COH2 FAQ
Well, well, well. I hear you have been asking questions. And if I have heard it, it is only a matter of time until the NKVD also hears it. Is the glory of Mother Russia not reason enough for you to fight, hmm?
Still, I suppose I would rather fight beside men who know something than those who know nothing. Quickly now, comrade. Ask your questions, and I will answer as best I can in these troubled times.
Still, I suppose I would rather fight beside men who know something than those who know nothing. Quickly now, comrade. Ask your questions, and I will answer as best I can in these troubled times.
Patches, Bugs, and Hacks
Q: Where can I find the latest official patch notes?
A: Official patch notes are posted here on the official COH2 forums.
You can also find another copy of the complete patch history here in the COH2.ORG forums.
Be aware that, for whatever reason, not all changes are always documented. These are often referred to as 'ninja changes' by the community.
Q: I would like to discuss/report a bug. Where do I go?
A:
Minor Bugs
If you think it is a minor bug and would like to know more, discuss it in the COH2.ORG Bugs sub-forum or the official COH2 forums. Please note you should assume that Relic do not read COH2.ORG forums anymore.
Major Bugs
If you have found a major game-breaking bug (i.e. vehicle stacking), please don't post it in public until you have notified Relic and they have had appropriate time to create a patch and test it (Note: Relic do not work on weekends). Otherwise you will only make the game worse for yourself and everyone else.
Send your major bug (with video or replay evidence, if possible) via private message to Kyle_RE on COH2.ORG, or a public message on the official COH2 forums.
Note that if you are a reporting a bug that is deemed to be highly game-breaking and exploitative, COH2.ORG site administrators may take steps to prevent its exposure until it has been reported to Relic and fixed. More information available in the site rules here.
Q: Does cheating exist in COH2?
A: There are only two likely types of cheating in COH2: Map hacking (no fog of war), and forcing sync errors. This is because every match is run and mediated by dedicated servers ("Battle Servers"). Therefore no cheat can force the game to do or add something that the server can't do. Map hacking simply reveals information that already exists in the game, and any player who interrupts their connection will be the only one affected as the server will not wait for people with bad connections.
If you suspect map hacking, be sure to watch the replay from your opponents perspective with fog of war on. There are a large number of cloaked units and special abilities in this game that may have revealed your position without you knowing. Many units can also be heard or indirectly seen (such as crushing animations) through the fog of war by experienced players.
Relic do have anti-cheat detection on their servers and have enacted waves of bans from time to time.
Forcing sync errors is probably possible, but each player account has a trust rating that will be used to arbitrate the result of any undecided match. People who force sync errors will almost certainly have more against their account than you. Therefore, if you check your leaderboard statistics a few minutes later, you should usually find that you were awarded the win anyway, even if a Defeat screen told you otherwise.
Q: How can I report/accuse a hacker/cheater?
A: From the COH2.ORG site rules:
Cheating is absolutely not allowed and anyone found to be cheating, publicly accusing others of cheating, or posting links to third party cheats, will be removed. Please report cheating directly to Relic via email: enforcement@relic.com. If you are not sure about whether or not you should post something on COH2.ORG, it's always best to PM a COH2.ORG Admin to ask first.
Relic do have anti-cheat detection on their servers and have enacted waves of bans from time to time.
A: Official patch notes are posted here on the official COH2 forums.
You can also find another copy of the complete patch history here in the COH2.ORG forums.
Be aware that, for whatever reason, not all changes are always documented. These are often referred to as 'ninja changes' by the community.
Q: I would like to discuss/report a bug. Where do I go?
A:
Minor Bugs
If you think it is a minor bug and would like to know more, discuss it in the COH2.ORG Bugs sub-forum or the official COH2 forums. Please note you should assume that Relic do not read COH2.ORG forums anymore.
Major Bugs
If you have found a major game-breaking bug (i.e. vehicle stacking), please don't post it in public until you have notified Relic and they have had appropriate time to create a patch and test it (Note: Relic do not work on weekends). Otherwise you will only make the game worse for yourself and everyone else.
Send your major bug (with video or replay evidence, if possible) via private message to Kyle_RE on COH2.ORG, or a public message on the official COH2 forums.
