Dawn of War

[Dorkenstein]

I am playing soulstorm as Imperial Guard, following all the tips I got from Gamefaqs, which is the only reason I am alive.

I am in the first campaign mission attacking an area with a strength of 3. In the first few minutes of the match, the Sisters rush me which I repel and then they proceed to take 3 relics and critical locations. Once I am firmly dug in I am able, with duress, to repel the streams of troops and assassins they send my way. With the relics I am getting pounded by Living Saints and Penitent Engines which breaks morale like nobody's business. I saved and went out with Kasrkin and Ogryns to relieve the enemy of one relic but was repulsed with unbelievable firepower.

My question is, am I just a noob, even after playing RTS since Dune 2 from Westwood or is there really no way to beat the AI on Normal in a reasonably timed (2-3 hours) sitting even on an easy map? Thank you.

 

[Drift3r]

I would back up my soldiers with some tank units and heavy artillery. Use your Karskins to blast the Sisters from range and Ogyrns to capture objectives and to serve as a meat shield. If you got the lone sniper unit I would use it as a scout but also as a quick leader killer. Taking out any of the leaders for squads that grant bonuses.

 

[Dorkenstein]

I've tried all those things except the sniping thing. I don't remember a sniper for the Imperial Guard. But if I come across it I will give it a try. The Sisters units are TOUGH.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: Dorkenstein
I've tried all those things except the sniping thing. I don't remember a sniper for the Imperial Guard. But if I come across it I will give it a try. The Sisters units are TOUGH.

the assassin can be purchased at your regimental command, level3 (whatever that one is).

also, do your squads have psykers, priests, or commissars attached to them?

if you are able to capture relic ---> BANEBLADE!
otherwise, what about getting 3 basilisks and a couple of leman russ tanks?

i know that's all later-tech stuff. i haven't played soulstorm yet.. maybe i will pick it up.

 

[Zenoth]

Against the Sisters of Battle you'll need lots of Infantry during Tier 1, I mean lots of 'em, concentrate on reinforcements on your available squads, get yourself a Commander and attach a Commissar to each of your squads to augment their morale, when you're under heavy attack you just back-track to your HQ and you garrison your troops in it (3 slots) for increased defenses. If you have some you should use Hellhounds in early Tier 2. If you have problems reaching Tier 2 itself, as I said, just concentrate your resources on getting the most amount of squads out and ready to fight.

And we never say that enough, but Grenades! Upgrade your squads with Grenade Launchers as soon as possible, believe me, no early Tier 1 infantry from any of the other factions even the IG themselves like those grenades (only the Necrons can sustain them more than the others, I think). If you manage to get say... three full Guardsmen squads with three GL's each, that means nine grenades firing each two seconds on one or two SoB squads, they'd be buried in seconds.

The SoB's early tactics and even late ones heavily rely on infantry, so if you spend too much Requisition and/or Power on tech'ing and to reach higher Tiers you'll end up dead. In Tier 1 you'll need to harass them just as they try to do that to you, it's using their own tactics against them, don't try to elaborate too much against the SoB. If you were playing against the DE or the Necrons that'd have been a different story, but I myself always do that in Skirmishes, and the Campaign is basically a number of 1 Vs 1 skirmishes.

And if you play with the vanilla A.I you might eventually encounter a bug which prevents most (if not all) of the factions (either during Skirmishes or the Campaign, doesn't matter, it's the same A.I code) factions to build mass vehicles from Tier 2 to Tier 3, if you're lucky you might see maybe one or at most two vehicles (that's when the bug kicks in, mind you). If it happens you'll be happy to know that if you can just hold on to your main base until late Tiers and manage to put some Basilisks out you'll just annihilate any of their Infantry assaults attempts at you since they should lack any vehicles support. There's around 70% chance that you encounter that bug each time you launch a Skirmish/Campaign Mission.

If you want a better challenge you should try the Advanced A.I Mod made by the team in which I am a tester myself, that A.I works for the Campaign: http://forums.revora.net/index.php?showtopic=59503

 

[natep]

early game: grenade launchers. I wouldn't even bother w/ the command squad early on, it is overpriced garbage imo. these imp guard grenade launchers are easily the most obnoxious weapon in the game. if I recall correctly, you'll be knocking around the canoness as well.

late game you should be able to overpower the SoB with lemun russ tanks, your elite infantry, and a baneblade. the regular imp guard units are just there as fodder for these late game units, as they all have impressive range.

don't forget that your guardsmen can get holed up in buildings, like the listening post, and shoot out of them.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: natep
early game: grenade launchers. I wouldn't even bother w/ the command squad early on, it is overpriced garbage imo. these imp guard grenade launchers are easily the most obnoxious weapon in the game. if I recall correctly, you'll be knocking around the canoness as well.

late game you should be able to overpower the SoB with lemun russ tanks, your elite infantry, and a baneblade. the regular imp guard units are just there as fodder for these late game units, as they all have impressive range.

don't forget that your guardsmen can get holed up in buildings, like the listening post, and shoot out of them.

i can't begin to describe how much i hate those grenade launchers

 

[Canai]

IG has awesome defensive turrets. Build a lot of them.

 

[daishi5]

I go straight for the heavy weapons squads, A couple of those will tear up SoB infantry like paper. I actually use 9 of those squads with just a regular guard squad for grabbing points, moving just a few at a time up. It is slow going, but the computer never stops it.

 

[imported_sushicide]

Shouldn't there be strength 1 or 2 territories you can attack first? It's best to get some honor guards before you go after enemies with reinforcements.

 

[Dorkenstein]

I just tried a strength 2 territory with all the ideas you've given me and I am still getting full-nelsoned by the sisters on Normal.

 

[Eeezee]

It sounds like you're using mostly infantry. WHY?! The strength of the Imperial Guard lies in their armor divisions.

Just keep a few infantry squads around for extra backup, use more heavy weapons squads essentially to help protect your tanks. Garrison your buildings if you're having problems with defense. It sounds like you need a solid armor column to break a wave of attacks, and then send them in!

Get 2 Leman Russ tanks. That should pretty much take out anything they can send at you. They have tons of health and they're very effective against infantry AND mechanized units (those side guns tear infantry to shreds). Back them up with some flamethrower tanks. Don't bother with sentinels, they're only really effective against vehicles and the Sisters of Battle aren't vehicle-strong.

It's just unfortunate that you're fighting the faction that is best able to break morale with a faction whose morale is the weakest. Keep at it.

 

[Dorkenstein]

Hehe interestingly enough I built 2 Russ tanks in my last game and when I went into Sisters territory to capture some points the Russ tanks and my Ogryns/Kasrkins got slaughtered to a man by the melta turrets.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: Dorkenstein
Hehe interestingly enough I built 2 Russ tanks in my last game and when I went into Sisters territory to capture some points the Russ tanks and my Ogryns/Kasrkins got slaughtered to a man by the melta turrets.

Well scouting with a assassin to give your arty range is a nice tool to deal with turrets and other structures. Make sure they are set to hold their fire so they wont break stealth if they have that ability.

 

[Fenixgoon]

when you attack, what are your resources like? in DC, i was always able to accumulate a lot of req/power so using earthshaker rounds on basilisks = mass ownage

 

[FallenHero]

I do hope you arent turtling. Expend like a madman to start and turrent walk to create fall back points. Use your buildings as defense with IG. Do not forget, you can add 3 psychers to a building (they dont have to be attached to any squad) and its like you just garrisoned 3 squads in the building. Very effective for a good fallback point, and you can transport them around building to building without having them leave.