Company of Heroes 2

[Brother Oni]

Apparently Relic have announced they're working on Company of Heroes 2 to be released 2013.

There's an article in PC Gamer magazine which goes into more detail, but from screenshots of the article, they're going to be covering the Eastern front of WWII with the player taking the part of the Russians.

Snow is going to be procedurally created, so it can be dynamically deformed by tanks rolling over it, thick snow drifts impede infantry movement or provide cover, etc.

Finally, it looks like there's going to be 'true line of sight' implemented, where you're restricted to what your soldiers can see. How this differs exactly from the current fog of war system isn't clear.

[Ailurus]

Finally, it looks like there's going to be 'true line of sight' implemented, where you're restricted to what your soldiers can see. How this differs exactly from the current fog of war system isn't clear.

If its an actual LoS system, that would be cool. (For example, if you station a machine gun team in a building looking out the window, they can only see out the window, rather than the usual 'you can see everything within x feet around you regardless of what direction your facing and/or morning').

That said, here's hoping they don't go for the same silly route they did before with requiring a whole bunch of hoops to be jumped through to play it in offline mode.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

If its an actual LoS system, that would be cool. (For example, if you station a machine gun team in a building looking out the window, they can only see out the window, rather than the usual 'you can see everything within x feet around you regardless of what direction your facing and/or morning').

That said, here's hoping they don't go for the same silly route they did before with requiring a whole bunch of hoops to be jumped through to play it in offline mode.

Aye, I do hope they make offline play easier.

I'm very excited about this though. Company of Heroes is one of my favourite games!

[GolemsVoice]

Yep, looking forward to this! Also, what Ailurus and Brother Oni said.

One thing I hope they fix is how accuracy works. Because two units with rifles who are both in heavy cover can shoot each other for almost forever with little effect.

[psilontech]

I just remembered I bought the original for a couple of bucks on Steam years and years ago and have COMPLETELY forgotten to play it. Haven't even downloaded it.

I'll probably hack to check it out now. Anything about the original I should know before going in? Needed mods, fanpatches and the like?

[GolemsVoice]

I think there are some mods, I've heard of one that introduces the eastern front and the red army, but other than that, I think you're good to go with just the main game. If you don't have it yet I suggest you get Opposing Fronts, the campaigns are really good, and you get to play the German side, too.

[Leon]

Eastern Front is good. Adds Red Army as well as a some nifty changes for everyone else.

[Brother Oni]

One thing I hope they fix is how accuracy works. Because two units with rifles who are both in heavy cover can shoot each other for almost forever with little effect.

With the exception of sharpshooters/snipers, that's actually accurate due to the comparatively low RoF of the rifles they used. From what I remember of military doctrine at the time, you needed to bring up the SAW to kill the enemy while your riflemen suppressed them.

This probably also intentionally enforces the game's mechanic of flanking your opponents or using suitable weapons (grenades, snipers, mortars, artillery, flamethrowers etc) to push out or kill infantry in heavy cover.

Whether they decide to do a gameplay over realism decision is up to them, but given their apparent focus on realism, plus the comparatively poor training of Russian conscripts compared to other Allied troops, I don't think they'll be addressing your accuracy concern.

If you don't have it yet I suggest you get Opposing Fronts, the campaigns are really good, and you get to play the German side, too.

Presumably you've got the German language version so you won't be able to tell, but can I ask whether you prefer listening to the Wehrmacht/Panzer Elite soldiers' chatter in faux-German accented English, badly accented German or native German?
The voice work for CoH seems to be quite good, but I'd like the opinion of an actual native speaker (I only know a bit of German from school).

I generally find badly done fake accent English to be really annoying and sometimes a little racist depending on the group they're sterotyping, especially if you know what their accented English actually sounds like.

[GolemsVoice]

This probably also intentionally enforces the game's mechanic of flanking your opponents or using suitable weapons (grenades, snipers, mortars, artillery, flamethrowers etc) to push out or kill infantry in heavy cover.

Whether they decide to do a gameplay over realism decision is up to them, but given their apparent focus on realism, plus the comparatively poor training of Russian conscripts compared to other Allied troops, I don't think they'll be addressing your accuracy concern.

I meant even in the normal game, but yeah, you're probably right. It's not a big deal, really, it's just sometimes strange to see troops eschange a cartload of shots across a 5 metre street. But yeah, I guess it's realistic, so I think I'm ok with that, come to think of it.

Presumably you've got the German language version so you won't be able to tell, but can I ask whether you prefer listening to the Wehrmacht/Panzer Elite soldiers' chatter in faux-German accented English, badly accented German or native German?
The voice work for CoH seems to be quite good, but I'd like the opinion of an actual native speaker (I only know a bit of German from school).

I've got the German version, but I've just listened to the Wehrmacht soundfiles comparison English/German. The English "German" is hilarious, and I usually find "ze German akzent" very funny, but I think it detracts from the fairly realistic and "neutral" feel of CoH. Because while the English voices are funny, they all sound either like fat German soldiers from some world-war comedy, or like "Herr Oberst" from some "Evil-Nazi" propaganda movie.

The Schwimmwagen and the Volksgrenadiere are particulary grating. While the lines per se are funny as hell (apparently Volksgrenadier are barly able to walk two metres straight without supervision), the German lines sound more serious and even better. If you use German phrases, and that's ok, at least use the RIGHT phrases. It's basically like American soldiers shouting "USA! We are fist von Uncle Sam's!"

Greatest lines: "One of our officers is kaputt!"
"Now I've practiced for so long and I'm still walking around like ungelernte Arbeiter (unskilled labourer)"
"Do you think this is Kinderparty?"
"This Halftrack smells like Volksgrenadier"