As a seasoned coh2 player, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed your video and you hit very close to the mark on almost all topics. Your criticism was also extremely valid and it is easy to forget how daunting it can be for new players to test their mettle on the online matchmaking (especially because the chat can get toxic sometimes) Having said that the player base is still sufficiently so most players after having been ranked (happens after 10 matches in the same setting) should be able to find somewhat balanced opponents in most of their online games. Furthermore the game still has a very helpful and dedicated community which is more than happy to take new players under their wing and give them feedback and advice on future fights.
piece of advice regarding the thumbnail image design: make the text white with black border to be more legible and look more professional. nice channel
as a coh2 player (1800h) i'm glad you like the game, and i find your point very interesting and made me think about the game mechanics. like your vid and i'll watch some others.
About the game not being very intuitive, while I did experience that to some degree, I think one can more or less figure out how each unit works by looking at their role and their weapons, for example, if it's a combat squad carrying SMGs you can rightfully assume that their fast-firing but inaccurate weapons will make them effective at close distance, but if they're carrying bolt-action rifles they'll be good at long range because of them being more accurate but shooting slowly. Same goes for vehicles, tanks with thick short barrels that make big explosions will be powerful against soft targets like infantry, but generally won't be able to penetrate enemy armor, while tanks with long thin guns and small explosions won't do much damage against infantry but will be able to damage tanks. There are some exceptions though, for example, the first game as well as the base factions from CoH 2 teaches you that engineers are support squads and aren't very effective at combat, so when I first encountered Sturmpioneers (OKW's engineers) I assumed my Conscripts would beat them with ease, but it turns out that Sturmpioneers are an extremely powerful combat squad and you need to engage them at long range with at least two squads to have a good chance to win the engagement. I think this is something CoH 1 did better, in CoH 1 when you click a unit it shows in a scale from 1 to 10 how effective it is against each kind of target, and while that was fine, I think it would be nice if it could expand the concept even further, like adding the effective combat range of the unit for example, and maybe also their range, so with just a quick look you can know how the unit performs against each kind of enemy and what's the best way to use them.
Brilliant work, HBD. My understanding and appreciation for the RTS' I love most like AoK, WarCraft III and StarCraft and precisely this is expands greatly with each video. The balance of an RTS and how the economy is so important and this video also helps me understand why I loved Dawn of War for what it was but how I could appreciate Company of Heroes as its refined successor. Can't wait. Thoughts on god powers for Age of Mythology were just inspired.
Yeah the point about the learning curve really struck me. I still don't really know how the Wehrmacht works in CoH 1, and the lack of clarity otherwise has given me little incentive to go back and learn. Whereas even though I'm not a particularly competitive AOE 2 player I still at least understand why I'm losing lol.
There are online resources that can teach you the game much faster like gamereplays.org for coh1 and coh2.org for coh2. The game is complex but this complexity is very rewarding in multiplayer once you know the game well. Even at a noob / medium level, multiplayer is an endless source of fun. Forgot to mention: the game is free, yes free, until Dec. 10. Get it on Steam for zero dollars.
You don't have to choose your commander at the start of the match like you say. You have a pool of 3 commanders to choose from in-game (you configure the pool out of game), and you can choose whenever you like. So you are rewarded for waiting to see how the match is unfolding before selecting a commander to best counter your opponent.
I think non heavy special infantry weapons like bazookas Lmgs (with bipods) or SMGs have only a chance to drop when the unit dies which is bad as many units in coh 1 and 2 cant get the Weapons you want to give them and you should be punished if you lose an upgraded infantry squad
As an AOE player, i was mad when i found out a fixed artillery i had built in the first CoH was shooting at the ground and the shoots would not go through it. That's fine in a game like Total War, but it absolutely does not feel good in CoH.
lmao wat where the hell did you place it that it shot into the ground ? right next to a hill lmao coh emphasizes also partial realism in its game so you have to think about what you place where logiclly
@@ozisponas1593 I put it in a slopped terrain that was not so obvious from the high camera. This kind of mechanic coupled with the RNG really doesn't make it for me on a semi competitive rts. It would be fine if the artillery could not shoot through my units or buildings, but it should at least warn you it won't be able to work depending on where you put it.
