Line #9 YMMV/CompanyOfHeroes


1	* AluminumChristmasTrees: While some critics have decried having a Jewish officer (''Lev'' Isakovich) in the Red Army as "unrealistic" (anti-semitism being a constant feature of the Soviet era from Stalin onwards), there was a sizeable Jewish minority among the soldiers of the Red Army (about 500,000, out of which about 200,000 died in battle or were taken captive by the Germans).
2	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgLjDnstvnY This alone deserves some mention]], though there is a lot of SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic to go around.
3	** Some of the soundtrack can be obtained [[http://store.steampowered.com/sub/1529/ here]].
4	** From ''Opposing Fronts'', there's even more. For the British Commonwealth, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FxSi60cye4 Royal Commandos]] is a heroic piece which evokes images of a crack team of British elites on a desperate mission behind German lines. For Axis players, there's the Panzer Elite's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPi65mGHLe8 Dusk of the Fatherland]], a theme which epitomises Germany's bitter struggle for survival later in the war.
5	** 2 also has some amazing music as well, special mentions must be made to its [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJaA_Wb7da8 Main Theme]], which is just gorgeous.
6	** And continuing the Relic tradition of awesome themes for their games, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILZWsVy6_LE&feature=youtube_gdata_player The theme of Western Front Armies expansion]], which is simply amazing, and very reminiscent of the older WWII games.
7	** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ahr6APbE1Y main theme for the British Forces expansion]] probably tops all of the main themes so far. It's just such a beautifully heroic piece.
8	* BrokenBase:
9	** The British in ''Tales of Valor''. 'Roo rushes. Don't dare mention if they are overpowered on the Relic forums, because you ''will'' learn what it's like to be on the receiving end of a Firestorm barrage.
10	** The second game's... skewed ideas about how faction balancing should work. There was a string of patches where Soviet vehicles were vastly underpowered compared to German ones. It's gotten much better, and this includes the newly added American and Oberkommando West factions.
11	*** Larger 3v3 and 4v4 game-modes versus the smaller ones. Players of the latter are likely to say the former are giant clusterfucks which completely devolve the game's strategy and flow and correspondingly are impossible to balance - it's not unlikely players' very different experiences of certain units stems from the game mode they frequent.
12	* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: During the cutscenes of the second game, the protagonist Lev Isakovich frequently complains about the Red Army committing atrocities...that the player just did in the preceding missions.
13	* FanNickname:
14	** Ubersoldaten for the Obersoldaten infantry squad, when they were at their most [[GameBreaker game-breaking]].
15	** Clown Car for the [=M3A1=] Scout Cars.
16	** Barfinders for Pathfinders equipped with, well, M1918 [=BARs=].
17	** Relic Entertainment is often referred to as "Lelic" by the community, often in response to poor balancing choice.
18	** A large concentration of British emplacements is often mockingly called "sim city" by Axis players.
19	* GameBreaker:
20	** "Pioneer spam/piospam", making only pioneers at the start of the game to quickly grab as much territory as possible quickly before upgrading them with flamethrowers and transitioning into adding some weapon teams to aid them as well as upgrading the support veterancy which will improve all of these units, was an infamous strategy that later received an ObviousRulePatch (adding a hidden modifier that will cause Pioneer units, and only Pioneer units, to receive more damage whenever more than one of them are located nearby each other) and lead to a Panzergrenadier voice line in the second game being written to reference it.
21	** The old Tiger Ace in ''2'' didn't have an upfront cost, but '''completely''' stopped all income gained for the rest of the game. It turned out this ''still'' didn't counteract the power of having a Tiger with double health and damage, causing many specifics of the unit to be changed - most notably, it instead penalized manpower and fuel income while active and became a Tiger with full normal veterancy benefits off the bat as well as some bonus sight range.
22	** Soviet Scout Sniper squads used to be able to garrison into [=M3A1=] Scout Cars. With a bit of micromanagement, this would allow the Snipers to work their magic against infantry, while keeping far away from any potential Wehrmacht attackers for a while, since the vehicles needed to catch the Scout Car would take a fair bit more time to get there, and just about anything on foot would have no chance of catching it. It was basically free map-control and enemy losses for sufficiently skilled players.
23	** Obersoldaten used to come with their [=LMG34=] for free, and in general their combat effectiveness was once at a state commonly derogatorily likened by players to that of action heroes or Franchise/{{Terminator}}s.
