I love Starcraft 1 and 2 as well, but they are massively different games and I simply feel more comfortable with Dawn of War's style of gameplay. Personally I rate Dark Crusade as the 2nd best RTS I've ever played, after Warcraft 3. Dark Crusade is the pinacle of the series for me. Imo the game didn't have space left for air units and two whole new factions that used special 'mana' based mechanics. Other than that, Soulstorm was a complete letdown for me. I always get too fatigued with the campaign to continue whenever I try to finish it. I read that winter Assault has a highly regarded campaign,but I personally found the early levels incredibly protracted. Now only the awesome 'chaos' of battle remains along with glorious voice of Gabriel Angelos. The graphics and chaos of battle were absolutely eye watering at the time. However at the time it was an absolute spectacle to behold. It's not all sunshine and roses though I'll admit: Dawn of War 1 does have a really weak campaign that doesn't hold up very well today anymore.

Soulstorm excluded perhaps because I didn't play that much. I didn't come across anything from any race that another race didn't have an answer for. Anything can be killed quickly and violently if you know what to use. I don't imagine the prince will survive even 10 seconds against a combined force commander grey knight squad. Give me some grey knights and the force commander, and I'll kill it for you quick quick :) Both have very high damage values against daemons. You mention daemon princes? They have daemon armour. Have a look at the damage ratings of the weapons on a dreadnaught for example:

These space marines are incorruptible thanks to their psychic powers and their unmatched faith in the Emperor of Mankind, and excel at dealing with daemons of Chaos. There are several different armour classes in the game: infantry-low, infantry-medium, infantry-high, infantry-commander, vehicle-low, vehicle-high,daemon etc etc etcĪnd weapons can range from very weak to very strong against any of these classes. The Grey Knights are chapter 666 of the Adeptus Astartes and act as the military part of the inquisitorial Ordo Malleus. But god help any foe of yours if they don't have an answer for vehicle armour. Any vehicle, including the mighty baneblade can easily be taken out by anti vehicle weapons. Vehicles are incredibly powerful yes, but not overpowered. Moving and engaging full sized armies was a completely painless affair for me on that front.

I'm surprised to hear about path finding issues, since I can't remember ever encountering any, at least not in Dark Crusade which I played the most.

I haven't played the game much beyond whatever balance changes they introduced post Soulstorm to try and balance the 9 sides. I think Dawn of War : Dark Crusade offers some of the finest rts single player and multiplayer experiences out there, with 7 remarkably well balanced sides.

Dawn of war 3 grey knights