Company of Heroes

[Lord Herman]

I've started playing CoH again. This time, I'm focusing on the Americans rather than the Brits, and it turns out I'm quite good with them. Seems like mobility is my thing after all - it's great to be able to drop paratroops all over the map and foil the enemy at every move he tries to make. And then paradrop into his base and satchel charge every gorram thing.

So, does anyone else play Company of Heroes? What faction do you play most? Any good tactics or war stories to share?


List of Players
Godivos (warty goblin)
HerrHermann (Lord Herman)
LordDarthPaul (Dumbledore lives)

Just post your username in this thread to have it added to the list. And feel free to add these people to your friends list in game!

[warty goblin]

I'm more or less evenly split between the Brits and the Panzer Elite at the moment, because I just got the expansion and want to try everything out. With the British I usually go either Royal Artillery or Royal Engineers, while as PE I nearly always go Tank Destroyer- Jagdpanthers are just hard to say no too.

[Lord Herman]

I like the big tanks too, but my playstyle often means I have more use for elite infantry such as paratroopers, rangers, and fallschirmjäger. So I usually pick airborne or luftwaffe, and sometimes infantry. Commandos are nifty too.

Still, big tanks are fun, so I sometimes go for one of the armour doctrines. I just wish I was better at the American armoured company - they're pretty fun to play, but they're hard to play in the early game, and it takes so long to get to Pershings.

[Zenos]

I often tend to walk around with 2 units of wolksgrenadiers, 2 units of grenadiers with AT guns and lots of knight's cross, all elite of course.

[Dumbledore lives]

Tanks, lots of tanks. Panzers by the boatload. Maybe a few infantry units just in case. I quite like the Terror Doctrine, but when I play the Americans I always use the Tank doctrine, the ability for light vehicles to take over points is just so useful.

[Fri]

I'm more a ranger person. I mainly use America with the infantry doctrine, pairing squads of ranger with a tank or a light vehicle to maneuver and flank my enemy. They're fast, versatile, and can stand against a lot of things. I just left things that my rangers can't deal to the vehicle pair.

OF course that means I'm usually too absorbed into micromanaging my veteran ranger squad and leaving my base open to attack.

[Ronsian]

I used to play it, until I realized how un-balanced it was. PE is easy button, and American is fighting up-hill both ways. Brits make the game feel like work, and the only remotely fair match-up is American-Wehr. Even then, Wehr medic bunker gives vet 3 grens out the wazoo, while the american veteran squads die left and right. That being said, I think it is one of the best strategy games ever. If only the balance was better.

[Mr. Mud]

I used to play it, until I realized how un-balanced it was. PE is easy button, and American is fighting up-hill both ways. Brits make the game feel like work, and the only remotely fair match-up is American-Wehr. Even then, Wehr medic bunker gives vet 3 grens out the wazoo, while the american veteran squads die left and right. That being said, I think it is one of the best strategy games ever. If only the balance was better.

Fair enough, but I think you're just bitter since I tiger-tank rushed you to death... several times :amused:.

[BRC]

I like playing as the brits, if only because I like nothing more than sitting behind defenses and pulverizing the rest of the map with artillery.


That said, my favorite story is the time I killed a German turret with a scout flight. The turret shot the plane down, causing it to crash right on top of the turret, killing it. Fun Times!

[warty goblin]

I like playing as the brits, if only because I like nothing more than sitting behind defenses and pulverizing the rest of the map with artillery.


That said, my favorite story is the time I killed a German turret with a scout flight. The turret shot the plane down, causing it to crash right on top of the turret, killing it. Fun Times!

Indeed, you can do amazing things with a Vickers nest backed up by a 17pdr. AT gun. Add some barbed wire and pretty much nothing can get through without heavy losses. Season with 25pdr. mortar fire to taste. I once used this to bottle up a map so tight that the enemy literally couldn't get within sight of my line without facing immediate destruction. I built so many defenses and howitzer emplacements that I used up a good 2/3 of my population cap, and basically used my infantry/armor solely as artillery spotters.

