DC Patch 1.2

The RTSC Guide to Dawn of War
Part 3: Builders

Builders in Dawn of War are pretty straightforward. Each race has their own unique version with one or two tricks and unique attributes, but they all perform the same basic actions. Builders don't use any Squad cap. They're often a loner, but in some races they come in squads, usually reinforcing for free and at a slow rate. Builders wear infantry_low armour, or "builder armour". This places them at the bottom of the pecking order when it comes to other units, especially against anti-infantry units and artillery.

Building

Building is different is different from repairing. That's not as stupidly obvious as it sounds: in most RTS games, building something is identical to repairing something. You assign a worker to a half built or damaged item in most other RTS games, and its simply a matter of watching the health bar go up over time.

Dawn of War, if you hadn't already realized, is not "most other RTS games". The rules for constructing something are very different to repairing it afterwards.


	Know those BUILDER rules!

	Build rates are determined by BUILDING.		When you build something, its the structure's build time that determines how long things take, not the builder's vital statistics. The build time is hard coded into every structure in the game.

	It doesn't matter WHO builds it.		Since build times are determined by the building itself, this basically means all builders are the same when it comes to assembling things. Grots, Servitors, Scarabs, Bonesingers, TechPriests etc all work at exactly the same speed. That means in team games, there's absolutely no reason why allied players shouldn't be building each other's stuff. Many team mates can be saved from Annihilation losses by building their factories or headquarters in the safety of your own base - and vice versa.

	Build speed is capped at TWO builders.		Assigning any more than TWO guys to a job doesn't make it go any faster. Extra workers go through the the motions of building, but they're literally just going through the motions and wasting your time. Put them to work somewhere else! For builders than come in squads, like Ork Gretchlins or Necron Scarabs, this means a squad's build speed maxes out the moment it has two members in it. Avoid assigning two worker squads to anything if there's more than two guys between them - it simply won't go any faster.

	Doubling up your builders does NOT double your build speed!		When you double up your builders, all you get is a 33% build speed increase to the job at hand. For example, the Space Marines' Chapel Barracks takes exactly 45 seconds to assemble with one builder, and 30 seconds to assemble with two. Because of this, its actually faster to have two concurrent builds worked by one worker each than have a pair of builders working on two jobs in sequence. The individual job will of course go faster with two, but you lose out over the longer term.

	Building never stops.		Once a build job is started, the job's progress bar will inexorably crawl to a conclusion, even if the builder has been disrupted, knocked away from the construction site or had its morale busted by something terrible. The progress bar only stops on the builder's death or if you assign it different orders.


	Know those REPAIRER rules!

	Repair rates are determined by WORKER.		When you repair something, the rate of repair is determined by the builder's rate of repair. Repair rates are measured in health points repaired per second. For example, the Space Marine Servitor repairs any structure or vehicle at a steady 30 hp/sec. He'll fix 300hp of damage to a structure or vehicle in about ten seconds.

	Repair speed is capped at THREE builders.		Assigning more than three guys to a repair job is a waste of time: all you will see is the extra builders standing around, doing nothing - and getting in the way of other units. This can be a problem with excess builder squads, particularly with Grots, although the number of Grots in a squad has been halved in the DC 1.2 patch.

	Repair rates STACK with extra builders.		Repair rates stack with extra builders! Two builders repair twice as fast, and three builders three times as fast. Hooray! For situations where two different races' workers are assigned to the same job, each worker's repair rate is added together.

	It does matter who repairs it!		Since Repair Cost it is determined by your builder's character stats the speed of a repair job depends on which race's worker is doing the work. In team games, you can use this to your team's advantage by having the better repairers in your team work for players with poor fixers.

	Repairs costs you resources.		As a general rule, the Repair Cost is how much it costs to fully repair a unit, based on its original purchase price. Its usually expressed as a percentage. For example, a repair cost of 100% means that you will consume the equivalent of the original Requisition and Power cost of the item you're currently repairing, assuming if you could repair it from 0 hp. At 200% it would cost double the original purchase price to fully repair. At 50% you can repair at half the original cost. If the item is constantly taking damage, then you're constantly drawing on your reserves to continuously fix it, bleeding away your precious resource stores and eating into your income. I don't know who foots the bill when allied workers repair a friendly building. I've always assumed the guy with the damage footed the bill.

	Repairs never stop		Like the building process, once a repair job is started, only the builder's death or fresh instructions can stop its progress. The job's progress bar will inexorably crawl to a conclusion, even if the builder has been disrupted, knocked away from the construction site or had its morale busted by something terrible.