Company of Heroes 2

Hey now, maybe Company Of Heroes 3 will set the gaming world on fire and make Disney want in?

...yeah that'll never happen.

Hey, would anyone want to join a multiplayer campaign? (not hosted by me. Post in the Sign Ups section in the discussions to well, sign up)

edited 20th Feb '16 2:17:15 PM by VutherA

I'll pass. Got a feeling the metagame there is gonna be ruthless... that, and I usually have a hard time trying to win against just the AI bots in the skirmish mode.

I read some news about a "War Spoils Closed Alpha". If they're making changes to it, does this mean war spoil drops will be more frequent at the end of a match? Or is there a chance to exchange duplicate war spoils for new ones?

EDIT: OK, so maybe that was a bit vague. Here are some of the issues mentioned about the current War Spoils system (with my take on it in sub-bullets):

• Duplicates cluttering inventories and having no value.
  • Yeah, it does get kinda annoying to have two or more copies of the same Commander/Intel Bulletin/Skin/Faceplate. That's why it would be cool to have an option to exchange duplicates for new stuff that the player actually wants, and for repeated drops of the same Commander/Intel Bulletin/Skin/Faceplate to stop once the player has at least three copies—or a chance to re-roll for a new one.
• Randomness with the system and lack of transparency on how it works.
  • Some say a drop triggers based on the length of time a match is played. Personally, I don't know if it also triggers if you play a game where you manage to get zero to minimal casualties while causing...ahem...terrible, terrible damage to your opponent, so yeah, the current War Spoils system is kinda vague. And I don't know if drops are more frequent when playing PvP matches than when playing comp-stomp matches. (I fall under the latter category.)
• Frustrations with trying to earn a specific item.
  • Kinda related to the first point, I currently have two copies of the Shock Motor Heavy Tactics commander, two copies of the Jaeger Infantry Doctrine—a.k.a.: the "Awesome, but Impractical munitions hog"—commander and two copies of the Ostruppen Doctrine commander. The first two are "Uncommon", while the latter one is "Rare". And most Uncommon and Rare commanders are sold in the in-game store at exactly the same price (Rare commanders obviously costing more), so going by that logic, I'd love to exchange excess copies of Uncommon/Rare commanders for new Uncommon/Rare commanders (that the player can choose) from the same faction. Same goes for Faceplates and Skins, but see below for the latter.
• Pay-to-Win sentiments.
  • Well, if you get different singular skin drops for light/medium/heavy vehicles after matches, and you rarely get matching skins in the matches after that, players can't help but think it's a strategy to lure them into buying complete skin sets.

Also, a bit salty that CoH 2 didn't win this year's "Make War Not Love" event, but Relic shot themselves in the foot for just limiting player activity to Auto-matches instead of including those who were playing Custom Matches. (Or doing what they did last year and make a "Make War Not Love 3" decal for players to use.)

edited 24th Feb '16 6:52:08 PM by IncognitoNinja

New update. The new British Forces commanders (made for the "Make War Not Love 3" event) are now available for trial. But it that the British still don't have a MWNL skin.

And while this new update fixes some bugs, unfortunately, some new ones emerge...

For one thing, I can no longer do the "Reverse Move" + "quick right-click and facing" that I usually do so that vehicles can reverse move in formation as a group and keep their guns (+ frontal armor in the case of tanks) facing towards the enemy. Post-update, whenever I try to do that, the vehicles decide to rotate instead of simply reversing to the location I want in formation. I lost a few M3A1 Scout Cars (which I'm trying to get to veterancy rank 3 as a group by killing infantry) thanks to this new bug.

I don't know if it's because of this:

And one more thing that : The comments section there is too quiet... I'm pretty sure some players will notice anything wrong about the new update and point it out, but I don't see any. I hope it's not because of this trope.

OHOHOHOHOHOHOOOOO, man, that's nothing compared to some other bugs that popped up.

1. Infantry weapon upgrades are arriving again on reinforced squad members. PPSh Conscripts will reinforce to all have SMGs, Obersoldaten's LMG34 will be doubled to the squad's item limit from reinforcing, Volksgrenadiers will get a second Panzerschreck from reinforcing, and reinforced minesweeper squads will become non-combatants.

2. Rear Echelons' can't reinforce to get an extra man at veterancy three, they can reinforce to get ALL OF THE EXTRA MEN!◊

edited 25th Feb '16 11:20:04 PM by VutherA

Oy vey...

1. I guess they could still use those minesweepers as an improvised weapon to club the Jerries with.

2. That's a lot of REMFs...^note Rear Echelon Mother F**kers And did they just get more bazookas than the typical squad would usually have? (Which is usually limited to just two bazookas.) While I do get more men in a Rear Echelon squad whenever I play the "All Units Mod", it wasn't to that extent. The most I got at veterancy three was seven men (including the medic and sergeant).