24	*** Volksgrenadiers' veterancy bonuses used to include a lot of received accuracy reductions. With their Panzerschreck upgrade that when used upon vehicles let them gain veterancy much faster, it was a frequent complaint that Volksgrenadiers with Panzerschrecks could quickly become only slightly less than bulletproof as they ran past Allied infantry to shoot their Panzerschrecks at Allied tanks. Said Obersoldaten had no trouble taking care of those Allied infantry anyway.
25	** B4 artillery pieces used to get a damage bonus from veterancy, and an ability (For Mother Russia) with the commander that can build them could be used which would also increase their damage. Their Direct Fire ability, used to shoot at vehicles, could literally OneHitKill numerous late-game tanks if it hit in combination with the aforementioned damage bonuses.
26	** ''2'''s infantry gameplay's speed was dramatically changed on March 25th, 2014. Unfortunately, in that same update, the G43 upgrade ended up just more or less being a completely broken upgrade with no obvious weaknesses and made Grenadiers upgraded with them largely unmatched by any other infantry...and could be combined with an [=LMG42=] with sufficient munitions to completely crush Soviet infantry's hopes and dreams. The G43s' long-range effectiveness was reduced and the G43 and [=LMG42=] upgrades became mutually exclusive.
27	** The Soviet Industry commander on release reduced the time it took for tier buildings to be made and increased fuel gained at the cost of manpower immediately. While the drawback made losses punishing for its players, the bonuses could allow them to buy tanks long before Wehrmacht opponents could expect to get sufficient AT tools and snowball the game from there - the reduced tier building time was removed, and the bonus fuel at the cost of manpower had a heightened command point requirement to fix the problem.
28	** In ''2'', as the only faction with crewed vehicles, the Americans have a built in means of subverting the population cap, as the cap hit of a vehicle crew is 4, versus 10+ for most battalion-tier vehicles.
29	* GoddamnedBats[=/=]DemonicSpiders:
30	** For Allied players, Puma armored cars. The bastards are damned fast, virtually immune to small arms, and ''will'' kite your anti-tank infantry from beyond effective retaliation range with their 20mm cannon--and if you send M8 Greyhounds (the accepted counter) against them, they have the nasty tendency to pop in a 50mm gun to serve as tank destroyers on the cheap. The saving grace is that players who rush for a fast Puma generally can't get heavier tanks out very quickly; it also usually means that they've neglected their Tier-II units, particularly the heavy infantry and anti-tank guns.
31	** Anti-tank guns themselves count for anyone who tries a tank rush: it is incredibly frustrating to watch your expensive tanks get blasted apart at range by a cheap little 57mm/Pak 38. This is fully intentional, by the way: tanks ''need'' infantry to back them up and to clear AT nests. German players relying on either heavy tanks or a lot of tanks are especially crippled by AT guns, as they tend to not have much, if any, infantry due to how expensive their tanks are.
32	** Do you like tanks? Well, U.S. Rangers don't, and they're here to crush the hopes, dreams and fun of German players. What makes them so dangerous compared to Airborne is that they don't have to pay for their bazookas; instead, they come with the unit. They're also ''ridiculously'' cost-effective, and are capable of tearing through most infantry at close range if you upgrade them with [=SMGs=].
33	** Mines are, of course, invisible to your troops and require a minesweeper to detect and remove, which is pretty annoying as it is and likely to quickly induce paranoia. But it is when your enemy manages to place them with a machine-gun nest covering them in a chokepoint that you'll be ''really'' irritated by them.
34	** In ''2'', the Jaeger Light Infantry Recon squad is often considered to be one of the most terrifying infantry units to fight against (with only Soviet shock troop matching them in that regard), and for good reason. In their base form, [=JLI=] are nothing to write home about, being a 4-man squad with only bolt actions and no anti-tank weapons. However, once their G43 upgrade is attained, they turn into absolute DemonicSpider that can snipe any infantry model below 75% health to insta-kill it, meaning that all infantry units theoretically have only ''25%'' of their health when facing [=JLIs=]. In practice, with the support of other units, like kubelwagon and Infantry Support Guns, the insta-kill threshold can be reached trivially and every [=JLI=] squad can reliably kill an enemy with each salvo. One may expect such a potent sniping unit to be weak in a straight up fight, but no; [=JLIs=] have decent dodge right out of the gate and can largely ignore enemy cover, meaning that they can beat just about everyone in a long-range cover-to-cover fight. One of their only weaknesses is that they don't do so well at close ranges, but since all [=JLIs=] come bundled with a cheap sprint ability, they can just quickly run away from these unfavorable encounters. What's more, [=JLIs=] have superior sight line and can camouflage themselves, meaning that they can act as excellent spotter for OKW's potent tanks, thus making up for their non-existent anti-tank ability. Of all the factions, the British fare especially especially poorly against [=JLIs=], as their squads tend to be only 4-man strong and thus individual models get their health reduced below the required threshold much quicker.
