ARD, have you actually played DoW1 online multiplayer recently? I have been active over the past year in both the Steam forum for the game (just to discuss, I don't use the Steam version) and in the Discord channel for the Unification mod (which is one of the largest and most popular). I had the strong impression there are plenty of people playing MP with dowonline. It is not necessary at all to have Steam crossplay to be able to find online MP opponents.

If someone is really interested seriously in Multiplayer in that kind of comp games, should be interested as well in the the most advanced, and fast system to play without a hassle and to be protected from cheaters, I guess. Apparently nobody is taking this in account enough

We do not need ANTI-CHEAT systems in the multiplayer of the video games that have multiplayer.

Let community run servers have the community ban cheaters.

In my experience it never worked well enough. It always ended up in too sectarian and ultraprotective communities or in pure annoying garbage full of people only interested in ruin the others' games. More time selecting and searching for servers or players than playing...etc. That was one of the reasons I stopped with that things years ago.

But if it can work fine, well, fair enough.

I'm just wondering if those really interested in relatively serious competitive RTS games are against any method different than direct IP or LAN

I am certainly asking for platform-agnostic matchmaking. The Steam version and GOG version (and any other version that might happen, like an Epic Store version) need to be able to crossplay with each other out of the box. We aren't talking about different platforms here, we are all playing on PCs. Having your potential pool of multiplayer opponent determined by which digital store you purchased the game from is stupid, you just end up sectioning off the community into smaller chunks when they should all be in one big group.

Be that as it may, you can't deny that the majority of people purchasing the game are not going to bother installing a mod, and if the game had crossplay built into it out of the box, that it would dramatically increase the online playerbase. The number of players using that mod would still be miniscule compared to the number of actual owners of the game, so I don't think its existence is a feasible replacement for proper crossplay support.

And as I said earlier, the single player modes of these games kinda suck. They are short and without much substance. While I don't doubt that there are some players that will only experience the lacklustre single player, the game is very much focused on multiplayer (and the army painter, which is also a very popular feature for the 40k fans). This is why the multiplayer experience needs to be the best it can be out of the box, and the only way to achieve that is with crossplay (and yes, restoring the LAN and Direct IP options would also be preferred, but should not be a replacement for crossplay).

https://www.gameranger.com/

Another option for multiplayer in old games. Supported DoW games:

Dawn of War
Dawn of War: Dark Crusade
Dawn of War: Soulstorm
Dawn of War: Winter Assault

I think the video game developers of those Dawn of War video games removed GameSpy in a patch back around 2014 or in 2015 after GameSpy shut down in what 2013?

I remember getting patches for those video games on Steam for that.

I thought gameranger.com is only for bypassing GameSpy?

So gameranger.com might not work?

I'm not denying anything. It's a valid point that you and others keep making; however, it is an irrelevant one. Yes, it's true that the majority of Steam players are not going to install dowonline, but it doesn't matter. You don't need to have access to everyone that's playing on Steam to enjoy a multiplayer game. Again, as long as there is a big enough user base playing on dowonline (which there is), then you can have a perfectly good MP experience, without the need for cross play.

Besides, this is supposed to be a DRM-free store, so the priority should be to provide true DRM-free multiplayer, not cross-connection with a locked, DRM-ed platform. You want to play MP DoW1 against Steam users? Then go and buy it on Steam.

I disagree with you very much on this one as well. The SP campaign for the original DoW1 sucks, but the campaigns for Winter Assault, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm are very good and well worth playing. Also, these SP campaigns are not 'short'. Have you played the Soulstorm campaign? It has 31 regions to conquer and each of the 8 stronghold territories can take over an hour to beat, by themselves.

Besides, the AI skirmish for DoW1 is also very good. So, there is a lot of fun to be had playing single player.

I fully agree, DoW is one of my most played RTS in solo and that includes the campaigns. I especially like the Winter Assault and Dark Crusade campaigns, that are very different from each other but both really fun to play and replay. If/when I buy the game on GOG, it will be mostly for the campaigns and skirmishes.

I would like to have multiplayer too, as an extra feature, but only if it’s using either direct IP connection or LAN. To play with friends only.

That won't work with the Steam version. GameRanger relies on the LAN function which the 2014 update on Steam removed entirely.

Jesus, I'm not saying it's not possible to release a game on Steam that doesn't use Steam's network code. I never said anything of the sort. You've spent this entire time arguing with a strawman.

What I'm saying is that if the Steam release of a game does implement Steam network code, then you can guarantee that the vast majority of people playing will use that and a lack of crossplay implementation in the GOG release will mean you're locked out of playing with them.

p.s. I think it's cute that you type "PC video gamers" over and over.

Another voice here. The only thing I've played of DoW 1 is the campaign (several times). Winter Assault, I played through all the campaigns/paths 2 times. Dark Crusade, I've finished with 3 factions I think. And Soulstorm with about 2. Haven't touched a second of multiplayer.

Soulstorm is definitely the worst when it comes to single player content. Even the Stronghold missions feel weak compared to those in Dark Crusade. Also, the fact that about 70% of the game is voiced by a single guy doesn't help either :P

I too think the Dark Crusade campaign is better, but I miss one improvement from the Soulstorm one: the maps beind wiped between each scenario, preventing you to guarantee a win on defence scenarios by starting with several well-defended advanced bases. You can still start with a couple buildings by spending the campaign resources, and I think this makes for a more interesting experience.

Still, I keep going back to Dark Crusade much more often than Soulstorm ;)

Ok now I understand what you are saying.

You explained it much better this time.

Personally video games that have multiplayer that are sold on Steam I prefer that they do not use Steam's network code at all, this is why as I said before this past year I have been purchasing video games that have multiplayer that either use Steam's network code or require GOG Galaxy to write negative reviews to those video games and to also be sold on gog.com 100% Digital Rights Management (DRM) free if they are not sold on gog.com at all. I am doing the same thing with singleplayer AAA video games as well.

So far I have eighteen negative reviews on my Steam account, whenever I have time to play more and more video games my Steam account will have thirty six negative reviews.

I am spending all of this time playing and writing negative reviews on Steam that require either GOG Galaxy to play their multiplayer or are not sold on gog.com I do not care if either nothing happens in the future, but I will keep doing this because I will stand and fight for what I believe in. So far counting the Steam PC video gamers who have clicked this review was helpful on all of the video games that I have written a negative review I have counted over 60+ this review has been helpful. Not really that big, but it is growing slowly.

Well, aside from the Stronghold missions, the single player in both DC and SS leaves a lot to be desired. The moment you gather 5+ Honor Guard units, you can just attack a skirmish territory and A-move all your starting units to the other side of the map. Then you can go take a dump and come back to a victory :P You only ever have to do something if the enemy commander and their Honor Guard happen to be on the territory you're attacking. Which you can easily avoid, because the overworld map AI is absolutely braindead :)

Also, any territory that has 5+ strength is outright unwinnable without Honor Guard, because it makes you fight a 1v2. So unless you can eliminate one of the enemies immediately, you'll most likely lose.

So I honestly preferred the DC way of preserving buildings. At least the repetitive stuff is over quickly and you can get to through the Strongholds faster.