Company of Heroes 2 closed Beta

[pmp10]

Everything I've seen involving Russians in the US media makes damn sure that the audience knows that the Russian population suffered.

But that's an interesting classification in and of itself.

When it comes to WWII most westerners easily call Russian what should in fact be Soviet.

Unless of course it comes to nazi collaboration.

[Morgoth]

If this game was trying to depict historical accuracy then it wouldn't even have been released.

 

Luckily, it's an RTS with a WW2 EF backdrop, not the other way around.

[Bos_hybrid]

I would love to know why no dev chooses to make a modern day RTS.

 

I've been playing Endwar, which is a take on WW3, quite enjoying it. Wish COH 2 had gone this way.

[Agiel]

I would love to know why no dev chooses to make a modern day RTS.

 

I've been playing Endwar, which is a take on WW3, quite enjoying it. Wish COH 2 had gone this way.

Wargame: European Escalation and its semi-sequel, Wargame: AirLand Battle, sort of has this covered. They encapsulate a late 1980s Cold War-gone-hot scenario in Europe (as does World in Conflict). I also believe there's a Men of War-esque game out there in development that does modern operations.

[Monte Carlo]

I would love to know why no dev chooses to make a modern day RTS.

 

I've been playing Endwar, which is a take on WW3, quite enjoying it. Wish COH 2 had gone this way.

 

I posted some stuff about the CoH: Modern Warfare mod elsewhere. USA versus China, squad-level combat. 'Tis very good.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I would love to know why no dev chooses to make a modern day RTS.

 

I've been playing Endwar, which is a take on WW3, quite enjoying it. Wish COH 2 had gone this way.

 

 

Generally modern warfare is boring. More people twiddling joysticks than fighting on the ground.

[Bos_hybrid]

 

I would love to know why no dev chooses to make a modern day RTS.

 

I've been playing Endwar, which is a take on WW3, quite enjoying it. Wish COH 2 had gone this way.

 

I posted some stuff about the CoH: Modern Warfare mod elsewhere. USA versus China, squad-level combat. 'Tis very good.

 

 Cheers, will give this a look.

 

Wargame: European Escalation (as does World in Conflict).

 

I have Wargame just couldn't get into it, might give it another try. WIC was brilliant wish we saw more RTS from Massive Entertainment. However both of them are 80s(WIC late 80s), I'm talking something closer to today. Generals is about the only title I can think of.

 

Generally modern warfare is boring. More people twiddling joysticks than fighting on the ground.

You don't want COH: Drone Warfare?

 

Still going to give COH2 a go, normally Relic stuff is pretty good, just tired of WW2. Even if it's the relatively untouched Eastern Front.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Truth be told the first CoH had to appear so I could play a WW2 strategy game. I avoided playing WW2 games up to that point. While that is a compliment of sorts to the game, I agree that that historical period has been done to death.

 

I'm not against a modern warfare CoH title, or anything Relic wants to make for that matter. I even had fun with Impossible Creatures, so Relic has a lot of credit with me.

 

I'd prefer a new Homeworld, Dawn of War (in the style of the old DoW) or a new IP though.

 

And I'd love it if they plan the new game as an e-sport from the beginning so I can get into the whole competitive thing while its fresh. That means toning down system requirements, implementing spectating, ladders, matchmaking - the whole deal. I mean, Blizzard has already done the blueprint, they just have to copy it.

 

The reason I'm saying this is that getting good at a strategy game is a serious time investment, and its only worthwhile IMO if the game is  going to stick around competitively for a number of years.

[Monte Carlo]

Modern warfare in games only really works IMO at the tactical level. I know it's not an RTS, but the Arma series captures the vibe very well.

 

My dream RTS would be a near-future squad-level game. You could set it in a former Soviet republic / failed state and have a NATO faction, a government faction a rebel faction and a sort of crime syndicate faction, all with different playstyles. Think Mad Max meets Squad Leader meets CoH. Zip around in up-gunned technicals, call in light armour or your old 80's Warsaw Pact tech, Hellfire enemy emplacements, rappel SF dudes into battle and all that jazz.

[pmp10]

And I'd love it if they plan the new game as an e-sport from the beginning so I can get into the whole competitive thing while its fresh. That means toning down system requirements, implementing spectating, ladders, matchmaking - the whole deal. I mean, Blizzard has already done the blueprint, they just have to copy it.

