Answers from team Relic to YOUR questions!

• How will Russian units gain experience?
In order to distribute experience more effectively all units will gain experience by inflicting and receiving damage instead of only kills. The amount of experience needed to level up depends on the initial build cost the unit.

•Will there be a spectator mode ?
We’re very interested in this feature, but there is still a lot of work to do to make sure Company of Heroes 2 meets Relic’s high standards for quality. I can’t make any promises, but we’ll see what we can do.

• What has been the greatest challenge in development so far?
The original Company of Heroes was a very complex game with cutting edge graphics, destructible environments and highly detailed, historically accurate units. In making Company of Heroes 2 we had to take all of those features to the next level while also giving players something new. I believe we’ve accomplished this by setting the game in the Eastern Front and adding features like ColdTech and TrueSight to truly immerse players in the experience.

• Will the russian faction play a lot like the american faction since the wehrmacht won’t change that much?
The Americans did supply the Russians with equipment, so you might see some similar vehicles and weapons. The Russians were a very different army however, with a large number of conscripted soldiers and only a limited number of weapons. We wanted to reflect this in their play style where Russian infantry units have more soldiers, allowing them to absorb more damage. The Russian T-70 and T-34 tanks are also lighter and more maneuverable that their German counterparts.

• I heard that only engineers will be able to light a fire. Is that correct?
Yes, engineers are the only squads that can build fire pits. This makes them invaluable when extreme cold weather conditions are encountered. We are doing a lot of playtesting though, so it may change.

• Can you tell us about the German faction we will have to play with? Will they be Ostheer? Wehrmacht? Panzer Elite? Will the Germans have their own campaign in the game?
In Company of Heroes 2 we’ll be focusing on telling the story of the Eastern Front with the Russian Army fighting off the invading Wehrmacht. This is a huge story to tell with some of the largest military confrontations in history.

• Is unit control different to original CoH?
No we want to keep the unit controls of Company of Heroes 2 as close as possible to the polished controls of the original. There will be some new controls, such as vaulting cover and vehicle reversing, but they should easily blend in with the existing controls.

• Will COH2 have mod tools?
Our community is very important to us and we are looking into requests like this, but I don’t have any details to report at this time.

• How different will the new german army be?
Visually the German army will receive a significant upgrade with highly detailed summer and winter uniforms. As for their play style they will be similar to the Wehrmacht from original CoH with some new units and abilities. Both Russian and German armies will get vaulting and will be able to capture abandoned vehicles from either side.

• What is the reasoning behind the change to the resource system?
We wanted to explore more dynamic battles where players can choose their own fuel and munitions points instead of fighting over the same preset points. We are currently playtesting a few alternatives for the resource system, so it may change before we ship.

• Will squad leaders be made more distinctive in CoH 2? Or will still just be a guy with a slightly different weapon?
Each squad in Company of Heroes 2 will have a high resolution summer and winter uniform. We currently aren’t planning on using squad leaders. If a squad member with a special weapon is killed the weapon will automatically move to a surviving squad member so they will remain effective in combat.

• Could we imagine seeing a more functional version of the Wehrmacht officer for CoH 2?
Officers will play a long term role in CoH2, but only when we’re really satisfied with the gameplay they offer. I can’t give any specific details now, but it’s something we’re interested in.

• Will multiplayer be focused on one period like 1943-44 or will it be split up to cover several periods, like say 1941-42, 43, 44-45. For example?
We’ll be discussing multiplayer details in a future update. I can tell you that Company of Heroes 2 is based in the period from 1941-1945.

• Can ammo/fuel depots be captured by the enemy? And could they provide bonuses for units fighting near them?
Ammo and fuel depots are automatically captured when the point they are on is captured. They can also be destroyed to deny their use to the enemy. Currently there aren’t any bonuses for units fighting near depots, but it’s something we’ve explored in the past. We want the resource system to be a well integrated with the armies and the map design.

• Can we expect the return of some of the Wehrmacht Voice actors ? Like the guy who did the Stormtroopers and Officer. He was AWESOME !
Due to logistics issues we weren’t able to get the same voice actors, but we’ve picked up a couple of actors of very solid caliber that players will instantly recognize from several major motion pictures. I asked our Senior Audio Designer David Renn to give us a few details about the speech recording:

David Renn: The original game speech has a great balance of realism and humor, of contextual lines and ones purely for flavor. We are committed to maintaining the same great quality and tone that the original had, and improving on it wherever possible. One of the most noticeable additions is that of female units. Multiple Soviet units have male and female versions, a first for Company of Heroes.

