Atmosphere wishes for a potential CoH3

Since Relic still seems to read this forum (hello Andy!) or at least does so at the moment to check for reports on the 64 bit version, I thought I might get off some wishes regarding mainly audio atmoshpere that I'd like to see if we ever get a new CoH.

The probably biggest selling point for CoH2 for me personally is the atmosphere this game provides. It is not realistic by any standards, but does a great job at being authentic and making you feel like you're looking on an actual battlefield. The level of visual detail in this game is astonishing and what sets it apart from 99% of other - even most recent - triple A titles. I still remember playing Ettelbrück for the first time and looking at the the small café area in the city. It's just beautifully made. You're basically thinking "yeah, that would be a nice place to just sit down and have a tea or coffee and relax a bit", while over the next hour the whole thing becomes filled with dead bodies, craters and the houses around collapse one after the other. At the end of the match I was looking at this and it felt hard to believe that this destroyed crater area was actually the same as the nice coffee place. Obviously these effects diminish with repetition, but it gives you this grim feeling of war and brutality that makes me detest it. CoH2 has many good maps (official and community) that manage to trigger this feeling. Similarly, it feels absurdly satisfying if your Tiger (or any other tank) crush through walls, trees and hedgerows as if they were nothing.

Second, I am astonished by the shitload of small details that have been packed into this game at every level of zoom. Vehicles leave tracks in snow and mud that allow you to track them down even in the fog of war (although the game has become a bit too fast for that). Engines sometimes flaming up when pushing the throttle. The little jiggle that the tank chassis does when the tank is stopping. JLI having a grenade strapped around their belly and the grenade has actually readable German text written on it. Single stones sticking our of brick walls when they have been partially destroyed. And obviously the hundred little gears that fly across the map when a tank explodes (not to neglect the variety of different vehicle death animations).

Other games don't have that and do not offer that much detail. Relic at the time could have also taken the easy way because only a fraction of players will notice that. But they did not, they put that extra work in, and for me this makes the game better than many others.

Nonetheless, there is room for improvement. Visually, there are obviously models to improve, although I don't know enough about how specific uniforms and tank models looked like irl and how they are represented in Coh2. However one suggestion I can think of at the moment would be that highly vetted units get more ragged equipment (worn/torn uniforms etc). Second, but this is more like a technology thing, I would like world objects like trees and sandbags be partially destructable. Shells might even fire through some objects or bounce of them such as trees that might split the tree in half.

What is most lacking in my eyes though is the audio department. I feel like there could be more chatter in a firefight or more specific one reacting to commands. For example enemy soldiers could insult each other during a firefight. Friendly ones could give defensive orders ("Keep your had down!" "Stay in cover!"). Something that would emphasize the bonding between soldiers and that they care for each other. In general I would also enjoy more positional calls. For example, if an enemy unit is encountered behind a truck your squad should call it out as "behind the truck" etc. Similarly, I would like the same responses to move orders ("Move up to that truck/destroyed tank"). Attack orders could be responded by depending on the attacked unit as "Focus down that MG!". In general, enemy movement could be commented ("Enemy closing in/retreating", "They're running away"). Other commands like attacking after removing the hold fire could be commented as well. I also think that artillery at the moment is not properly responded to. They throw themselves on the ground (despite being slightly buggy this is a great feature), but apart from that? Maybe mortar fire call out. Units sometimes call out enemy encounters with a distressed voice, but if half their squad gets obliterated by a Katyusha and body parts are flying around them, they are just like "yup, that's EXACTLY what I signed up for", whereas it should be one of the most frightening things since they don't know who it will hit next and where it is coming from.

Overall, I find the USF voices to be the most memorable. They have a special sound of urgency and tension to them that others don't provide. Sometimes those are a bit misplaced too, but in a firefight they sound great. Other factions are sometimes a bit "too cool" with actually being close to death. Elite squads can have this attitude, but the average Joe that has to serve in the army? Those should not.

Obviously important things such as grenade call outs must trump all of this and always be hearable, but overall this would add a lot to battle atmosphere. This would also need proper fading with distance. I understand that some players would not like this as it might clutter the audio, but if done well it would add a lot. Maybe there could be an "only important voice chatter" option in the menu or something.

Nice appreciation post

Yeah CoH series is really great at this among other stuff