Company of Heroes [Archive]

SwordsMaster

05-21-2006, 12:26

WWII, RTS, previews and movies at ign.com and gamespot are available. They look great, and they should be due in the 3rd quarter of this year. If it is as good as they look, this will be the best RTS of the year.

Alexander the Pretty Good

05-22-2006, 03:21

TigerVX

05-22-2006, 06:28

My question - is there interesting morale? Like in Close Combat?

The vids I've seen have men running into machine guns pretty fearlessly...

And panzerfausts used as anti-personnel weapons...

And stupid-looking soldier models. There is one really annoying one, a very fat looking engineer with a grease gun that is in every screenshot. I don't know why it bothers me...

I hope it's good, I want CC in 3D as much as anyone, but I'm sceptical about this one.

You're only seeing the bad! This is an RTS made by the same guys who made Dawn of War! I mean auto-unit ai that automatically takes cover, fully physics related world, and did I mention the Flammenwerfer!? (Okay maybe I have a thing for flamethrowers) But none the less, this game looks -extremely- good, in both gameplay and RTS advancement. The day is finally passed with healthy bars and auto-collapsing buildings, can you not see the advancements :dizzy2: ?

Alexander the Pretty Good

05-23-2006, 21:51

I can see the advances, but I fear each one could be matched with a step backwards.

Ituralde

09-08-2006, 19:17

After downloading the demo yesterday and playing some of the game today I just had to dig up this thread. The game is awesome and to think I only played the demo because I played DoW and I only played that because I liked the setting. To be honest all that WWII stuff really doesn't suit my taste, but CoH is really such a fantastic game that I play despite the scenario. There are just so many different things to consider, like the facing of your MGs and Anti-Tank Guns that you're constantly busy fine-tuning your attacks or defence.

Speaking of which, I have never seen such a variety of defensive positions in any game. You can barbwire your positions add some sandbags, place some nice landmines in-between and even add some tank-obstacles for extra protection. When the enemy is coming at a position like that it's just FUN FUN FUN!
The pace of the game is very high though, but I think it suits the game, being an RTS and all. There's just constantly stuff happening and my first two games really had me catching my breath after I was finished.

If I weren't busy playing other games, I would definetly get that game at release. The way it looks I'm gonna wait till it drops in price. Can't wait to play that baby online.

So has anybody else here played the demo yet? What were your experiences?

Cheers!

Ituralde

Dutch_guy

09-09-2006, 16:26

So has anybody else here played the demo yet? What were your experiences?

Could you maybe post a link to the demo ?

Found it myself

Here it is. (http://www.download.com/Company-of-Heroes-single-player-demo/3000-7485_4-10580160.html)

EDIT: If you know of a faster DL site, which doesn't require you to register, please post it.

:balloon2:

Alexander the Pretty Good

09-10-2006, 03:15

First thoughts:

Huge Demo! Good thing I got it through a college-based file sharing group (one of the few legal things there! :book: )

Basically, it seems like a fast paced Close Combat with too much micromanagement.

The graphics are nice but you can't get close enough to view much if you want to win.

Micromanagement in this game is too much. Each unit/team is customizable, but for instance it doesn't make sense that you have to "build" a machine gun on a tank to use it. In fact, that's both historically unrealistic and really darn annoying. The individuality of units has a few bright spots such as telling a rifle team to pick up a dropped panzershreck, but remembering which squad has which weapons just about negates that.

The units are generally too small. 6-man rifle teams? Gah. I want historical squads to work with. The small numbers means you need to build (and thus control) more units to field a still small number of men. The numbers of guys in a unit should be doubled, I think.

Tanks are handled decently. They are powerful, but weak in the sides, rear, and top armor. Either sneak an anti-tank team or a sherman behind a Panzer IV for a near certain kill. Plus the demo features the StuG IV, which is the cutest tank/SPG ever.

Some of the weapons can be cheesey; airborne infantry can be equipped with 57mm recoilless rifles, which I didn't think were that prolific. It makes the AB rifle teams unstoppable. They'll kill infantry inside houses, they can flank tanks, and generally pwn.

None of the units really reflect the range of their weapons. Some longer ranged firefights would be nice.

The damage system for buildings/terrain is great. Period.

Tanks running through stone buildings is cheesey. I don't think they did it that easily/wantonly as depicted.

Having to build buildings like barracks doesn't fit the feel of the game. I think they should have some sort of system where you start with certain amount of troops and have a flow of reinforcements that you can call on when you need them and they move up, instead of having to "build" them on site.

Researching (called "equipping") is stupid. You shouldn't have to expend resources to equip rifle teams with a BAR; it was standard issue. Same for a lot of "special" weapons and abilities.

The AI seems decent enough, as it can kick my butt on skirmish (at the Expert settings) although I haven't played much. I can roll over the campaign AI, suggesting the campaign is scripted to be easier for the player than a more even sandbox style engagement.

A lot of this stuff can be resolved if there is solid modding support. A more serious, tactical mod could be amazing.

So, lot's of potential, lot's of good stuff, but if the super micromanagement can't be modded away, I might have to say no.

lars573

09-10-2006, 03:37

The units are generally too small. 6-man rifle teams? Gah. I want historical squads to work with. The small numbers means you need to build (and thus control) more units to field a still small number of men. The numbers of guys in a unit should be doubled, I think.
Not if you want a historical squad. A WW2 squad would be 8-10 men. A German squad could be 12 men if it had a 3 man heavy MG team attached.

Alexander the Pretty Good

09-10-2006, 05:46

Not according to these guys (http://www.bayonetstrength.150m.com/UnitedStates/united_states_army.htm).

Both para and infantry units had 12 man rifle squads. A German rifle squad was 13 (http://www.bayonetstrength.150m.com/German/german_infantry_and_grenadier_ba.htm).

Still, more men in less units would be better for gameplay, I think. It could also do with a maybe a little slowdown, in my opinion.

lars573

09-10-2006, 15:46

And I read another source, which I have no link to, that says a WW2 US army squad was 8 men, with a Marine squad being 16.

German squads were 9 men after 41. They were 10 in 1939. But they always had an MG team of 3 in '39 and 2 in '41 attached.

Check it out.
!939 German companies
Rifle company type A (http://niehorster.orbat.com/011_germany/39_organ_army/kstn_0131a.htm)
Rifle company type B (http://niehorster.orbat.com/011_germany/39_organ_army/kstn_0131b.htm)

1941 German companies
Rifle company type C (http://niehorster.orbat.com/011_germany/41_organ_army/kstn_0131c.htm)
Rifle company type E (http://niehorster.orbat.com/011_germany/41_organ_army/kstn_0131e.htm)

Kraxis

09-10-2006, 22:08

Plus the demo features the StuG IV, which is the cutest tank/SPG ever.
Nah, the Hetzer is far cuter!

You can argue about those squads for a good while, but to be honest I would say that gamesquads of 12 would be nice. It doesn't really matter that such squads are a few over the limit, it is far worse when it is too few. I didn't like the sizes in DoW, so I certainly won't loike it here.

Lehesu

09-11-2006, 03:09

The thing that bothers me is that the game looks so freaking real. When the necessary gaming conceits enter in, it annoys me. Now, I know one hit kills would be frustrating, but when two squads are practically next to eachother, firing off their smgs, you expect someone to die.

lars573

09-11-2006, 03:54

What I noticed about the combat is that they seem to engage in "spray and pray" as to accuracy. Canny move by Relic. Make it so that only every 5th or 6th is on target and you can keep a squad on squad battle going for a minute or 2.