Company of Heroes 3 - set in the Mediterranean theatre

[Parsimonious cook]

Eh... I dont dig the graphic style much, but w/e, perhaps it will be good....

 

[Nutmeg]

CoH 1 was awesome, this looks pretty good so far.

 

[Rahdulan]

Experience the biggest single player campaign in franchise history. The new Dynamic Campaign Map delivers full ‘sandbox-style’ gameplay, allowing players to command the overall war effort and experience an unprecedented level of strategic choice.

Sounds like someone doesn't feel like making unique missions.

 

[A horse of course]

/ourguy/ on the alpha

 

[Parsimonious cook]

LOL the building destruction looks shit (might get fixed), also the graphics look very cartoony in general (will not get fixed). Dunno, but if the turn based campaign is just an excuse not to handcraft traditional SP campaign missions this doesnt look too convincing.

 

[Hace El Oso]

The loudly multicolored buildings look more like a favela than the French riviera. And what’s up with the troops wearing bright red stocking caps, with bright red backpacks and throwing daggers?

I enjoyed the original Company of Heroes, but this just seems too goofy compared to the earlier entries, not to mention Men of War or Steel Division 2.

 

[Infinitron]

Find out how we've worked with our players since day one of Company of Heroes 3, why it's so important, and what the road ahead looks like.

 

[Infinitron]

The Coh3 Multiplayer Pre-Alpha offers you more insights into the Multiplayer Pre-Alpha. Find out in this overview what the content is in this build, and why you should download this FREE preview and check it out!

To redeem the Multiplayer Pre-Alpha head to ► community.companyofheroes.com
and follow the steps to download Company of Heroes 3.

If you already played the July Pre-Alpha Preview, the Multiplayer Pre-Alpha will be in your Steam Library.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Legit looks like something from 2005.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

That hairline looks very "2021 us female" though.

 

[AwesomeButton]

This looks great, and I'm definetly getting it. I don't know if anyone hare is into CoH, but have about 360 hours in CoH2 multiplayer. I used to be pretty good at one point, Win-Loss ratio of 0.47 And I only play 1:1

 

[Blutwurstritter]

This looks great, and I'm definetly getting it. I don't know if anyone hare is into CoH, but have about 360 hours in CoH2 multiplayer. I used to be pretty good at one point, Win-Loss ratio of 0.47 And I only play 1:1

A a win/loss ratio of 0.47 is pretty bad. Did you mean perhaps win ratio = wins/number of games played ?

 

[AwesomeButton]

If it's close to one game lost for each game won, I think that's not bad. Most people lose many games for each game won.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

If it's close to one game lost for each game won, I think that's not bad. Most people lose many games for each game won.

So you meant win ratio. A win/loss ratio of 0.5 means that you have 1 win for 2 defeats. I've only experience with CoH1 in LAN mode, mostly 3vs3 or 4vs4. But that has been years ago and wasn't as competitive like online play. I hope CoH3 turns out better than DoW3.

 

[Van-d-all]

Bah, I've played COH multiplayer to oblivion, some COH2 but the early post launch version pissed me off too much with it's P2W shit. Arguably my favorite multiplayer game ever, so while I missed the COH3 single player beta, I was really glad to catch the multiplayer one a while back. And I've got to say, aside from the cartoonish colour tint and abysmal performance of some maps (<30 fps on GTX 1080 @LOW) it sure scratches the itch. The unit variety was nowhere near COH2, in fact both Wehr and US seemed way too similar (nearly mirrored), but damn I've had a good few 1v1 enjoyable matches already.

 

[JarlFrank]

I can't really get into CoH anymore after playing Men of War, because it's much less simulationist in its damage model, bullet trajectories, etc. In MoW everything is handled by the physics engine, tanks are completely invulnerable to small arms (unless the commander is looking out of the top hatch and gets hit by a bullet), buildings and cover have no hitpoints but are only affected by the physics system, infantry dies when hit by bullets rather than bullets missing them as long as they have enough HP left, etc.

