Getting back on the horse

I stopped playing CoH2 a couple of months ago and now I've decided to get back into the action! Which leads to a very simple question: what's new?

I see that there are a couple of new commanders available for purchase, I was wondering which ones were popular/useful. I can tell from browsing the forum that the German commander which provides you with AssaultGrens (forgot the name) is heavily talked about.

From what I remember, the game used to run like this: (I could be off on some points, like I said, it has been a while)

Russian:
- Cheap but in great numbers, excellent for swarming / map control
- Very little decent AT available, must make use of combined arms in order to deal with enemy armor
- AT guns are a mid-game must
- Strategically placed mines can be a game-changer
- You should should go T3 or T4, never both (I don't know if it was like this all the time, but I do remember a meta period were this was true just before I stopped playing)
- Medium tanks are inferior
- SU-something assault tank will is a key unit in a lot of games
- Those rocket trucks (katsjunkas?) can come in handy before making a push with your troops
- In certain maps you can just spawn infantry and overrun your enemy early game.
- Molotovs!
- You should be aggressive, take the fight to the enemy, flank all the time.

German
- Expensive but skilled
- Veterancy is very important (keep your units alive!)
- Best armor in the game
- A well placed MG nest can hold its own (I've read this has changed, and you should support them)
- The scout car with upgrade + veterancy can be a valuable unit throughout the entire battle
- The Brombar & Stug III assault gun are to be ignored most of the time, only handy in certain situations
- "Ze" panzer is the key to winning "ze" battle
- Pgrens should be the backbone of your infantry
- If you can hold half the map most of the time, you should be able to win (you can play more defensively than you would with Russians)

Is what I just described still an accurate description of how the game unfolds, or are there changes I should take into account?

Thanks!

Honestly the best thing to do would probably be to watch the most recent SNF replays. There were plenty of highly skilled players competing this week, as all weeks, but I suggest this week's replays since the other weeks of SNF were played under older patches.

There is simply too much that has changed in the past few months to easily write up what has changed/why it has changed and what you should be doing.

I'll try to cover a few of the more impactful changes though:

1 - Buildings are not as effective as they used to be. They don't provide as much of a cover/damage reduction as they used to, and mortars/flamethrowers are more effective against garrisoned units.

2 - The CP system has been changed. The short answer is that the rate at which you earn CPs has been doubled, but CP requirements have been doubled. This is not true for everything, but it is a general rule of thumb.

3 - Tanks are less effective against infantry while on the move.

After watching a few replays just hop into the action though. Nothing beats learning by playing and then analyzing what happened. If you have some ladder jitters maybe play some 3v3/4v4 so that you can get used to the new pace of the game and check out some of the new units/mechanics.

Welcome back though! So far this already feels like one of the better patches.

Welcome back! I hope I can add some more stuff.

Soviet:
-T34s are more viable than when you played most likely.
-PPsH upgrade not that strong (still good)
-Soviet industry commander with reduced mp income and increased fuel and almost 0 buildtime for tanks. Watch out for the only female commander.
- Heavy strafe at the end of doctrines obliterates infantry when there are no ostwinds on the field (Very debated commander)

Ostheer:
-Smoke on tanks ALOT more expensive (40 muni now)
-Elite troops doctrine with pay mp and fuel for vet on your units and finishes with a free tigerACE callin but sets income to 0 for 10 mins. (Very debated commander)

Other than that, tanktraps are in the game again, however doctrinal and almost never used, since most of the other abilites in thoose commanders are not that potent.

Less input lag now since they fixed some animations. You will still get input lag when playing ppl from far away, but units do respond better now.

A total veterancy overhaul. No more indestructable flame-HTs or scoutcars. A rule of thumb is that units get better at their role. A scoutcar will get faster and get more viz for one thing. Can try to find a link later.

Most balancepatches have been for the better. However the commander releases have been... an issue to say the least. The first the assaultgren, then the elite troops and soviet industry. This is why they didnt even release any new commanders latest patch. Hopefully meta can stabilize somewhat now.

Alright, thanks for the tips! I think I'll just jump into the action now, fun above ladder I'll start as German, since they were the ones I was most accustomed to. Once again, cheers!

It's definitely a good time to get back into the game. The last few patches were kinda meh, but the recent balance changes have done a world of good for the game.
If you want to avoid the opprobrium of your peers (ie everyone here) you should probably hold off on buying the elite troops commander and Soviet industry commander

pewpewpew

I will not be stigmatized, if any of those commanders do any good on the battlefield, I'm willing to pay a bit of coin.

The veterancy system has also been overhauled. Units like the German HT and scout car no long gain massive defense bonuses at vet 2 and essentially changing the role of the vehicle. You can read all the patch notes in detail here: http://community.companyofheroes.com/forum/company-of-heroes-2/company-of-heroes-2-general-discussion/67-coh-2-changelog/page2

www.companyofheroes2.net/2013/12/strategy-and-unit-balance-beta-vs-december-2013/

STRATEGY AND UNIT BALANCE – BETA VS DECEMBER 2013
Haven’t played Company of Heroes 2 in a while? Here’s a list of strategy and unit balance tips to get you back i the game:

A bunch of commanders have been added. Elite unit commander for the Germans can buy vet for units, soviet industry gives a big fuel bonus at the cost of total man power income.
They’re probably the most stand-out of the lot.

Vehicle vet 2 for Germans no longer gives the units effectively twice as much HP, but instead about 30% more armor.

Stugs still suck. Price doesn’t match their AT role.

Shock troopers cost 400 man power but start with their PPSH upgrade researched.

120mm Mortar crews are much less reliable, and more expensive.

SU85′s are much more effective at sniping, but vulnerable when exposed to direct combat.

Panthers are basically dedicated tank hunters now.

Panzerwerfers got moved to T4.

IS-2′s are much better than they used to be. No more Panzer 4′s reliably shrugging off rounds.

JU87 Stuka strafing runs no longer pin entire armies.

Clown car’ing M3 scout cars as the Soviets is much less viable.

T-70′s no longer able to run over infantry.

T-34 ram is no longer a 100% disable rate.

AT grenades and panzerfaust no longer cause a guaranteed engine damage status.

German weapon crews now have 4 squad members instead of 3, to compensate for having the last guy on most of them just run away.

MG42′s are no longer instant pin machines that lock down entire corridors on their own.
Flamenwerfer Halftracks much less effective.

Soviet T1 and T2 take much less time to build.

Everyone starts the game with twice as much man power as they used to. This was mostly intended to provide the Soviets with more options, but nine times out of ten it feels like I just get two conscripts at the start of the game rather than one.

Blitzkrieg no longer works on tanks with engine damage.

KV-8′s no longer guaranteed to kill all infantry it hits with a burst of fire. Still good against infantry.

Thanks Nigo, I'll check it out in the morning!

So commanders are still there as DLC's? Someone wake me when the pay 2 win system is removed.

Think half of your posts are remove the p2w commanders by now Kalismist. Wake up already, they will not remove the DLC commandersystem.

There weren't any new commanders this patch, and overall the balance team has done a great job getting the new commanders in line in a reasonable amount of time.

Also, this video does a nice job of summing up the most recent patch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUaTcW7rpvU#t=261

Thanks FestiveLongJohns. Would his "sorry we're not sorry" t-shirt be a taunt for people hating CoH2's purchasable commanders?

Haha I just noticed that! Well played, Relic, well played. Very subtle

Had a couple of games, first 3vs3 then 1vs1 and I think I've got the German side covered. Now play some Russian games and I'll be back in business once again, thanks for all the info and tips!