I don't think Relic can make a game fit for e-sports.

The closest they got was WCG with the original Dawn of War and then decided to go in a completely different direction. Even if return to games with high-skill celling was on the table they certainly cannot match Blizzard in established fan-base or production budget. That's too many risks to take for the sake of dying genre.

Edited June 30, 2013 by pmp10

[Drowsy Emperor]

Well they need to monetize their games somehow. There's a reason there are only a handful companies left doing big budget RTS games (are there even half a dozen left? Relic, Blizz, Creative Assembly, Eugen, EA's C&C...?), and only one of them is really making good money out of it - and that's the only one that's also an esport.

[Morgoth]

Some people here obviously never heard of World in Conflict. Set in an alternative scenario where the Cold War actually goes hot.

 

Company of Heroes 3 could very much work in a modern(ish) setting. Perhaps the first Gulf war? Abrams tanks, GIs and stuff, but no silly joystiq drones yet.

Edited June 30, 2013 by Morgoth

[Drowsy Emperor]

Modern warfare in games only really works IMO at the tactical level. I know it's not an RTS, but the Arma series captures the vibe very well.

 

My dream RTS would be a near-future squad-level game. You could set it in a former Soviet republic / failed state and have a NATO faction, a government faction a rebel faction and a sort of crime syndicate faction, all with different playstyles. Think Mad Max meets Squad Leader meets CoH. Zip around in up-gunned technicals, call in light armour or your old 80's Warsaw Pact tech, Hellfire enemy emplacements, rappel SF dudes into battle and all that jazz.

 

That's practically the new C&C Generals game.

 

Which is 95% likely to suck on account of EA being behind it.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Mission 11 (a stealth mission with Ania, a Polish partisan chick who also happens to be the CoH2 version of Tanya from C&C) is actually quite difficult even on regular difficulty and loads of fun. You can build a sniper hide, put down demo charges, fire flares and sprint away from enemy troops. There are also pesky Nazi snipers to deal with. It's the resistance meets Enemy at the Gates. Luring panzer grens into demolition charge traps is never old.

 

Hopefully, given that there are resistance / partisan art assets we might see a Partisan / Irregular faction in future.

 

I just finished this mission, and so far it's best one among a number of great ones. The nice city of Lublin map was very entertaining too. For some reason my two heavy tanks that you got towards the end of the mission had trouble aiming at a twenty feet high gate. But the Ania mission was so much fun. At the beginning of it, I screwed up, and her sniper friends died. So, she took out all the Nazi commanders by herself and began the interrogation, and that's when my mission bugged out. The idea was to protect her while she was interrogating the informant inside the building. But I had some brain freeze going on, so I didn't see you could spawn in new snipers to help her. And when the Germans finally killed the informant inside, to Ania's dismay, I tried to load a save I did just before she started the interrogation. It worked initially, but then when I saved again, as soon as she had stepped outside with the informant, I got a bug splat and even worse, COH2, forced me to do a five-minute update in order to restart the game. Either that, or the game was updated at the very moment I saved. Anyhow, I tried to load the last save, but it turned out it was corrupt, so COH2 gave me a bug splat report window and a forced update AGAIN! Alright. I tried to pick an earlier save, and that worked, but then, like ten minutes later, I did a new save and the game crashed to desktop in a fraction of a second, no sound. Just "blink". Now, I was getting more scared than Ania. Would all my saves be corrupt? Was my beloved COH2 ruined? Happily enough, I managed to load an even earlier save, and then I played the rest of the mission without saving once, and Ania managed to escape. Phew! Hopefully, this bugginess was just for Mission 11, since I haven't had any trouble before with COH2 in that regard.

[Agiel]

Some hilarious balance observations from a community member:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Calax]

I am wayyy to much of a turtle for this game. Although, I am playing with Monte who's 30 levels above me and he's setting things to hard, but I'm just getting clobbered.

[SadExchange]

I just picked this up and played through the first one mission and had a good time with it so far.  Took a little bit to get back into the COH style of gameplay since it's been years since I played the original.  Would like to try out the co-op campaign sometime.

[Agiel]

Agiel, on 03 Jul 2013 - 5:44 PM

[IndiraLightfoot]

Agiel: Clown car! Haha, that's precisely what it is!