35	** In multiplayer team games, spamming Goliath tracked mines can be a surprisingly viable tactic, at least on lower ranks. These unmanned drones are fast, can become invisible in cover and take some hits. By coordinating with each other and bringing commanders with the ammunition drop ability, the Axis team can grant the OKW player(s) a constant stream of munition spam Goliaths from. Once sufficiently massed and well-microed, a swarm of Goliaths can quickly overwhelm the enemy's ability to take them down, forcing a retreat. Once ground has been taken, the Goliaths can then disperse themselves into the surrounding, waiting to ambush the inevitable enemy counter attack.
36	** In ''2'', any commander with the ability to rapidly neutralize capture points can be this, as it allows the player to quickly remove resource points from enemy control and completely hobble their war machine. There is no counterplay to this, as the ability is both cheap (costing 30 munition for OKW) and lasts an entire minute, meaning that a single unit with the sprint ability can neutralize an entire flank before the opposing team even knows what hits them. This is also an excellent way to force a battle on one's own terms, as the enemy will then be forced to devote a significant number of their infantry to recapture lost points.
37	** The [=KV-1=] tank from ''2'' costs roughly the same as a Panzer IV ausf. J, yet it's far sturdier at 270 armor (compared to [=P4J=]'s 234) and can shrug off shot after shot from AT units at long range. It's not unheard of for two Pak 40 to shoot a dozen times at a solitary KV-1 and fail to inflict more than half health damage. God helps you if you fail to kill it when it comes out, and the enemy manages to keep it alive long enough to get a second one. Those two will just plow through your AT wall and come out on top. The only saving grace is that a [=KV-1=] has the same gun as a [=T-34/76=] and are just as ineffectual against Axis tanks as Axis tanks (short of a Panther or anything heavier) are against it.
38	** The Grenadier's rifle grenade is a constant source of pain for all Allied players. It detonates instantly, has long range, the animation for launching it is hard to spot in a hectic fight and it can be launched even without direct line of sight. It basically negates yellow covers as units in them are clumped together and more vulnerable to explosions. It's not uncommon for you to look away two seconds and come back to your entire squad getting destroyed by a single rifle grenade.
39	* HilariousInHindsight:
40	** ''2'' saw the PTRS anti-tank rifle weapon be improved in a patch by dramatically increasing its accuracy, making it be usable against infantry. Some players complained about the new effectiveness, saying the weapon now allowed its users to quickly "snipe" infantry models early in infantry combat, reducing squads' DPS fast and snowballing the combat. A few months later, a British Forces expansion preview showed that it would include a dedicated sniper unit using a Boys anti-tank rifle...
41	** The German Sniper from the first game will [[DeadpanSnarker sarcastically quip on using his rifle to shoot a tank]] if you tried to make him attack one. The British sniper can actually attack enemy infantry, vehicles, and light tanks.
42	* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound:
43	** Your commander informing you that you're now able to use one of your later-game doctrine abilities after unlocking them.
44	** Your heavy tanks' commanders' voice lines tend to imply they enjoy the obvious power of being in one. That'll probably rub off on you as well.
45	** Hearing your troops report they've wiped out an enemy squad or destroyed a vehicle.
46	** The heavy BOOM of artillery firing...if you've called it down yourself. Extra points if you're playing The British Forces and have just called down a creeping barrage.
47	** Listening to your troops report they've got their ass-kicking weapon upgrade.
48	** Unmarked land mines may be a war crime, but you can't help but feel like a crafty mastermind hearing your mines blow up through the fog of war while you reposition your units to finish off the survivors in that direction. Better yet if it happens after a fierce battle just occurred, since then some maimed unit probably got destroyed by them.
49	* OvershadowedByControversy: ''Company of Heroes 2'' got a very negative reception in Russia due to its portrayal of the war.
