Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor

[Ludovsky]

I hope not, I'd rather buy than download a 1+ gig new faction for free.

Actually, I was talking about ones you pay for. However, sometimes I wonder if it wasn't already done. Downloading factions, in a way.

I mean, I'm no specialist of how CoH works to be cross-compatible as it is with OF, but is HAS to have an access to OF units to manage them at all afaik. So I almost have to asks myself if the OF units weren't, in a way, already ported into CoH via the patching process so that player can even see the OF units in their games.

I mean, someone who only has CoH can't be downloading units from the other pack(OF) every single multiplayer sessions they take part in.

Granted, if anyone has any idea what`s the mechanic that does permits the cross compatibility, please correct me.

Otherwise... well, it wouldn't be like if you hadn't already download the OF factions within your patches for your vanilla CoH to be able to connect to them in MP. Though... if I am wrong on the matter, then please someone /do/ correct me I am curious about how CoH without OF can hook a game to OF without CoH.

[Vertrucio]

Perhaps, like with DoW1, they're waiting on a full sequel to finally include Russians. This is partly because they'd have to rebalance things to provide a worthy opponent, and not just another German faction.

[ZabuzaNinja]

Did anyone ever think about how they would include the Russians of Japanese? With the British and PE they were lucky, they could fairly easily say that it is all in the same theater of war and so it didn't matter who was versing who and who was on who's team. But with the Russians, they were on the other side of Germany, you can't have a game with the Russians and British versus the PE and Wehr without things getting a little complicated. It gets even worse with the Japanese.
Just a little thing, but it seems like it would actually have a big effect, especially if you include maps. If I want to play as Wehr on Lyon, and the other person wants to play as the Russians, or I have an ally wanting to be the Japanese, it won't work (especially if they give the Russian infantry snow white uniforms). Unless someone has come up to a solution to this problem, I think it is actually a fairly big obstacle that prevents eastern armies.

[Sooth]

I really hope they are careful with direct fire, and stay as far away from a mouse click/dexterity game. It would be really neat for such things as shooting the guy holding the shreck, or maybe for tanks, shoot the turret and make it break/jam?

[DarkWarrior]

Its a far shot, but I hope they added a FPS element with direct fire.

[Techlology]

I'm curious as to what direct fire will actually do.

I hope they rebalance the game

Also, instead of new faction, it would be nice to have new doctrines for every existing faction, say 1 or 2 new doctrines per faction. This would add diversity to the game and not break the game's theater of war.

[Thadius]

@ZabuzaNinja
Not this arguement again, there are plenty of threads about the russians and Japanese forces being added. There are a few solutions although I believe that Japan would be in a sequel and Russia probably won't make an appearance until a much later date. Firstly since maps are only for MP it goes down to how anal you are about what armies fight on what maps really. I find it funny that no one complains about having british on pointe Du Hoc online so why would Russians be out of place in Lyon. Also if Russia was added you would get a bunch of east front maps which people could play using American and British armies, so again its down to how much you want your MP/skirmish games to reflect historical events. Uniforms are a pointless arguement, so what if Russian troops had winter camo since it has no effect on gameplay and the uniforms in game for some units are not accurate anyway.

The solution would be to have a setting for the host to force armies for map selection. That way you could force maybe ETO forces for west europe maps and then Russia could only be selected for their own maps. I'm not sure how that would apply to mappers but I guess they could just set it to not have any restriction.

[Mannerheim]

They cant add any full new armies to current coh, it will be a whole new game like coh2 (if they ever make it)

[Soldier of Dest]

The RPG-styled Campagin, Direct Control and that Invasion Mode sound like much fun to me

[daroach1414]

They cant add any full new armies to current coh, it will be a whole new game like coh2 (if they ever make it)

Why? Didnt seem to stop them in DoW.

[IndigoSpyder]

And the CoH engine is still in its prime so I honestly don't find it necessary for a sequel as of now. But I do hope there'll be CoH 2 only when SP2 for Vista sees the light of the day. Imagine Dx10 fully functioning near perfect with CoH 2 effects.

Orgasmic.

[Mannerheim]

Well there are several reasons like:

- the technical requirements printed on the game box are not enough for to have much more new models and textures cached (not a problem in small games). If requirements change all sudden im not sure if they get in trouble if someone buys the game and the box gives false info. PE is already pretty much texture/model shared army. I think they already used most of the 'reserve' capacity with OF and ToV might eat the remaining.