[BRC]

Also, when you have enough artillery (Read, YOU ARE PLAYING THE BRITISH), victor target=win.

[Zenos]

It seems I NEED to get that Opposing Fronts expansion.

[warty goblin]

It seems I NEED to get that Opposing Fronts expansion.

Yes you do. CoH without OF is great. CoH with OF is, well it is rather hard to describe. It feels like you can do anything you want, as long as you make the right choices about faction and command tree. Airstrikes, artillery like no RTS I have ever played before has done it (counterbattery and creeping barrage, why the hell hasn't anybody thought of this before?), mechanized Blitzcrieg, defensive and offensive biased sides, it's all there.

The weird thing that took me some time to put my finger on is that the new factions aren't exactly as they first seem. The Panzer Elite for example seems like it is all about rapid offense, and in many ways it is. What makes it different from your standard zerg rushing race is that you are always outnumbered and much of the time outgunned. You don't attack and defend, because you can never afford to defend, you attack because it is all you can do. It is in short an offensive army that you end up playing very defensively, while rushing all around the map on wild assaults.

[Zenos]

Yes you do. CoH without OF is great. CoH with OF is, well it is rather hard to describe. It feels like you can do anything you want, as long as you make the right choices about faction and command tree. Airstrikes, artillery like no RTS I have ever played before has done it (counterbattery and creeping barrage, why the hell hasn't anybody thought of this before?), mechanized Blitzcrieg, defensive and offensive biased sides, it's all there.

The weird thing that took me some time to put my finger on is that the new factions aren't exactly as they first seem. The Panzer Elite for example seems like it is all about rapid offense, and in many ways it is. What makes it different from your standard zerg rushing race is that you are always outnumbered and much of the time outgunned. You don't attack and defend, because you can never afford to defend, you attack because it is all you can do. It is in short an offensive army that you end up playing very defensively, while rushing all around the map on wild assaults.

Now that is interesting. *drools all over keyboard*.

[BRC]

Yes you do. CoH without OF is great. CoH with OF is, well it is rather hard to describe. It feels like you can do anything you want, as long as you make the right choices about faction and command tree. Airstrikes, artillery like no RTS I have ever played before has done it (counterbattery and creeping barrage, why the hell hasn't anybody thought of this before?), mechanized Blitzcrieg, defensive and offensive biased sides, it's all there.


CoH was really the first Ranged based RTS i'd ever played. Even RTS's without melee units still seemed to be based off a melee model, guys smack each other, and some guys smack each other at a distance. This means that you get games like Warcraft III where a Mortar Team has the "Outstanding" range of Twenty or so feet.
Most RTS's had everything based off, to use WC terms, A footman. Every unit was the footman with different numbers, sometimes it had a ranged attack, somtimes it had nifty tricks, but it was still a footmen. Every unit followed, more or less, the same rules. Oh sure a certain type of attack might be more effective against a certain type of unit, but it wasn't a necessity. A Tank was just a really tough infantryman.

CoH mixed it up, in CoH a tank is a friggen tank. When a tank shows up you think "Oh Shi-", you CANNOT kill it by simply having enough infantry unless those infantry have anti-tank weapons. This means that when you do kill a tank, when you use a squad as bait to lure it into position so your ranger squad can take a potshot at it's rear armor, or you trick it into crossing over some land mines, or you watch it explode against a hail of punishing AT fire, you feel like you've achieved something. You have slain the beast, and you walk away from its smoldering corpse feeling like a badass. Tanks arn't infantrymen with bigger numbers, they follow very different rules.


This same thing is why artillery is so awsome in CoH. In many RTS's Ive played, Artillery is just a slow firing ranged unit with AoE and a longer range than normal. It can't do anything you couldn't really do by getting a bunch of other dudes a little closer. In CoH artillery plays by it's own rules. Rule one, if I can see it, I can pulverize it and everything around it. When playing as the british you take a look at your artillery firing range and you say "Yeah, I control this territory, and anybody who disagrees will receive twenty five pounds of persuasive argument in the face." In CoH Artillery isn't just a bigger gun that you kill buildings with.

