Scout Sergeant

Dawn of War Scout Sergeant mod
Version: 1.1 (02/October/2004; first public version 01/October/2004)
Author: [FtUC]Vertigo, [email protected], http://vertigian.freehomepage.com (there is nothing there you'd be interested in though :P)

•	What this mod does
-Adds a Sergeant to Space Marine Scout Squads. These function in just the same way as Tactical or Assault Sergeants (including the Rally ability), but are a little cheaper and a little less durable (as befits the squad they command). Currently Scout Sergeants use the standard Sergeant model, but are able to use the Infiltrate ability if the rest of the squad can.
-The Max Heavy Weapons Increase tech at the Armory now applies to Scouts as well as Tactical Marines, meaning you can now have Scout squads armed entirely with sniper rifles. Because four sniper rifles are so ridiculously dangerous, their damage has been toned down slightly, as has their morale damage. Also the Scouts now take up two Squad Cap units instead of one. Basically the Scouts are now a useful combat unit later on in the game, but despite being extremely lethal to infantry the Scouts are still very vulnerable if the enemy can take the fight to them. The Sergeant adds a little protection though, and Scouts are less prone than usual to morale breaking.

•	Installation
Unzip to your DoW directory with Use Folder Names enabled, all files will be unzipped to the required directory. If you can't do that, the files go in these locations:
Dawn of War
.W40k
..Data
...attrib
....ebps
.....races
......space_marines
.......troops
........sergeant_scout.lua (file)
....research
.....marine_max_weapons_research.lua, marine_sergeant_melee_upgrade_1.lua, marine_sergeant_ranged_upgrade_1.lua (files)
....sbps
.....races
......space_marines
.......space_marine_squad_scout.lua (file)
....weapon
.....space_marine_sniper_rifle.lua (file)

•	Changelog
1.1
-Scout Sergeant now benefits from Armory weapon upgrades (plasma pistol, powersword, powerfist).
-Sniper rifle damage reduced from 300-350 to 225-300. Morale damage reduced from 150 to 100.

•	Plans for the future
Hopefully the next version will include a Terminator Sergeant, although he'd probably look somewhat out of place in his regular power armour in the middle of a bunch of sweaty tactical dreadnoughts. Maybe in the future I'll try to learn modelling so I can produce proper models for the Scout and Terminator Sergeants, but even if I do manage to learn it, I'd guess these models would be difficult and fiddly to make. Maybe someone with the requisite skills could try their hand at it! =)
I've also experimented with giving the Scout Sergeant different weapons (for example, upgrading to a sniper rifle instead of a plasma pistol), but while it does work (he does actually attack people with a sniper rifle, but you can't see it, although the enemy is still damaged by it), the model won't accept it: he freezes, and even when he moves, he's completely devoid of animation (like the lead guy in 28 Days Later). I'd need to add new animations for that, which again I've got no idea how to do for the moment. Still, it's a lot more likely for me to be able to do than create a totally new model.

•	Meh
If you've got any suggestions or are my personal Holy Grail in the form of someone who'd like to try their hand at a custom Scout/Terminator Sergeant model for DoW, give me a mail at [email protected]. If you'd like to challenge a rather kickass Unreal Tournament 2004 clan, stop by at the FtUC forums (www.ftuc.net) and be polite ^_^. Have the fun.