I'm not fond of bugs that royally mess up how you play (or worse, mess with the game mods you like), but those were hilarious.

Pretty sure the weapon limits hold, though I have heard the new Royal Engineer M2 Flamethrower upgrade for one of the new commanders is even more bugged and reinforcing will give them five of them. I think that's the only example of more than 2 heavy weapons on a squad.

Well, they released a hotfix that resolved those bugs shown in those screencaps, but sadly didn't include a fix for that issue about vehicle pathfinding that mucked up the "Reverse Move" + "quick right-click and facing" technique. (*sighs*)

BTW, did you get those screencaps from the coh2.org forums? Because I remember seeing a screencap there of a Royal Engineer squad equipped with five flamethrowers. Holy cow.

edited 27th Feb '16 6:53:12 AM by IncognitoNinja

Yeah, that was the place. Coulda made one myself with a testing mod, but I didn't.

I see there's going to be server maintenance work today. I wonder if this is because of a new hotfix to some of the other issues pointed out after the update, or if it's the long-awaited revamp of the War Spoils system? (What the heck happened during that War Spoils Closed Alpha, anyway?)

And speaking of War Spoils, I spent a good amount of time grinding as the Brits last week on some of the Ardennes Assault maps ^note where I lost quite a bit of Valentine tanks. Most of the time, I only got Intel Bulletins that I already have, and a couple of new common/uncommon ones I don't have yet. But I was quite pleased when I opened that one War Spoils drop:

Rare. US Heavy Cavalry Commander

(Will post screencap later.)

Best drop I've ever had. The only thing that could possibly match it is if I got the US Rifle Company Commander (for the Sherman Easy Eights) next. (Though I have a feeling Lelic will make an Armored Cavalry Commander with Sherman Easy Eights and Pershings...)

And to wrap up this post, here's Hitler weighing in on the February update:

edited 8th Mar '16 11:56:19 PM by IncognitoNinja

At vet 2, they're renamed Infinitely Sprinting Gun.

(New bug, of course)

edited 10th Mar '16 6:11:39 AM by VutherA

Overdosed on D-IX, according to the March 10 hotfix post. At least they're showing their work on the historical accuracy front...

BTW, do you happen to have Intelligence Bulletins for OKW Panzer IVs? (Or is there such a thing?) While it's cool that they come standard-issue with armored skirts unlike the Wehrmacht, I've observed they aren't good at absorbing damage from Soviet Lend-Lease Shermans or similar weapons, so I was hoping there is an intel bulletin that buffs up their hitpoints/armor. Not to mention it's cheaper to deploy Panzer IVs than Panthers (or a King Tiger, for that matter).

Question about COH1: On the wiki, the King Tiger's article opens up with a quote of British Commandos yelling "Oh god what the BLOODY HELL IS THAT THING?!" that is apparently uttered when they face what I persume is their very first King Tiger in the Liberation of Caen campaign. Does anyone know which mission is this quote from?

Actually, I believe that's from the Panzer Elite's "Operation Market Garden" campaign.

Specifically, it's from the mission in Arnhem (which is basically the events of A Bridge Too Far). That line is actually their reaction to your King Tiger.

edited 21st Apr '16 6:43:53 AM by IncognitoNinja

I see. Is it early in the mission, or late into it?

Not an extremely late April Fools' joke.

Such .

Why is it that almost every update for the last couple of years has gradually been chipping away at the logical, realistic, or "fun" stuff the game has? Seriously, part of me is starting to wish the hardcore community would stay the hell away from balancing this game, their ideas are damned unfun and usually revolve around optimizing THEIR perspective of the game's meta, not the average community.

@Marq: IIRC, you are given a King Tiger in that mission (I believe that's the last mission in the Market Garden campaign) to help you take the objectives on the map (and ultimately keep the bridge at Arnhem out of Allied hands). There are some structures on the map where British Commandos have garrisoned themselves. If you use the King Tiger to assault those structures (or attack the Commandos foolish enough to get out in the open) you'll hear that line. In my case, my forces were assaulting the last objective.

Apologies if my memory's a bit hazy. It's been a while since I played that mission (back when I didn't have a Steam account) and I haven't gotten around to replaying that campaign with the "New Steam Version" of CoH 1.

@VutherA: Oh wow, the MG42 will replace the usual MG34 dispatch? If that will affect the Luftwaffe Ground Forces and Fortifications Doctrine (which I got from drops recently a couple of times, so now I have two copies), that's gonna be sweet. Also, MG34s are now buildable? Nice to see MG34s supplementing the Breakthrough Doctrine, though the "All Units Mod" has been doing that for some time now. (But for the vanilla game players, those intel bulletins for MG34s are now useful no matter what doctrine they choose.)

