INTRODUCING COMPANY OF HEROES 2 FRONTLINE STORIES

Today we are proud to introduce Frontline Stories, a new series of features written by Relic Entertainment staff! Company of Heroes is great because of its ability to tell unique stories. "Every battle tells a story" is a line we frequently use to describe the game, as we often find ourselves rushing to talk to each other to share stories about what we experienced after playing a match. The unique experiences generated by the dynamic gameplay of Company of Heroes are unlike anything seen in other RTS.

Frontline Stories are articles written by the testers, designers, programmers and directors of Relic Entertainment. These pieces will tell the tales that Relic staff have experienced while playing Company of Heroes 2 over the time of its development. From learning new things about Cold Tech to silly bugs giving advantage, we hope you will enjoy this candid look into Relic Entertainment and catch a glimpse of why we all love Company of Heroes 2 so much.

Winter's Betrayal

Quinn Duffy, Game director

When we first put in the tracks in the snow, we had hopes for how it would be used by players, but couldn’t be sure. But one of my first games with the new snow tracks revealed that the feature worked completely as intended when I played a game with one of our FX artists. This took place on one of our early test maps based on the town of Shlisselburg, just north east of the city of Leningrad, and a site of key battles as the Soviets tried to relieve the beleaguered city.

I had an early Soviet infantry force, including a sniper, and I was probing into the town. I heard the sound of an engine in the Fog of War, so I started to pull back my valuable sniper (at this point, snipers were single units as opposed to the 2 man teams they would become). We played cat and mouse in and amongst the buildings and I caught the occasional glimpse of a German SdKfz 222 scout car. Its 20mm cannon would shred my sniper, so I started pulling my troops out, infantry one way and my sniper the other, separated by the scout car. My sniper reached the edge of the town leaving me with but an open field to cross. Undaunted, I crossed the snowy field to an area of cover where my sniper could camouflage.

Out of the town came the scout car, following my perfectly presented footsteps in the pristine white snow. A single set of footsteps. Very obviously from a sniper. A beautifully legible trail right to where my sniper was hiding. Like a bloodhound on a scent, the scout car nosed closer. I had nowhere to run, but I tried. A quick rattle of 20mm fire eliminated my sniper, and instantly revealed to me how effective our snow tracks were going to be. I loved the tension of that moment.

FIRST LOOK: COMPANY OF HEROES IN-GAME UI!

One of the most important components of any Real-time Strategy game is the User Interface. Often overlooked, the UI makes all the difference in how you experience the game and execute your strategy. This is why we are happy to give you a first look at the new UI for Company of Heroes 2!

Designed to give the player a full view of the battlefield and quick unit control, all the information you need to command your army is presented in a clean, concise and straightforward manner, with many improvements being made over the original design from CoH1.

(click the image to enlarge)

Starting on the lower left of the UI is the Minimap. Similar to the design in CoH1, the minimap panel gives you a bird’s eye view of the battlefield, displaying capture points and territory control lines. More prevalent are buttons for easily locating idle units and marking points of interest on the map. Unique map objectives are also identified with their own set of icons. The aesthetic of the minimap image is cleaner and allows for better friend vs. foe recognition, it also provides more contrast for the major geographical and tactical elements on each map.

To the right of the minimap is the selected Unit Portrait. Apart from providing a high fidelity visual representation of the selected unit, the portrait displays vital combat information including health, experience progress, experience rank, allegiance, kill-count, temperature, active abilities and vehicle criticals. Much of this information can be rolled over with the mouse to provide an expanded level of detail to the player.

Beyond the unit portrait is the main information panel, the Bridge. The bridge presents all of the critical and tertiary information for a selected unit, giving the player a quick reference for how to be effective on the battlefield in various combat scenarios. This information is presented through the unit decorators and text content. Selecting multiple units displays a list of unit decorators on a single line, allowing for fast unit sub-selection, upgrades and reinforcement. 

Along the top of the bridge is the Resource Panel. This horizontal layout allows players to quickly and easily comprehend the various resources in the game, and compare and contrast the costs of issuing orders or purchasing new units vs. their available funds.

