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GET IN NERDS, WE'RE LIBERATING ITALY What is COH3? Company of Heroes 3 is the 3rd installment of what many consider to be the best RTS (Real Time Strategy) series of all time. The original broke new ground with innovative cover mechanics, destructible terrain, damage modeling, and extremely good visuals and audio for its time. The 2nd was less well received but still has an active, loyal player base with hundreds of thousands of users. So, what's new? COH3 will contain some very interesting gameplay additions that will make it a different experience from previous iterations. The biggest is that the game will feature an interactive campaign map mode, similar in some ways to the Total War franchise. On this strategic map, units will move around and perform limited actions in a turn-based mode. Units will be able to fire at one another, maneuver, capture territory, and perform various operations like planting / clearing minefields.  When companies of units collide on the strategic map, the game will "zoom in" to the more familiar tactical map, where squads and vehicles duke it out in glorious close up. The graphics and effects have been drastically improved since COH2.  The game is slated to take place in the Mediterranean and North African theatres of WW2, which is a departure from the previous games. COH1 was centered on the western front, COH2 the eastern front. So far, an Italian campaign has been confirmed, in addition to one set in North Africa . The game will feature an expanded roster of Italian troops and vehicles, which is a first for the series. VIDEOS Announcement Trailer Lengthy gameplay intro Other new gameplay elements / features: - The devs have added a "tactical pause" feature to the game which allows a player to hit space bar and pause the game. While paused, units can be given sequential orders which they will attempt to perform. For those of us who don't play these games with turbo clicking in mind, this is an awesome feature. You can now tell a unit of infantry to circle around to the rear of a building with a couple clicks rather than painting their path with right clicks. This can be combined with ability uses, and when they play out as planned, it's pretty glorious. - There is also a new command / ability called "breaching" available to certain units. This command allows units to clear out buildings and occupied structures by throwing a grenade or explosive inside, which kills or ejects the occupants. It's a cool mechanic that doesn't nullify the advantage of occupying structures, but makes urban maps much more dynamic and interesting. - The strategic map will offer the player several narrative and tactical choices. In the Alpha, after completing a tutorial mission, the player is given 2 optional tasks- to take out a German general that is operating in the area, and to assist rebel partisans stuck in a prolonged firefight with occupying German forces. Splitting ones forces to accomplish both will mean smaller margin for error when the fighting starts, as the two objectives are in opposite directions. - In skirmish mode, the game can randomly assign optional objectives to add variety. "Take out enemy artillery here" or "find and kill enemy sniper operating in this area of the map" type stuff. Really cool way to spice it up. The game is scheduled for release in 2022 and there is currently an open multiplayer alpha, running from Nov 30 - Dec 6. See below for details. FLIPADELPHIA fucked around with this message at 07:15 on Feb 22, 2023 |
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Jul 17, 2021 04:59
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E: now that the game is out, here are a few reviews: IGN: 8/10 Inverse Gaming: 8/10 Critics seem pretty impressed with the game overall. If you're reading this shortly after release, please be aware that a bunch of angry nerds review bombed it on Steam the day of release for some stupid reason. If you're thinking about getting into the game, please don't trust the Steam overall score, trust the "recent" reviews or ask questions in the thread. FLIPADELPHIA fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Mar 6, 2023 |
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Jul 17, 2021 05:00
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I've played the demo skirmish mode several times and have messed around with the campaign mode quite a bit as well. The demo is rough but overall, I am very impressed so far. The hardware reqs have definitely scaled with the graphics and my system struggles to get above 30fps. Luckily I have a 3060 rtx a friend snagged for me on the way, so I'll report back on (hopefully) a significant performance increase once I get it running. I like that they are trying something new with this iteration and I'm pretty stoked to see an optimized version when it launches next year. FLIPADELPHIA fucked around with this message at 05:10 on Jul 17, 2021 |
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Jul 17, 2021 05:04
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Oh gently caress yeah this is great to see! I just started playing CoH 2 again since it had been so long and it was showing its age. The campaign mode map looks interesting.
