As discussed in several topics it seems that the idea of a British faction in CoH2 is favoured by many players.
I thought about it and these are my first suggestions:
Make a new expansion with the following content:
The Battle for Afrika
New factions:
Allies: British Forces
Axis: Deutsches Afrikakorps
Include a single player campaign that contains the following:
The fight for Africa as seen by
BOTH(!!)
factions.
At the beginning start with the Afrikakorps advancing more and more.
Always play 1 or 2 missions from the one side and then switch to the other side.
After the Afrikakorps won the first missions play a mission where you have to defeat the German advance to a certain position. Then after 5-6 missions the tides turn and the Germans are more and more in defense.
The campaign ends with the Afrikakorps leaving the continent.
But only with the fact that there is a
PLAYABLE CAMPAIGN AS GERMANS
the players will go crazy.
Relic, why don't you understand this?
Sure heroising the Germans in a WWII game is always some kind of a risky thing but at least most Germans even see Rommel as a hero until today because he represented the true soldier without war crimes and so one. The fight between Montgommery and Rommel was game of cat and mouse.
GERMAN AFRIKAKORPS
The Afrikakorps could contain a hq of tents that can be moved around just like the Afrikakorps did while advancing in Afrika at first. It is not as defensive as other HQs but can act as a forward point. It can be very strong but is very risky on the other hand. It still has to be connected to the starting sector to get any ressources (to show the German problem of the supplies while fighting the British).
In addition the Base can be upgraded with MGs for an amount of fuel just like CoHs defensive doctrine.
T0: Pioneers, Kettenkrad, Opel Blitz T1: Grenadier, Scout (Weak in Battle but huge line of sight and can cloak in cover), MG34, Mortar T2: Pak 40, SdKfz 231 (A bit like the Puma/Scout Car in CoH1), Fallschirmjäger T3: Panzer III, Stug IV, Nebelwerfer T4: StuH42, Tiger I, Goliath Mine
About the Afrikakorps units:
BRITISH FORCES
The British would get a standard HQ (why always make something complicated)?
They can move up in tiers like the Ostheer but they can switch their 'status' to defensive and 'offensive'.
While on offensive they can call in other units and build other things by their pioneers. In addition their damage is a bit stronger while fighting on ENEMY territory. Same thing on defensive but they have stronger DEFENSIVE stats in OWN territories while that's the case.
Switching between defensive and offensive states takes some time (about 60 - 120 seconds) and costs a bit of ressources so you have to make decisions.
T0: Pioneers T1: Jeep, Tommies, Lieutenant (Grants some offensive stats while in OFFENSIVE mode) T2: Bren Carrier (A bit better than the one from CoH1), PaK, Sniper (Better than Ostheer one but A SINGLE MAN!), Captain (Same as Lieutenant but Defensive) T3: Valentine, Crusader Mk I, Wolverine, [Pioneers can built 6 Punder AT Guns] T4: Churchill, Sherman Firefly
About the British units:
Red = Units that can only be built while in offensive mode. Blue = Units that can only be built while in defensive mode.
So what do you think?
Feel free to comment and discuss!
Everything is cool and all, but the British Forces have no form of stock indirect fire. Churchill being defense and Firefly being offense makes more sense, and offense has very inadequate AT firepower (i surely wouldnt trust an m10) making defense the choice every game. Well, i say "inadequate" but defense looks like a no brainer atm...
Pioneer 3 mp40's would have to be good in order to be worth the upgrade.
Everything is cool and all, but the British Forces have no form of stock indirect fire. Churchill being defense and Firefly being offense makes more sense, and offense has very inadequate AT firepower (i surely wouldnt trust an m10) making defense the choice every game. Well, i say "inadequate" but defense looks like a no brainer atm...
Pioneer 3 mp40's would have to be good in order to be worth the upgrade.
If you wanted to make a authentic and cool North Africa faction you HAVE to give it lots and lots of non-doctrine artillery. The massive artillery duels are one of the coolest things about the North African front.
If you wanted to make a authentic and cool North Africa faction you HAVE to give it lots and lots of non-doctrine artillery. The massive artillery duels are one of the coolest things about the North African front.
Everything is cool and all, but the British Forces have no form of stock indirect fire. Churchill being defense and Firefly being offense makes more sense, and offense has very inadequate AT firepower (i surely wouldnt trust an m10) making defense the choice every game. Well, i say "inadequate" but defense looks like a no brainer atm...
The brits can change their mode for a small amount of ressources (maybe 15 fuel or something like that) - that takes about a minute more or less.
I will prefer a non-german axis faction (Italy or Japan). I know that u will say that is a problem because they didnt had heavy tanks, but they had good AT (for exemple: Italy got the Cannone da 90 that was more powerfull than Flak 88). They could counter with good AT mines and weapons.
I think these would be nice implemented in a sort of commander pack. USF gets a British Commander pack containing three commanders while Ostheer gets 3 AfrikaKorps commanders.
I dont think Tiger or Firefly would be good for a AfrikaKorps vs Desert Rats.
Tigers were brand-spanking new, in very low numbers and completely wracked with mechanical issues, and the ones that did make it to combat had a difficult time preforming due to their slow speed and resource upkeep. Not only that but contrary to most people's beliefs, they weren't completely invincible vs everything the Brits had shy of 17-pound AT guns; the first Tiger the British Army managed to capture was taken down by the 6-pound gun on a Cromwell, who scored a well-aimed shot on it's turret traversal system, which forced the crew to abandon the tank.
The Firefly wasn't deployed until the Normandy Invasions, and wasn't even in production till 1943; long after the conflict in North Africa had ended.
I think exploring the lighter tanks involved in each faction's arsenal would be a lot more fun, like Crusaders, early Shermans, Panzer IIs and Panzer IIIs.
I've always been an avid fan of the Afrika Front, mostly due to Rommel's ability to almost literally achieve full victory on said Front, and while all odds were against him in the long-run, allow the German Army to slowly retreat to buy time and avoid disaster on the way back to Italy. Fuck Yeah I want this front, long as Relic doesn't mess it up as badly as the Eastern Front.
FYI, like the abilities/recommendations for said factions. #IApprove
Rommel looks at the 2 fronts he has to deal with in Afrika
Absolutely, depending on the time frame this would be either the primary medium tank, or the secondary. But going without would be a shame!
Personally I think North Africa would best be saved for Company of Heroes 3, that way they can focus the game on 1940-1942 without worrying about how to balance it vs 1944-1945 factions.
If the Stuart and KV1 can be in the game and useful (well at least the KV1 is) then I'm pretty sure Relic could make some 1942 North Africa factions work.
And if they can't they can always just do 1943 Italy factions!
Think of how the Lee could work in game, 3 MG's plus a light turret = infantry killing god while still having thr 75mm for dealing with enemy armor.
The funny things - afrikakorps basically has no real lategameinfantry.4man grenadiers who have no AI upgrade-thats ur lategame inf,really?
How u gonna fight enemy infantry with upgrades or elite inf call-ins lategame?
Also where is 88 mm?
British should have artillery.
Also kettenkrad is totally useless unarmed unit at 250 mp and 10 fuel,lol.
Calling it Africa corps wouldnt be the best idea. Ober Komando West and Ostheer aren't historical terms. Simply call it Army Group South to represent the axis forces early in N.Africa and then later in Italy.
Units that could be added to your list if its not only Africa Korps: Gebirgsjäger, Flak88, BMW R75, Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer and the SdKfz 164 Nashorn.