14 DAY TRIAL // Early on in Dawn of War II, when you learn that you will be fighting and dying on three planets, Relic introduces an Infestation mechanic. Basically, it's manifested through a bar at the bottom of the campaign screen where you see, through red dots, how much the Tyranids have taken over of each of the three planets. I didn't pay much attention to it at first.
After getting to somewhere around day 30 of the campaign (which means that I've completed around 30 missions, as I almost never get to the mark for multiple deployments), I noticed that for Calderis, the first planet on which you fight and the main recruiting ground for the Blood Raven Space Marine Chapter, the level of infestation from the Tyranids had reached maximum. The bar at the bottom of the screen was red.
It was more or less my fault. I lost two defensive missions, leaving one Shrine of the Emperor and one communication array in the slimy tentacles and claws of the Tyranids. I also put back doing the other missions on that planet, focusing on the other two. And the Tyranids basically got to the point where the whole planet was under their control. The problem was that there was no clear effect tied to that. I was still able to do the missions required by the story on Calderis and the level of enemy resistance was not much greater than on the other plants, which had more limited infestations by the swarmy aliens.
It would have been great to see something happening. Maybe Tarkus or Cyrus could comment about losing the fight against the Tyranids. A special mission making me take on some tough task to regain a foothold there could have popped up. But nothing happened and it seemed like a curious lack of attention to consequences, given the love that Relic has shown to almost all the other consequential aspects in the game. I still enjoy Dawn of War II immensely, but such a lapse shows how many details developers must focus on during the creation of a game and how easily they miss a good opportunity to interact with the players and show them what their actions can lead to.