50	** Many players and critics felt that it was based more on Western bias and cliches rather than historical facts; making the Soviets out to be an "[[TheEmpire evil empire]]", compared to the positive portrayal of the American forces and even Panzer Elite in the first game. Russian publisher 1C-Softclub stopped distribution of the game after receiving player feedback as well as a petition. Relic meanwhile defended their portrayal of events, stating that many of the campaign's criticized aspects, such as scorched earth,[[note]]The way this is portrayed in the game, with the player tasked to burn houses with civilians still inside, has no basis in reality as the Soviets need all the manpower for the war[[/note]] human wave tactics,[[note]]Drawing more from Film/EnemyAtTheGates than the real desperate charges of early 1942[[/note]] and retreating men being executed,[[note]]Not even half a percent of Soviet soldiers who served during [=WW2=] ended up intentionally shot by their own side, although this still amounts to around 150,000 individuals.[[/note]] were genuine and documented occurrences. See the notes for why this defense falls flat for many.
51	** [[AccentuateTheNegative A more charitable interpretation of the critics' complaints]] is that Isakovich's [[ContrivedCoincidence contrived coincidences]] meant that he somehow managed to witness so many faults within the Soviet system one after another. It's more justifiable when he was a lieutenant (later captain), but when he resigns his commission to become a soldier-journalist, it becomes borderline ridiculous, including an incidence where a soldier who took his own initiative to rescue him from the Germans gets executed for disobeying orders. Meanwhile, the brutality of the Nazi occupation was only briefly mentioned, unless FridgeHorror sets in. E.g. while it is mentioned that Majdanek witnessed atrocities, only those who read up know that it was one of the many [[spoiler: extermination camps set up by the Nazis]] in Poland during the war.
52	** A third group felt that while there is nothing inherently wrong with depicting the Eastern Front through HollywoodHistory tropes and the lens of BlackAndGrayMorality, the campaign is dragged down by the [[TooBleakStoppedCaring utter lack of sympathetic and relatable characters]], and that ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar'' did a better job at humanizing the Soviet Army despite their similarly brutal methods.
53	* RetroactiveRecognition: The US Sniper unit in the first game is voiced by Brandon Keener. A year later, Keener would go on to voice [[Characters/MassEffectGarrusVakarian another, far more iconic video game sniper]].
54	* ParanoiaFuel: Generalist medium tanks (i.e. tanks with a standard cannon) have terrible accuracy against infantry and miss more often than not. However, every now and then a shot will land, and the result can be a total squad wipe. As such, the real strength of medium tanks against infantry is the psychological damage of making them wonder whether the next shot will miss by a mile or kill half the squad, thus making it very tempting for the infantry player to cede ground and retreat rather than keep on engaging the tank.
55	* TheScrappy: Many Russian players hated the protagonist of the Soviet campaign in the second game, Lev Abramovich Isakovich, due to his {{wangst}} nature and trying to make the player [[YouBastard feel bad]] about [[BlamedForBeingRailroaded atrocities they were forced to commit]] during the missions.
56	* ScrappyMechanic:
57	** The player's troops can be stupid when it comes to enemy vehicles, with a tendency to run up to the enemy vehicle and get themselves killed. Even if a soldier so much as touches the enemy tank there's a good chance they'll instantly be killed. Yes, this can include running into the side of a stationary vehicle. This can wipe out 4 or 5 men from a single squad in under a second. Worse yet, this seems to be highly inconsistent - at times, the men decide they like living and jump out of the way of enemy vehicles rolling by, other times they get effortlessly run over.
58	** Some players managed to get a head of it to weaponize the system - infantry jumping out of the way of the vehicle do so perpendicularly from where they predict the vehicle will run into them, allowing a sufficiently fast vehicle that can crush them which approaches them on an roughly 30-degree angle [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_9natv6kA8 to probably still flatten the infantry trying to move away from it]], or approaching the infantry [[http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/4-03-2015/nZX0Ei.gif while between them and terrain they can't go through]].
59	** The "Order 227" mechanic in the second game's campaign, where soldiers that retreat to the HQ during certain sequences get shot by the commissar, feels more like a gimmick punishing players for trying to preserve their troops. Not to mention that it is based on HollywoodHistory, as Order 227 was frequently disobeyed and scrapped by the time the Soviets entered Berlin.
60	* SequelDifficultySpike: The first few moments of singleplayer campaign. In the first game you lead the American's assault into Europe as the game gradually introduce new mechanics and units to you. In [=CoH 2=] however you're starting with ''underprepared'' Soviet army that was fighting ''defensive'' battle against the full brunt of German forces, with a few dozen of infantry at your disposal (and a anti-tank gun or two if you're lucky) to save yourself from hordes of enemy armored vehicles ''all the while'' trying to complete objectives all over the map... While this is nothing new to most RTS players, those who are not used to the genre are in for nasty surprises. Even Isakovich complained in-game that the missions Soviet Command assigned to him and his men were nigh-impossible.