Note that if you are a reporting a bug that is deemed to be highly game-breaking and exploitative, COH2.ORG site administrators may take steps to prevent its exposure until it has been reported to Relic and fixed. More information available in the site rules here.
Q: Does cheating exist in COH2?
A: There are only two likely types of cheating in COH2: Map hacking (no fog of war), and forcing sync errors. This is because every match is run and mediated by dedicated servers ("Battle Servers"). Therefore no cheat can force the game to do or add something that the server can't do. Map hacking simply reveals information that already exists in the game, and any player who interrupts their connection will be the only one affected as the server will not wait for people with bad connections.
If you suspect map hacking, be sure to watch the replay from your opponents perspective with fog of war on. There are a large number of cloaked units and special abilities in this game that may have revealed your position without you knowing. Many units can also be heard or indirectly seen (such as crushing animations) through the fog of war by experienced players.
Relic do have anti-cheat detection on their servers and have enacted waves of bans from time to time.
Forcing sync errors is probably possible, but each player account has a trust rating that will be used to arbitrate the result of any undecided match. People who force sync errors will almost certainly have more against their account than you. Therefore, if you check your leaderboard statistics a few minutes later, you should usually find that you were awarded the win anyway, even if a Defeat screen told you otherwise.
Q: How can I report/accuse a hacker/cheater?
A: From the COH2.ORG site rules:
Cheating is absolutely not allowed and anyone found to be cheating, publicly accusing others of cheating, or posting links to third party cheats, will be removed. Please report cheating directly to Relic via email: enforcement@relic.com. If you are not sure about whether or not you should post something on COH2.ORG, it's always best to PM a COH2.ORG Admin to ask first.
Relic do have anti-cheat detection on their servers and have enacted waves of bans from time to time.
Performance and Configuration
Q: My game is crashing, having error messages, or being slow. How can I fix it?
A: See this guide: COH2 System Performance Guide
Note: COH2's code is heavily dependent on CPU but often can't use more than 30%-40% of a 4-core Intel Core i7. Improving your CPU (Intel, with 4 cores at the highest clock speeds you can afford) is likely to be the best way to improve performance on any modern computer, but you can only do so much unless Relic find resources to improve the engine. See section 3.1 in the above guide for more information.
Q: Windowed Mode and Other Launch Options
A: You can switch between windowed mode and full screen at any time by press alt + enter. This appears produce less problems than using alt + tab.
To set automatic launch options, right-click on Company of Heroes 2 in your Steam Library, and select Properties. Then click on Launch Options.
You can use any combination of the following launch options:
-window
Runs in windowed mode.
–fullwindow
Matches size of monitor as best it can, even in windowed mode
-nomovies
Skips the into scenes so you can start playing faster.
-forceactive
Makes sound continue to play in the background, so if you alt + enter/tab while automatching, you know when you’ve been matched by the sound.
-lockMouse
Makes it so that your cursor is “locked” into the game screen. Very useful for multi monitor setups so you can still use edge scrolling in windowed mode.
Q: Can I be affected by another player's lag or ping?
A: No. COH2 has used dedicated servers (aka Battleservers) for a long time. Any lag or high ping you experience should be completely between you and the servers (most likely based in the US). The server will continue to run the game at the same speed as long as one player is still connected. This game engine does often experience brief random lag for no apparent reason, so this may be what people are attributing to the other player.
You can also attempt to remove persistent connection problems at your end by replacing wireless connections with cables, and experimenting with a different computer/router, if possible. You should also make sure your computer is optimised if maintenance isn't your strong point.
Q: How can I see my ping to my Battle Server?
A: This is a function found in CELO (Company of ELO)
A: See this guide: COH2 System Performance Guide
Note: COH2's code is heavily dependent on CPU but often can't use more than 30%-40% of a 4-core Intel Core i7. Improving your CPU (Intel, with 4 cores at the highest clock speeds you can afford) is likely to be the best way to improve performance on any modern computer, but you can only do so much unless Relic find resources to improve the engine. See section 3.1 in the above guide for more information.
Q: Windowed Mode and Other Launch Options
A: You can switch between windowed mode and full screen at any time by press alt + enter. This appears produce less problems than using alt + tab.
To set automatic launch options, right-click on Company of Heroes 2 in your Steam Library, and select Properties. Then click on Launch Options.