[Zenos]

Actually, a hobby of mine when playing a CoH map is to completely flatten the french countryside :smallbiggrin:.

[Lord Herman]

I was just thinking; maybe we could exchange Relic Online usernames and arrange some matches? Anyone up for that?

edit: My username is HerrHermann (Someone stole LordHerman! Grr!), so you can add me to your friends list if you want.

[warty goblin]

I was just thinking; maybe we could exchange Relic Online usernames and arrange some matches? Anyone up for that?

edit: My username is HerrHermann (Someone stole LordHerman! Grr!), so you can add me to your friends list if you want.

Sounds interesting, mine is Godivos.

[Lord Herman]

Yay! Would you mind if I add your username to a list in the OP? That way, other CoH players can easily add everyone from GitP to their friends list.

[warty goblin]

Yay! Would you mind if I add your username to a list in the OP? That way, other CoH players can easily add everyone from GitP to their friends list.

Go right ahead, though keep in mind I've never played an RTS in MP before.

[Lord Herman]

Hmm, I can't seem to find you (or myself, for that matter) in the player search thingie. I suspect it only finds people who've actually played a game online.

[warty goblin]

Hmm, I can't seem to find you (or myself, for that matter) in the player search thingie. I suspect it only finds people who've actually played a game online.

You are ahead of me, I can't even find the player search thingy.

I've got some time right about now- you wanna play a quick game, then see if that fixes the friend list issues?

[Lord Herman]

I was just about to PM you to arrange a game :smallsmile:

If I'm not mistaken, you can add people to your friends list from the lobby, so that should at least get us on each others' friends list.

I'll host a game. The name will be GiantITP, and the password will be the same. I'll see you there, if everything works like it should.

[warty goblin]

I was just about to PM you to arrange a game :smallsmile:

If I'm not mistaken, you can add people to your friends list from the lobby, so that should at least get us on each others' friends list.

I'll host a game. The name will be GiantITP, and the password will be the same. I'll see you there, if everything works like it should.

Cool, I'll go look for the game now, and see you in France!

[Lord Herman]

That was fun! Playing CoH multiplayer is actually quite different from playing with or against the AI - your enemy or ally actually behaves intelligently, and as a team, you can also use some team tactics.

If anyone wants to play a match of CoH, just PM me when I'm online.

[warty goblin]

That was fun! Playing CoH multiplayer is actually quite different from playing with or against the AI - your enemy or ally actually behaves intelligently, and as a team, you can also use some team tactics.

If anyone wants to play a match of CoH, just PM me when I'm online.

Agreed, although it confirmed my suspicions that I suck.

Also I was screwing around in single player after work tonight as the PE against Americans, who went Airborne. To counter this I rolled Luftwaffe, and got one of those nifty little quad barrelled AA guns built in a central location. Moments later it came under attack by a Sherman Croc, which was repulsed by my Panzerschreck weilding soldiers. To cover the retreat of the damaged tank, the AI flew a strafing run over my infantry. The AA gun fired- I swear- one shot, which caused the fighter to burst into flames and crash down into the enemy base. A moment later a flaming, out of control Sherman Croc zig-zagged out of the base and exploded. That's right folks, the AI's plane killed their tank!

[Dumbledore lives]

Right well my user name is LordDarthPaul. It'd be annoying to arrange a game but if we could it would be awesome. Though right now it seems that I suck I'm getting better.

[Lord Herman]

Agreed, although it confirmed my suspicions that I suck.

Don't worry about it. Although I did win both 1v1s, I found you quite the challenge, especially the second time. With a bit more practice, I have no doubt you could beat me.

Also, cloak your PAK 38s. They do more damage when they fire from an ambush position. That, and I would have been less careful with my M8s if I hadn't seen those AT guns.