@@ptkstefano personally never had such a problem plus in competitive play you really don t have resources to waste on artillery so there is also that unless you are british which has a whole meta of digging in and shelling enemy base from afar but only in coh 1 not in coh 2 but most maps are even or you simply don t place it next to a slope where it won t be able to shoot using common sense in coh 2 maps are also designed in such a way that you don t really have a place that would block it permanently only buildings can for example temporarily until arty destroys them
I never got into the CoH games, for several reasons - learning curve being super brutal for newcomers, DLC whoring, weird balance stuff that flies in the face of the setting and put me off (MG42 not being a superdeadly killing machine) . i also dont like the commander system. i alrdy chose a faction, why lock me down even further?? let me just scout and adjust accordingly whenever the hell i want. i hope to finally give it a fair go when CoH3 comes around. damn relic for fucking up DoW3 so bad.
Did you ever do a video on the Wargame series? Really great RTS game, w/o the base building component and basicly only tactical maneuver. A gem series that is now being killed by corporate greed.
I take it you will not be doing a "Thoughts on Dawn of War" and its 4 expansions? I personally am a fan of Dawn of War, and utterly despise Company of Heros: bad experience with CoH.
As 1000h CoH2 player I agree with most contents of this video. There are some differences between CoH1 and CoH2 explained here: th-cam.com/video/IFv07M76ytU/w-d-xo.html. About campaigns - well, Ancestors: Legacy seems doing that right for me, but I didn't played most of it yet. I suggest trying it out (as Pole, because nationality). Doctrines itself mostly are risk'n'reward, you can choose it from the start (specially when you have call-in inf/veh from 0), so I think that point about is just a nit-picking. You don't have to pick any doctrine to play this game well... atleast as an OST or OKW. For me the worst thing about CoH2 are balance changes made in favor to one or two certain faction, which for now (till 2018.12.10, when next balance patch kicks in as I suppose) seems unbalanced.
Comanders DO NOT COST MONEY, sure you can buy them if you are impatient, but everything can be unlocked with ingame currency or random drops that you get after every match.
That takes for ages just use a mod like every unit unlocked and in the beginning of the game you could only buy new commanders which were some times op or had new stuff
a commander cost 10000 Coins or more and you get like a maximum of 500 Coins for 3 wins or 4 fails AND THAT ONLY if the item the chest gives you is a duplicate
Coh2 is the best RTS deep complex game ever, its not about building rather than how to use ur units and get them to vet3, I have 3000 hours in the game and still learning
rng is what gives this game flavor and excitement dawn of war 3 tried to get rid of rng and make relic game into streamlined starcraft clone and it completely destroyed dawn of war franchise probably forever you don t need to be starcraft or age of empires to be good competitive rts game in fact you should not try to be them as they are already the ones who are like them and having multiple games do same thing would not bring more people in to play those games but do completely opposite as most people are frankly bored of playing same game over and over just with different skins
What are the negative features of Dawn of War 3 that come from StarCraft 2? From what I've seen it includes many of the old games' tropes, such as capturing territory, infantry in squads with upgrades and highly different damage profiles. Is it too large scale?
Company of Moba Heroes: Microtransaction edition. Because of this shitty series they ruined Dawn of War by turning it into a CoH clone. Nothing CoH did was right for an RTS game in my book. It just felt like a moba where you also got to control creeps but without the excitement. Dawn of War 1 may have had a bad resource system, horrible pathing and ugly ass maps, but the voice acting, world presentation and factions' lineups and variety, excellent combat system was top notch. Then they released CoH and because it had some success they decided to ruin DoW, first by turning DoW 2 into an RTT game and then DoW 3 into a full-blown moba where your units have no point and your commanders (for which you have the "option" to shelve $$$) were gods that you were completely dependent upon to actually do anything, and like a previous commenter said locked you in even further. I am at least glad they didn't decide they needed to limit the factions to a few since I wholly disagree that a max of 4 factions is the sweet spot, far from it. I've played all kinds of RTS and while I do not consider myself anywhere close to pro, Dawn of War 1's sheer variety of factions was one of its biggest advantages, as can also be slightly echoed in SC2 co-op commander variety and success of the game mode.
glad to see there's a channel actually discussing rts games! Keep up the great work dude, don't wanna see this genre go the way of the Arena FPS :(
th-cam.com/channels/Q0KFtUTiUVKL9TDb8m65NQ.html
Check this channel out, the guys there are great.