You can use any combination of the following launch options:
-window
Runs in windowed mode.
–fullwindow
Matches size of monitor as best it can, even in windowed mode
-nomovies
Skips the into scenes so you can start playing faster.
-forceactive
Makes sound continue to play in the background, so if you alt + enter/tab while automatching, you know when you’ve been matched by the sound.
-lockMouse
Makes it so that your cursor is “locked” into the game screen. Very useful for multi monitor setups so you can still use edge scrolling in windowed mode.
Q: Can I be affected by another player's lag or ping?
A: No. COH2 has used dedicated servers (aka Battleservers) for a long time. Any lag or high ping you experience should be completely between you and the servers (most likely based in the US). The server will continue to run the game at the same speed as long as one player is still connected. This game engine does often experience brief random lag for no apparent reason, so this may be what people are attributing to the other player.
You can also attempt to remove persistent connection problems at your end by replacing wireless connections with cables, and experimenting with a different computer/router, if possible. You should also make sure your computer is optimised if maintenance isn't your strong point.
Q: How can I see my ping to my Battle Server?
A: This is a function found in CELO (Company of ELO)
Game Features
Q: What do levels and ranks mean?
A: COH2 has 3 ranks/levels:
XP Level
The level shown on your faceplate is based purely on XP points as you play any match (AI, custom, or automatch) and is largely just a reflection of how long you've been playing this game. It can go up to 300 (100 levels per star of 'prestige', to a maximum of 3 stars).
Leaderboard Rank
This rank can be found on the leaderboards. Your position is determined by how your hidden ELO-type score compares to others. No one can have the same rank as you on any given ladder. The highest rank is 1, with the lowest rank being determined by the number of active players.
The hidden ELO score will go up or down with each win or loss, depending on the difference between your and your opponent's ELO. Your rank will change if your ELO score becomes lower or higher than the other players around you on the ladder. If you lose to an opponent with a much higher score than yours, your rank won't go down by much. If you defeat someone with a much higher score than you, your rank will increase substantially.
You will not have a viewable rank in any given ladder until you play 10 'placement' games against random opponents to determine your approximate skill level.
There is a separate ladder for every permutation of team size and 1v1 faction or 2v2+ team (Allies or Axis). If a player or team is not active in one or more of their ladders for 2 weeks, their rank will supposedly begin to decay (although this has not been proven). After 4 weeks with no games in a particular ladder rank, players are hidden from the leaderboard view. Playing a game will return a player to viewable.
Note: Your ladder rank is only a useful reflection of your ability against other players in that same ladder. Other ladders may not have as many active players, and faction gameplay balance will always vary.
Leaderboard Level
Your level (shown on your player card above your commanders when in a game lobby, and in the middle of the screen at the end of a match if you get promoted) is the most recent addition to the game. It is derived from your relative position on the ladder, on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 20 (highest). Many people will share your rank, but it gives you a good indication of your skill group level relative to the rest of that specific ladder.
For a detailed overview of how ladders work, read this article on 1v1 matchmaking.
Q: How can I see other player's ladder ranks at the beginning of the match?
A: Try CELO (Company of ELO) by SturmTigerNeffarion.
Q: How can I see my ally's/enemy's commanders in-game?
A: You can view your ally's commander in-game (once they have chosen one) by toggling the player list button on the top left of your minimap.
Unfortunately, enemy commanders can only be viewed in the loading screen. Therefore you should switch to the game as soon as you get a match. Hover your mouse over them to see the abilities of each and try to memorise unique abilities or units from each so you can determine their choice in-game when you see one of those.
Since the loading screen is laggy and only viewable for a short amount of time, it would be ideal for Relic to display all 3 possible commanders for each enemy player in the in-game player list as well, but this is yet to happen.
Q: The game has been patched and all my replays have disappeared. How can I play them?
A: Depending on how much of the patch changed multiplayer rules, you may be able to still play them. http://www.coh2.org/topic/29774/how-to-make-old-replays-work
Q: This game is rated Mature and the units swear all the time, so why is chat censored?
A: The censorship is not about swearing per se, but rather about limiting abusive behaviour by some players that undermines the fun of the game.
