tips for assigning a mixed group of units an area to defend that they will not leave, please speak up. Cover doesn't count, as cover is rarely exactly where I want it. Perhaps I just need smarter and more disciplined use of "all units" and "local units."
Submitted by Midnight on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 8:23am.
if you have seperate clusters of units, down on the d pad cycles through them.
also, the mission achievments arent so hard, just take 1 warthog and run over a grunt then run backwards. you can complete the whole mission on easy or normal using only sgt forge and a couple marines for the shield doors.
in the second mission there is another cluster of methane tanks with the flight box at the top left, and as you go north from your starting base, hook to the right and theyre with some supply crates.
ive logged some hrs in campain because i got it on the 26th of feb, being australian and all.
oh and be assured that multiplayer is still fun, and its possible to counter a leader rush, but in deathmatch (rather than standard) the leader starts maxed out and has virtually unlimited use of its leader power since you have a bizillion resources.
Submitted by n00b (not verified) on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 4:17pm.
Unfortunately it appears early attacking and essential "griefing" your opponent is a central strategy employed by the good players.. it's their ability to multitask and work through the chaos and still complete objectives that separates the experts from everyone else. Learning to play Dawn of War II right now and am finding that the computer is fairly attack oriented, constantly keeping me on the defensive.
I am very much enjoying the campaign thus far. Some of the missions have a very "Starcraft-like" feel to them, IMO. I really like the ones where you are actually on the surface of The Spirit of Fire while it is cruising along.
Cinematics are amazing! I feel like I am watching a dramatized version of the Fall of Reach or First Strike. Very cool!
I'm really looking forward to co-oping and playing some multiplayer skirmishes.
------------------------
"Don't blow this, Gene!"
I still have not beaten the campaign. I think I have played 3-4 levels.
However, I did have a lot of fun lanning it the other night. We had some great 3v3 battles. Unfortunately, I felt like I was just getting a good rythym going on the last 1-2 games we played. I think there is potential to have even more epic battles than we had, due to our inexperience. There was some discussion about some "trumping" tactics and factions that may be present, even beyond "leader rushing". I'm interested to find out whether any valid counters are discovered. One complaint I have is that there are only 3(?) MP maps that can handle a 3v3 game. Overall, I had a lot of fun and look forward to milking the MP for a while. I'm planning on playing some Thursday night if anyone is down for that.
Submitted by FoulBreed on Tue, 03/10/2009 - 7:53am.
I have class Thursday night but could get on afterwards.
I have finished the campaign on normal and just finished the 6th level on Legendary. After about level 3 Legendary becomes brutal. On each level I have found tactics through trial and error that seem to be the key to each level. I have an idea I saw on the Halo Wars forum for "Scarab" that I plan to try tonight.
The LAN was a lot of fun. I look forward to the next one.
As far as overpowered strategies, I've played about 6 matches on XBL. I got owned my first two and won the third when the opponent quit. The last three I've played using the Dr. Anders/Hawk/Cryo strategy and I've waxed all 3. I'm not a high rank, so I'll eventually encounter some resistance, but I want to know how someone can counter this. My last opponent tried building a lot of Wolverines. Perhaps they weren't fully upgraded, but my Hawks easily killed them one by one with a single shot from "all units" I might have lost one Hawk in the time it took me to kill 6-7 Wolverines.
Submitted by Midnight on Tue, 03/10/2009 - 11:09am.
That's interesting. I would of thoght that the Wolverine counter would have been more effective... but as you said, perhaps they were not upgraded. I think there has to be some way of countering the HAWK strategy.. but I have no idea what that might be.
I am excited about trying a rush strategy that I thought of. I haven't done much browsing around for ideas yet, but I plan to this weekend and next week (spring break). :)
------------------------
"Don't blow this, Gene!"
I thought the game was OK. Campaign was fun, but not something I would want to play through again. I really liked the cut-scenes. Multi is OK if it's a 3v3 w/ friends at a LAN, but 1v1 on XBL wasn't fun for me.
All in all, I think the cut-scenes were the only part of the game I'd want to experience more than once, but not enough to make me want to play the campaign again.
On a side-note, the H3 Mythic map pack wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It wasn't a complete letdown, but it certainly wasn't worth the ~$30 I spent on it (Halo Wars LCE was $86 after taxes, I sold my used LCE on eBay for $48, I figure I got ~$10 worth out of it in the 4 or 5 days I got to play it, equivalent to a rental, plus I kept the Spirit of Fire patch to use as a coaster). I should have waited to pick the maps up when they become available as DLC in a few weeks. Got some otherwise unattainable achievements on them, but other than that, I was a little disappointed. I figure I paid $30 for some maps, and a really cool coaster. I think the coaster is better than the maps!
Anyone else get the LCE version of Halo Wars?
Submitted by D15AV0W3D on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 6:50pm.
Had some good games tonight 2v2 on XBL with FB, Myth, and Willdabeast. Haven't played the H3 maps yet. Don't really know when I will.
