Hi guys,
New here I know, but i've played alot of VCOH and COH
F, and am hoping to rekindle my love of COH by playing COH2, but i'm in a mixed bag.
The thing I loved about COH was that there was always something happening. Early game, playing as Ami, you had to flank, capture territory, micro rifles all over the map. For the Wehr, you had to think ahead. "Where will I position my MG?" "what's my overall stratey?" "What's my opponent doing?". It was great; felt alot like chess. The introduction of OF sort of kileld this, but it was still there.
There are a few things that COH2 is missing for me.
First off, sure, in the early game there is still stuff happening, but with the current maps, it doesn't matter where the opponent is, you know he's going to have to come back to the VP's (that Kholodny map) or over one of the bridges on (Spring pripyat?? -the non winter ma). It's quite stale. And getting old fast. Different maps will fix this. However, they HAVE (HAVE to HAVE to HAVE to) have community maps. Langres' was the best map in Vcoh, and it was a community map. Please Relic, please!
Second thing is the upkeep, as stated before. I remember playing a game against Say No to Stim's Whermact, and he dominated my rifles in the early game. The game lasted not very long, because I was spending so much MP on reinforcing my rifles, and not capping the rest of the map,(i.e the ratio of time & MP spent re-inforcing v capping and building new units was completely wrong) that he had a puma out before I even had a supply yard. I knew it was downhill from there. GG.
Now, if you lose the early engagement/s it just doesn't matter. There seems to be no penalty for losing early on. You're going to be getting so much MP, you can just build another. If you lost an early rifle, that was pretty much it; you were a full squad down. Same goes for an MG. But if you lose a rifle now, you don't even care. It's a shame really.
Leading on from that, I believe it's just to easy too tech. As Soviets, you can lose early game, and still get a T34 out. (T34 is pretty shit, but it does allow you to get back a bit of the map). I've been experimenting, and playing against the PC (3 expert PC v me and 2 PC's on easy). I can take the map, but there will still be a stug3 coming out, even with the Stug3 being so ridiculously overpriced.
Which leads me to my 3rd point, which is the "staleness" of the game at the moment. Once you have the map, what do you do? In COH, you would have a superior unit out, and could probably harrass his base , pick off any remaining units. For the soviets, there is no real use going above T3 (T34 gets owned by PAKS, as it should be). I'd rather go back to T1 for the Infantry. However, then you suffer more of a MP loss. I've got the entire map, but no MP. What!!??
For the Ostheer, T3 isn't hard to get, but the Tanks are sooooo expensive, you've got time to go away and make a cup of tea. So all you end up doing is making paks and MG's, and camping outside his base. Boring.
Then there is the Blizzard. Fuck Cold Tech. All it does is promote camping. You can't move your units, because they freeze. I'm probably not doing something right, but all I do is put my Conscripts in a building , or around a fire and leave them there. You either retreat them, stick them in a fire, or stick them in a house. That VP on the left side of Moscow Outskirts, there is no house or fire pit there. So if it's blizzard, and it's not your,you have to send a vehicle over to get it. But heavy snow means it takes forever. WHY!!?? It does nothing but slow things down. Why can't I use my fuel for a "warm jumper" upgrade?? DO i have to make a conga line of fire pits so my dudes can move anywhere?
My fourth point is the overall predictability of the game. Every soviet game I play is 4 Conscripts, molotovs, heal, Get the "Hit the dirt" commander, T2 build, T3 build, T34 (I'd love to use the T70, but it gets owned by an armoured car) force back germans, build 2 paks, camp. I know my t34's are uselss afterbout a minute thanks to their paper thin armour, and the availability of PAKS.
Every German game is Rush flame HT, build PAKS, tech for armour. My point is that every game goes up towards armour, and lots of it. Old COH encouraged you to go backwards. Wehr player has a medic bunker? Go back to T2 for mortars + snipers. T2 Terror, Crocodile Sherman, or snipers. He's going T3? Just user your T3. There was a counter for every game style, and you had to adapt. Now, it just seems to be "I'll get T2, because I know there will be enemy armour, and eventually i'll need PAKS. I'l build my T34 and.. yeah".
My final point is the voice acting, and the sounds. I remember moving a vCOH greyhound, and getting greeted by a friendly "Greyhound is rolling!". Even the sound of it's MG firing was nice. Same for selecting the volks, or an MG. "Stupid Americana" or "Gass it! Can't you drive any faster Klaus" it was hilarious, and added a great side to the game. Now, I get "For the Motherland", "Do not fuck with ze t34" and "Orrah!". It's just bit too serious.
Sorry for the long rant. Just my experience so far.