CoH2 questiontime with niko, Unit Infodump

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[nikomas]

So, I got to see the alpha version today and play a couple of games at a convention, given there is no NDA to sign and I do know everyone here wants some info, I wrote a couple of things down (And got called obsessive by friends, blah). First things first, from what I played this is CoH2 in every sense of the word, it is company of heroes with an updated and improved engine, nothing less, nothing worse. It's not a DoW2 change, at least not in the gameplay department.

So, ask me anything gameplay related and I will try to answer! The great thing about conventions is that there is no NDA so yay, for now, here is a part of the notes I took, all the units and tech I could get written down and remember.

I was not allowed to select any doctrines in the game so my best bet is that doctrines for multiplayer might be a pre chosen thing like they were in CoHO, and all units did indeed arrive from off the map. General winter is also pretty harsh, units out cold die pretty fast and tanks can crash trough the ice if you mortar/demo the ice from on under them. Ice does however regenerate after a minute or two. Dense snow slows units down like water does in vcoh. Capping is also changed to a 15m circle or so around the capping point, all you need to do to cap is place the unit inside this circle and wait, you could also cap out of halftracks.

I have a lot more to say but it's easier to ask any questions for now, maybe I'll write something larger later, but for now I'll leave you with this alpha build unitlist compiled by yours truly...
FEAR MY MAD NOTE TAKING SKILLS, ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?

Germans seem to tech in phases according to what their HQ said

Panzer Grenadiers - 5man "Assault?" squad, had rifles and mp40's (Upgrade?)
Grenadiers - 4man, saw some with shrecks
Pioneers - 4man, mp40's and can have flamethrowers
MG team - think it was 3 man
Mortar team - as above
Sniper - pretty sure it's 1man, not sure about cloak, did not see the AI cloak so all cloak might be for cover now
sdkfz.221 - Like the PE scout/armoured car, cant remember if it had an mg or cannon as I only saw it once, will confirm tomorrow
Halftrack - Can upgrade with flammens according to the captured one
Pak40 - Can barely penetrate the KV-1, not sure what it does to other tanks, 3 man I think
Stug III-E - Assault gun version, short barrel, anti infantry?
Panzer 4 - The long barrel version
Panther - DNS, Was listed on enemy structure
Brummbär (Sturmpanzer IV) - DNS, Was listed on enemy structure
Elefant - DNS, Was listed on enemy structure
Panzerwerfer - DNS, Was listed on enemy structure

Russians tech via structures like ami's, all accessories grenades/demo charges were usable from the start with no visible prerequisites

Sappers - 4 man, carries rifles, can use demo charges, constructs stuff, can have flamethrowers
Conscripts - 6 man, rifles, can use AT grenades AND molotovs, can also construct sandbags, has a "Hoorah" ability, reckon it lessens suppression
Guards - 5 men, regular grenade only and can be upgraded with 2 dp-28 LMG's (with button) OR two ptrs anti tank rifles (seemed ineffective against Pz.IV)
m3a1 - DNS, Was listed but unavailable
Mg team - Russian support teams are 6 man
Mortar team - Russian support teams go "Fuck snipers", 6man
Sniper Team - 2 man, automatically and only cloaks in cover
M5 halftrack - Clowncars infantry, can be upgraded with what looked like a quad (did not buy the upgrade)
53k AT Gun, 45mm? - A light atg, never got to use it on armor, also 6 man... might have been 3 after all, need to double check this, poor snipers
t-70 - Light scout tank, can go into observation mode for more sight at expense of movement/gun
Su-76 - DNS*, Was listed but unavailable
?Su-85? - DNS, Was listed but unavailable, might have misread, but I think I saw it in the listing
T34-76 - Medium tank from the heavy depot, did not see an 85 upgrade (doctrine maybe?)
KV-1 - Basically a slower Tiger without the awesome gun... then again, in the alpha it took out a PZ.IV in 3 penetrating its, well, 4, 3rd took out the gun instead of killing. Pz.IV did bounce two of it's shots thou... For the Pz.IV's shots it was like a Sherman against a panther, lol.
Katyusha** - Fires rockets in salvos of 4 with a small 1-2sec delay between salvo, 4-5 salvos

*DNS = Did not See
**Doctrinal, Katysha Rockets were very powerful, almost like artillery shells in vcoh, higher arced than calli rockets

Offmap was an IL2 henshel like IL2 strafe circle with 1 plane circles back for a while, plane showed a healthbar



Edit, feelings after playing the demo, well, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3EOVe-8coE... That song sums it up

[LeoPhone]

describe the map(s) u played on

how did retreat work?

[nikomas]

describe the map(s) u played on

The map I played was a winter one with a large frozen river in the middle (About 10-15 Sherman in width, stretching from left to right corner of the map). The only bridge there was destroyer so the only way to cross the thing was over the frozen river however the river was more than large enough so flanking was not an issue. The russian side of the river was smaller and the german one held 2/3 VP's and a majority of the buildings so it might have been a scenario map. It was however played out like a skirmish VP match so it must either have been an assault type game mode or it was a map specifically set up for the demo as the Germans seemed to have pre-placed units in certain buildings.