CoH feels too abstracted in comparison.

 

[Van-d-all]

I can't really get into CoH anymore after playing Men of War, because it's much less simulationist in its damage model, bullet trajectories, etc. In MoW everything is handled by the physics engine, tanks are completely invulnerable to small arms (unless the commander is looking out of the top hatch and gets hit by a bullet), buildings and cover have no hitpoints but are only affected by the physics system, infantry dies when hit by bullets rather than bullets missing them as long as they have enough HP left, etc.

CoH feels too abstracted in comparison.

That is undoubtedly true, and I feel the same, but just in single player. Like say, Arma 2 vs. BF3 a degree of arcade simplifications just streamlines multiplayer matches from the realm of simulation into pure entertainment.

 

[JarlFrank]

Yeah I never played CoH in multiplayer so maybe there it's better.

 

[Van-d-all]

Yeah I never played CoH in multiplayer so maybe there it's better.

It totally is. As a single player game even COH had nothing on the very first Soldiers Heroes Of WW2, especially as the german campaign there and the one in COH: Tales Of Valor virtually present a similar story of a Tiger crew. Complete building destructibility, soldier inventories & driveable vehicles completely mop the floor of the latter. They however are way to minuscule to micromanage in multiplayer, and that's where COH shines, simply because it's all about tactics (and that's why early COH2 bonuses were pure fucking P2W).

 

[AwesomeButton]

Bah, I've played COH multiplayer to oblivion, some COH2 but the early post launch version pissed me off too much with it's P2W shit. Arguably my favorite multiplayer game ever, so while I missed the COH3 single player beta, I was really glad to catch the multiplayer one a while back. And I've got to say, aside from the cartoonish colour tint and abysmal performance of some maps (<30 fps on GTX 1080 @LOW) it sure scratches the itch. The unit variety was nowhere near COH2, in fact both Wehr and US seemed way too similar (nearly mirrored), but damn I've had a good few 1v1 enjoyable matches already.

If you want, let me add you on steam. I'd like to have some low-stress sparring because I haven't played in years :D

I can't really get into CoH anymore after playing Men of War, because it's much less simulationist in its damage model, bullet trajectories, etc. In MoW everything is handled by the physics engine, tanks are completely invulnerable to small arms (unless the commander is looking out of the top hatch and gets hit by a bullet), buildings and cover have no hitpoints but are only affected by the physics system, infantry dies when hit by bullets rather than bullets missing them as long as they have enough HP left, etc.

CoH feels too abstracted in comparison.

I have bought all the Men of War games on GOG when they were on a discount, but never installed them yet. What you say piques my interest.

CoH feels too abstracted in comparison.

BTW while playing RtwP RPGs (IE games, PoE/Deadfire) I've thought "what if these RPGs could implement the terrain-cover systems of CoH?"

As it is right now, if the backline is safe from enemy incursions, it doesn't matter how you position your backliners.

 

[JarlFrank]

I have bought all the Men of War games on GOG when they were on a discount, but never installed them yet. What you say piques my interest.

The most recent one is Assault Squad 2 and I got plenty of hours in it. It also has several mods that make it even more realistic but those are intended for multiplayer, with a non-functional AI in single player skirmish. I played some of those realism mods in multi with a pal and had some fun.
Generally, the AI is an afterthought, it will just spam units and throw them at you but at higher difficulty settings it's still gonna be tough. Earlier MoW games have better AI, but I prefer Assault Squad 2's supply mechanics.

You can directly control your units as if it were a third person twin stick shooter, but it's not necessary. There's still a little too much micromanagement with infantry positioning though.

