Company of Heroes 2 announced

[Voigtkampf]

This time, you will play as mother Russia!

[rickinator9]

I don't feel playing as the russians. Give Gerry some love!

[Voigtkampf]

I don't feel playing as the russians. Give Gerry some love!

I second the notion. Alas, someone would get up on their hind legs and scream that you can't control the Wehrmacht since they are the bad guys and the game is, after all, called Company of Heroes.

[TinCow]

Sold. The first game was one of the best RTSs in recent years. They'll have to screw the sequel up big-time to make me skip it.

[Monk]

Sold. The first game was one of the best RTSs in recent years. They'll have to screw the sequel up big-time to make me skip it.

Never count out Relic/THQ when it comes to screwing up a good thing.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I'm looking at you, Dawn of War series.

That said I'm looking forward to this, hopefully it will ship with a decent AI. That was always my biggest complain of the original (never played the expansions don't know if it got better).

[rickinator9]

I second the notion. Alas, someone would get up on their hind legs and scream that you can't control the Wehrmacht since they are the bad guys and the game is, after all, called Company of Heroes.

The Russians were never heroes. They sent convicts into minefields to clear them out. And well, the German soldiers were heroes to the German people.

Never count out Relic/THQ when it comes to screwing up a good thing.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I'm looking at you, Dawn of War series.

That said I'm looking forward to this, hopefully it will ship with a decent AI. That was always my biggest complain of the original (never played the expansions don't know if it got better).

They said they would stick more to the original, appeasing fans rather than newbies.

Especially the vehicle AI is annoying. You need to apply good micro or otherwise it will rotate and then go to its destination, exposing its rear end to enemy fire.

[Graphic]

I don't feel playing as the russians. Give Gerry some love!

I second the notion. Alas, someone would get up on their hind legs and scream that you can't control the Wehrmacht since they are the bad guys and the game is, after all, called Company of Heroes.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[rickinator9]

The panzer elite one was fun, but still, I wanna play the germans when they were at the best. The so called Panzer Elite which isn't really elite, as their tanks are rather outdated, just doesn't do it much for me.

[Graphic]

Germans when they were at their best = Panzer 38s and IIIs and a few IVs. Stalingrad was in '42. Ironically, they had those big monsters when they were losing.

[Voigtkampf]

Graphic-dono, the point being is that you can't make the Wehrmacht/Nazi forces the main "protagonist/faction", the carrying force of the game. It's all about PC.

[Graphic]

There are three German campaigns in the two Company of Heroes expansions, its safe to say Relic isn't shy about hurting people's feelings or being PC. No one takes offense to Das Boot, Der Untergang, Stalingrad, etc. and those are made by the Germans themselves, perhaps the ones most touchy about pro-Nazi viewpoints besides their former victims. A German perspective is not a political correctness issue except with maybe radical leftists.

Its more about you can't have the main campaign of an RTS game be on a faction where you lose for most of the war. Half the missions would be "hold off the allied advance while you cover the retreat." Even if you arbitrarily limited it to the part of the war where Germany was on the offensive, it ends in an anti-climactic way. "Great, I just attacked Stalingrad...and was unable to push out the remaining Russians west of the Volga. I...win?" And then you know what's going to happen in a few months after that.

Allied campaigns as the main focus of a brand new title is simply logical. Unless you're like Men of War where just the missions themselves are the draw with presentation, continuity and story given five minutes of thought. Relic, not being a Russian developer, would take issue with that.

[Husar]

What they really should do is make a Company of Heroes / Men of War with all the crazy tanks from WoT, I know Men of War has the T29 but I want all the others, too!

[rickinator9]

Its more about you can't have the main campaign of an RTS game be on a faction where you lose for most of the war. Half the missions would be "hold off the allied advance while you cover the retreat." Even if you arbitrarily limited it to the part of the war where Germany was on the offensive, it ends in an anti-climactic way. "Great, I just attacked Stalingrad...and was unable to push out the remaining Russians west of the Volga. I...win?" And then you know what's going to happen in a few months after that.

Well, there you have an issue with the soviets. They lost almost all battles with the Germans until Stalingrad. Relic is able to make playing the losing side fun, as seen with the PE campaign.

[Veho Nex]

Well, there you have an issue with the soviets. They lost almost all battles with the Germans until Stalingrad. Relic is able to make playing the losing side fun, as seen with the PE campaign.

Considering Market Garden was a major allied failure, I dont think the PE campaign is the losing side.

[Veho Nex]

Well, there you have an issue with the soviets. They lost almost all battles with the Germans until Stalingrad. Relic is able to make playing the losing side fun, as seen with the PE campaign.

Considering Market Garden was a major allied failure, I dont think the PE campaign is the losing side.

[The Stranger]

nothing is more fun than games where you have to defend the retreat :P against overwhelming odds ofcourse

[Graphic]

Well, there you have an issue with the soviets. They lost almost all battles with the Germans until Stalingrad. Relic is able to make playing the losing side fun, as seen with the PE campaign.

The game will almost certainly start a little before or during Stalingrad, probably ending in Berlin.

[Nelson]

Sold. The first game was one of the best RTSs in recent years. They'll have to screw the sequel up big-time to make me skip it.

Ditto. I’ve played a fair amount of CoH. It’s great. The East Front mod is very well done and I recommend it. The AI can’t handle the Red Army units worth bupkis though so don’t expect much from them if a person isn’t in control.

[rickinator9]

Well, we hit the peak player amount today on vCoH. It's probably because of that steam sale. Is it good? No, automatch doesn't work and basic matches usually result in NAT failures.

[The Stranger]

vCoH?

[rickinator9]

Original Company of heroes. It was related...

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Wait wait wait. What was wrong with Dawn of War 2?

[Monk]

Wait wait wait. What was wrong with Dawn of War 2?

I felt that the departure from the massive battles of the first series in favor of a more tactical, psuedo rpg focus was pretty lame. What was even more lame was the skirmish AI suffered the same problems that the CoH skirmish AI, in other words, there isn't one. Certain conditions can combine to completely lobotimize the AI and have you playing against an enemy who rarely makes new units beyond its heroes.

Not only that but when I think 40k, i dont think tactical combat. I think massive bombardments, planetary exterminatus, Orks literally swarming over hills as a thin line of space marines struggles to hold the tide. I felt the CoH inspired action of DoW2 and its successors was way too small scale to really enjoy the universe, and i'm pretty disappointed that's the direction they've taken the series. I miss my large-scale battles.

But opinions are opinions.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

The DoW1 battles weren't that big, and I only played the campaigns. And I liked collecting and managing the arms and armor.

As for your cultist-chan, I'd put up an Angry Marine macro but they're all full of swears. :D

[rickinator9]

News: http://www.gamereplays.org/companyof...news_id=883042

[Monk]

The DoW1 battles weren't that big, and I only played the campaigns. And I liked collecting and managing the arms and armor.

In the context of an RTS I would make the argument they were especially in skirmish mode. Of course they couldn't begin to approach the scale of something like Mount and Blade or Total War, but as for traditional RTS style, DOW1 allowed for some pretty sizable engagements. I liked that.

As to your second point, well, to each their own. I didn't really enjoy the RPG and loot collection mechanics, but there was nothing inherently wrong with them. The system worked fine, I simply did not enjoy it.

News: http://www.gamereplays.org/companyof...news_id=883042

Cautiously optimistic about some of those features. The AI news, again, depends on how much they've improved the skirmish AI. If they can lock that detail down I am sold.