Profile of sluzbenik

If there was one thing that made Company of Heroes great, it was that there were multiple ways to win a game. A player with a much better plan or unit composition could beat someone with much better micro, but sometimes incredible early game micro could also so significantly hamper a very good strategic player that comebacks were impossible. What made it interesting was that these aspects were so finely balanced that no one could say that one was definitely more important than the other in winning a vCOH match.

I think, with the introduction of the high DPS Western Fronts faction units, that balance in COH2 has been finally put to rest. In all cases, micro > tactics and strategy. Unit preservation and abuse of high DPS units has become so much more important than having a plan, or a balanced army composition, or even large-scale flanks. Examples include: the M3, the M5 quad, the flak trucks, the T70, Obersoldaten, Falls, and of course, ISU-152s and Tigers late game.

In terms of winning, early engagements decide almost everything in high-skill games. And what wins you those early engagements? Focus firing before the other guy. Retreating the focus fired squad before the other guy. Dodging nades I don't even count because that's so basic even guys with my CPM can do it easily. Cover and positioning is also far less important now than focus fire.

I don't like this. I don't enjoy it, and I am man enough to admit that before the infantry DPS patch in March I could beat players with far higher CPM than me because I had the better plan, or was able to do something else super clever with the map (ie., Tellers, a pincer movement flank, etc.) because they were so busy with their micro they weren't seeing the big picture. I can no longer do that, and it's purely because I'm slower.

I also think we could pretty much prove CPM > tactics if we had the stats on the top tourney players. From my viewing of replays, I can tell that in order of CPM and multitasking speed: Jesulin>Cataclaw>Twister....OMGPOP somehere in there, not sure where I'd place him as I haven't seen those latest games. A strategic player like Cruzzi, as talented as he is, is always going to lose to higher CPM players, because he simply doesn't have that speed (apologies, Cruzzi, but I think you also know it's true).

Just opening this up for discussion.

I agree, I dislike the idea of high DPS units coming early in the game, because RNG or a lucky retreat cutoff can really screw up the opponent's chances of having a decent game at all.

This is more a philosophical difference though, they are counterable if alone. And if with volks, that's a volks not capping somewhere else.

This does sound like a good idea.
But I have a few questions I hope you can answer.

1) Super large map with strapped resources do mean players have to be more careful. But won't it be difficult to set up a defensive line?

2) This seems to be in favor of mobile troops, considering flanking would be much more easier. Would you think so?

3) Other than defensive tactics, won't artillery units be at a severe disadvantage because it can't cover as much ground as it usually can?

4) Strapped and limited resource means less units, which seems slightly in favour of German forces since they are much more hardier and can last longer without needing constant reinforcement (medpacks, front line outposts). What advantages would the Soviet players have?

1)Yes, it's supposed to be hard to have a good defensive line. Think about Semoisky, there are two ways to get to the middle, actually three if you drive through the opponent's base (which has been done plenty).
2) True, but mixed teams would be a must. Soviet, Wehr, and US all have great forward reinforcement mechanisms. Even OKW does, but it's not as strong.
3) Yes, this would probably be the key reason Relic could never do it. Artillery is almost totally useless already, they can't buff the ranges for larger-scale games without wrecking 1v1 and 2v2 balance.
4) Slightly more mobility, and again, mixed teams. US has forward healing, and there's the Soviet FHQ too.

I was amusing myself playing random Soviet 4v4 and I thought, gee, I would really like team games if they were the least bit interesting. What makes 1v1 and 2v2 interesting? The fact that combat is taking place all over the place and there are a number of different ways for both sides to work the maps. Games never go exactly the same because the maps are large enough for multiple ways of playing and multiple types of units to work. Sometimes people go for fuel, sometimes they go for cutoffs, and what makes playing 1v1 hard and competitive is the amount of multitasking and micro and how you work the map when you can only have one small portion viewable at a time.

So how would you make team games interesting? Currently COH2 team games are all set-pieces because the maps are simply too small and too full of resources to ever have the same kind of combat you see in 1v1, and they simply don't require the same level of multitasking and micro. There are always going to be 3 MGs on the island on Steppes, people are always going to mortar spam the east side of City 17, because that's what the maps force.

My quick and dirty answer: every 3v3 and 4v4 map should be twice to three times as large as it is. Maps should have very few fuel and munitions points and strat points should provide half the income they currently do.

While with such maps most players would be blobbing units around with attack move, this kind of situation would allow teams with actual skill to really prove themselves - if you can work a map that size as a team and as individuals, you probably have a clue. What if teams had to play 4v4s the way 1v1 players play 1v1 and work a far larger map the same way, while also coordinating and multitasking all over the place?

Can you imagine the kind of competitive scene that might arise from that? It would be beautiful.

If they allowed attack ground on MGs, you'd need a mechanic to keep people from just continuously firing, like requiring ammo resupply. Dumb idea, if you ask me...