Unfortunately, the integration of Steam chat into the game, while providing many convenient community features, is apparently very hard for Relic to modify. Consequently, they say they can't currently add a feature to let you simply hide or 'mute' chat from abusive players, and that this is the best they can do.
The censorship is a first step to resolve this limitation. An option to at least disable/enable it for those who desire may become available in the future.
Q: Why am I getting matched against players who are much better/worse?
A: Relic changed how matchmaking works in early 2016. It will often take longer, but supposedly produce better matches now.
Excellent matchmaking requires an extremely high number of players searching at any one time. Due to average match lengths, time zones, and varying game popularity this is rarely possible. Also, for reasons discussed in the levels and ranks section, ranks between different factions don't always correspond perfectly.
The best time zones to play are likely those that match up with North America and Europe after work hours, or on weekends. Google can help you convert time zones.
Matched against someone of a very low rank? Use this opportunity to experiment with units you might not usually use, and perhaps help them with some friendly suggestions to keep them interested in the game.
Matched against someone of a very high rank? Save the replay and learn from their strategies. You might be surprised at how quickly your game improves.
Q: Why do arranged teams get matched up with random teams?
A: As mentioned above, the player pool size does not adequately allow for separate pools. Relic tried it in COH1 and it involved frustrating amounts of time spent waiting for a game. Playing a mismatched game is still more fun than playing no game.
4v4 mode particularly suffers from this as it can be very difficult to get the same 4 players together regularly enough to even reach the 10 placement matches required to get a rank.
Q: Can I change key bindings in COH2?
A: COH2 does not natively support key bindings, but there are several guides out there, such as this one, on how to use a third-party program such as AutoHotKey.
A: COH2 has 3 ranks/levels:
XP Level
The level shown on your faceplate is based purely on XP points as you play any match (AI, custom, or automatch) and is largely just a reflection of how long you've been playing this game. It can go up to 300 (100 levels per star of 'prestige', to a maximum of 3 stars).
Leaderboard Rank
This rank can be found on the leaderboards. Your position is determined by how your hidden ELO-type score compares to others. No one can have the same rank as you on any given ladder. The highest rank is 1, with the lowest rank being determined by the number of active players.
The hidden ELO score will go up or down with each win or loss, depending on the difference between your and your opponent's ELO. Your rank will change if your ELO score becomes lower or higher than the other players around you on the ladder. If you lose to an opponent with a much higher score than yours, your rank won't go down by much. If you defeat someone with a much higher score than you, your rank will increase substantially.
You will not have a viewable rank in any given ladder until you play 10 'placement' games against random opponents to determine your approximate skill level.
There is a separate ladder for every permutation of team size and 1v1 faction or 2v2+ team (Allies or Axis). If a player or team is not active in one or more of their ladders for 2 weeks, their rank will supposedly begin to decay (although this has not been proven). After 4 weeks with no games in a particular ladder rank, players are hidden from the leaderboard view. Playing a game will return a player to viewable.
Note: Your ladder rank is only a useful reflection of your ability against other players in that same ladder. Other ladders may not have as many active players, and faction gameplay balance will always vary.
Leaderboard Level
Your level (shown on your player card above your commanders when in a game lobby, and in the middle of the screen at the end of a match if you get promoted) is the most recent addition to the game. It is derived from your relative position on the ladder, on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 20 (highest). Many people will share your rank, but it gives you a good indication of your skill group level relative to the rest of that specific ladder.
For a detailed overview of how ladders work, read this article on 1v1 matchmaking.
Q: How can I see other player's ladder ranks at the beginning of the match?
A: Try CELO (Company of ELO) by SturmTigerNeffarion.
Q: How can I see my ally's/enemy's commanders in-game?
A: You can view your ally's commander in-game (once they have chosen one) by toggling the player list button on the top left of your minimap.
Unfortunately, enemy commanders can only be viewed in the loading screen. Therefore you should switch to the game as soon as you get a match. Hover your mouse over them to see the abilities of each and try to memorise unique abilities or units from each so you can determine their choice in-game when you see one of those.
Since the loading screen is laggy and only viewable for a short amount of time, it would be ideal for Relic to display all 3 possible commanders for each enemy player in the in-game player list as well, but this is yet to happen.