@@Andy_Spy Thanks Andy. ;D
@@GeneralsGentlemen No problem, it is my pleasure :-)
As a seasoned coh2 player, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed your video and you hit very close to the mark on almost all topics. Your criticism was also extremely valid and it is easy to forget how daunting it can be for new players to test their mettle on the online matchmaking (especially because the chat can get toxic sometimes)
Having said that the player base is still sufficiently so most players after having been ranked (happens after 10 matches in the same setting) should be able to find somewhat balanced opponents in most of their online games. Furthermore the game still has a very helpful and dedicated community which is more than happy to take new players under their wing and give them feedback and advice on future fights.
piece of advice regarding the thumbnail image design: make the text white with black border to be more legible and look more professional. nice channel
as a coh2 player (1800h) i'm glad you like the game, and i find your point very interesting and made me think about the game mechanics. like your vid and i'll watch some others.
About the game not being very intuitive, while I did experience that to some degree, I think one can more or less figure out how each unit works by looking at their role and their weapons, for example, if it's a combat squad carrying SMGs you can rightfully assume that their fast-firing but inaccurate weapons will make them effective at close distance, but if they're carrying bolt-action rifles they'll be good at long range because of them being more accurate but shooting slowly. Same goes for vehicles, tanks with thick short barrels that make big explosions will be powerful against soft targets like infantry, but generally won't be able to penetrate enemy armor, while tanks with long thin guns and small explosions won't do much damage against infantry but will be able to damage tanks.
There are some exceptions though, for example, the first game as well as the base factions from CoH 2 teaches you that engineers are support squads and aren't very effective at combat, so when I first encountered Sturmpioneers (OKW's engineers) I assumed my Conscripts would beat them with ease, but it turns out that Sturmpioneers are an extremely powerful combat squad and you need to engage them at long range with at least two squads to have a good chance to win the engagement.
I think this is something CoH 1 did better, in CoH 1 when you click a unit it shows in a scale from 1 to 10 how effective it is against each kind of target, and while that was fine, I think it would be nice if it could expand the concept even further, like adding the effective combat range of the unit for example, and maybe also their range, so with just a quick look you can know how the unit performs against each kind of enemy and what's the best way to use them.
Brilliant work, HBD. My understanding and appreciation for the RTS' I love most like AoK, WarCraft III and StarCraft and precisely this is expands greatly with each video. The balance of an RTS and how the economy is so important and this video also helps me understand why I loved Dawn of War for what it was but how I could appreciate Company of Heroes as its refined successor. Can't wait. Thoughts on god powers for Age of Mythology were just inspired.
Yeah the point about the learning curve really struck me. I still don't really know how the Wehrmacht works in CoH 1, and the lack of clarity otherwise has given me little incentive to go back and learn. Whereas even though I'm not a particularly competitive AOE 2 player I still at least understand why I'm losing lol.
There are online resources that can teach you the game much faster like gamereplays.org for coh1 and coh2.org for coh2. The game is complex but this complexity is very rewarding in multiplayer once you know the game well. Even at a noob / medium level, multiplayer is an endless source of fun.
Forgot to mention: the game is free, yes free, until Dec. 10. Get it on Steam for zero dollars.
You don't have to choose your commander at the start of the match like you say. You have a pool of 3 commanders to choose from in-game (you configure the pool out of game), and you can choose whenever you like. So you are rewarded for waiting to see how the match is unfolding before selecting a commander to best counter your opponent.
Lit i fell in love with rts coh when i was 4-5 and cant wait for 3
Great video, I think I will give it a try
Also Relic is dead...
Brilliant analysis yet again! Well done
I think non heavy special infantry weapons like bazookas Lmgs (with bipods) or SMGs have only a chance to drop when the unit dies
which is bad as many units in coh 1 and 2 cant get the Weapons you want to give them and you should be punished if you lose an upgraded infantry squad
AOE2 and coh 1 , coh 2, my fav game
As an AOE player, i was mad when i found out a fixed artillery i had built in the first CoH was shooting at the ground and the shoots would not go through it. That's fine in a game like Total War, but it absolutely does not feel good in CoH.
lmao wat
where the hell did you place it that it shot into the ground ?
right next to a hill lmao
coh emphasizes also partial realism in its game so you have to think about what you place where logiclly
@@ozisponas1593 I put it in a slopped terrain that was not so obvious from the high camera. This kind of mechanic coupled with the RNG really doesn't make it for me on a semi competitive rts. It would be fine if the artillery could not shoot through my units or buildings, but it should at least warn you it won't be able to work depending on where you put it.