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Jul 17, 2021 06:02
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But can will you be able to get the Brazilian Expeditionary Force?
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Jul 17, 2021 08:26
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Gotta go do Monte Cristo, which I assume is the last mission in this pre-alpha, but I'm definitely liking what I see, and I'm curious about the multiplayer. It doesn't feel like a huge evolution of the series, which has kinda been the COH curse, and I'd prefer if it wasn't WW2 again but gently caress it, I'm in. I thought the interplay between the strategic map and tactical battles worked very well. I know Relic's said the game's over a year out and this is not an Early Access, but I do wonder how often they plan to run playtests like this, and what they'll cover. Keeping my eye on this, and it's definitely a relief that they haven't tried to bring in anything they learned from DOW3. Btw, you should probably mention in the OP somewhere that a North African campaign has been more than hinted at.
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Jul 17, 2021 20:21
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Yvonmukluk posted:But can will you be able to get the Brazilian Expeditionary Force? With the level of troop tree expansion we're seeing, I wouldn't be too surprised if something like this makes an appearance. The British troop tree already features Gurkha soldiers, so it could happen! I've edited the OP to mention the North African campaign as well. A desert theatre will be an interesting change of pace from the previous settings. FLIPADELPHIA fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Jul 18, 2021 |
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Jul 18, 2021 18:51
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I was under the impression they straight up said Italy and North Africa for the two theatres.
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Jul 18, 2021 19:35
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I really liked CoH, CoH2 was okay but I didn't nearly as into multiplayer as I had with CoH1. https://youtu.be/ICebdzjC3K4 I'm the Stuart player spending a tank to turn a squad and a half into a fine pink mist. Looking forward to CoH3
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Jul 19, 2021 00:05
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I have a very fond memory of the first time me and a buddy did a comp stomp in COH1 and one of his strafing planes got shot down by AA, and then crashed directly on top of a Panther tank, blowing it up. One of the biggest Holy poo poo moments I've ever had playing video games. For those who have played the Alpha demo, how is your game performance? Anyone getting good frame rates out of it?
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Jul 19, 2021 18:00
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It's way early to tell, but I'm on a 1070 and a CPU that's technically below minimum (i5 6600k) and I guess I was averaging 40-50 with everything turned up?
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Jul 19, 2021 18:27
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I have a 1060 (which I think is minimum gpu requirement) and an AMD 7 3700 and can't get above 31 fps even with everything turned all the way down. Here's hoping my new gpu will fix it.
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Jul 19, 2021 20:00
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FLIPADELPHIA posted:I have a 1060 (which I think is minimum gpu requirement) and an AMD 7 3700 and can't get above 31 fps even with everything turned all the way down. Here's hoping my new gpu will fix it.
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Jul 19, 2021 20:22
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I've played a bunch of skirmish matches and I really like it. I think the idea of random objectives is pretty cool as well, adds a tiny bit of spice to AI matches. Unfortunately, it runs pretty bad for me on a 1660 Super. The campaign map in particular is super rough, like 20 FPS here and there, so I haven't played that much of that. I really enjoy the concept though.
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Jul 19, 2021 20:49
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Mordja posted:The game's automatically locked at 30 FPS, you can change that in the options. Additionally, you seem to have to change it back everytime you launch. Like, it will say it's set to 60/unlimited but it really isn't so you have to put it to 30, save the options, then back to 60 or whatever. Yeah this worked- took my FPS up to a reliable 45-50. Will update the OP to let people know to do this. Det_no posted:I've played a bunch of skirmish matches and I really like it. I think the idea of random objectives is pretty cool as well, adds a tiny bit of spice to AI matches. Forgot to mention this in the OP, will add it now. Thanks! FLIPADELPHIA fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Jul 19, 2021 |
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Jul 19, 2021 21:16
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I hope the voice acting for units is as good as CoH1
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Jul 19, 2021 21:30
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TARGET ANNIHILATED!