Q: The game has been patched and all my replays have disappeared. How can I play them?
A: Depending on how much of the patch changed multiplayer rules, you may be able to still play them. http://www.coh2.org/topic/29774/how-to-make-old-replays-work
Q: This game is rated Mature and the units swear all the time, so why is chat censored?
A: The censorship is not about swearing per se, but rather about limiting abusive behaviour by some players that undermines the fun of the game.
Unfortunately, the integration of Steam chat into the game, while providing many convenient community features, is apparently very hard for Relic to modify. Consequently, they say they can't currently add a feature to let you simply hide or 'mute' chat from abusive players, and that this is the best they can do.
The censorship is a first step to resolve this limitation. An option to at least disable/enable it for those who desire may become available in the future.
Q: Why am I getting matched against players who are much better/worse?
A: Relic changed how matchmaking works in early 2016. It will often take longer, but supposedly produce better matches now.
Excellent matchmaking requires an extremely high number of players searching at any one time. Due to average match lengths, time zones, and varying game popularity this is rarely possible. Also, for reasons discussed in the levels and ranks section, ranks between different factions don't always correspond perfectly.
The best time zones to play are likely those that match up with North America and Europe after work hours, or on weekends. Google can help you convert time zones.
Matched against someone of a very low rank? Use this opportunity to experiment with units you might not usually use, and perhaps help them with some friendly suggestions to keep them interested in the game.
Matched against someone of a very high rank? Save the replay and learn from their strategies. You might be surprised at how quickly your game improves.
Q: Why do arranged teams get matched up with random teams?
A: As mentioned above, the player pool size does not adequately allow for separate pools. Relic tried it in COH1 and it involved frustrating amounts of time spent waiting for a game. Playing a mismatched game is still more fun than playing no game.
4v4 mode particularly suffers from this as it can be very difficult to get the same 4 players together regularly enough to even reach the 10 placement matches required to get a rank.
Q: Can I change key bindings in COH2?
A: COH2 does not natively support key bindings, but there are several guides out there, such as this one, on how to use a third-party program such as AutoHotKey.
Gameplay Mechanics
Q: Why is X not historically accurate?
A: This is a game, not a simulation. Fun gameplay mechanics come first, to the extent that even the same weapon will often operate differently on different units.
Q: Why is X unbalanced when you could just fix it by changing Y?
A: Balancing this game is harder than people often realise. The number of values involved are staggering, each with potential flow-on effects that can't easily be foreseen, particularly where creative players are involved. Balance preview mods are Relic's way of testing more radical balance changes before they go live. How Relic and Sega allocate resources to balancing will also affect the results.
You can find a blog post in which Relic explain their balancing process here: http://www.companyofheroes.com/blog/2015/03/31/all-about-balance
If you think a unit or commander isn't very good, try to find a stream or replay where a high level player uses it. You might be surprised by what is possible with a bit of micro, an underrated ability, or a bit of imagination.
You can view the win/loss rates of each faction in almost any team size and ranking at COH2 Charts. Note that these values only at best give an indirect measure of faction balance though.
Q: Why don't Relic always use Balance Mod previews or betas before releasing patches?
Balance mods use the inbuilt tuning pack mods that anyone can create. This allows anyone to test the changes in custom matches by downloading only a few megabytes.
Since balance mods only change unit attributes (e.g. movement, weapons) not all changes can be included, particularly when the game engine is changed.
Betas can be used to preview all changes, but given the substantial download size they are not worth using unless many major changes are being introduced.
Q: Relic released a beta, but I don't want to download a whole other copy of the game on my Internet connection. How can I speed up the process?
A:
Locate your Game Directory
Copy Your existing directory
Note: You will need to find out what Relic have labelled the beta's game folder as. You can ask people who have already downloaded it, or try initiating the download briefly and then using the Delete Local Files option once you know the folder name.
Copy your COH2 folder and rename it accordingly. Then when you initiate the Beta download, it should search for existing files and find most of them.
Verification
Once the download is complete, I recommend verifying the files to make sure the new ones replaced the old ones.
Q: Do tanks have side armour in this game?
A: No. The front half of every vehicle has one (higher) armour value, and the back half has the lower rear-armour value. Depending on how far forward or backward you hit the side, you'll get one of those armour values.
