Company of Heroes 3 - Available now

Started by Destraex, July 13, 2021, 09:56:12 PM

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Grim.Reaper

Based on a number of people's reaction to the Great War: Western Front game having Denuvo DRM, I suspect people might not be jumping on this one because it also has it.  Against my original comments on the game feeling the same during the testing, I picked it up anyway so eventually will give it a whirl when I have time.  Figured I would eventually pick it up, so might as well be now even though I don't have high hopes for longevity.


SirAndrewD

I for whatever reason never really had the other CoH games resonate with me, so I'll fence sit.
"These men do not want a happy ship. They are deeply sick and try to compensate by making me feel miserable. Last week was my birthday. Nobody even said "happy birthday" to me. Someday this tape will be played and then they'll feel sorry."  - Sgt. Pinback

Jarhead0331

Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


SirAndrewD

"These men do not want a happy ship. They are deeply sick and try to compensate by making me feel miserable. Last week was my birthday. Nobody even said "happy birthday" to me. Someday this tape will be played and then they'll feel sorry."  - Sgt. Pinback

JasonPratt

A humorous (sponsored) demonstration of the game upon release from iSorrow:

ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Destraex

#35
Really enjoying coh3. Here are some screenshots.
COH3 first impressions on release, which was 5am this morning. Some place holder icons still, a tiny but buggy still. Their is no difficulty below standard. In other words no easy setting for the AI. This tells me that the nanny goats had a hand in the game. Which is a shame. It tells me they are willing to treat consumers as id10ts.
However I am happy to report that the game is a load of fun and is hectic as a COH titles should be. Expect your brain to explode trying to play it on "tough" as a friend and I did from the get go. Still won both games though. Looks like battlegroups will be the thing that unlocks, but since everybody complains about unlocks and drops these days even if they are free, I think more battlegroups may be paid DLC. I just cannot imagine it being like that though, surely they will release battlegroups quarterly? Initially their are only three per side and that is that. It's really the hollywood animations and the really cool kit and voice overs/sound effects in company of heroes games that you play these titles for. The heart pounding thrill of reacting in panic like you were on a razors edge kind of like you would expect real combat to be like. Adrenaline pumped moments of action. Just that their is no time to "hurry up and wait". That was before the game and after ;)

EDIT: I just noticed their is a "store" button that is currently greyed out. Nothing to purchase atm and no idea how it would work. But I have to say I really don't mind that sort of thing sometimes as long as it is not pay to win. Because it keeps ongoing development churning along.























"They only asked the Light Brigade to do it once"

trek

The COH games have always been my favorite RTS of all time. COH 3 does not disappoint. Adding the Total War style Campaign Map is a welcome addition to the franchise. The gameplay is still trademark squad-based combat with the addition of the new breach mechanic which is a blast to watch. There is also the Afrika Korps eight mission campaign in the traditional form of past games.

There have been some complaints about the graphics not being up to par. On my rig they look fantastic. Detail is good and the color palette is much more in the style of COH 1. My big complaint about COH 2 was I always thought that the color dynamics were a little too oversaturated.

I have noticed that I've had to turn up the volume on the sound more than on the previous games. I also don't think the in-game explosions etc. are as audibly good as the previous games. I hope they improve on this feature. The building destruction FX are even better than previous games.

The bread-and-butter of COH for me has always been the Skirmish mode. I've played endless hours on great maps against the AI. Everything is the same with this feature. The Workshop is already up and running and I'd recommend DL the Pachino map for 2 players. Has a great layout of a village with a bridge in the middle. Good for playing against the AI.

Also DL the zoom-out mod too which enables a more comprehensive view of the battlefield.

Many of you probably know the info that follows but for those who haven't delved into the COH games as much here goes and the opinions are solely mine:

Company of Heroes 1
I play this mainly for the Campaigns which include US Airborne, British and Germans. I think they are the best campaigns ever created for any RTS I've ever played. Get these skirmish mods in order of my preference. They are all available for free DL on Steam:

1) Europe at War: Best mod overall for skirmish against the AI. Has a tank vs tank and infantry only mod. Many new maps as well as Desert skirmish maps with the DAK. The only mod that has an additional Ardennes SP Campaign.

2) Eastern Front: Obviously adds Russia to the game. Many great maps for skirmish play.

3) Battle of Crete: Small unit tactics with German Paras. Need I say more?

4) The Great War 1918: Trench warfare. No French forces. Get the expanded add-on from MODDB.

5) Modern Combat: Play as the USMC or regular US Army. Best skirmish map is Golmud City. Good urban warfare.

Note: Blitzkrieg Mod is not recommended as it is heavily weighted for MP.

COH 1 Mods: Zoom-out mod. This even works in the campaigns with a little configuration. Also Historical markings and vehicles mod. This adds flags and camos. Both on MODDB.

COH 1 Maps: Available on the COH 1 Steam Workshop and MODDB.

Company of Heroes 2
Never liked the campaign much, although some of the Theater of War missions were decent. The US Ardennes add-on was the best part of the game. The developer's first try at a strategic Campaign map. Will give you a run for the money as you go along.

Mods: Tuning packs for skirmish in order of preference:

1) Luftwaffe Angriff and SS Angriff by Adler. Great game balance and vehicle camos.

2) Spearhead. Another good if alternative take on COH2.

3) All Units. As it implies. Everything is available.

Note: I have not included the vaunted Wikinger Tuning Mod as I personally don't find it's playability as good as my recommended mods. I feel it is really more geared to MP.

Note also: None of the zoom-out mods work for COH 2. They work initially but once you do a save they don't.

Anyway I hope this post gives those of you who want to delve more into the COH world some incentive to try some of the previous games.

JasonPratt

Sampstra has decided to demonstrate the Italian Campaign for CoH3! This is a 45ish minute video.

ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Destraex

#38
I really like coh3. But feel the the lobby interface screens lack polish and feel like they were tacked on with console in mind. I mean I cannot choose my server region for multiplayer coop\vs. My avatar seems to be stuck on the DLC one but I cannot find my profile to change it or view my stats. There are a lot of small things to polish in matches as well. For instance I am missing something or the medical vehicles turn off their auto re-enforce even though I turn it on. Usually I notice this after moving the vehicle. The german medical half track has a hand brake function while the british one does not. I changed team colors to unique colors and now I am a random color while a team mate ends up being blue, I forget and keep trying to move his men!! If I could choose my color like in AOEIV that would be fine. But otherwise most games tend to keep you the default color and change the other team colors by default. When I click on other players units I have no way of knowing it is not my unit, a lot of RTS games put the player name somewhere in the stats. After manning an enemy crewed weapon I never get shown how many kills I get with it. Lots of little strange things like that that seem to point to some team members not knowing the RTS standards for things.

The old COH staple of vehicles trying to fire through terrain causing me endless losses as those last hitpoints just don't come off that enemy vehicle wasting my infantry. Have to be very away of the terrain.

I agree though that it is still an outstanding game. They followed the formula well and it looks great as you can see from my screenshots. I love that it is bright and vibrant.

What I am missing though is that their seem to be so few maps. I think in total their are only 10 or so? Most of these probably small 1v1 ones. EDIT: Just counted and their are 14 skirmish maps in total. 5 x 1v1, 4 x 2v2, 3 x 3v3 and 2 x 4v4.

I am also not a fan of the digital sketch pad cut scenes. The stills that panning over somehow is arty farty. I find it cheap and quick looking. But it is all the rage these days since the more budget titles used it as a way to get by.

Bit disappointed I cannot man abandoned enemy vehicles. You recover them instead. It's not a big deal, was just nice.

As you would expect the steam forums are a battleground of gatekeepers vs trolls. People making outrageous claims without really taking the time to learn the game. People just expect to be good out of the gates. Both in terms of their skill level and the games polish. You just don't get that these days. After years in development investors want their money back I guess.

The reason I love company of heroes and to a much lesser extent men of war assault squad 2 is that unlike most wargames you get to invent strategies that are on the human level and are much more dynamic than most wargames can be. Most wargames have units and after that the limitation is flanking, terrain and all of the usual things like that. COH lets you create hospitals, build a pit to protect it and put an MG in it, then perhaps build a minefield around it with barbed wire and AT traps. My point is their are a tonne of things you can invent on the spot that it is unlikely many people have used as a combination yet. You put your own battlegroup together with what you need. This is the sort of thing strategy games especially miss with their, just send a stack with X equipment and win. No innovation. In coh games it often feels like the combination is different every time, the terrain or buildings you fight over individually usually tell a story as do the men through their expressions. The cover system and how you move them into a piece of cover is different everytime. It's formulaic but things are so fast and the pressure of the games combat gets your blood pumping. That's how the troops would feel right? Under pressure as the bullets fly. It's part of the realism and something that's appropriate in a wargame at the tactical level once combat is joined.

Artillery is still a huge bugbear in coh for me though. I hate micro managing artillery in coh. Eugen made that so darned nice I just want that system in coh.

Why am I yellow? Also that flak gun crewed by my brits has kill about 30 enemy guys. (edit, it worked in another game correctly) You can see it has XP but has not killed anything. I have seen tanks fall through bridges as they drive over them as well.








I mean "motorcycle team" is correct where the game files are concerned I am sure. But Motorcycle Teams, would be more correct because you can produce more than one. It's just easy and informative to read when it's properly formatted. I mean they use a plural form for the Pioneers because their is more than one man in a squad, but tanks come out one at a time and thus are singular?
"They only asked the Light Brigade to do it once"

Jarhead0331

I'm enjoying it too, but haven't played enough yet to develop any detailed impressions of likes and dislikes, other than the scale and range. Tank engagements all happen at nearly point blank range. I really dislike that. I wish the scale was a little smaller and the zoom wider to permit tank duels at more realistic feeling ranges. That's always been a COH thing so I'm not surprised. Still fun though. Don't really understand all the hate and aggravation.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Destraex

@trek Have you noticed the British infantry barracks uses the same 1 2 3 4 sound from other COH games. Except in previous games it was the COH1 US infantry barracks sound iirc? Lots of re-used sounds and icon graphics I have noticed. Not such a bad thing as new ones no doubt would have been colored by new age sounding acting... in other words soft sounding people or over done sounding corny exagerration I am sorry to say.
"They only asked the Light Brigade to do it once"

Destraex

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on February 26, 2023, 03:42:14 AMI'm enjoying it too, but haven't played enough yet to develop any detailed impressions of likes and dislikes, other than the scale and range. Tank engagements all happen at nearly point blank range. I really dislike that. I wish the scale was a little smaller and the zoom wider to permit tank duels at more realistic feeling ranges. That's always been a COH thing so I'm not surprised. Still fun though. Don't really understand all the hate and aggravation.
You are right Jarhead. I agree that a trope of COH games is tiny tank ranges. However this coh game actually has fairly long ranges for a lot of units if you get other troops to see further out for them. The small tank ranges do keep things manageable within what the low camera allows you to see however.
"They only asked the Light Brigade to do it once"

JasonPratt

That low camera zoom and angle has been a bane of the system since back in Dawn of War 1, when it debuted.

Meanwhile, following up from yesterday, Sampstra set up a video comparing CoH3 with TGW:West...

ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Gusington

^ I wouldn't think it fair to compare them to each other... :headscratch:


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

W8taminute

"You and I are of a kind. In a different reality, I could have called you friend."

Romulan Commander to Kirk