Also I was screwing around in single player after work tonight as the PE against Americans, who went Airborne. To counter this I rolled Luftwaffe, and got one of those nifty little quad barrelled AA guns built in a central location. Moments later it came under attack by a Sherman Croc, which was repulsed by my Panzerschreck weilding soldiers. To cover the retreat of the damaged tank, the AI flew a strafing run over my infantry. The AA gun fired- I swear- one shot, which caused the fighter to burst into flames and crash down into the enemy base. A moment later a flaming, out of control Sherman Croc zig-zagged out of the base and exploded. That's right folks, the AI's plane killed their tank!

Awesome :smallbiggrin:


Right well my user name is LordDarthPaul. It'd be annoying to arrange a game but if we could it would be awesome. Though right now it seems that I suck I'm getting better.

Yay, another player! Well, if you want to play, just PM me when I'm online. Arranging a game actually went pretty well between me and warty goblin, and it's even easier when you're on each others' friends list.

[warty goblin]

To all of you who havn't played CoH multiplayer yet, I'm telling you, you gotta try it. It's the first game I've actually played online in, well, ever, and it's a bundle of fun. Me and Lord Hermann have played 3 1 vs 1 games so far, and all of them have been seriously cool. The last one featured one of the best tank battles I've seen in a game, well, ever. There were explosions and shells flying and daring flanking moves (mostly his), and, in a moment that shall live forever as totally cool (at least for me), Lord Hermann's Pershing getting killed in about 30 seconds by my Jagdpanther, followed by said's death at the hands of a mob of tank destroyers.

[Fri]

Awh, I really want to play multiplayer, it sounds cool. Too bad my internet connection can't hold it.

[Lord Herman]

The last one featured one of the best tank battles I've seen in a game, well, ever. There were explosions and shells flying and daring flanking moves (mostly his), and, in a moment that shall live forever as totally cool (at least for me), Lord Hermann's Pershing getting killed in about 30 seconds by my Jagdpanther, followed by said's death at the hands of a mob of tank destroyers.

Yes, that battle was epic. You did have the upper hand for a while; those tank destroyers were a desperate last attempt at holding off the jagdpanther. My pershing was a bit of a disappointment, though - I had been saving up for the thing for quite a while, and it died almost instantly.

In fact, you did great during the early game too. You managed to take control of most of the map, and your scout cars and infantry halftracks gave me a lot of trouble before my armoured cars came out. And then you got AT halftracks and panzerschreck infantry.

All in all, it was a great game.

Edit: I thought I lost the replay when I forgot to save it at the end of our match, but apparently, CoH always saves the replay of the last game you've played as a temporary file in your replay folder, which you can rename to save it permanently. Hooray!


Awh, I really want to play multiplayer, it sounds cool. Too bad my internet connection can't hold it.

That's too bad indeed. CoH is great to play online, and although my matches against warty goblin have been really fun, the more players we have, the merrier.

[warty goblin]

Yes, that battle was epic. You did have the upper hand for a while; those tank destroyers were a desperate last attempt at holding off the jagdpanther. My pershing was a bit of a disappointment, though - I had been saving up for the thing for quite a while, and it died almost instantly.

In fact, you did great during the early game too. You managed to take control of most of the map, and your scout cars and infantry halftracks gave me a lot of trouble before my armoured cars came out. And then you got AT halftracks and panzerschreck infantry.

All in all, it was a great game.

Edit: I thought I lost the replay when I forgot to save it at the end of our match, but apparently, CoH always saves the replay of the last game you've played as a temporary file in your replay folder, which you can rename to save it permanently. Hooray!


Epic is the word. What was the final vehicle kill count for each of us, something like 19?

Yeah, at the beginning I was doing pretty well, but I was too slow to get AT stuff. The AT halftracks are well and good for support, but they really don't do much actual damage to heavy vehicles, and I only had one 'schreck squad when you hit me with your armor, which was when I fell back to my base. Fortunately I had enough command points to get the Jagdpanther, which doesn't actually cost anything besides a monsterous slice of pop cap. By the time I rolled it out though I didn't have any income left.

