How can I get my friends to play with me?

I have bought multiple copies of the game when it was dirt cheap on steam or on the humble bundle. I have a fairly cool group of gaming buddies (and my gf) (not part of the same group, bros before hoes) with which I transition between games. I've been playing CoH2 for 18 months now and throughout I've tried to get everybody to play with me. They try 1-2 matches and quit on me because it's "too confusing." Personally I think the concepts are natural and easy to understand. Literally guys will shoot at enemies that get too close, some weapons are better at certain things than other weapons, and you stand on points to capture them and win the game. Any dunce would figure it out, right?

But they say stuff like they're confused about what the units do, or what a "Panzer IV" means, or any of the units in the game with even a slightly technical name. I personally am confounded why they think it's confusing. If, in our RPGs or MMOs, we learn that bronze swords > silver swords, or bows are long range and axes are short range, then what is so hard to understand that shock troops are close range and obersoldaten are long range? Isn't it also natural to assume that t34/85 > t34/76 then? It's the same line of thinking.

No matter what I do, I can't get them to get into the game. I tried everything, from literally throwing them in a match with easy CPUs and I carry them while they play around with the units, sandbox-style, to telling them specific build orders and transitioning from early to mid to lategame from there. Nothing works! Help! I just want my friends to play with me.

If they dont want to tale the time to learn, then theres nothing you can do.


This isent a game you can just rush into, you gots invest some time into it to have some fun, the small momments between blobs and skillplanes.



It may be time for you to find new friends.

Campaign or TOW missions are nice and slow paced for new people. The things they struggle with aren't not knowing build orders, but with the core concepts of the game, which those can teach.

It's harder than it looks, should have seen my brother trying to play DoW II, he had enough trouble just right clicking move orders for the sorceror.

If your friends don't know RTS games that well, then you've got to introduce them to the whole concept of what the game is about. Also, if they don't know much about WW2 then you have a whole other level of information that you're taking for granted.

There are few people who enjoy RTS and even fewer who enjoy fighting against human opponents. Things get even worse because CoH does not follow the "traditional" concept of Starcraft, Age of Empires, Empire Earth and C&C (etc.).

The only friends i convinced to Start playing coh2 were the "competitive" (mentally) gaming friends. All other friends (casuals) stay away because to much Stress for a too long time per game

The game is pretty hard even for experienced gamers. Other strategy games have an economy system where you can lean back and don´t have to be super aggressive. Further it is common that all units can damage all units. For example in CnC a rifleman can still damage a tank. Rightfully so this is not the case in Coh.

Tried to introduce my older brother into the game. He was absolutely confused by when to build what and he could not get his mind around the fact he had to push. All he did though was building fuel caches close to the base. I guess it was just too damn frustrating for him.

An old buddy of mine played the game and quit when he found out that SU-85s and Jacksons had more range than Panthers.

The best thing you can do is playing randoms and if you have a good teammate add him. Other than that the game - especially at higher levels - is too frustrating for newcomers.

As much as I hate it, I guess you guys are right. I guess I'll just stick with MMOs or FPS with them or something.

Game is bloody hard.
It took me a year of compstomping before I thought I was good enough to play vs players.

Seems a year wasn't enuff...

Had a mate who loved RUSE, got him to play this. Had noooo fucking idea even how to move his units.

Mileage may vary, having a background as a history maniac or in other tactical games can really help wrap heads around things like suppression, positioning etc. I started at a young age with things like Squad Leader, Close Combat, Steel Panthers, things like this, and I was pretty foolhardy to think EVERYTHING from those games can carry over. I would be curious to see how say, a competent SC2 player would take to this game, would possibly alleviate some of the issues of unit control.

Things like faction dynamics and builds, unit counters all that stuff will take A LOT of time. I know it's not a great way to practice, but early on copying literally exact emulations of replays will... "help" at least get players in the right place, but it will take a lot of learning to understand how to pivot out and actually play, what to do and why, and then what to expect in return, it's a lot.