Will and Myth found a pretty good counter to the Hawk strategy tonight. You can either use covenant, churn out grunts, and rush, or use a large battery of fully upgraded wolverines.
However, Regret's leader power almost sealed their fate. The disruption bomb that kills leader powers is very useful. Overall, the game is a little more balanced than I first thought. Apparently you just have to know how to counter what's being levied against you, and I don't know much yet.
Submitted by Midnight on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 10:42pm.
really the best way to counter this is with anders again... you drop another cryo on the hornets. Frozen air units drop out of the air and are destroyed. i usually win by default playing a super strong defense until they just give up. I have pretty good Turtle with the humans and have successfully been able to win (base still intact)a battle with myself against a set of 6 scarabs, using anders and the set of high vetrancy, fully upgraded cobras, a well timed cryo and wolverines to eliminate the engineers that were healing the scarabs. you then drop a disruption bomb on in the middle of your units to negate leader properties and use 3-14 star spartan controlled tanks against the leaders.
the high veterancy tanks are near invincible, fully upgraded with a fully upgrades spartan and full star level withstands fire from 3 scarabs at once for a minute and a half before the tank is destroyed. these units can also take a total of 12 MAC blasts before being destroyed.
it's a matter of ranking up your units and keeping the low ranks in back. you would be amazed what you can do.
Submitted by n00b (not verified) on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 5:39pm.
I think the two level demo wasn't enough to really make an informed purchase decision... and I still think Elites shouldn't dual wield swords.
---
Rampant for over seven years.
game was awesome, loved the cinematics and the story, took elements from the books which was really interesting from anyone who is right into the halo universe.
the LCE was great too, i especially liked the case and playing the mythic maps with only <1000 people.
@ narcogen: elites dont weild dual swords, only the arbiter, and hes awesome so its ok by me.
annoyingly the covenant vs human in multiplayer is a little biased, especially in deathmatch, because you just build a temple, then leader rush. <5minute game unless theyre prepared for it.
all in all an excellent attempt at console RTS, by far the best ever seen, and the story alone kept me playing through it almost all the way through in one sitting.
I've made it through the first four levels. Story and cinematics are very gripping. The comic book in the limited edition is also a neat prequel to the events. You get some interesting background info on Sgt Forge, Capt Cutter, and Dr. Sanders (?). As always, some of the military info in the comic book doesn't line up with reality (at least 21st century reality), but I've accepted I just have to let that stuff slide.
As usual, I plan to play through the entire campaign before I touch multiplayer. I don't like hearing that covenant can "leader rush." Rushing is a RTS tactic that I do not enjoy, but I employ it sometimes out of necessity. I seem to remember a certain AOE game where I quickly built a barracks outside FoulBreed's camp and repeatedly pwned his villagers with sling throwers. I have more fun when nobody uses rushing, but I also don't advocate rules like "no attacking in the first __ minutes." I'll never agree to a rule outside of the game that could keep me from winning.
I'm having trouble completing the optional "achievement objectives" for each campaign level. For example, the 1st mission has an achievement for running down 50 grunts with warthogs. The damn gunner kills 2/3 of the grunts before the warthog can hit them! On the second or third mission the achievement is awarded for destroying every methane tank. I explored pretty thoroughly and destroyed an entire methane factory, and rescued both warthogs, but apparently I didn't get them all.
Scoring is pretty interesting. You get a time multiplier bonus and an objective multiplier bonus. I am not sure how the base score is calculated, but it appears that the best score comes from achieving all objectives quickly.
I would like to group units into "task forces" like Skyler mentioned previously. Scenario: I have a battle going on at one end of the map and my base is attacked at the other end. I would like to station a very small force (perhaps a hornet, warthog, and squad of Marines) at the base to defend it. However, I haven't yet discovered how to do that. My best solution right now is to send all the hornets to quickly quell the invasion, but I would prefer to not take all of my hornets out of the main battle.
If you have any tips for assigning a mixed group of units an area to defend that they will not leave, please speak up. Cover doesn't count, as cover is rarely exactly where I want it. Perhaps I just need smarter and more disciplined use of "all units" and "local units."
if you have seperate clusters of units, down on the d pad cycles through them.
also, the mission achievments arent so hard, just take 1 warthog and run over a grunt then run backwards. you can complete the whole mission on easy or normal using only sgt forge and a couple marines for the shield doors.
in the second mission there is another cluster of methane tanks with the flight box at the top left, and as you go north from your starting base, hook to the right and theyre with some supply crates.
ive logged some hrs in campain because i got it on the 26th of feb, being australian and all.
oh and be assured that multiplayer is still fun, and its possible to counter a leader rush, but in deathmatch (rather than standard) the leader starts maxed out and has virtually unlimited use of its leader power since you have a bizillion resources.
Unfortunately it appears early attacking and essential "griefing" your opponent is a central strategy employed by the good players.. it's their ability to multitask and work through the chaos and still complete objectives that separates the experts from everyone else. Learning to play Dawn of War II right now and am finding that the computer is fairly attack oriented, constantly keeping me on the defensive.