It was well detailed with paths trough the forest to the side of the town, going off the paths means going trough heavy snow slowing units significantly. While on the subject the game looks very, very good.

Still, It better have been a scenario/campaign map played that was for some reason played out like a skirmish, because it would have been an incredibly unbalanced mp map IMO

how did retreat work?

Like it did before, support teams can now retreat however so the last guy on a mortar will run away like in EiRR instead of committing suicide, not sure how much it costs to get the gun back as he died from freezing to death on the way back. I'm going back to the convention tommorow so I'll give it another look.


Oh, also, as I'm going back there tomorrow you can ask me to look for anything specific, I'll try my best.

[RikiRude]

you rule niko!

[Tymathee]

lots of good stuff here btw...

http://blog.fulltimegeek.de/

and Niko's stuff is good as well, fills in some holes the other guy left out.

[Marlboroman]

6 man russian support teams and 2 man russian snipers, german snipers better be piss cheap or very powerful.

[terrapinsrock]

Nice work Niko

Nice to see Relic gave me my Elephant

[DarkSoldierX]

How is the resource system?

[Smokaz]

Will there be a ladder?

[PonySlaystation]

2 man russian snipers, german snipers better be piss cheap or very powerful.

Snipers can only cloak in cover and the Russian sniper has two men and two rifles but only 50% accuracy and there is no attack move on snipers. So snipers in general will work very different compared to COH1. They will be less powerful but still useful, like other support weapons. They will be defensive units more than anything.

[nikomas]

How is the resource system?

The basic 3 is still in effect, however you now simply construct munition/fuel dumps to increase the generation of either at a small cost (125 for fuel dump, 80ish for manpower, not sure if either has a limit or if they have an upkeep) In turn however manpower seems to be more constricting than either of the other two, reinforcing a conscript was 20mp, a t34 450 and the kv-1 600. MP income sat at around 220 for most of the game but I did not check it constantly. I will double check this tomorrow as well.

Will there be a ladder?

Ladder I don't know, as I never got to see any menu stuff... (The client booted straight into the demo)
But really, what competitive multiplier game doesn't have a ladder these days? I'd be amazed if they didn't.



And pony, where did you get the 50% accuracy value from? I thought it was 1 sniper and a spotter? I only used the sniper once thou so that's another thing I'm double checking tomorrow. Besides, his complaint was not that the sniper was bad, it's that sniping a 5 men to death is nigh impossible before support shows up, and he is right.

[Tymathee]

goodness, love the 6 man support teams lol looks like thats going to be the russians strength, 120mm mortars <3 and i think they're supposed to have a towable Maxim, which explains the 6 men.

[nikomas]

goodness, love the 6 man support teams lol looks like thats going to be the russians strength, 120mm mortars <3 and i think they're supposed to have a towable Maxim, which explains the 6 men.

Yeah it looks a little funny, he doesn't carry it packs it up and drives it around on two wheels kind of like a lawnmower

[PonySlaystation]

And pony, where did you get the 50% accuracy value from? I thought it was 1 sniper and a spotter? I only used the sniper once thou so that's another thing I'm double checking tomorrow. Besides, his complaint was not that the sniper was bad, it's that sniping a 5 men to death is nigh impossible before support shows up, and he is right.

I read a post from someone who had playtested the alpha. Anyways it's not important, it could just as well be one spotter and one sniper. The important part is that snipers will only be able to cloak in cover and can't attack move. Which is better because the Sniper will be primarily a defensive unit like the HMG and Mortar but can also be used offensively but that will then require more micromanagement and coordination. Unlike COH1 where you can just cloak anywhere and attack move to round up kills at max range.

BTW, the "Oohrah!" ability is sprint, not fire up. There will be no fire-up abilities in COH2. Button will be returning but will be less powerful.

[nikomas]

Pretty sure the hoorah does more than just sprint pony, but I'll double check that again tomorrow.

[Vermillion_Hawk]

Hoorah increases speed, gives a marginal bonus to accuracy and reduces suppression resistance, but does NOT break suppression.

[terrapinsrock]

How bout artillery, is Axis getting any new types of Artillery units?

and did they mention anything about multiplayer?

[nikomas]

Well, heard a lot of the stuff I said might be off a bit, guess that's the hazzard of older alpha builds... Well, even if all I wrote down is not entierly up to date the game still looks very promising, I can tell you that much at the very least.

[PonySlaystation]

How bout artillery, is Axis getting any new types of Artillery units?

He did mention the Panzerwerfer. It's basically a 10-rocket nebelwerfer on a truck.

[PonySlaystation]

I thought it was 1 sniper and a spotter?

http://tinyurl.com/cv59k9n