61	* ThatOneLevel:
62	** The German Falaise Pocket campaign in Tales of Valor expansion pack is notoriously difficult even on easier difficulties due to the massive waves of Allied Invasion Assault from the start of the campaign until the end of the campaign.
63	%%** Several in Company of Heroes 2, some in the campaign, but many of them in Theater of War
64	** The first real difficulty for the campaign is the Stalingrad aftermath mission. Most of your units are disabled for the first part of the mission, and the second part gives you everything, but you only have a limited amount of time before a timer appears warning you that Isakovich will be discovered, preventing you from fully preparing. Then you have to fight off a huge German attack with whatever tanks and AT guns you get. Suffice it to say, it can be very hard.
65	** The level Panzer Hunting can be very annoying. You have a few infantry squadrons fighting a Tiger Tank, and you have to chase it to the other side of the map. Then once you repair, the Germans move in and encircle your small force. You now have a base, but the amount of soldiers from your initial chase will likely push you over your population cap. And if you try to take things slowly to keep your Tiger alive, well the Germans will happily bring an overwhelming amount of Panzershreck infantry to overwhelm your forces. Good luck getting that Tiger out of there without a lot of damage.
66	** The Lublin level is one of the hardest in the game for the Soviets. The Germans will endlessly send minor infantry at you for the first part of it, your resource levels rise incredibly slowly, and there are German tanks and infantry scattered all over the territory, forcing you to have to commit soldiers to deal with each isolated pocket. Then, once you get the market, you have to seize two of three marked territories, except for each one, incredibly powerful German units will be everywhere, and you will likely go over your population cap to get the needed armor to take out the German ones in the field. Furthermore, the German infantry will use cover very adequately, and you will have to rely on overwhelming numbers in order to take every point needed. If you think you can just go around the castle, German aircraft will endlessly patrol around it until you get that needed two points. If you manage to take every point, surely things look up right? Wrong. The Germans will throw absolutely everything needed in order to stop you breaking that castle. Needless to say, Lublin is one of the most hated missions of the campaign.
67	** Behind Enemy Lines is just as difficult. You get only three units, including a unit who cannot die or else its an automatic game over that have to clear out three German camps. However, aside from said unlosable unit, German snipers and mortar teams will attempt to destroy your other two units. You only get the ability to get new units near the end of the mission. It is just as hated as Lublin.
68	** Poznan Citadel, while not as difficult, is still widely disliked. You have a Soviet ally who indulges in all types of TheComputerIsACheatingBastard who gets high power units more quicker and is having much weaker German units facing them than you, German anti tank guns all but destroy what little armor you get, and even after he leaves, if you take too long to force a surrender, you don't get anymore units, forcing you to rely on air support to do the job.
69	** Halbe, the penultimate mission, is absolutely hated for being the hardest mission in the game. You don't get a starting base, the Germans will happily attack you, and you have to attack two points at the far end of the map. And you have a timer before the Germans realize what is happening. Furthermore, when you get one point, the Germans will endlessly throw men at you to try and take it back. Once you finally get both points, you have to deal with ensuing break out attempts from both sides, forcing you to do some crazy micromanaging skills and try to avoid going over the population cap, which can be very easy if you accidentally prioritize one side. Suffice it to say, many people just play Halbe once, and then leave it.
70	** In Theater of War, one of the biggest offenders is the Schilkontberg level, especially on hard. Unlike the other levels, which is primarily the same one every time, and pretty much exactly where everything else is, this level always randoms it up. As a result, you have only a minute on hard to try to get the amount of soldiers. And the Soviet waves are ridiculously large. If you fail to get enough [=MG42=] upgrades, you will likely lose on the first wave or muddle through it. If you fail to burn the bridges that can be burned, you can easily get overwhelmed. When it comes to later waves, the Soviets won't hesitate to spam grenades and satchel charges, and even light tanks can be a colossal headache. Merely getting through Wave 7, the minimum number of waves you need to complete the challenge is nightmarish. Understandably, people will deliberately lose on wave 8 in order to get out of the round.
71	** Pretty much any Theater of War scenario, but especially 1941, as the Germans where you try to complete them on a rank less than easy. The Germans have to waste resources to get their much stronger weapons, while the Soviets can get them anyway once their resources are built up. The AI ally is incredibly incompetent, and in the event the Germans amass a large ticket lead, the Soviets happily spam KV-1 tanks and Katyusha rocket trucks in order to bring the fight to an end.

Context YMMV / CompanyOfHeroes