On the other hand, the removal of 'shrecks from Volksgrenadiers will now force players to use the Raketenwerfers more often...

As for news on the revamp to the War Spoils system, there's an upcoming Open Beta in early May (scroll down to the latest entry) to test out the new system and give feedback... I'm thinking of joining, even though I didn't register for the Closed Alpha last time. I hope the new system will allow trade-ins of excess War Spoils for stuff that the player doesn't have yet. If not, I might need to borrow a catchphrase from Angry Joe...

edited 21st Apr '16 11:40:36 AM by IncognitoNinja

Hmmm? What'd go that you liked?

edited 21st Apr '16 4:56:02 PM by VutherA

Well, as I mentioned in the past I did enjoy the large heavy tank vs heavy tank battles because of all the destruction and chaos they leave behind. But those got axed with low cap limits because of how the late game became an armor-only affair.

Another issue is how it seems Relic is trying to copy the overall meta-game of Co H 1 in regards to how hard the impact of losing a single unit is, especially in the early game. I like how it's still possible to recover from losing an infantry team or two, whereas in Co H 1 that probably meant you were going to be economically behind and gradually lose for the rest of the match.

Other minor things are how the snipers now can't shoot quicker if the target is close, how the landmines can no longer cripple engines (despite that being one of their real-life purposes), and how the developers seem to favor infantry tactics over anything else. Not a bad thing in itself since the game was largely about the close-quarters fighting experienced in Stalingrad and the surrounding areas, but it's annoying when the game starts favoring more stat-based strategies than what would make logical sense.

TL;DR, I don't like how constantly the metagame causes so much changes.

Oh, Teller mines still damage engines and slow them. They won't destroy engines, which was a chance to completely immobilize them. They're leaving that up to the Riegel and M20 AT mines.

And I'm frankly fine with the sniper thing...better to not make them even more punishing for trying to counter them by getting closer to them.

War Spoils open beta incoming.

Balance mod will be going for several weeks.

Upcoming War Spoils Open Beta: Eh? You'll have to do the same thing as the Closed Alpha a few months ago?

Balance Mod Preview: (Note: I've only played with OKW and a bit of Wehr so far.)

I'm loving the OKW's MG 42 call-in already. Sure it costs 50 manpower more compared to the MG 34 (and the OKW announcer dude still calls it an MG 34), but I don't mind having More Dakka. On the downside though, you only get increased sight (and weapon?) range once you get to veterancy level five (compared to British Vickers HMG teams who can do so at a lower veterancy level). Also, wouldn't you need a new intel bulletin for this, or is it still useful even without one? (I'm hoping the devs lean more toward the latter.)

I also like the revamp to the Volksgrenadiers. The Sturmgewehr package helps increase their survivability in mid- to close-range infantry combat while still retaining effectiveness at longer ranges (more so if you have the intel bulletin that buffs their accuracy). While it can still engage light (and the occasional heavy) vehicles thanks to its Panzerfaust ability, the main purpose of Volks is to engage infantry and act as a screening/support force for other, more specialized units that can kill enemy units that Volksgrenadiers can't. In short, Volksgrenadier revamp now encourages combined-arms play.

Looking forward to play a few more games with the Soviets, USF and UKF. I read that Penal Battalions got a much-needed buff...

EDIT: Oh yeah, and I noticed that infantry now spawn out of buildings that train them instead of being called in from off-map. (Though some call-in infantry/weapons teams and vehicles still come in from off-map.) I dunno if that's already been implemented in the vanilla game, but I've been playing the "All Units Mod" for so long now that I rarely play vanilla...

edited 29th Apr '16 10:14:02 AM by IncognitoNinja

Apologies for the double post:

http://www.companyofheroes.com/blog/2016/05/04/the-new-war-spoils-system

My only concern is that a few commanders (and a boatload of other excess intel bulletins/faceplates/skins/victory strikes) that I got from drops while playing the All Units Mod might get scrapped/salvaged to nothing, due to the new system possibly treating it as a "War Spoils farming mod".

If it was a mod/script that allowed you to "play" while being AFK and get a drop when you return, I could understand. But I actually play each game to the end, modded or not, so the drops I got (duplicate or not) should remain legit for converting into "supply" (the new in-game currency), so to speak.

Also, duplicate commanders should have a higher salvage value that's also dependent on rarity (blue/rare commanders costing more supply than green/uncommon or white/common commanders, obviously).

edited 4th May '16 12:54:08 AM by IncognitoNinja