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Jul 20, 2021 01:03
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Really wish that the strategic conquest mode will have a place in multiplayer, too.
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Jul 20, 2021 07:36
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Happy to report that my gpu upgrade took the game from a rough 35fps to a stable 75 even during big firefights. Makes a HUGE difference and it's great to see the game in such a playable state, even this far out from release.
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Jul 20, 2021 23:17
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I loved CoH1, CoH 2 was pretty meh. Hopefully this one takes more from the first than the second.
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Jul 23, 2021 19:01
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Orv posted:I was under the impression they straight up said Italy and North Africa for the two theatres. I wonder if that means there's a possibility for some Italian units and equipment mixed in for the German faction. Would be a nice change of pace IMO. Dandywalken posted:I hope the voice acting for units is as good as CoH1 CoH2's voice acting was a bit uneven, though the last faction to be added, the British, had excellent voiceover. Soviets and Eastern Front Germans were pretty good as well, Americans in CoH2 had pretty bad voiceovers I think. gently caress SNEEP posted:Oh gently caress yeah this is great to see! I just started playing CoH 2 again since it had been so long and it was showing its age. The campaign mode map looks interesting. In terms of multiplayer skirmish CoH2 is still a pretty drat good and is mostly improvements and iterations from CoH1 really, I think it still looks and sounds really good for how old it is. And they got rid of most of the bad changes (blizzards and freezing...). Balance has been going a bit back and forth with the latest patches though. I'm not really at all interested in the singeplayer component of this, so I really hope they get some good stuff going with the skirmish component which is where the game lives or dies IMO. e: As regards Italians, I just noticed there's a lady in what looks like civilian clothing in the center of the box art thet put up holding a Mauser rifle or something like that, which at least suggests, to me, that the Allies might be getting some Italian partisan units. 
Randarkman fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Jul 23, 2021 |
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Jul 23, 2021 19:24
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FLIPADELPHIA posted:With the level of troop tree expansion we're seeing, I wouldn't be too surprised if something like this makes an appearance. The British troop tree already features Gurkha soldiers, so it could happen! Are they still doing the doctrinal/commander stuff from the first two games? I'd assume the Gurkhas would be exclusive to some doctrine. Really though especially for the British Empire/Commonwealth forces, Italy had a bewildering array of non-British units in it, there were a couple of Indian army divisions in Italy for instance, you also had the Poles, equipped by the British, and there were several Free French (who were equipped with American gear) units as well, esepcially North African mountaineers and light infantry, I guess it's also worth noting that the Italian theater was where the Americans ended up deploying most of their non-White segregated units. Would be nice to see a nod to that IMO, though I don't think the proper way would be to have mixed squads as I feel that would be a little bit dishonest, and I'm not quite sure if it'd be proper to have them be separate doctrinal units either. I guess one thing you could incorporate it is to do something similar to the Soviet snipers and vehicles from CoH2 where with the sniper it was randomized whether you got a male or a female sniper model (and voice), but it was functionally the exact same unit. Sort of similar with their vehicles, at least the enclosed ones, but only different voice lines in that case.
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Jul 23, 2021 19:45
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They mentioned at some point that both Germany and the Allies would get some Italian units, regular and partisan respectively. I forget the details. As for the rest, campaign lets you control an Indian artillery company too. There are also black soldiers but they are mixed in with white soldiers.
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Jul 23, 2021 20:17
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Det_no posted:They mentioned at some point that both Germany and the Allies would get some Italian units, regular and partisan respectively. I forget the details. As for the rest, campaign lets you control an Indian artillery company too. There are also black soldiers but they are mixed in with white soldiers. Germans shouldn't really have access to Italian soldiers (Italian equipment though they should probably have quite alot of here and there, as the Germans typically used whatever they could get of captured and confiscated equipment throughout the war) outside of Sicily in the Italian campaign, though I realize how you can't really enforce that, especially not in skirmish. Allied forces also included Italian units (I think alot of these were rearmed with British equipment) after the invasion of mainland Italy and the surrender of the Italian government and army.