- relic likes to do thing the 'realistic' way meaning they didn't allow mirror matches or free for all so what do you think them allowing russians/japanese etc. fight in france?

- if russians/japanes/etc. would come it would mean new map terrain tiles, environment objects and buildings and more probably a big bunch of engine enchantments which would lead in another massive patch to keep multiplayer compatible...

from a business and development perspective its more effective to make a whole new game using the latest engine (dow2) and sell it as a brand new game and not fight with requirements/limitations with 2 year old game

[Raddish]

also if they keep updating the game it is going to start looking dated once DoW2 comes out, its 2 years old and not been graphicly updated other then DX10 which wasnt a large change.

Making a new game will make it look much better graphically and allow them to add more to the gameplay, they are currently limited by the engine they created 2 years ago.

[Panzer Jager]

DoW2 is on the same engine.

[Thalandor]

There's a new article in the german Videogame Magazine "PC Games" (last week):

In the new Wehrmacht Campaign, u get to Control the Tiger Tank in Leningrad. (Unfortunately, there ain t any further information to russia)

The Tiger Tank belongs to the Wehrmacht and inside, theres a Driver, a Gunner, Radio guy and someone for reloading the gun :-).

During the campaign, there are no more controllable points and only seldom there s support from friendly troops. Still, there s a new tech-tree for the campaign where u can set attributes for the crew (4 branches) when earning enough experience (like eplosive ammo [kinda stupid, tank grenades should generally explode..])

Other skills are smoke cover and better driving capabilities..
The gameplay was described as a slower version of Diablo - guess direct fire ist just point n click.

Theres only a small comment concerning the other campaign(s) "Normandy, of course".

New Vehicles are the Volkswagen Schwinnwagen and the Staghound.. be4 the match, u are able to decide if to switch an old vehicle for one of the new. New MP mod mentioned was players (defend) vs. ai.

[senseo1990]

Wow really?
I think , that I can remember someone else said something similar before? But I really cant imagine who it was...
...wait...
...wait it was me! =O

[Seany]

Thalandor - (like eplosive ammo [kinda stupid, tank grenades should generally explode..])

Not really stupid, almost all tanks use at least two types of ammo IRL, armor piercing Sabot or High Explosive (HE) . As far as I can tell, most of the currents tanks in COHOF use armor piercing ammo (stuh is the only one I can think of that doesn't but that's more of a howitzer shell anyway). HE ammo would be really useful against buildings and infantry (bye bye blob ). At the moment in COH when you kill inf with a tank round it's usually because the round actually hit the infantry or was very close. With HE it would be larger damage radius / area of affect type weapon, but not very good versus Tanks.

Anyway, I like the sound of this Tales of Valor, looking forward to it.

[LoneWolf666]

Leningrad? You sure? I remember someone cracked the files and it said something akin to Wittman's exploits, definitely in Normandy...

[senseo1990]

Dont want to be offending, but please read the previous page
so we dont have to repeat every single answer every 10 posts, maybe we should sum up what we know on each page from now on ?

On topic: Leningrad is only in the intro-movie , the campaign is set in normandy

[kdda]

NO! They said that the Intro-movie starts in Leningrad! They said nothing about playing!

Ok Senseo was faster...

[Thunder]

Hey folks, I just wanted to clear up some of the initial questions about Tales of Valor.

1) No new factions are going to be introduced in Tales of Valor.
2) The new units are new models and textures. New.
3) Direct fire is something that we're featuring in the campaign, and perhaps one of the new multiplayer modes. It's not something you'll be using in a standard multiplayer game.

There ya go. I think that the expansion will have something for everyone, single-player fans and fans of multiplayer.

[senseo1990]

So like we thought only new models instead of real units?
I hope you guys at relic know what you are doing =)
For me personally it is okay, if there are no new (real) units or factions, but multiplayer in coh is the most interesting part, so I hope you will reveal something about new multiplayer-features in the next months (and not ONLY one gamemode, coop against AI , it is cool, but not cool enough so it is worth the 30€) =)

[Raddish]

perhaps one of the new multiplayer modes

as in multiple game modes...

[Ap0k]

So like we thought only new models instead of real units?

The new units are new models and textures. New.

...