@@ptkstefano personally never had such a problem plus in competitive play you really don t have resources to waste on artillery so there is also that
unless you are british which has a whole meta of digging in and shelling enemy base from afar but only in coh 1 not in coh 2
but most maps are even or you simply don t place it next to a slope where it won t be able to shoot using common sense
in coh 2 maps are also designed in such a way that you don t really have a place that would block it permanently only buildings can for example temporarily until arty destroys them
I never got into the CoH games, for several reasons - learning curve being super brutal for newcomers, DLC whoring, weird balance stuff that flies in the face of the setting and put me off (MG42 not being a superdeadly killing machine) . i also dont like the commander system. i alrdy chose a faction, why lock me down even further?? let me just scout and adjust accordingly whenever the hell i want.
i hope to finally give it a fair go when CoH3 comes around.
damn relic for fucking up DoW3 so bad.
For me COH (1 and 2) is the best RTS ever, then AOE2.
Great video, keep it up.
Please can you analyse Age of Empires: Definitive Edition
Did you ever do a video on the Wargame series? Really great RTS game, w/o the base building component and basicly only tactical maneuver.
A gem series that is now being killed by corporate greed.
They should have made a better Ruse instead of wargame as i dont think eugen are really capable of realistic units
Awesome. What are your thoughts on Ashes of Singularity?
I take it you will not be doing a "Thoughts on Dawn of War" and its 4 expansions?
I personally am a fan of Dawn of War, and utterly despise Company of Heros: bad experience with CoH.
As 1000h CoH2 player I agree with most contents of this video. There are some differences between CoH1 and CoH2 explained here: th-cam.com/video/IFv07M76ytU/w-d-xo.html. About campaigns - well, Ancestors: Legacy seems doing that right for me, but I didn't played most of it yet. I suggest trying it out (as Pole, because nationality).
Doctrines itself mostly are risk'n'reward, you can choose it from the start (specially when you have call-in inf/veh from 0), so I think that point about is just a nit-picking. You don't have to pick any doctrine to play this game well... atleast as an OST or OKW.
For me the worst thing about CoH2 are balance changes made in favor to one or two certain faction, which for now (till 2018.12.10, when next balance patch kicks in as I suppose) seems unbalanced.
Check out coh2.org for more info on coh2
Hey harvest, WHY ALWAYS THE SAME MUSIC???
Lol like i like it but i wanna know
Sooo you keep saying Warcraft 2 and showing warcraft 3. No footage?
Comanders DO NOT COST MONEY, sure you can buy them if you are impatient, but everything can be unlocked with ingame currency or random drops that you get after every match.
That takes for ages just use a mod like every unit unlocked and in the beginning of the game you could only buy new commanders which were some times op or had new stuff
@@SooSFan It doesn't take ages, you can get drops every 3 wins or 4 losses, and you can buy commanders with points you earn playing.
a commander cost 10000 Coins or more and you get like a maximum of 500 Coins for 3 wins or 4 fails AND THAT ONLY if the item the chest gives you is a duplicate
Coh2 is the best RTS deep complex game ever, its not about building rather than how to use ur units and get them to vet3, I have 3000 hours in the game and still learning
Revieuw Knights and Merchants dude
rng is what gives this game flavor and excitement
dawn of war 3 tried to get rid of rng and make relic game into streamlined starcraft clone and it completely destroyed dawn of war franchise probably forever
you don t need to be starcraft or age of empires to be good competitive rts game
in fact you should not try to be them as they are already the ones who are like them and having multiple games do same thing would not bring more people in to play those games but do completely opposite as most people are frankly bored of playing same game over and over just with different skins
What are the negative features of Dawn of War 3 that come from StarCraft 2? From what I've seen it includes many of the old games' tropes, such as capturing territory, infantry in squads with upgrades and highly different damage profiles. Is it too large scale?
Company of Moba Heroes: Microtransaction edition. Because of this shitty series they ruined Dawn of War by turning it into a CoH clone. Nothing CoH did was right for an RTS game in my book. It just felt like a moba where you also got to control creeps but without the excitement. Dawn of War 1 may have had a bad resource system, horrible pathing and ugly ass maps, but the voice acting, world presentation and factions' lineups and variety, excellent combat system was top notch. Then they released CoH and because it had some success they decided to ruin DoW, first by turning DoW 2 into an RTT game and then DoW 3 into a full-blown moba where your units have no point and your commanders (for which you have the "option" to shelve $$$) were gods that you were completely dependent upon to actually do anything, and like a previous commenter said locked you in even further. I am at least glad they didn't decide they needed to limit the factions to a few since I wholly disagree that a max of 4 factions is the sweet spot, far from it. I've played all kinds of RTS and while I do not consider myself anywhere close to pro, Dawn of War 1's sheer variety of factions was one of its biggest advantages, as can also be slightly echoed in SC2 co-op commander variety and success of the game mode.