I would stick to compstomping, ToW etc, perhaps try and point things out that are indicators of tech, things like this, but overall you have to have fun with your friends, if they're keen to try and compete then you can start trying to train, but otherwise, it's a bit cruel to hop directly into competition. Just try and have more fun with your friends, maybe they'll fall in love with the game, who knows.

Also, a game like CoH2 virtually requires watching replays and visiting sites like this one to figure out what is actually going on. If you followed only what was in game you would have more wrong information than right I'd wager. It's not like unit stats are available in game. Those exist from people digging into game files and mod tools to actually learn what's going on.

That's a hell of a lot of work, and I mean work, that goes into learning how to play this game effectively. Very little about CoH2 is obvious to the player, and that turns a lot of people away.

Also, a game like CoH2 virtually requires watching replays and visiting sites like this one to figure out what is actually going on. If you followed only what was in game you would have more wrong information than right I'd wager. It's not like unit stats are available in game. Those exist from people digging into game files and mod tools to actually learn what's going on.

That's a hell of a lot of work, and I mean work, that goes into learning how to play this game effectively. Very little about CoH2 is obvious to the player, and that turns a lot of people away.

Very good point. I feel I only started to understand, and really actually have a desire to compete once I was immersed in the literature, discussions, etc. It's a cool feeling to be a part of something.

TOW to learn or in-house?

Also, a game like CoH2 virtually requires watching replays and visiting sites like this one to figure out what is actually going on. If you followed only what was in game you would have more wrong information than right I'd wager. It's not like unit stats are available in game. Those exist from people digging into game files and mod tools to actually learn what's going on.

That's a hell of a lot of work, and I mean work, that goes into learning how to play this game effectively. Very little about CoH2 is obvious to the player, and that turns a lot of people away.

Agree 100%. This is why you will never succeed in getting a casual player to play CoH 2. It requires a tremendous amount of effort to play CoH 2. Casual gamers just want instant gratification and a way to kill time while socializing with friends.

Why else do you think League of Legends is so popular?

Agree 100%. This is why you will never succeed in getting a casual player to play CoH 2. It requires a tremendous amount of effort to play CoH 2. Casual gamers just want instant gratification and a way to kill time while socializing with friends.

Why else do you think League of Legends is so popular?

^THIS

I have quite a few friends who just won't play it. I have quite a few who did...were even good at it....and still won't play it because of the years of imba factions/units/maps and loads of bugs.

Essentially, either gamers find it too difficult (too much of a time sink to get good) OR they played it and got frustrated by the issues the game has gone through since launch.

Such a shame.

It does take investing time in and I guess there has to be some underlying fascination of how the game looks and feels to stay around to learn enough. I think what it takes for them is to be convinced that there will be a grand price to collect (a great gaming experience) if only they hang around a bit. It's worth promoting the game, because it's the one of the best games around and they don't know it yet.

The tutorials ingame and campaign are actually really good for learning. It does take some time though. There's no way around that. As an avid gamer I know to give games I belive in time. When I bought Armored Core: For Answer I felt strongly I would like the game if only I knew how to play. It took 10 hours of active gameplay Before I could fire the shoulder rockets and started to understand how to play effectively and what the game was about. I loved the game from there on, so my initial guess was right.

I let a friend play on my computer because he really likes the look and feel of the game although he does not have time to learn the game. He spammed soviet engineers lol. Just built lots of them and ran them into everything, mgs and the lot. And when they died he built new. A true soviet tactic in a way haha! He played easy CPU so he won with that brilliant tactic

Also, a game like CoH2 virtually requires watching replays and visiting sites like this one to figure out what is actually going on. If you followed only what was in game you would have more wrong information than right I'd wager. It's not like unit stats are available in game. Those exist from people digging into game files and mod tools to actually learn what's going on.

That's a hell of a lot of work, and I mean work, that goes into learning how to play this game effectively. Very little about CoH2 is obvious to the player, and that turns a lot of people away.

I agree completely. We all check in regularly to read about issues and the latest patch notes. How is that normal for most other games.