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Jul 23, 2021 20:23
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Devs released a "Gameplay Overview" document where they detail where they are going with things: https://community.companyofheroes.c...overview?page=1 Things to note: quote:Destruction 2.0 So doctrines have either or choices now. Doesn't feel like a huuuuge change but at least doctrines should be more versatile now.
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Jul 26, 2021 07:25
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I think COH1 and 2 are two of the best RTS games ever made so I'm super excited for this. Alpha seems promising enough to support that.
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Jul 27, 2021 13:52
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Missed this pretty good preview article posted a week or two ago. Seems like most of the coverage has been positive so far. Lots of reviewers agreeing that the widened game scope will make it an interesting departure from previous games.
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Sep 17, 2021 19:15
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New video posted about the different environments and how they will affect gameplay. Apparently building destruction can cause AoE damage to nearby squads and kill units inside the building. Pretty cool.
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Nov 8, 2021 01:19
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Bumping this because the multiplayer pre-alpha launches today; gotta register at the official site https://www.companyofheroes.com/.
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Nov 30, 2021 15:57
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Hell yeah, stoked for some comp stomps.
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Nov 30, 2021 16:09
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Did a couple compstomps and yeah it's fun, in that it's more COH, early as it is. I'll play some actual multiplayer tomorrow, but COH2 was one of the few RTS games I put any real PVP time into so I'm looking forward to it. Especially since Iron Harvest was a real non-starter and just generally kinda disappointing.
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Dec 1, 2021 02:37
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Was very excited to play but performance is pure dog poo poo. FPS hovers around 25, goes less the more I move around on the map. Playing on a 3060ti 1920x1080
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Dec 2, 2021 00:32
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Dandywalken posted:I hope the voice acting for units is as good as CoH1 Jesus, Conrad, tie yer gently caress'n laces.
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Dec 2, 2021 01:00
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FLIPADELPHIA posted:Was very excited to play but performance is pure dog poo poo. FPS hovers around 25, goes less the more I move around on the map. Hmmm, I'm on a 1070 and surprised at how well it runs for how early it is. Try locking your framerate to 60 FPS maybe? I think there was a popup suggesting that. I'm also on exclusive fullscreen instead of borderless.
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Dec 2, 2021 01:02
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Dandywalken posted:I hope the voice acting for units is as good as CoH1 I just want it to be good enough for army work.
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Dec 2, 2021 01:33
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Mordja posted:Hmmm, I'm on a 1070 and surprised at how well it runs for how early it is. Try locking your framerate to 60 FPS maybe? I think there was a popup suggesting that. I'm also on exclusive fullscreen instead of borderless. So, I tried this, didn't do anything. Switched it back, rebooted, and now I'm getting 100fps. Who knows lol Game plays well enough and they have made tanks powerful but quite expensive. Most of the skill shot abilities like satchel have been reworked to "stick" like sticky bombs, which is different but I don't mind too much. The german tanks don't seem as OP as in previous versions of the game.
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Dec 2, 2021 04:03
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Is there another beta going on right now? Last one I played I really enjoyed the new dynamic campaign.
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Dec 2, 2021 04:27
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Yes, there is a Multiplayer Alpha test running now. If you played the previous Alpha, it should be visible in your steam library for download.
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Dec 2, 2021 04:37
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FLIPADELPHIA posted:So, I tried this, didn't do anything. Switched it back, rebooted, and now I'm getting 100fps. Who knows lol As an exclusively Sov/UK player in COH2, lord knows I'm not complaining. Tho I can see bazookas gething nerfed a bit, those guys can really chase down and nail a panzer. Didn't realize satchels were sticky, actually, good to know.
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Dec 2, 2021 04:41
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FLIPADELPHIA posted:Yes, there is a Multiplayer Alpha test running now. If you played the previous Alpha, it should be visible in your steam library for download. Thanks! Looks like it's still there.
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Dec 2, 2021 04:58
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