14 DAY TRIAL // Relic has just released one impressive patch for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, the tactical/role playing game title released earlier in the year. It has been in the works for quite some time and the developer is promising that most, if not all, of the issues related to the game will be solved.
The patch will automatically be applied to all Dawn of War II installs when Steam is started and if there's a working connection to the Internet.
The good news is that one of the heftiest sections of the patch notes, which can be read in full here, courtesy of the Steam service, is dedicated to changes made to the way the Artificial Intelligence works.
Relic is saying that it will put up a better challenge, with their heroes now being well decked out in battle gear, generators being built when appropriate and with the A.I. even retreating from an engagement if the odds are clearly against it. So, it seems that playing skirmish games might become good practice for multiplayer matches.
One of the biggest changes, which players have been requesting ever since the beta of Dawn of War II, is that now abilities can be used on the squad tabs and on the portraits of the squad heroes, which will make it easier to heal or buff a squad without having the camera directly pointed at it. Relic has also added two very useful hotkeys, for Retreat All – ALT-X and for Retreat Hero – SHIFT-X.
Other than that, Relic has kept its promise of introducing native in game support for 2 versus 2 ranked matches. Two maps designed specifically for the new mode are available, with the promise of more in the future. The icing on the cake is the introduction of some fresh sync kill animations, which will prompt players to zoom in and see the new ways to die in the grim universe of Dawn of War II.