Angle is also not counted towards penetration. However, due to the scatter of projectiles it can indirectly help depending on how exposed the rear armour is. A completely side-on enemy vehicle has an equal chance of being hit in both rear and front armour (and using attack ground on the rear armour can improve the odds further).
Q: Does cover in COH2 affect explosive weapons?
A: Yes. Mortars or grenades that travel over green cover to hit a squad will do 50% less damage. This means that it is often not necessary to retreat a squad (to avoid a squad wipe) in that situation, although moving them to avoid damage where possible is still a good idea.
Yellow cover will not have any reducing effect on grenade or mortar damage. In fact, the density of cover positions may force your squad to clump up tighter than normal and make them vulnerable to a squad wipe.
Flamethrowers do increased and consistent damage to units in green cover and garrisons. You should attempt to engage flamethrowers only at range, in yellow cover, or on the move.
For fun and useful information on obscure mechanics like these, see Cruzz's The More You Know thread, particularly after new patches.
Q: Should I always put my squad into a building when fighting other infantry?
A: No. There are several factors you should always consider before garrisoning a building.
All buildings will provide the same green cover bonus for every unit inside as long as the building is standing, but wooden buildings will collapse very easily to grenades (especially bundled grenades) and high explosives. If a building collapses, you will lose your entire squad. Stone buildings will last for much longer.
Explosives will generally do an even amount of damage to the entire squad in a garrison, no matter how big it is. However, if the infantry models are also directly within the blast radius of the explosive, they will take that normal amount of damage on top. If the building is small enough to fit the whole squad within the size of the grenade blast, you will often lose the whole squad. It is easy to instantly exit a building before a grenade timer goes off, and then get back into the building to continue the fight, so always be ready to do so.
FYI, buildings become harder to select as they take damage, particularly from mortars. Buildings are made up of 'tiles' for damage calculations. Damaged 'tiles' stop being recognised as part of the building by your mouse even though only destroyed (and therefore invisible) ones should be.
You should avoid being in a building when facing flamethrowers due to the green cover damage bonus, unless you need to hold the buildings and can suppress or kill the flamethrower very quickly.
Finally, one of the most important things to understand about buildings is that only one infantry model will ever shoot out of each window (doors don't count). Therefore you should generally avoid being in buildings that have less than 3 windows facing the enemy.
Even with the green cover bonus, facing an enemy squad with only one soldier at a time will almost certainly cause you to lose. Only use a building with a single window if the squad in it has most of its DPS/firepower in a single weapon, such as a heavy or light machine gun. Some buildings have no windows at all on some sides, allowing enemy squads to shoot at the building while taking no damage at all. Get to know your key buildings on common maps so you don't have to think about this in the middle of a battle.
A: This is a game, not a simulation. Fun gameplay mechanics come first, to the extent that even the same weapon will often operate differently on different units.
Q: Why is X unbalanced when you could just fix it by changing Y?
A: Balancing this game is harder than people often realise. The number of values involved are staggering, each with potential flow-on effects that can't easily be foreseen, particularly where creative players are involved. Balance preview mods are Relic's way of testing more radical balance changes before they go live. How Relic and Sega allocate resources to balancing will also affect the results.
You can find a blog post in which Relic explain their balancing process here: http://www.companyofheroes.com/blog/2015/03/31/all-about-balance
If you think a unit or commander isn't very good, try to find a stream or replay where a high level player uses it. You might be surprised by what is possible with a bit of micro, an underrated ability, or a bit of imagination.
You can view the win/loss rates of each faction in almost any team size and ranking at COH2 Charts. Note that these values only at best give an indirect measure of faction balance though.
Q: Why don't Relic always use Balance Mod previews or betas before releasing patches?
Balance mods use the inbuilt tuning pack mods that anyone can create. This allows anyone to test the changes in custom matches by downloading only a few megabytes.
Since balance mods only change unit attributes (e.g. movement, weapons) not all changes can be included, particularly when the game engine is changed.
Betas can be used to preview all changes, but given the substantial download size they are not worth using unless many major changes are being introduced.
Q: Relic released a beta, but I don't want to download a whole other copy of the game on my Internet connection. How can I speed up the process?
