Went back to COH 2. Feels way better. Have some thoughts on why.
Hard to diagnose the exact issue but I have a couple thoughts on why it feels so much better.
- green cover feels so much more powerful. units win against much larger forces if properly employed in cover or at the very least trade evenly to buy time.
In coh 3 anytime multiple units gangs up on any other unit, its a route at all ranges all covers. barring CQB troops.
2) You can kite a large blob of infantry effectively with only a couple units. This is not possible in COH 3. Especially if its bergs. 2 rifles can win against 3-4 grens or fusileers and vis versa if micro ed well even when all forces are together. or add any combo really.
3)indirect hits hard. 1 mortar hit can kill a whole attack because it wipes the health of whole squads.
4) units feel special. Units are good at 1 thing only. Mainlines are all specialized to certain ranges. grens, long range only. volks gren med range, rifles med- close. you put em in engagements outside that and they do badly
. Theres no flaktrak thats good AA AT and AI. Theres no rangers killing all. Wanna kill a tank? get an AT only vehicle or inf. your AI vehicle doesnt do fuck all to armor. looking at you brumbar!
5) snares hit hard. that tank can barely move.... no getting your engine back on the move.
6) commanders feel better balanced... Commanders provide no more than 3 of the following, elite inf, elite armor, off maps, artillery, recon. Now there are lots of really bad commanders unfortunately.
If any commander has more than 3 its too powerfull.
Any less than 3 and its not a truly viable commander for all stages of the game.
7) and this ones important.... the game learned its fucking lessons. No cp0 drops, no satchels on drop, no strafes that dont require vision or hit outside circle. theres a million others, but LEARN LESSSONS FROM PAST GAMES RELIC
EDIT: on commanders. I think COH 3s battlegroups could be better than the commanders system on a per commander/battlegroup level.
Problem is they are almost too big. Relic just can’t seem to get enough out to create diversity of play.
EDIT 2: 8) Thought of another. AT is available early. RAK available out of the gate, same with zooks. IF vehicles are available early then AT needs to be able to hit the field at an identical time regardless of what building path you go...
EDIT 3: Thought of this later. Pacing is much different in 2. There was an order of battle in Coh 2 that doesn’t seem as present in 3. The first 15-20 min was spent securing fuel and fighting for resources. VPs are a luxury not a necessity in this period. Then if the game is still even you start shifting forces to vps to win the end game.
In Coh3 it’s all about the Vps from the get go. If you don’t contest all the vps the game will be over in minutes. Your team needs to fight everywhere. This disincentivizes team play. Games that are close by military value and map control are over at the 10 min mark because one team took the vps in the first seconds.