[Thadius]

The invasion mode sounds pretty good, I always enjoyed taking on massed enemy AI until eventually being overrun although I suppose Relic will leave the AI as is until a proper patch to fix them comes out later.

[Lionel-Richie]

The new units are new models and textures. New.

But will they be separate units or replacement units with the same relatively the same stats?

That's what everyone is referring to when they say "new unit" ApoK.

[senseo1990]

So like we thought only new models instead of real units?

The new units are new models and textures . New.

...

[YurdleTheTurtle]

Not going to lie, but yeah, that clarification about the new units from Thunder only got me (and perhaps a few others) confused.

What Lionel is asking is if these units are COMPLETELY new units that are added in and fill new roles , or if they are simply new units that REPLACE some old ones.

Also, I was looking around the beta changelog and coh-stats, and I saw two units I've never seen before, the something-wagon and a Staghound. Are these 'replacement' units being introduced in the next patch, or am I completely lost here?

[Cossack]

I wait the Red Army in the CoH. I want play soviet army, army of my great-grandfather. For me, new campaign and “Direct fire” are not enough for new “addon”.

[TrueKnight]

What Lionel is asking is if these units are COMPLETELY new units that are added in and fill new roles , or if they are simply new units that REPLACE some old ones.

My question as well. Are the "NEW" units replacing old ones, like we saw in the balance playtest, or are they in addition to everything we currently have?

[Wischmopp]

I like the "I paint my army" thing. Hope this will be possible for Multiplayer and look real good. Would be really nice to have some unique looking stuff to fight with.

[keiser88]

@cossack
I look forward to when the red army makes an appearance as well, so I can show you commies how the war should have really turned out.

[Leopardi]

I like the "I paint my army" thing. Hope this will be possible for Multiplayer and look real good. Would be really nice to have some unique looking stuff to fight with.

What painting? I hope there will never be anything like that, painting your armies to lego units a la RA3.

[Ludovsky]

Well... if the campaign, as seems to be reported, for Tiger Ace begins in Leningrad...

... you can A: be almost certain computer-controlled russian troops will be involved.

B: Make an educated guess and not be surprised if Red army is announced in the next expansion pack like the Necrons in Dark Crusade after Winter Assault :P
(if there is one.... then, though, CoH is only 2 years old, whereas DoW is at least 4-5 years and saw three expansion packs).

Well... B is more of an optimist's guesses/wishes, but hey. One can dream :P

[Copernicus]

Hey guys, it says the INTRO-MOVIE of the campaign starts in Leningrad! The campaign itself takes place in Normandy!
You're repeating your guesses for the expansion-pack like 20 times and you're getting everything wrong because of this.

Don't you ever read? At least the last few pages? If you're interested in the game, you should have read them!

[nomex]

Hey folks, I just wanted to clear up some of the initial questions about Tales of Valor.

1) No new factions are going to be introduced in Tales of Valor.
2) The new units are new models and textures. New.
3) Direct fire is something that we're featuring in the campaign, and perhaps one of the new multiplayer modes. It's not something you'll be using in a standard multiplayer game.

There ya go. I think that the expansion will have something for everyone, single-player fans and fans of multiplayer.

what exactly is for multiplayer (I mean multiplayer without AI)???

[ÜberJumper]

Lud:

Read what Copernicus said. The intro movie introduces the Tiger Ace campaign, and the campaign involves no Russians in gameplay.

[DribbleSack]

Whilst I'm not surprised to learn that there won't be any new armies until CoH2 (using the Essence 2.0 or higher engine), I can't help feeling Relic/THQ are pushing it a little to offer ToV as a standalone expansion. All of the things we're hearing about seem suitable candidates for downloadable content (DLC) but NOT a boxed retail game.

It's curious that the only one of the three mini-campaigns to get any elaboration is the Tiger Ace campaign. I'm more intrigued to know what the other two are about.
The new game mode sounds like a skirmish or co-op mode to me, not a fully blown multiplayer mode. The new 'reward unit' skins that were already leaked during the playest are pretty average and nothing to get excited about.
The direct-fire mode sounds a little gimmicky to me. I never really liked it in Solders: HoWW2 or Faces at War. To use it with any effect, you had to slow the game speed down considerably and that isn't going to be possible in multiplayer.

So - all in all - other than some new maps, I'm puzzled to see exactly what this expansion has to offer the multiplayer community.

[ShiftyShadow]

Well said, