Warhammer 40k (Eternal Crusade)

"We'll be investigating whether or not we can get PvE fights against Tyranids into the open world, but that's a technical challenge- no promises!"
- All PvP will be open world
- No instanced PvP
- Instanced PvE
- No match-made instanced "battlegrounds"
- Combat is №1 dev team priority.
- Close combat closer to Space Marine but with more options for offence and defense.
- Moving backwards is slower.
- Devs considering using blocking each other in battle areas as a tactical feature.
- The game will run on DirectX11 and 64bit systems
- Eternal Crusade will be using the PikkoServer, a technology created by the studio MuchDifferent capable of hosting hundreds of players simultaneously. The game will be able to support battles with more than 1000 players (exact number unknown for now)
- The downed system is much more like War of the Roses or Left 4 Dead than Guild Wars 2. I guess they're pretty similar, but the GW2 system is a lot more complicated.
- The plan for now is that a melta gun will vaporize most infantry. Of course, it might take a little while to warm up before firing.
- Everyone will be on the same server.
- Dungeons (called “Underworlds”) will be procedurally generated and filled with waves and waves of Tyranids. Players will be able to find relics there which will boost their character.
- Progression will be handled via experience points. This will allow you to unlock more classes in each faction but also progress through each class own skill tree. Players that listen to their leaders will get bonus XP and rewards
- Players that successfully overtake an enemy territory will get all the resources that come with it. Resources are necessary to make armors, weapons, ships, and fortress armaments needed to defend your faction’s stake in the world
- There will be several types of campaigns (primary campaigns and secondary campaigns with secondary objectives). Each campaign will last between two weeks and three months, and then a winner will be declared by overall territorial control and dominance.
- For now, there’s only going to be one planet with many continents, and each one is split between all of the different factions at the start of a campaign. However, each of these faction areas is surrounded by Tyranid territory.
- There will probably be loading between continents but currently, players should be able walk from one end of a continent to the other
- Eternal Crusade will feature destructible environments. Note that there will be very specific points of destructibility such as static guns, sections of walls or gates and accesses, but the majority of the world will not be destructible
- Environmental hazards (lava, toxic wastes, etc) might be added to the game
- Players will also be able to equip their ship with artillery pieces in order to call an orbital bombardment on the planet. However, a single player won’t be able to do that and at least one hundred people would have to gather the resources necessary for a strike like this.
- All of the major 40K vehicles will be playable. There will also be many different artillery pieces
- Anyone will be able to spawn a vehicle if they can afford it and have access to it. You'll choose your vehicle, pay for it with vehicle points and it will be delivered to you in a lore-compatible fashion! This isn't class limited, but your available resources and territory control may affect it
- There will be a dynamic weather system that is going to be very different on each continent. It can affect the gameplay so players will have to adapt their strategy.
- There will be many ways to help your faction instead of just fighting hundreds of people, for example by exploring the world, finding new resources, building outposts to extract them, going through the enemy lines to sabotage your enemy’s logistics, etc.