As for the Pershing, well, it did get kind of screwed over since it was in that narrow space and couldn't turn around when my Jagdpanther and remaining Panzerschreck squad hit it from behind. Honestly, if it had been about a half dozen meters farther back it would have done much better since I wouldn't have been able to get off two rear armor hits like that, and it could have gotten away- the Jagdpanther is slow.

[Lord Herman]

I don't think you actually get to see the statistics screen when you play a replay, so I can't tell for sure, but we both lost loads of vehicles. I did manage to keep my rifle squads alive for quite a while, retreating when they were down to two men, but I lost at least four shermans (normal and crocodile), a spoonload of M8 Greyhounds and jeeps, and two or three M10 Wolverines.

By the way, do any of you watch Tales of Heroes or any of the other CoH vidcasts? They're video replays of high-level matches with commentary by experienced players. They're very educational.

Good CoH vidcasts:
Tales of Heroes (http://www.gamefire.com/shows/tales-of-heroes.html) - The oldest and famousest vidcast, but on hiatus. They are working on a new vidcast, but it's coming very slowly. Note that the game sometimes changes radically with new patches, so the older episodes may not be very relevant anymore.
Hell-fox's Office Space Clan vidcasts (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=200955) - My favourite vidcast. There is no index of episodes, but if you search for threads by Hell-fox you'll probably find all the earlies ones.
Drophacked: Battlelines (http://www.gamereplays.org/community/index.php?showtopic=393402) - A new vidcast series. I've just started watching them, but they seem well-made with expert commentary.


Another download I recommend is Doctor Lee's german speech files. If you have the English version of CoH, this modification makes your axis units speak German instead of English with a phoney accent. Linky! (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=120920)


Edit: Gaargh! I hate Hetzers! They're way too fast and they JUST WON'T DIE!

[Lord Herman]

Warty goblin and I played another three games just now. First two matches with me playing British against warty goblin as PE, and then a match with me as Americans against warty goblin as Wehrmacht.

I had never realised how cheap Churchill tanks are in terms of command points. In the first of our latest series of matches, I managed to get a Churchill into warty goblin's base before he had any sort of anti-tank weapons.

I tried the same thing in our second match. Warty goblin countered with a panzerschreck squad, but it turns out panzerschreks don't deal nearly enough damage to deal with a Churchill (let alone two Churchills and an AVRE). We've theorised that an early Marder III or a Hetzer might be able to deal with those Churchills, but we have yet to try this.

In our last game, I went airborne, which I hadn't done in a while. I had a lot of infantry, but warty goblin used Volksgrenadiers with MP40s, which are LETHAL at close range. I don't know how many kills he managed to make with them, but I had to retreat many badly mangled rifle squads and paratroopers before a well-placed grenade took them out.

Now that I think of it, BARs might have been useful. But I went for a Crocodile - warty goblin didn't have any AT at that point, so I guessed it might come in handy. Also, I guessed my earlier attacks on his base would now put him in a position where he had to choose between countering the Croc and countering my infantry, since he couldn't possibly have enough resources (and base buildings) for both.

[warty goblin]

Yeah, those Churchills are murder on treads. That second time I even microed my 'schreck squad pretty well for a couple rear armor hits and never got one of them down below half health. Also the AVRE has insane blast damage, when you killed my Logistic Company with it the splash got the squad standing next to it as well, which is pretty big.

I think a Hetzer might have a chance, it certainly would beat up the standard Churchill without a problem, although the AVRE could give it a run for its money with the HESH round, and the Hetzer costs like 600 MP too so it's pretty expensive early game.

A Marder might have worked, particularly if I could have forced you to attack it head on, but the map (particularly the second one) was open enough that it would have been pretty easy to flank.

The Americans vs. Wehr game, yeah, I think I now love MP40s, although part of the reason you took such heavy losses was that I had the Defense Doctrine's MGs on all of my rooftops, so your squads got mad supression in and around my base, allowing the Volks to get close and unload on 'em.