Company of Heroes III - Your expectations

After it is more or less clear that the time has come where CoH2 won't get anymore (large) content updates from Relic, we can start looking at the future.

How would your personal dream Company of Heroes III look like?

Please consider those aspects:


Gameplay

Content

Technical stuff / Engine

Community



I know I will be the killjoy but let's assume all suggestion on a Company of Heroes III that is ALSO based in World War III (it's just to have a clear line, otherwise everyone will be just writing about the favourite war he likes to see and not about the game itself).

Please make coldwar not WW2 . It will be fun than WW2 .

but let's assume all suggestion on a Company of Heroes III that is ALSO based in World War III (it's just to have a clear line, otherwise everyone will be just writing about the favourite war he likes to see and not about the game itself).

Please make coldwar not WW2 . It will be fun than WW2 .

I got this bad feeling that after DoW3, relic will only diminish into a shadow of itself and won't be able to produce anything meaningful.

I'd like to be wrong though, for they are pretty much the last bastion of RTS gaming that isn't just copy pasting 20 year old formulas.

I got this bad feeling that after DoW3, relic will only diminish into a shadow of itself and won't be able to produce anything meaningful.

I'd like to be wrong though, for they are pretty much the last bastion of RTS gaming that isn't just copy pasting 20 year old formulas.

Still hoping for Warcraft 4.

Please make coldwar not WW2 . It will be fun than WW2 .

I agree:
- Operation unthinkable
- Or Cuba missile crisis

Retreat at Dunkirt
Battle of Kursk
and Africa Korps !!!
I wanna see Matilda, M3 Lee, Pz III, Italy force and Desert Rat !!!

I agree:
- Operation unthinkable
- Or Cuba missile crisis

How would you make a war game from that? Operation Unthinkable was a contingency plan that was never put into action and the Cuban missile crisis was not an armed conflict.

How would you make a war game from that? Operation Unthinkable was a contingency plan that was never put into action and the Cuban missile crisis was not an armed conflict.

you see my avatar? This is the logo of the game World in Conflict (I love this game). Alternative history.
  - Operation unthinkable allows you to add to the game such cool stuff as: Mouse / E-100, IS-3, etc.
- Cuba missile crisis allows you to add some cool stuff as:
PT-76, BTR-50, early helicopters, which are used are very few in the games

Retreat at Dunkirt
Battle of Kursk
and Africa Korps !!!
I wanna see Matilda, M3 Lee, Pz III, Italy force and Desert Rat !!!

You already got that in Europe at War.

Company of Heroes III - My expectations


1) Initial Hype

2) Countless bugss

3) luck of balance

4) problems with game engine that can't be solved

That spot is already taken by CoH 2 and probably going to be followed by DoW III. I more agree with Katitof that after this failure Relic will go under on both money, personnel and the people's trust in them making an actually proper, not bugged and fucked game.

On a side note, I'd really enjoy them bringing over melee warfare and inside building combat, that would go hand in hand with melee perfectly, so quality or numbers would win, depending on RNG maybe as it'd be pretty hard controlling units inside actual buildings.

Also make it a World War 2 platform with all of the major fronts and Armies/Nations.

PAcific, Africa, Eastern and Western Fronts, Italy and Sicily, that Fallschirmjager raid on that British island, Greece maybe even and so forth.

Modding would only be needed to make it into something other than WW2 or more realistic but that would about it, I mean, if everything is there already.

I got this bad feeling that after DoW3, relic will only diminish into a shadow of itself and won't be able to produce anything meaningful.

I'd like to be wrong though, for they are pretty much the last bastion of RTS gaming that isn't just copy pasting 20 year old formulas.

This.

But since we are allowed to dream:

• I care less about the setting and units than I do about the game mechanics.
  
• It needs a considerably better graphics engine. Input lag is one of the things that plagued CoH2 and is unacceptable. Either go back to CoH1's engine or something entirely new.
  
• The DLC model is obviously broken. Relic can repeat as many times they want that it's not pay2win, but we all know this is not true. The CoH2 model is: release an OP faction/commander and charge for it, slowly balance it in the course of months. This is another CoH2 cancer, and it needs to go away - especially the part around commanders. It's bad not only because it's pay2win, but also because having OP commanders detract from the game's diversity. For instance, the latest 2 commanders released for UK and US can be found on almost every player's load out.
  
• I'm not entirely sure what I want to see around gameplay, but definitely do not dumb it down to make it more accessible. If anything, I'd like to see more control, more things you can do.
  
• On the content bit, already mentioned I don't care much and would be generally satisfied with another WW2 setting. But could also see WW1 or a modern warfare bit. Changing environments might spark some ideas around new gameplay elements as well.
  

To be quite honest, I'd be very happy with a CoH2 variant running on a new engine and with overhauled commanders (which could be just killing a bunch of them).

I don´t think it will ever come to a CoH III

My hopes for coh3: balance.
the war doesn't matter.
The things listed here sound like you want to play wargame: red dragon

So I would like setting in Africa and maybe Pacific.

Commander system entirely different, you make your own of 5-6 abilities and instead of unlocking them the way it works in COH2 you choose, whether you spend your EXPpoints to unlock everything from earliest abilities, or quick-rush something later.

