Fears for COH2 being too Tank focused

Actually one question. Do tanks have side armour this time around ? Or is it still front and rear armour just covering each their 180 degrees of the tank ?

I seriously hope that immobilized or abandoned tanks will become points to fight for. Always wanted that with CoH one were if I got a tank immobilized I had to choose between either letting it die to save the rest of my guys, or try to create a perimeter around it and hold off attempts at destroying it while I get it fixed up. Now with infantry having worse AT it might actually work that way.

Would like something aching to the Warthog mission in the original Modern Warfare if anyone remember it, were you create a perimeter around a Abrams tank and fight until dawn while the engies are working on fixing it. Always found small side mission like decisions within multiplayer games to be really exciting. ^^

Actually one question. Do tanks have side armour this time around ? Or is it still front and rear armour just covering each their 180 degrees of the tank ?

I remember this being brought up during the post-play discussion, but I can't remember the exact answer. I think it was along the lines of "that hasn't been ironed out yet." I don't remember a definite answer to that question.

I do remember that, during gameplay, the tanks/AFVs would have new floating status texts such as "Gun Damaged" and things like that. I'm fairly certain the damage system is much more complex and varied compared to the original game's "Big 3" - track, gun and engine damage points.

I seriously hope that immobilized or abandoned tanks will become points to fight for. Always wanted that with CoH one were if I got a tank immobilized I had to choose between either letting it die to save the rest of my guys, or try to create a perimeter around it and hold off attempts at destroying it while I get it fixed up.

Yeah, I can only say from a skirmishing POV that abandoned tanks were a focus, at least for me. The AI may have thought otherwise, I just really wanted to have StuG III.

Initially I thought this was going to be extremely cheap & exploitable, but after experiencing it, occupying abandoned tanks is going to be a very high risk scenario. It takes a really long time for your troops to figure out how to drive the damn thing, and even if they get that far, the vehicle's HP is still going to be where it was when it was abandoned (along with engine damage, main gun destroyed, etc.) and left there by your opponent. I learned this the hard way as the StuG I stole had maybe 3% health and right when I had control over it, a shreck squad came out from behind a wall and sent me out of control.

So yes, I can see there being some pretty crazy battles around vehicles.

Mainly because they will get ripped to pieces. Tanks destroy infantry. Not just with the main guns (which have considerably improved accuracy over CoH1 tanks), but the coaxial machine guns are also extremely deadly against infantry units. A couple of burps of the ol' MG-34 and two squad members would be no more. Wait another 15-30 seconds and the squad has disappeared.

During the alpha skirmish demo, if you wanted to take out a tank, it was a combined arms battle. You'd've better brought a tank of your own. If you didn't have one, you'd better hope the infantry squad(s) you had could dodge and move around quickly enough to keep sight-lines on the tank for your AT gun.

Tanks don't need to run away from "shreck blobs." Shrecks seemed to need to be fairly close to the tank to guarantee a hit, which would essentially guarantee a couple members of the squad biting dust (unless the tank was otherwise distracted). And by "fairly close" I'm talking 10-20 meters or so, well within sight and firing range of the tank. Schrecks are definitely more supplemental in CoH2, as opposed to an armor deterrent or a full-on anti-ever-armor brigade. They need support, cover, and if possible, the element of surprise.

AT guns are extremely effective because of their range and their ability to use the environment to their advantage, such as using a wall, building or tree(s) as a "blind-spot." However, they can't just end a tank on their own in a 1-on-1 match-up. Nothing will do that besides another tank. They are machines to be feared and revered. Expensive as hell, difficult to maneuver and vulnerable to a variety of combined counters.



Different to what? CoH1 or other units in the game?

Relative to CoH1, every unit's sight-lines are different. It's no longer an all-encompassing radius, unhindered by the environment. Wind direction, snowfall, trees, walls, bushes, all of it would reduce the LoS for units.

Relative to other units, tanks had a fairly smaller radius* than infantry or lighter vehicles. Regardless, tanks are just as susceptible to ColdTech as any infantry unit. Driving into a snow bank blows as suddenly you lose speed and effectively become a sitting duck for an AT gun lying in wait, knowing you were going to try and flank and fail because you didn't realize the snow was there. You decide to press on because you don't meet any initial resistance, and you drive further into the snow bank hoping to catch your enemy unawares... too far. Halfway in, an AT gun opens up on your left-side armor, and before you can reverse the hell out of there, you're scrapped.

*I could be very, very wrong, but I thought I remembered someone from the Relic or THQ team saying that we could pop the commander out of the cupola and increase the sight-range of the tank at the risk of the commander's life. I never saw or tried this and therefore could be remembering something completely different. Can anyone confirm or negate this? I'm so unsure that I could've just dreamed it up in my sleep.



Yes, tanks are very scary. I lost 3 squads of varying quality quite quickly to a Panzer IV as my T-70 and T-34/76 took their sweet, fuckin' time crossing the frozen fuckin' river.

The Russians do have the PTRS-41 (or PTRD-41, can't remember which one is in-game) anti-tank rifle as an infantry upgrade as well.

Sounds a hell of a lot like Men of War - Assault Squad to me, and that's not a good thing.

Except you can't get a tank within the first 3 minutes and i think line of sight for tanks will be the great limiter, or ought to be. So if they rush ahead, they risk getting surrounded and knocked out in short order.

That is some scary shit, between sniper mechanic changes, removal of medics and these dramatic tank mechanic changes, COH2 could fail harder than RO2

If tanks are really too stronk ... you can always balance them out nerf them / buff infantry thingies. It's pretty easy to change the meta like that. If the gameplay experience is too much about teching really fast, they will definitely make it harder to tech or make it more punishing to tech (by making earlier tiers stronger.)

But it is too early to have this discussion.


Btw also only read first few posts sorry.

That is some scary shit, between sniper mechanic changes, removal of medics and these dramatic tank mechanic changes, COH2 could fail harder than RO2

Because it's different? Dear lord, you must hate the weather.

Heathen you need to streets less or else..
YOU COULD DIE!