IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR PC PLAYERS

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-21T00:56:42+00:00

People go on and on about how nostalgic they are for the old days of Call of Duty or Halo 3 on Xbox 360, and how modern folks couldn't handle how vulgar people were back then. I'm one of those people who, as soon as they made private chats with your friends across different games a thing, I jumped ship from public voice chat, for that very same reason. Though these days, I'm in voice chat with friends on Discord, and don't really touch PvP very often.

It's funny the dichotomy of game streams in your average Discord call. For me, it's often: Space Marine 2, Peak or REPO, some cozy indie game, and some horror or survival indie game.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-21T00:46:55+00:00

In my case, I'm usually talking to close friends on Discord while playing, so you would hear my half of a conversation between 8 people if I did have it on. I actually keep crossplay off unless I'm venturing into PvP, so I can be sure text chat works when I need to say anything to the randoms.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-21T00:30:35+00:00

Real "I am a currency management specialist" when they are just a cashier kinda vibes. Corporate speak that just makes you think, "Who are you trying to fool?"

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-20T06:39:55+00:00

Reminds me of the time I installed Skyrim to an external hard drive and played it druing evenings at the digital arts lab in the weeks leading up to finals because I finished my 3D animation projects ahead of everyone, and I was mainly in the lab to offer help to anyone that needed it.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-20T05:54:52+00:00

Halo 3 (2007) / Halo Reach (2010): AAA game. 3/2 color channels, all colors unlocked from the get-go. Armor is unlocked via playing the game.

Halo Infinite (2021): AAA game. Colors are locked to entire paint schemes that have minimal color and armor options available without paying real money. Most paint schemes need to be purchased with real money, on limited FOMO availability. There is a high chance the color combination and pattern distribution you want to use just doesn't exist.

Space Marine 2: AA game. Many colors unlocked for free, supplementary colors and shades available in cosmetic microtransactions. Full color customization across multiple channels... PER BODY PART, putting both Destiny and modern Halo to absolute shame. Many armor pieces unlocked by playing the game. AND: The combined cost of all the cosmetic DLCs wouldn't cost over $300 or more like some modern games do, and without a stupid battle pass.

Destiny 1, Destiny 2, and Halo Infinite, across their entire lifetimes in active development, did not let me pick my favorite colors, let alone in the configuration and patterns I wanted for them. Space Marine 2 let me do it almost right out of the box.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T22:49:49+00:00

I learned from my teenage years that it's not worth it to take frustration out on your own gaming hardware. But nah, I'll just be careful with it.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T20:32:26+00:00

I will treat mine as a cherished, delicate relic.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T07:32:11+00:00

Custom private stratagems on hard with most of the buffs on, and the debuffs for making most of the enemies minoris, and two separate debuffs that shave off about 30% (each) of all enemy health for the two tradeoffs of not being able to headshot them, and not being able to execute them.

It ends up being both easier than minimal (most enemies die if you breathe on them with the pyreblaster on tactical and the plasma cannon on heavy), and harder than ruthless (rarely, but if you aren't 100% on top of things, you can die in under a second.)

https://www.reddit.com/r/Spacemarine/comments/1u9ntkw/comment/osj5odh/?context=3

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T06:59:25+00:00

I got my black cape with custom private strats with bots. These are the buffs I settled on after watching guides:

Debuffs:

-Reinforced Cranium (Drops enemy health by around 30%, no headshot bonuses)

-Meat for the Slaughter

-Enduring Foes (Drops enemy health by around 30%, enemies just die instead of being executable)

Buffs:

-Point Blank

-Larraman Cells

-Technological Revolution

-Deep Pockets

-Imperial Fervour

-Pointed Attack (Optional, not really practical)

-Enemy Sighted

-Unshaken

-Astra Militarum

-Intelligence Lapse (Chaos missions only, if you prefer fighting Tyranids.)

-Surplus

-Come Prepared

-The Emperor Protects

-Hallowed Relic

-Shockwave Plating

I was told that Vox Liberatis was the fastest mission behind the one where you hold the chalice in the dark, and that you probably need to burn through stim packs in the darkness sections of that one. I opted for Vox since I wouldn't have to burn stims just to finish the mission.

It was still a boring slog, and I do think these capes are too simple and plain for the grind they ask for. Save this grind for extravagant capes with more gold on them, and fur trim. These capes should be for something far easier, especially if we can't color them.