Different system with tanks. Much more armor and much less health. So when a Crusader encounters PZ3, they can keep shooting at each other's front and take even more than a minute before someone penetrates. But if you attack on the back, or use some proper hard-counter like ATgun or TD, it will only take three- max four- shots to kill. Of course tanks designed for agressive rushes should maintain some higher health.

Let the player set the formation of his infantry squad.

No upkeep and pop-cap system that punishes you for keeping units alive.

Dont know how yet, but make sure that holding a ceratin part of the map will not be even remotely as important as holding simply more terriotry than opponent. Removing fuel and ammo points may help.

Make sure that every map has both "close range units friendly" and "long range units friendly" areas

Much more units in the core army part. It will actually help to balance. Because with only like 15 units, there can happen such thing that one side uses a combo of three or less units that will not get stopped by anything opponent can field. But if there would be at least 25 units, they surely can find something

More types of mines. Regular, some that stun you for a while, some that dont do damage, but instead immidiately force the unit to retreat, some that dont explode at all, but for about half a minute show you the entire sight line of the unit that got hit.

Of course the suggested anti-blob aura. Obviously polished to the max, so it doesnt trigger when you regroup to heal or something like that.

Absence of stuff that can kill a full health squad with one shot.

i'd like to see them branch out with different modes, especially if they move towards a late cold war / ww3 setting. tanks should be absolutely lethal to infantry. infantry should be significantly more lethal as well. you could do some interesting things to create faction difference... especially if you had US vs RU vs China.

by different modes, i mean a mechanized/armor mode with larger maps and a focus on vehicle play, or an urban mode where vehicles are limited and infantry play is central.

building clearing should also play a role. garrisons are not invulnerable in real life, and so it should be possible for a squad to enter a building and attempt to clear it (most likely at high cost, but the matchup of weaponry could determine the outcome).

in the end, a modern setting would be significantly less forgiving than coh2. a realistic setting would have huge RNG costs and be very frustrating, but less emphasis should be placed on squad preservation, since engagements would begin and end much faster. it'll probably be more about positioning, combined arms, and reconnaissance.

on-the-map howitzers need to go away. they're completely ridiculous and unrealistic.

commanders or doctrines should provide more flexibility to the armies. it shouldn't be possible to play just the base faction; the base would only provide a few units and doctrine choice would provide significantly more in terms available units (and less silly abilities).

Personally I'd like to see a CoH3 in a cold war/modern war setting, but to do that there are a few things they'd have to work on.

First off, what scale do you set it at? The current scale works well with the cover system etc, but increasing ranges in modern warfare mean a larger scale might be needed. On the other hand, it would be a perfect fit for urban warfare.

On the technical side of things, top and side armour would be necessary and also a very natural evolution of the mechanics.

I'd also like to see improvements in how the engine handles and displays elevation changes. Most maps in CoH2 are essentially flat planes, with elevation changes only becoming noticeable when your tank/gun misses into a hill or the camera is tilted. Having higher ground play an actual tactical role would also be nice.

I'm glad World in Conflict has already been referenced, because it had an excellent terrain system by comparison.

Rather than dumbing it down to make it accessible they could just add a separate "noob mode" with its own automatch. Double resources, double health auto repair or something like that. Keep the main game micro intense.

I'd like to see Vietnam war personally with Huey's and napalm. But I can't imagine playing as the Vietcong would be very satisfying in a tech sense.

I'd also like to see ability to go proper first person into snipers or tank commanders while either a co-op teammate or a better ai handles the rest of the army.

I think ai should be able to adapt to new metas. It should be programmed perhaps from the cloud so that it could have some real ai behind it.

Content-wise, I'd like to see less uncounterable bullshit.

Engine-wise if like to see something that can be used with vr even if it's just isometric still but you can look around the map with the headset. Also if like to see manual aim for tanks.

From a marketing standpoint, it's probably best if they make a game in a fictional universe in WWIII. In game design, if you create your own world, you create the laws thus your hand is not tied when you are trying to create. Look at CnC Generals, they could easily add a lot of different factions because the setting was fictional. They can then focus on the competitive aspect of the game.

I'm fine with a fictional WWIII, as long as the make a good game with good mechanics (not too much complex, yet not an APM game like SC series). A squad based WWII games with factions like:
-US, South American Coalition, European Coalition, Middle Easter Coalition, India, Chinese Coalition, Russia and Japan. Units could be realistic (which I would love to see mostly realistic units). Gameplay could be like COH series, but with better cover mechanics, specially more complex garrison mechanics.


Show Spoiler

you see my avatar? This is the logo of the game World in Conflict (I love this game). Alternative history.
  - Operation unthinkable allows you to add to the game such cool stuff as: Mouse / E-100, IS-3, etc.
- Cuba missile crisis allows you to add some cool stuff as:
PT-76, BTR-50, early helicopters, which are used are very few in the games

My favorite game too, WiC's UI is the best RTS UI design ever since CnC 3. Everyone and their mother ask for WiC style UI and Lelic keeps stucking their head in the sand. Not to mention the whole class dynamic + support power is very cool too. Too bad vivendi has gone far away.
Man I miss Ground Control.