Xan Lyppiatt

Greetings!

I have recently looked into your mod.

While I found no technical issues in the newest version, I have some remarks regarding the mod’s balance and overall structure.

1. Early-game balance

Space Wolves are an interesting an unique race, even among those of DoW:SS. Albeit in many aspects similiar to vanilla Marines, their unique troop count / army management makes them truly stand out. What makes them and Marines very alike, alas, is the slow expansion phase and difficult economy management. And even moreso with Wolves, whose slow beginning tend to be their end. Like Necrons, they are likely to be harassed from the very beginning of the match. Unlike the Necrons, they lack proper immediate solutions. What they also lack, to my surprise, are Scout units.

Blood Claws, while fast and not without a punch, are far from an ideal starting unit. Adding the price of 300RP, one is sure to find himself wanting soon, would he have chosen to produce more of them.

What I find to be the greatest issue regarding that is that the Space Wolves lack an unit akin to a Scout. While I understand that Wolf Scouts are a thing, their accessibility strictly from Wolf Lair is a great setback. Compared to Tau or even Eldar, their beginnings are painfully slow, a fact one would expect of the Death Guard, but not Space Wolves.

My suggestion would be either adding Wolf Scouts to the Great Hall or rebalancing the Blood Claws, so that they may better fit a similiar role.

Saying that, I think that the price and build-time of Blood Claws should both be reduced, in order for them to better suit the role of a versatile early/mid-game unit.

      2. The no-reinforce rule and population cap

The no-reinforce mechanic is something that I myself have enjoyed a lot. It provides additional challenge and I have no problem with it, as I find it to be balanced well.

What I find myself to be struggling with is the unusual pop cap management. Seeing as many capable units only have a pop-cap of 2, I was often tempted to produce them en masse, so as to quite literally drown my enemies in Wolves. It should go without saying that the AI has adopted a similiar stratégem, making it very difficult to consistently defeat the Wolves on higher difficulty settings.

I have a problem with this for a) if such situations occur, and they’re far from rare, it’s often impossible to defend against the Wolves. Doing so requires incredible amount of macro, which is simply no fun and b) I believe that the very spirit of the chapter is somehow violated by this. Their slow beginnings do not match the chapter’s preferred strategem, which would be more akin to the calculating Necrons or the slow, grinding machine of war which is the Death Guard. Also, the loyalist IG is famously profound of making use of massive armies, though such tactics were rarely used by the independent Wolves.

What I am trying to say by that is that the Wolves, albeit a fun mod, aren’t as authentic as I would like them to be. I know the Vlka Fenryka as fast and furious beasts, approaching their enemies head-on either on their own or in small packs.

What I think should be done is to revisit the idea how a SW army should work, making them more resilient, more independent, faster-paced and capable of holding their ground even (or preferably) in small numbers.

I will continue to play the mod, as it is well done, and will propose specific solutions.

Thank you for all the amazing content provided, I am looking forward to full release!