- Some parts of a stronghold can be destroyed in order to facilitate an assault but the main objective will be to capture it and not destroy it. Then, players will be able to repair it, add upgrades, etc if they have enough resources
- There will probably be NPC defenders at each stronghold or outpost, but armies will be composed of players
- Players may need to hold multiple points simultaneously to capture large bases. For small bases, this may be a matter of holding a single point
- There will be deployables (no more info available for now) like tarantula Sentry
- Players will be able to have a bolt pistol in the left hand and a chainsword in the right hand, but their accuracy will be less precise and their melee will be less powerful (however, they’ll be able to hit their opponent with their chainsword and then shoot him in the head with their bol pistol to finish him). A player that uses both hands to carry a bolter will be a lot more precise, and if he uses two hands to use a chainsword, he’ll have a lot more power
- When your life drops to 0, you don’t die immediately. You’re hurt on the ground and cannot move until one of your friends comes and heals you. However, you have a chance to be executed by the enemy as well
- Insta-death - You'll die instantly if a hit does enough damage to take you below the death threshold
- Death penalty will have a greater impact on the whole team rather than on a player alone
- There will be many race-specific executions for free but there will also be hundreds of different microtransaction-based executions
- Psychic powers will be available and players should be careful to avoid the perils of the Warp when using them
- Ammo will be limited. So once you run out of ammo, you’ll need to charge and use you melee weapons
- There will be friendly-fire but with reduced damage. The player who shoots another ally will get some kind of penalty depending on his level
- There won’t be naval combat. However, the dev team is investigating aerial combat
- Players will be able to use turrets
- There will be sniper-type weapons
- The game will feature directional armor
- Players that perform an execution will be rewarded with a little XP
- Ranged weapons executions will be included in the game
- Both executions and rescue actions take time and can be interrupted
- Dual weapons will probably be in the game for launch, especially lightning claws
- Combi-weapons (Bolter/Plasma Gun for example) will be available
- Players won’t lose their weapons when they die
- Melta weapons will do more damage the closer they are
- There will be sponsons on tanks
- The dev team is looking into overheating mechanics. However, this will not be entirely random. If your weapon "explodes" (which may be the penalty for overheating), it will do damage to you but it will most probably not permanently destroy your gun
- Some classes will be more sensitive to ranged attacks while some will be more sensitive to melee
- All classes will have the option to damage tanks, but heavy classes will be better at this job
- “Healers” such as Apothecaries will have functions beyond fighting and rezzing
- Powerful “hero” units such as Librarians or Chaplains will be available in the game but will cost a lot of resources, so players will have to use them wisely.
- The factions are going to be pretty different. Obviously there will be some similarities (especially between Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines) but the dev team is aiming for an asymmetric balance while preserving the feel of each race
- Each faction will have one jump/jet unit
- SM: Available units: Tactical Marine, Devastator, Assault Marine, Apothecary, Chaplain, Librarian, Terminator/Assault Terminator
- SM: Techmarines may not be available at launch, but players can expect the most iconic things to be represented, like the Thunderfire Cannon
- SM: Scouts are unlikely for launch, but the Sniper Rifle/Stalker Bolter will be included
- SM: Available weapons: bolt pistol, bolter, stalker bolter, heavy bolter, plasma pistol, plasma gun, plasma canon, meltagun, stormbolter, rocket launcher, chainsword, power sword/axe/fist, lightning claw, storm shield, thunder hammer
- CSM Units available: Chosen, Havoc, Raptor, Terminator
- Mutations and gifts for CSM will likely be earned on the battlefield. They'll also be available to all Chaos classes
- Daemonic summoning won’t be available at launch, but might be added later to the game
- If a single Ork has the skill, he should be able to take out a Space Marine 1vs1
- Gretchins most likely will be in the game but they won’t be playable at launch. A Grot hero class might also be included in the future
- Available units: Ork Boy, Nob, Mega Nob, Stormboy, Loota, Mekboy, Weirdboy
- Eldar players will have the option to choose a male or a female character but Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines will all be male
- Players will be able to upgrade their weapons, but probably won't be able to change a weapon into a different one (for example, if you want to shoot farther, you would attach an upgrade to your barrel)
- Augmentations (think of Cybork Bitz or Mechadendrites for example) will be either accessories or properties of a class
- You will be able to customize the HUD in order to have the level of info needed for your class/role (scaling of HUD elements with some layout options/adjustments, turning individual elements On and Off). The dev team plan is also to strike a good balance between an in-helmet feel and a minimalist look (curvy/tilted elements and augmented reality-style markers, plus some effects like noise/static, etc)
- There will be some kind of trading but it’ll be limited (no trading between Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines for example)
- Eternal Crusade will feature a craft system which will allow you to enhance your gear with new technologies
- The world will be bigger than Skyrim or Planetside 2
- There will be some important NPCs communicating with the factions (though they won't give any “quest”)
- There will be achievements (achievements for exploration will also be present) and they'll unlock various accessories, weapons or hero classes
- There will be a night/day cycle
- An integrated voice chat may be implemented in the game, but there will be quick voice commands for sure
- There will be no queue to get on the servers or to get into a fight thanks to the PikkoServer technology
- There won’t be playable Titans at launch (note that Titans may not appear at all for all we know)
- Each faction should have a distinct UI
- The dev team is taking a UI for the color blind into consideration