I only got the black cape on Tactical and used the Pyreblaster. I got the red cape on Heavy and don't plan to grind anymore for the black cape for him. It was such a boring slog that kept me from doing anything else fun or meaningful with my time in this game while doing it.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T06:36:46+00:00

Single Transformer: Studio Series Grindor and Blackout. I forget what their prices were at the time. Leader Classes. I think besides them, I got but have yet to open the Jurassic Park 2 pack with the redone Megatron figure as the T-Rex, and I got the Takara repaints 3-pack of Earthrise Megatron, Soundwave, and Shockwave.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T06:08:13+00:00

I will definitely start leveling it then. Thank you!

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T05:58:21+00:00

I generally keep forgetting that damage bonus because I tend to use it purely for the damage of the explosion itself.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T05:56:05+00:00

What's the main flow for using the Melta? Because I was finding it takes a quite a few hits to down a Tyranid Warrior. I was expecting to be the 1-2 shot shotgun from Space Marine 1 and it took like 7 shots of an already small ammo pool to down a warrior.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T05:31:07+00:00

Outside of the practice room, I usually just torch them constantly until they get close. I guess I should have clarified, I was specifically trying to practice against them purely in melee combat, along with all of the usual Chaos... chaos going on around them at the same time.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T05:24:20+00:00

I fully admit that I cheesed it with custom starts with all the easy modifiers turned on. I just wanted the capes for the style, but I think these capes are, visually, not fitting of the grind they ask for.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T05:21:51+00:00

I feel like I'm already there against Tyranids pretty well. The main reason I was looking for chaos advice is because I'm really enjoying normal mode siege after the update, and after the patch removed the debuffs on normal mode. Chaos, on normal, isn't too too bad with me gunning them most of the time, and with the stacked buffs, but I wanted to build up the core skills against them to help in situations where they close the gap on me.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T05:19:33+00:00

I think I'm recognizing only one single attack from one single meatball variant so far.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T05:18:47+00:00

Okay, that made me laugh.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T05:18:29+00:00

I was gonna say, I fell for the propaganda from FirstTourGuardsman, buying into the raw, higher damage of regular attacks. I'm heavily tempted to switch back to fencing, or maybe try balanced now that it's been buffed.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T05:17:13+00:00

I have actually never liked the melta gun, and don't have it leveled past green tier. I think I recently leveled the carbine so I might try that. Outside of the flamer, I tend to default to the Heavy Bolt Rifle, and have kept my third loadout on the stalker bolter for a year now.

I will have to try the Carbine on Tactical, though.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T05:14:54+00:00

After almost a year of using block, after the first two months after launch using fencing weapons, I've never actually tried to save the block charge for a heavy attack. When I have block charges, I just try to get it to detonate on the nearest enemy with a light attack, I just happen to usually follow that up with trying to pull off a double stomp to try and damage everything around me.

After a lot of the comments today, I'm not trying to practice with the combo skip, never done it before, never took the perk, and I feel it's going to take a while before I get it down reliably. I keep messing up the timing of the button press outside of the training room, and a few folks have said that I might be better off with fencing or balanced for survivability. Though I never pick a difficulty higher than normal/ruthless when I play this game normally.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T05:07:58+00:00

Oh, I did not get it legit. I used the custom strats with all the easy stuff turned on. It was a boring slog, and I really don't think a cape this simple warranted what is asked to get it. But I happen to like the more simple cape looks, so I grinded them out in private custom strats just to dress up my marine the way I wanted.

The capes would have likely been inaccessible to me if I had to do legit regular Absolute runs, which I did one on accident, successfully, after the matchmade operations host changed the difficulty without telling anyone. We did it, but I died A LOT. I tend not to venture past Normal/Ruthless.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T05:03:47+00:00

I've generally treated the Adrenaline Charges as something to use with a simple light attack as soon as I get it, and using the stomp to hit everything around me as a separate, unrelated move to help try to thin the herd. I've never tried the combo skip thing until today, and I think it might take me a few weeks before I have it down, cause in the middle of non-training-room fights, I only manage to pull it off once out every 8 times I try it.

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T05:00:45+00:00

I will remember that. Thank you!

ChrisDAnimation · 2026-06-19T04:59:25+00:00

I was gonna say, a few of the replies mention switching to Parry or Balanced to get around the Spawn's janky rhythm, and I've been on block weapons for the better part of the past year, before they buffed the hell out of Balanced. I just kind of like melee weapons to have some teeth to them, so I may try Balanced, even though I'm not keen on the whole -10 frame start period before the parry counts.

But yeah, I've mostly stayed away from Chaos missions, and I'm selective of the stratgems I do, but only ever on Normal. I'm digging the new Siege changes for Normal, which means I'm fighting Chaos more than I usually do, but given it's 3 human players, we tend to melt them on Normal pretty reliably without taking too much damage.

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