Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor

[Naethyn]

The stand alone expansion for company of heroes. If you've never bought the game before you can by this expansion and have access to everything from the previous two games. Except the single player campaign, but this really is a multiplayer game.

Great RTS! Available through steam. 29.99. Been having lots of fun on the map Gilroy's Harbor. Has all the elements a good RTS should have.

9/10

(omg 2k post count. i'm like the 12 biggest loser on this board now)

[baddwin]

Hi, is it like battlefiled 2 but with better graphic?

[Naethyn]

Far from it. BF2 is a FPS. This is real time strategy set in WWII.

[10sun]

can you embed a youtube link of the gameplay please?

[Naethyn]

Every game you play is saved as a replay so you can watch it later. Lots of good ones available here. But of course you have to have the game installed to view them.

http://www.gamereplays.org/companyofheroes/

At about 1:30 you see the gameplay HUD. They have it disabled at the start of the game. This shows a lot of tanks. There are tons of units. Infantry etc. And you don't have to worry about collecting resources. You cap bases and they give you resources every minute. Map control is key. Which in a sense is a lot like battlefield 2.

[Naethyn]

Some other points to this game that make it so great.

There are 4 playable factions. American, British, Panzer Elite, and an Wehrmacht. It is always axis vs allies. Each nation has 3 Doctrine tech trees they can go down during the game that greatly enhance certain parts of the army. For example Artillery, Tanks, etc. You get these tech by killing other units through the game and basically level up. They also allow for special abilities to be used like calling in artillery or spawning in free tanks.

It is a very action based game. You build buildings to make units but beyond that thats the only economic side. There are a lot of defensive type buildings with guns etc can can be made for combat also.

Cover. Units get defense bonuses for being in cover. And negative defenses for being exposed, such as a street. This makes it so lesser troops who are well entrenched can take on better foes. Engineers can make sandbags, barbed wire, bunkers, and mines which makes for some really interesting game play. There is a counter for everything. The game is incredibly well balanced. You can garrison buildings and all kinds of actions.

There are so many ways to play this game and every single nation is different. It's the best RTS to date.

For those of you who hate how most RTS games end up being a rush fest. Well this game has many measures to prevent that. Rushing is still possible, but in most cases entrenched units own anything that comes for the first 10-15 min. Games usually last 40 minutes but can take up to a few hours if both sides can't break through a line.

Also, the graphics detail of this game is amazing. The more you scroll in the more you see how each unit, model, whatever really had a lot of thought put into it.

The wiki has a good write up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_of_Heroes

Hope someone else comes join us! We've been playing a lot of 2v2 atm and a 3v3 battle would be intense.

[Tikker]

it's just another RTS

[Gypsiyee]

it's just another RTS

and you're just another cynic.

jeez, party pooper >.< let the guy get excited about a game!

[Tikker]

it's just another RTS

and you're just another cynic.

jeez, party pooper >.< let the guy get excited about a game!

it's an older game!

it's seriously just another RTS, except WW2 instead of future sci-fi

nothing wrong with the game, but it's just a generic RTS with WW2 skin

[Naethyn]

There are some big differences between this game and other RTS out there. The first being resources. No longer do you have to send workers to go collect wood. All the units in the game are for combat purposes. This game also implements cover, which I have never seen done in an RTS before. Does it have the same mechanics as an RTS? Sure. Is it just another RTS like all the rest? Definitely not.

[10sun]

There are some big differences between this game and other RTS out there. The first being resources. No longer do you have to send workers to go collect wood. All the units in the game are for combat purposes. This game also implements cover, which I have never seen done in an RTS before. Does it have the same mechanics as an RTS? Sure. Is it just another RTS like all the rest? Definitely not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhammer_ ... awn_of_War
Made by the same company in 2004.

CoH: ToV seems to be a clone with a WW2 skin slapped on.

[Naethyn]

I've not played that game. The UI and description look very similar. I would disagree saying it is a clone as the game is built on an entirely different game engine. Could it have borrowed a lot of the same mechanics? Sure. Is it a clone with a WWII skin slapped on? No

Game engine

Company of Heroes is Relic's first title to make use of the "Essence Engine". This engine was designed and coded from scratch by Relic in order to make use of special graphical effects, including high dynamic range lighting, dynamic lighting & shadows, advanced shader effects and normal mapping.
COH is rendered in 3D with intricate detailing on the infantry, vehicles and structures while still retaining a solid frame-rate, without, Relic claims, the need for a high-end gaming system. It claims that there are nearly 2,000 different animations for a basic infantry unit alone.
Company of Heroes also utilizes the Havok physics engine, giving it a more realistic physics system than previous RTS games. Parts of buildings can be destroyed by grenades, satchels or mortars, and tanks can drive through sections of walls or other barriers. Smoke created from explosions is programmed to behave as realistically as possible and can even be influenced by wind. Debris is also influenced by explosions; a blast can send barrels flying and shower troops in dirt, whilst leaving behind a large crater. When infantry are bombarded by artillery, body parts sometimes detach and are dispersed over, and some units are thrown about in the immediate area. Bridges and buildings can be destroyed by engineers using demolitions.
On May 29, 2007 Relic released a patch for Company of Heroes that included a new DirectX 10 rendering mode with enhanced terrain, additional world objects, and improved shadows and lighting. This patch made Company of Heroes the first commercial video game to support Direct3D 10.

[Drem]

a clone has nothing to do with what graphics engine the game uses