• Will there be a system to deal with wounded and frostbite victims (over and above the medic bunker in CoH1)?
Currently the Russian HQ can be upgraded with a Healing Aura that will return wounded infantry to full strength. German Pioneers will be able to build bunkers that can be upgraded to Medic Stations that will heal German infantry.

• CoH1 multiplayer lobbies are characterised by players who jump from lobby to lobby in an effort to find a game that will ensure an easy win to protect their stats – this often results in elongated wait times – will there be an improved system in place for multiplayer so that games can be started quickly and players precious about their win loss ratios will not be rewarded for game shopping?
We’ll be discussing multiplayer details in a future update.

• Will there be custom map / worldbuilder support in COH2?
See my response about mod tools

• Will the new Truesight system finally take heights into account or just objects like buildings, walls and so on?
The Truesight system only takes objects like buildings, walls, trees and smoke into account. This allows players to effectively use tactics like flanking and ambushes. The system can handle terrain variations if we want, but we found that objects provided the most easily understood feedback for players. The default RTS camera sometimes makes it harder to judge the variety of terrain heights and slopes.

• Will the game (I hope) keep the same amount of superb quality in sounds/voices as COH did?
Our senior audio designer David Renn was able to answer this one for me:

David Renn: In terms of sound effects, we have re-done nearly every aspect – from the wind in the trees to the sounds of destruction. The weapons have all been recorded live, and the vehicle audio has been greatly improved with added behaviors and depth.

• My most important question: will there be an ANTICHEAT System?
We’ll be discussing multiplayer details in a future update.

• Will there be an auto-reinforce button like in DoW?
This is a great feature. The designers are discussing it, but they haven’t decided yet.

• Will there be language choice (Soviets speaking Russian, and Germans, well, German)?
We’ll have to see!

• How much research went into Uniforms in general ?
I asked Senior Artist Ian Guise to answer this one:
We tried to be accurate when possible. We researched uniforms quite extensively. We then chose uniforms that we found interesting and distinct from one another. We took some liberties to help sell unit ID and tweaked some of the colouring to help separate the two armies from one another.

• Will there be model variations so we can avoid the clone army look ?
Dave Cheong: To a certain degree. CoH2 will have randomized head variations but bodies will basically be consistent per unit type. It is a game after all and unit recognition (and distinction) is key. Some Soviet squads will also have a chance to randomly spawn a female squad member.

• What are the strategies that will be employed to maintain the longevity of the game and retain audience attention? Will there be more expansions? Will balances be made frequently even well into a few years of the game’s life?
I can’t speak to our future plans, but I think Relic’s support of original CoH speaks for itself. We released two expansions (Opposing Fronts and Tales of Valor) along with many balance updates continuing for years after original CoH was released. I think Relic’s best strategy for CoH2 will be to continue listening to the community’s feedback and supporting them however we can.

• Also, are there any plans for an official competitive league?
Nothing I can talk about at this time.

• How was the idea of TrueSight thought up, and who’s idea was it?
Our Game Director Quinn Duffy has the answer for this question:
I’ll take credit for True Sight – although we used to call it the lampshade system, because that’s how we visualized it working initially – an outer radius that would approximate your maximum sight radius and an inner radius where you could see everything (sort of simulating the ability for a unit to ‘hear’ another unit on the other side of a thin or porous object). We wanted to add a tactical layer to the game to ensure that players were able to benefit from flanking movement, or for setting up defenses, make scouting more important, and create a situation where map knowledge could benefit tactical gameplay.

• Is suppression the same as it was in CoH?
Suppression is a great feature that was introduced in original CoH. We’ll be continuing to use the same system in CoH2, but with Truesight it’s now possible to flank a heavy machine gun or block its line of sight with a smoke grenade.

• Is the tactical map making a return?
I don’t have any details on the tactical map yet, but it is being discussed by the design team.

• Is there co-op support with the campaign?
We’ll be discussing multiplayer details in a future update.

• Will there be better tutorial’s than what was in vCoH?
The first few missions of the Eastern Front campaign will gradually reintroduce players to the mechanics of Company of Heroes. We’ll be doing a lot of play testing to ensure that novice and veteran CoH players are getting all of the information they need to play Company of Heroes 2. We’ll have a system where we can more readily react to issues that players are having and one that makes tutorials much more accessible.