IGN now released a new pre-E3 article regarding the newest Dawn of War installment hitting stores in early 2009. Throughout the 2 pages long article new features like the cover system, squad leader leveling and equipping are explained as well as some new screenshots are provided. Check it out:
You can find the whole article here, as well as the complete collection of new screens here.
For our demo, four squads were available for play, each led by a uniquely named sergeant and serving their own special functions. Before heading into a mission, you'll be given a loadout screen where you can swap around weapons, armor, accessories, and assign attribute points for the squad leaders. Attribute points are earned as squad leaders level up by experience gained for killing enemies and completing missions; you get one attribute point to assign per experience level. Depending on how you're trying to build a specific squad (ranged attacks, health, melee) you can allocate the point to that category. After specific numbers of points are pumped into a category, you'll get special abilities to use with that unit.
For instance, putting a few points into the health category gets you a taunt ability that lets the squad leader draw enemy units away from weaker or wounded squads and onto himself. Investing in ranged attacks can reward you with a focused fire skill which temporarily increases the distance from which you're able to fire on enemies, which is obviously useful for someone using a sniper rifle. There were numerous other abilities as well, but we didn't get a chance to see what they did, though it seems obvious that your squad leaders will increase in power and usefulness as the game progresses, since they'll accumulate better skills, weapons, and accessories.
While weapons and armor can have varying effects aside from just increasing damage output and defense ratings, the accessories will allow for squads to use a wide range of special abilities. For instance, an orbital beacon, the item that delivers the devastating orbital blast you may have seen in the video released for the game, is an equippable accessory. During a mission it can only be used once, but it can have a dramatic effect on a battle, wiping out enemies and environmental structures. Other accessories we saw included armor piercing sniper rounds (they basically kill enemy units garrisoned in structures in one hit), frag grenades for blasting apart cover positions, melta bombs for blowing up vehicles, and health packs.
For instance, putting a few points into the health category gets you a taunt ability that lets the squad leader draw enemy units away from weaker or wounded squads and onto himself. Investing in ranged attacks can reward you with a focused fire skill which temporarily increases the distance from which you're able to fire on enemies, which is obviously useful for someone using a sniper rifle. There were numerous other abilities as well, but we didn't get a chance to see what they did, though it seems obvious that your squad leaders will increase in power and usefulness as the game progresses, since they'll accumulate better skills, weapons, and accessories.
While weapons and armor can have varying effects aside from just increasing damage output and defense ratings, the accessories will allow for squads to use a wide range of special abilities. For instance, an orbital beacon, the item that delivers the devastating orbital blast you may have seen in the video released for the game, is an equippable accessory. During a mission it can only be used once, but it can have a dramatic effect on a battle, wiping out enemies and environmental structures. Other accessories we saw included armor piercing sniper rounds (they basically kill enemy units garrisoned in structures in one hit), frag grenades for blasting apart cover positions, melta bombs for blowing up vehicles, and health packs.
You can find the whole article here, as well as the complete collection of new screens here.