I am very much enjoying the campaign thus far. Some of the missions have a very "Starcraft-like" feel to them, IMO. I really like the ones where you are actually on the surface of The Spirit of Fire while it is cruising along.
Cinematics are amazing! I feel like I am watching a dramatized version of the Fall of Reach or First Strike. Very cool!
I'm really looking forward to co-oping and playing some multiplayer skirmishes.
------------------------
"Don't blow this, Gene!"
I still have not beaten the campaign. I think I have played 3-4 levels.
However, I did have a lot of fun lanning it the other night. We had some great 3v3 battles. Unfortunately, I felt like I was just getting a good rythym going on the last 1-2 games we played. I think there is potential to have even more epic battles than we had, due to our inexperience. There was some discussion about some "trumping" tactics and factions that may be present, even beyond "leader rushing". I'm interested to find out whether any valid counters are discovered. One complaint I have is that there are only 3(?) MP maps that can handle a 3v3 game. Overall, I had a lot of fun and look forward to milking the MP for a while. I'm planning on playing some Thursday night if anyone is down for that.
I have class Thursday night but could get on afterwards.
I have finished the campaign on normal and just finished the 6th level on Legendary. After about level 3 Legendary becomes brutal. On each level I have found tactics through trial and error that seem to be the key to each level. I have an idea I saw on the Halo Wars forum for "Scarab" that I plan to try tonight.
The LAN was a lot of fun. I look forward to the next one.
As far as overpowered strategies, I've played about 6 matches on XBL. I got owned my first two and won the third when the opponent quit. The last three I've played using the Dr. Anders/Hawk/Cryo strategy and I've waxed all 3. I'm not a high rank, so I'll eventually encounter some resistance, but I want to know how someone can counter this. My last opponent tried building a lot of Wolverines. Perhaps they weren't fully upgraded, but my Hawks easily killed them one by one with a single shot from "all units" I might have lost one Hawk in the time it took me to kill 6-7 Wolverines.
That's interesting. I would of thoght that the Wolverine counter would have been more effective... but as you said, perhaps they were not upgraded. I think there has to be some way of countering the HAWK strategy.. but I have no idea what that might be.
I am excited about trying a rush strategy that I thought of. I haven't done much browsing around for ideas yet, but I plan to this weekend and next week (spring break). :)
------------------------
"Don't blow this, Gene!"
I beat the game last night. That is all.
-----
I thought the game was OK. Campaign was fun, but not something I would want to play through again. I really liked the cut-scenes. Multi is OK if it's a 3v3 w/ friends at a LAN, but 1v1 on XBL wasn't fun for me.
All in all, I think the cut-scenes were the only part of the game I'd want to experience more than once, but not enough to make me want to play the campaign again.
On a side-note, the H3 Mythic map pack wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It wasn't a complete letdown, but it certainly wasn't worth the ~$30 I spent on it (Halo Wars LCE was $86 after taxes, I sold my used LCE on eBay for $48, I figure I got ~$10 worth out of it in the 4 or 5 days I got to play it, equivalent to a rental, plus I kept the Spirit of Fire patch to use as a coaster). I should have waited to pick the maps up when they become available as DLC in a few weeks. Got some otherwise unattainable achievements on them, but other than that, I was a little disappointed. I figure I paid $30 for some maps, and a really cool coaster. I think the coaster is better than the maps!
Anyone else get the LCE version of Halo Wars?
Had some good games tonight 2v2 on XBL with FB, Myth, and Willdabeast. Haven't played the H3 maps yet. Don't really know when I will.
Will and Myth found a pretty good counter to the Hawk strategy tonight. You can either use covenant, churn out grunts, and rush, or use a large battery of fully upgraded wolverines.
However, Regret's leader power almost sealed their fate. The disruption bomb that kills leader powers is very useful. Overall, the game is a little more balanced than I first thought. Apparently you just have to know how to counter what's being levied against you, and I don't know much yet.
HALO WARS WAS QUITE FUN
really the best way to counter this is with anders again... you drop another cryo on the hornets. Frozen air units drop out of the air and are destroyed. i usually win by default playing a super strong defense until they just give up. I have pretty good Turtle with the humans and have successfully been able to win (base still intact)a battle with myself against a set of 6 scarabs, using anders and the set of high vetrancy, fully upgraded cobras, a well timed cryo and wolverines to eliminate the engineers that were healing the scarabs. you then drop a disruption bomb on in the middle of your units to negate leader properties and use 3-14 star spartan controlled tanks against the leaders.
the high veterancy tanks are near invincible, fully upgraded with a fully upgrades spartan and full star level withstands fire from 3 scarabs at once for a minute and a half before the tank is destroyed. these units can also take a total of 12 MAC blasts before being destroyed.
it's a matter of ranking up your units and keeping the low ranks in back. you would be amazed what you can do.
Post new comment