But the simulationist systems behind the game make up for all of these flaws. Any and all cover is governed by the physics system. Shrubbery can be burned away, walls can be leveled with explosions, houses bombed to rubble, etc etc. There's even different types of ammo for guns: AP for anti tank and HE for anti infantry and buildings. AP rounds won't do shit against infantry unless you land a direct hit on a guy's chest, but HE will shred them - meanwhile a tank will shrug off HE since it can't penetrate its armor. Every vehicle has its own armor stats for front, sides, and back. Vehicles don't have hitpoints but take structural damage based on where a shot penetrated it. Even the toughest tanks like tigers, panthers, KV-2 etc can be disabled by shooting their tracks off and turning them into sitting ducks. The engine, the tracks, the gun, the turret - they can all be individually damaged.

Any regular infantry can be reassigned to use captured enemy equipment, or retake abandoned equipment of your own. Your tank can get penetrated by a lucky AP round, and the crew killed by internal shrapnel while all its systems stay in working order. You can then send new guys into the tank to serve as replacement crew. You can do the same to enemy tanks and take them over. Things like mortars and AT guns can have their crew killed without damaging the artillery piece itself, and then you can send your own guys to take it over and turn it on the enemy.

The reason I prefer Assault Squad 2 is that supply trucks don't have to be autistically micromanaged. In previous games you have to manually resupply each weapon with the exact type of ammo it uses, but in AS2 your supply trucks have X amount of generic ammo which any weapon can be supplied with (but heavy weapons have a higher ammo cost than light ones) and they will automatically resupply as long as they're within the truck's resupply zone. It's less realistic than in the older games, but the micromanagement just got too annoying in longer missions where your dudes run out of ammo.

Overall, really cool game that suffers from shitty AI but is still worth playing for the amazing combat simulation at its core.

 

[Kane]

This looks great, and I'm definetly getting it. I don't know if anyone hare is into CoH, but have about 360 hours in CoH2 multiplayer. I used to be pretty good at one point, Win-Loss ratio of 0.47 And I only play 1:1

I have like 1000 hours in CoH2 multiplayer and don't know how many in CoH1. I have zero optimism for CoH3, given Relic's last entry into RTS is DoW3. Where is the talent building an acceptable RTS supposed to come from?

 

[AwesomeButton]

Could be different design goals. Have any important designers left Relic since CoH2?

 

[Van-d-all]

If you want, let me add you on steam. I'd like to have some low-stress sparring because I haven't played in years :D

I wouldn't mind at all, however I'm not playing multi until COH3 comes out, proves good and reasonably priced. I've had my full of COH1-2, so there's not much point ATM.

I have like 1000 hours in CoH2 multiplayer and don't know how many in CoH1. I have zero optimism for CoH3, given Relic's last entry into RTS is DoW3. Where is the talent building an acceptable RTS supposed to come from?

Problem with DOW3 multiplayer lies in fact they wanted to make it into a MOBA which were popular at the time, with laned maps etc. COH3 beta was nothing like that.



As for Men of War series, I finished each and every official campaign since Soldiers, and I'd consider older games actually better for single player, with the caveat that some campaigns, like the one from Faces of War, or FOW: Red Tide were remade as mods on newer MOW:AS2 engine. MOW:Vietnam is mediocre, MOW:Cold War is outright trash, worse than the Cold War mod. Vanilla MOW:AS1-2 are heavily multiplayer oriented, and quite frankly the skimrishes vs AI, with no preset objectives are pretty boring.

Lastly there's Call to Arms, and it's major mod, Ostfront. Emphasizing on the FPS aspect. It's important to mention, Digitalmindsoft, now self-publishing, as I stated elsewhere, are pretty scummy, "bethesdising" that game with new editions over the last years. The game itself looks good, I haven't played those yet however.

 

[Hace El Oso]

If you already own men of war assault squad 2, the Axis Stalingrad campaign in Sir Hinkel’s mod (available on the steam workshop) is a lot of fun.

Otherwise, Call to Arms: Ostfront is the best ‘current’ WW2 RTS available.