Every soldier and vehicle has a unique unit decorator. These are iconic representations which display each type of unit, their health, their veterancy, upgrades and combat situations such as idle, attacking, pinned or suppressed states and other information. These build from the UI decorators in Coh1, but provide more information and better clarity about what’s happening to a particular unit. The decorators are shown in 3 places: in-game overtop of units, in the bridge when a unit is selected, and in the top right of the screen in the Global Unit Control.

The Global Unit Control is the collapsible list of unit decorators in the top right of the screen. Infantry are displayed on the top row, with vehicles below. Units are displayed by build order, and re-arrange to form a 3^rd row when put into control groups. This feature allows players to rapidly navigate between their units and see things like which units are under attack, or which are idle, all at a glance.

In the lower right of the screen is the Command Card.  We have kept most of this as it was in Company of Heroes – we didn’t want to fix what wasn’t broken!  You can now see each command labeled with a hotkey for quick reference – which by default favors complete control with the left hand on the keyboard.

Above the action panel is the new Commander Ability Menu.  As you gain experience in combat, you may select one of three commander types (chosen before the game begins).  Once the commander type is selected, the new commands and abilities are displayed in the column above the action panel.  This is where you’ll see passive abilities, artillery strikes, air strikes, and more!

That’s the new Company of Heroes 2 User Interface!  Small tweaks are still being made as we get feedback from the Alpha Stress Test and upcoming Closed Beta, but functionally the new UI is complete.  We think you all will really like the new functions and look of the UI once you get your hands on it.  We welcome all feedback on the UI as you see more screenshots or use it in the upcoming closed beta, so be sure to tell us what you think about it!  Be sure to join the discussion here.

"PREPARING FOR WAR" DEVELOPER DIARY RELEASED!

Check out the new Company of Heroes 2 Developer Diary! Preparing for War gives us a firsthand look at the new features in Company of Heroes 2 that will revolutionize the way you play Real Time Strategy.

Join Greg Wilson, Brett Pascal, Jasen Torres and Rob Westwood of Relic Entertainment as they give us an intimate look at Company of Heroes 2, detailing TrueSight, vaulting, Cold Tech, and more as they bring to life the horrors of the Eastern Front.

COMPANY OF HEROES 2 MULTIPLAYER TRAILER REVEALED!

The greatest competitive RTS is getting even better! Introducing new maps, features, and game modes to the already legendary CoH multiplayer experience, Company of Heroes 2 will take online RTS gaming to the next level! Are you ready to take to the battlefields of the Eastern Front in online combat?

Pre-order Company of Heroes 2 today to take advantage of special offers and content!

COMPANY OF HEROES 2 ALPHA STRESS TEST NOW LIVE!

The Company of Heroes 2 Alpha Stress Test is now under way and open for registration! You can now register to participate in the CoH2 Alpha Stress Test.

This stress test runs all week, and will be used to stress the servers and help Relic handle compatibility and connectivity issues. The stress test allows you to play 1v1 and 2v2 multiplayer matches, and will be primarily used to give feedback to Relic to tweak major network and gameplay issues.

As the alpha stress test is intended for distribution to a small test group, act quickly! Once the limited amount of keys are gone, we are closing registration. To register for the Alpha Stress Test, head over tobeta.companyofheroes.com

COMPANY OF HEROES 2 GAMEPLAY TRAILER RELEASED!

The trailer you’ve all been waiting for is finally here! Making it’s world debut, We are delighted to announce the first official gameplay trailer for Company of Heroes 2. Showcasing the brutal realities of war on the Eastern Front, the trailer shows combat in both winter and summer conditions.

Pre-order Company of Heroes 2 today to take advantage of special offers and content!

Steam: http://is.gd/HIgnoF

ShopTHQ: http://is.gd/UeIELd

Origin: http://is.gd/5m7M6r

NEW COMPANY OF HEROES 2 SCREENSHOTS!

Check out these two new in-game screenshots from Company of Heroes 2!  Revealed to the community for their participation on Facebook, our fans are eager to see more Eastern Front action.  Stay tuned everyone, there’s more where this came from.

(Click on the images to enlarge)

Additional screenshots from Company of Heroes 2 can be viewed below.