How to stop the computer from rushing in Dawn of War

Question

I have been playing Warhammer 40k, Dawn of War for sometime now and I like the game. I have finally come up with a strategy that seems to work out fairly well.

My Strategy: I am used to setting up my base in the beginning by creating a few units mainly for capturing flags. They cannot put up much of a fight. In the meanwhile I start also create a few fighting units for support but not much because resource is limited and I'm also doing research. Meanwhile the AI is also doing a similar thing - capturing flags, upgrading, creating fighters.

The problem: After a few missions that idiotic AI has changed. So now, instead of capturing flags it first creates a few fighter units and directly sends them to my base. So when the game starts I have barely captured 2 flags when I start having enemy after enemy continuously on my base. And this ruins the fun completely. I can create more fighting units initially but it will just make a slow start not only for me but also for the stupid AI where we both capture flags very slowly to keep fighting.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do? I don't want to extend the level with a slow start. After a few tries I have started using a trainer. So at the start of the level I use the trainer to quickly create some fighting units and then I continue my normal strategy and switch off the trainer. But I don't want to play this way. Any idea what can be done?

Answer

The AI in Dawn of War is pretty shocking at the best of times and frequently gets stuck at the first tech level spamming small weak units in an attempt to complete a "tech 1 rush". Typically you will find if you can hold off the initial wave the rest of the game will be a piece of cake seeing as you will have vehicles and they will still only have infantry.

My main point of advice would be to use lots of little squads instead of upgrading one squad (i.e. I would rather have 3 different marine squads of 4 men as apposed to 1 big squad of 10). This means you can engage multiple targets at once and if someone gets drawn into melee when you didnt really want them to you have another couple of squads to help clear the trouble).

As for how to hold off this initial wave it depends on which army you are playing as and which you are fighting. For any army I would definately say make sure you build a command unit as your first or second attacking unit seeing as the extra HP will definately give you a bit more thinking time (this is especially true of necrons seeing as the necron lord is the best unit you have at your disposal) ... from here its a matter of who you are fighting and knowing how they will rush you.

Marines / Choas - Will usually play a solid game with decent AI - harras you a little at the start with marine squads but continue to push through tech levels so you will need to keep up with them technologywise. With choas be careful of cultist squads because they have a tendancy to engage multiple squads in close combat at once and leave them prone to fire from another unit.

Elder - they will typically throw guardian squad after guardian squad at you and then throw the occassional farseer whenever they have enough spare rec (strategy = get heavy bolters out asap - or whatever your armies equivielent is).

Orks - Similiar to elder, will begin by throwing squad after squad at you but with the added danger of a big mek. This guy can be a pain in the ass because of his teleport ability which will get him to you sooner. (Strategy = you will definately need a commant unit to deal with an ork rush). If orks manage to get to get to tech 2 they are likely to start throwing wartraks at you, counter these with vehicles because their rockets will constantly knock your regular troops over.

Imperial Guard - Again similiar to elder, will throw lots of little units at you as well as the command squad which can be a pain because its quickly regenerates powerful units. Heavy bolters (or similiar) are the way forward again.

Necrons - On big maps these guys will hardly have the chance to rush you because they are so slow, but you will need to be careful of the necron lord seeing as his teleport power recharges very quick and he can get to your base super fast because of it. Engage this guy with a command unit and have everything else you have shot at him. Probably best to keep his body surrounded as well because when they rebuild him it will revive in the same place it was last killed.

Tau - Watch out for the krut rush, these can be nasty especially if they have feral leap. Lots of seperate units will help with this one so that all squads are not simultaneously having to engage one squad.

I didnt ever really play that much soulstorm so cant realy say more about sisters / dark elder.

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Noob strategy for Dawn of War

Question

I will begin this question with the following disclaimer:

I am absolutely terrible at RTS games.

With that in mind, I am hoping that a simple, general strategy may be proposed for a noob player that really does not want to get deeply involved in learning the ins and outs of each class...I do not plan on going through the single player or learning enough to professionally compete, this is more knowledge for the person who will play this game a few times within the course of the year.

That being said, I am going to be doing some LAN gaming soon and this is one of the games we will play. The last time we played I got absolutely creamed and would like to at least put up a decent fight.

I have no race preference...really whatever is the easiest to get up and running and put on a good showing is what I would prefer. We have all of the expansions, so the extra races are available as well.

I think the general rule of one strategy per answer would be appropriate here as well.

Answer

I'm far from an expert on Dawn of War, but since no one else is answering, here goes...

For a new player, the Space Marines are probably the easiest to learn. They don't have any unique game mechanics to master (like the Necrons' power-but-no-requisition or the Orks' WAAAGH!), and they don't depend as much on micromanaged special abilities and carefully balanced unit mixtures (like the Eldar or Imperial Guard).

Try the following (approximate) order:

1. Queue a couple of Scout Troopers and a Servitor. As soon as the Scout Troopers are done, send them to start capturing strategic points. Queue up a couple of strategic points each to keep them busy.
2. Set one Servitor to work on a Chapel-Barracks and the other on a Power Plant. Send whichever one is available to build Listening Posts once your scouts have finished capturing strategic points. A listening post costs 100 req, but once it's complete, you immediately gain 50 req, so it's cheaper than it appears, and they're critical in the long term for a good economy.
3. Set your Chapel-Barracks to build a squad of Space Marines and the Force Commander. Attach the commander to the space marine squad. Reinforce the squad. Build a second squad if resources permit.
4. Use your space marines + commander to harass the enemy or defend your base. Use your scouts to de-capture any strategic points that they've left undefended.
5. Next, it's time to advance to the next tier: upgrade your Stronghold to a Monastery, and build an Armory.
6. Now the fun starts. Research Heavy Weapon Increase at the armoury, and outfit all of your space marine squads with the appropriate weaponry: plasma guns for heavy infantry opponents like Necrons and Space Marines, heavy bolters for infantry like Eldar, and missile launchers for buildings and vehicles.
7. Build Gray Knights and attach the Chaplain for an easy quick-hitting melee unit.
8. To keep the gameplay even simpler, you can postpone building the Machine Cult and focus on the Sacred Artifact instead. Using one exclusively probably isn't an optimal strategy, but it lets you stay focused on infantry instead of having to juggle vehicles as well.

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