 

Calax: I feel you. I'm normally turtling in many games too. This is a whole way of strategizing for me, it's sometimes weird, but a whole lot of fun.

 

Alright, I've been playing COH2 for 40 hours by now. Most of that time I've hauled my sorry ass onto the multiplayer battlefields (over 50 matches of all sorts), and lost a lot of games. My wins and the most entertaining matches have been 4 on 4. If nobody is lagging and the two teams are even, it's pure joy!

 

In multiplayer, I have picked Germans and Soviets equally often, just to learn the basics of the game and to see if I get to build up some favourite tactics. I have had some limited success with a Soviet infantry spam of mine, but that's about it.

 

I have also finished the campaign on Conscript level, and it was actually very good. Taking Berlin was exciting - it felt like history in the making. Sadly, I screwed it all up at the end. You were supposed to capture the point just outside the Reichstag, but did I get that? Nope.

I hammered the Reichstag itself for twenty minutes. I dropped bombs on it - precision and incendiary - I pointed heavy guns towards those wings and bombarded away. I put four tanks outside and shelled the building, but for the love of God, it didn't crumble, and those health points of the building sections weren't dropping. Finally, I saw that white outline at the stairs of the Reichstag and that's when I realized my noob mistake.

The story of the campaign was quite decent too.

 

If I was a reviewer, I'd give this game 9 out of 10. And that's from someone that hasn't played RTS games, and thus not the original. I'm revisiting the campaign on Captain level now, and I still love it. If there's a honey moon phase for great games, this game has one heck of longevity for its lovey-dovey qualities, I can tell you that. All I could wish for are more maps for those multiplayer matches. And I have all that theatre of war goodness to munch on too. As I got the game from GMG at a steal of a price, I just went ahead and bought myself the collector edition upgrade. So now I have nice looking vehicle skins, and yesterday I got five more commanders too choose from. The German ones were cool.  

[Monte Carlo]

I'm glad Indira is enjoying it so much, and yeah me and Calax took on Hard AI and got our arses handed to us. It's unusual for a non-RTs fan to dig a game like CoH so much out of the box but it's cool that you do, I think that old-skool RTS that demand some time and love are just like old-skool RPGs (that demand some time and love).

 

I think the game will get bigger and better with more features as time goes on.

 

Indira PM me and add me to your steam list if you want to play with Calax and I. If any other Obsidianites like CoH PM me mebbe we can get a stealth-clan going.

[alanschu]

COH is pretty much the only RTS I have enjoyed since......... StarCraft?  I didn't mind SC2, but RTS and I were no longer aligned, but I still played a ton of Company of Heroes because it's a well done game.

[Calax]

One of the reasons I'm finding CoH so much better than starcraft is beacuse the terrain actually makes a difference.

 

As in "your troops can take cover" and get bonuses depending on what cover they're in. SC2 has everyone taking the same damage no matter what the terrain.

[alanschu]

Yup, I loved the cover mechanic, although I ended up learning that the 3D aspect of the terrain was just a ruse (You can actually shoot through hills).  But the game has specified cover points (soft and strong) and it makes a world of difference to the tactical elements of the game.

 

 

Some people prefer to less randomized elements that COH has, however (I can't speak for the second I guess), since it removes luck from the equation entirely.

[Monte Carlo]

^ Yes this is very true. A lot of 'pro' esports types say that CoH isn't 'pure' enough because it has critical hits.

 

OTOH it's one of the things that makes CoH so awesome and makes it feel like a war movie. Your low health tank, billowing smoke, criticals the enemy Panther and all of a sudden the tables are turned. One grenade might wound a unit, the other take out half the squad. I love that.

 

Edit: Alan, the terrain now is a bit different, and elevation in buildings improves LoS.

Edited July 5, 2013 by Monte Carlo

[IndiraLightfoot]

Message sent, Monte Carlo! Perhaps this will be the start of an Obsidian Platoon of Buffoons, given that clown scout car and all. 

 

And yes, what I really appreciate is this "you are there"-quality that Relic has managed to instil into the game. StarCraft I probably wouldn't touch with a stick, but this makes me think I am reliving a part of history through a game - it's almost hindsight educational.

Edited July 5, 2013 by IndiraLightfoot