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Dreadnought is the latest DLC add-on for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, announced on January 18, 2012 [1] and released on January 24 (North America) or January 25 (Europe) on Steam. The DLC is priced at $9.99 / €6.99 / 800 Microsoft Points.

The Dreadnought DLC features a new multiplayer game type for Versus and a new player class; the Imperial Dreadnought for Space Marines and the Chaos Dreadnought for Chaos Space Marines.

Description[]

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The new game mode is called Dreadnought Assault, a Versus game where both teams battle to capture a central location on the map, which when controlled will spawn one player as a player-controlled Dreadnought for the team that controls it. The DLC also includes three new multiplayer maps; Desolation, Dome Mechanicus and Chem Refinery, as well as new achievements/trophies.

In addition to the premium add-on content, all players of Space Marine received a new multiplayer game mode, Capture and Control, for free. Playable on all the game’s multiplayer maps, this team based mode challenges players to capture and defend locations around the map to score points.

Dreadnought gameplay[]

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Dreadnought spawning

10 seconds after the match starts, a central control point will spawn. Its position varies between 1-3 areas, depending on the selected map, and requires 20 seconds to be captured by a single Marine. It will register players as capturing or contesting within 10 meters of the point. An icon of a Dreadnought is shown to all players, colored according to the controlling team.

After the point is captured, one of the players of the controlling team present at the capture point is spawned as either an Imperial or Chaos Dreadnought, as appropriate. Note that capping this initial point does not provide any increase to the team score, and simply selects which team spawns the Dreadnought. 

After the Dreadnought has been spawned, gameplay is asymmetric, with the Dreadnought team acting as the offense, and the other team as the defense. A series of capture points will spawn, but only one at a time, across the map (note that these are not the same locations as the Seize Ground capture points). The Dreadnought team must attempt to capture the currently active point (for 2 game points apiece), and if successful, the active point will move to a different location. Meanwhile the defending team tries to destroy the Dreadnought and keep the attacking team at bay. If the defending team destroys the Dreadnought, they are awarded 3 game points and a new Dreadnought spawn point is appears at the center of the map again after 30 seconds. Note that at 2 points per successful cap, this means that the team that spawns the Dreadnought must capture at least two sequential points (for a total score of 4) before their Dreadnought is killed (which grants the other team a score of 3), or they will actually fall behind in score despite getting the Dreadnought. The default matchmaker setting sets a score limit of 20 game points to win the map (or the standard 15 minute timeout). Also note that the Dreadnought can also capture a control point much more quickly than regular Marines (30 seconds by itself), and thus it is crucial to move it to the active control point as quickly as possible, while its teammates provide support. 



The Dreadnought is armed with an Assault Cannon (Imperial) or Twin-Linked Reaper Auto Cannon (Chaos) on its right arm-mount, and a massive Close Combat Weapon with an underslung Meltagun on its left arm, and also has access to a one-use temporary void shield, which will grant complete invulnerability to all types of damage while it remains active for 10 seconds. The shield appears in the equipment slot, but picking up Equipment drops will not add to it (there is no way to replenish it once used). After a short duration without taking any damage, its health will slowly regenerate in a manner that is similar to the normal Space Marines, but with key differences. Instead of regenerating all the way to full, it will only regenerate up to the next 1/3rd mark (33%, 66%, or 100%). For example, if it is damaged to 60% health, it will only regenerate up to 66%. For this reason it is crucial for the opposite team to maintain fire on the Dreadnought to prevent regeneration, and to focus concerted attacks together to lower it below the next quarter-mark, for permanent effect.


The player in control of the Dreadnought will be able to walk and pivot almost as quickly as a Tactical Marine. By pushing the run button, the Dreadnought will take a moment to ready its footing, then execute a sprint for up to 5 seconds, before slowing to recover for a few seconds before it can sprint again. This moves slightly faster than a Tactical Marine at a run (10m/s) but he normal Space Marine classes, the Dreadnought cannot sprint indefinitely. While sprinting, it is possible to execute a charge attack by pressing the melee attack button, which smashes any enemies caught in front of the Dreadnought's considerable bulk (200 normal damage). Its weapons have unlimited reserve ammunition, although the Assault Cannon has a magazine size of 140 shots, while the Reaper Autocannon has 70 shots. Reloading is a relatively fast process, similar to the reload speed for a normal Marine's bolt pistol or boltgun. Both the attack and stun combos hit twice and deal tremendous damage. Each hit of the attack combo can be followed up by the Fist Slam stun attack. The Fist Slam ground stun has a 360 degree radial effect, making it useful if swarmed by by melee attackers. 

Gallery[]

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