A:
Locate your Game Directory
- In your Steam library, find Company of Heroes 2
- Right-click on it and select Properties
- Go to Local Files
- Select Browse Local Files. This will bring up the folder.
Copy Your existing directory
Note: You will need to find out what Relic have labelled the beta's game folder as. You can ask people who have already downloaded it, or try initiating the download briefly and then using the Delete Local Files option once you know the folder name.
Copy your COH2 folder and rename it accordingly. Then when you initiate the Beta download, it should search for existing files and find most of them.
Verification
Once the download is complete, I recommend verifying the files to make sure the new ones replaced the old ones.
- In your Steam library, find Company of Heroes 2
- Right-click on it and select Properties
- Go to Local Files
- Click on Verify Integrity of Game Cache
Q: Do tanks have side armour in this game?
A: No. The front half of every vehicle has one (higher) armour value, and the back half has the lower rear-armour value. Depending on how far forward or backward you hit the side, you'll get one of those armour values.
Angle is also not counted towards penetration. However, due to the scatter of projectiles it can indirectly help depending on how exposed the rear armour is. A completely side-on enemy vehicle has an equal chance of being hit in both rear and front armour (and using attack ground on the rear armour can improve the odds further).
Q: Does cover in COH2 affect explosive weapons?
A: Yes. Mortars or grenades that travel over green cover to hit a squad will do 50% less damage. This means that it is often not necessary to retreat a squad (to avoid a squad wipe) in that situation, although moving them to avoid damage where possible is still a good idea.
Yellow cover will not have any reducing effect on grenade or mortar damage. In fact, the density of cover positions may force your squad to clump up tighter than normal and make them vulnerable to a squad wipe.
Flamethrowers do increased and consistent damage to units in green cover and garrisons. You should attempt to engage flamethrowers only at range, in yellow cover, or on the move.
For fun and useful information on obscure mechanics like these, see Cruzz's The More You Know thread, particularly after new patches.
Q: Should I always put my squad into a building when fighting other infantry?
A: No. There are several factors you should always consider before garrisoning a building.
All buildings will provide the same green cover bonus for every unit inside as long as the building is standing, but wooden buildings will collapse very easily to grenades (especially bundled grenades) and high explosives. If a building collapses, you will lose your entire squad. Stone buildings will last for much longer.
Explosives will generally do an even amount of damage to the entire squad in a garrison, no matter how big it is. However, if the infantry models are also directly within the blast radius of the explosive, they will take that normal amount of damage on top. If the building is small enough to fit the whole squad within the size of the grenade blast, you will often lose the whole squad. It is easy to instantly exit a building before a grenade timer goes off, and then get back into the building to continue the fight, so always be ready to do so.
FYI, buildings become harder to select as they take damage, particularly from mortars. Buildings are made up of 'tiles' for damage calculations. Damaged 'tiles' stop being recognised as part of the building by your mouse even though only destroyed (and therefore invisible) ones should be.
You should avoid being in a building when facing flamethrowers due to the green cover damage bonus, unless you need to hold the buildings and can suppress or kill the flamethrower very quickly.
Finally, one of the most important things to understand about buildings is that only one infantry model will ever shoot out of each window (doors don't count). Therefore you should generally avoid being in buildings that have less than 3 windows facing the enemy.
Even with the green cover bonus, facing an enemy squad with only one soldier at a time will almost certainly cause you to lose. Only use a building with a single window if the squad in it has most of its DPS/firepower in a single weapon, such as a heavy or light machine gun. Some buildings have no windows at all on some sides, allowing enemy squads to shoot at the building while taking no damage at all. Get to know your key buildings on common maps so you don't have to think about this in the middle of a battle.
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A: http://www.coh2.org/topic/13/how-to-add-your-livestream-channel
If you are also looking for a good streaming program, check out OBS Studio.
Q: How do I add my playercard to my COH2.ORG account?
A: You will need to obtain your Steam ID number. This site may help: http://steamidfinder.com/
Then edit your COH2.ORG profile and insert that number in the box labelled 'Steam'.
People will then be able to click on the player card button below your avatar on any post.
Note: Your COH2.ORG player card is often slower to update than the official scoreboards, which can be found here: http://www.companyofheroes.com/leaderboards
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