The Legend of Zelda: Dawn of War

The Legend of Zelda: Dawn of War is a real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment and based on the Nintendo series The Legend of Zelda.

Gameplay
Gameplay is initially focused on capturing and holding strategic locations on the battlefield. These control points are captured by infantry squads and provide resources to construct additional units and buildings or unlock certain units in an army's tech tree. Battles are won either by holding a certain number of control points for a period of time or by destroying all of the opposing armies' HQ structures. A number of special conditions are available to choose from to customize matches.

Factions
The Legend of Zelda: Dawn of War features four playable armies: In addition to the four fully playable races, The Zora Tribe also make appearances in the single player campaign as allies of the Hylian Forces, led by Princess Ruto. Lacking the resilience and fighting prowess of the Gorons, the Zoras are forced to rely on numbers. They would later be made into the featured playable race in the expansion pack, Master Quest.
 * Hylian Forces are the elite, highly skilled soldiers of Hyrule. Hylian Forces have the highest morale in the game. Their troops and vehicles are more expensive, however, reflecting their limited numbers. Hylian Forces are one of the two playable races in the single player 18-mission campaign of the game, and it features Link and his allies as the protagonists, such as Princess Zelda and Impa.
 * Dark Forces was an army of monsters that leave a trail of destruction in their wake. In Dawn of War, they use troops that are came from a selection of dimensions. In addition, they employ morale-draining spell and summoners. They are also a playable race in 2 campaign levels that features the Dark Forces lead by Gannondorf and his associates, Zant and Ghirahim
 * The Goron Tribe are a sophisticated race. Gorons in Dawn of War relies on brute strength. Strong in close combat, they can also tear down building with their bare hands. The campaign features the Goron Tribe as allies for the Hylian Forces as well as a hostile faction led by Darunia.
 * The Demon Tribe are a savage, brutal and warlike species who exist to seek the battles against the humans. While generally lacking in sophisticated technology, they are physically powerful, using brute force and crude weapons that well complement their tendency to attack in massive hordes. In large enough numbers, they gain morale immunity. The tech tree for the Demon Tribe differs from the other races in that it depends on the amount of Demons currently in your army and the number of erected War Banners. This race was featured in the campaign, headed by The Demon Lord Ghirahim, who is attempting to resurrect his master, Demise the Demon King.

The Master Quest also adds two additional races, The Shiekah Tribe and The Twilight Forces. Both of them are unplayable in the campaign.

Resource management
Two primary resources exist: Rupees and Food. These resources are not harvested or otherwise gathered by the player's units. Instead, Rupees are collected via taxation. The player can increase the rate at which Rupee is acquired by using infantry squads to capture and control Strategic Points, Rupee Mines and Relics on the battlefield. These points, with the exception of the Rupee Mine, can be reinforced with defensive structures called Outposts that also increase the rate of Rupee accumulation. Though resources are unlimited, all sources of Rupee will eventually decay, dramatically decreasing their supply rate.

Food is gathered by building farms, which also decay over time and consequently produce less food. Additionally, some maps have "fertile lands", upon which a Large Farm can be constructed to produce food faster. As the player progresses up the tech tree, reliance on food increases. In addition to these primary resources, the Demon Tribe also have Demon resource. Demon resource is generated continuously by war banners and is used up when creating Demon troops. The number of banners and the size of the Demon population determines the Demon Tribe's War level which in turn determines the technology level the player has access to.

Combat
Infantry units are not given orders as individuals; they move and attack as squads. Most fully reinforced squads consist of about eight individuals, although when they are first requisitioned, they usually have less. They can usually be equipped with special weapons and a specific leader, depending on the squad type. Squads can produce and replace their own units and weaponry anywhere in the field, but the player must wait a short period of time before new individuals, weapons, and leaders appear in the squad. Additionally, all races have commander units, which are general leaders or other units that can be attached to most squads, but are produced separately.

Infantry units can fight in both ranged and hand-to-hand combat, and many units will have weapons for both types of combat, and if attacked in close combat will have to respond accordingly. Hand-to-hand combat is played out as a series of synchronized attack animations between combatants. When one combatant defeats the other, a finishing move known as "Sync Kill" plays out as the victorious fighter finishes his opponent off in a dramatic and violent manner. More powerful units, such as Heroes and monstrous Giant Units, may have personalized Sync Kills against each other.

In addition to a typical hitpoint system, infantry units also have morale. When in combat, squads take morale damage as well as health damage. However, morale applies to a squad as a whole. In addition to health, the morale of a squad heavily influences its combat ability. When morale drops to zero, the squad "breaks", which significantly reduces the squad's ranged accuracy, damage dealt in mêlée, and defensive capability. The squad's movement speed, however, is slightly increased to allow it to retreat. That said, the unit must still be ordered away from the combat for it to escape. The squad's morale will regenerate on its own while the squad is not in combat, and the squad will "regroup" and regain combat effectiveness once it reaches a certain threshold.

Just as with hitpoints, different types of units have different amounts of morale. Commanders have the most morale, and basic infantry usually have the least. Attaching (when possible) a commander unit to basic squads significantly increases their morale. Some weapon types are especially effective at demoralizing the enemy. Favorable terrain such as craters, ruins or thick jungle give units a defensive cover bonus against both hitpoint and morale damage, while water and swamps will decrease their defensive ability.

Units
The number of units a player may field at one time is determined by population 'squad caps'; these limit the number of infantry troops and siege weapons a player may have on the battlefield. Squad caps may be increased using methods differing between races. Most units have a melee attack and a ranged attack. Units are often specialized to be better using one attack type. Certain units are "hard capped", meaning a player may only have a certain amount of them, such as Pathfinder and Healer (both of the Hylian faction) being limited to 4, and commanders and ultimate units being limited to 1. All units also have stances; these affect how the units respond to enemies. There are three types of units: commanders, infantry, and siege weapons.

Commanders are hero units, and each commander can only be fielded one at a time. If they perish, they may be rebuilt. A sub-class is the semi-commander unit, which has many abilities like the commander unit but several may be fielded at once. Infantry are foot soldiers, and may either be regular or heavy, with heavy infantry being much tougher than normal infantry. Siege Weapons serve as heavy weapon units.

Infantry come in squads that are commanded as a single entity. They may be reinforced with additional members, equipped with special weapons, or be attached to hero units. Some squads have special abilities unlocked with research or leader units. Unit longevity is determined by their health and morale points, which govern a squad's fighting effectiveness. Both are reduced by weaponry; morale recharges independently or due to unit abilities, while health is increased by natural regeneration or healer units.

Each of the four races has access to a unique special unit whilst in control of a ‘relic’, they are superior to normal units. To obtain one of the special units the player must complete all pre-requisites (research, own specific buildings) and be in the final tier of research. These special units also require substantially more resources and time to create.

Buildings
Aside from their initial headquarters, races may build research and resource centers, unit-producing facilities, and defensive fortifications. Research buildings may research special upgrades that increase the abilities of that race's units, while resource buildings produce resources. Unit facilities produce infantry and vehicles. In order to access their next tier, a race must build certain buildings to unlock new technologies and buildings.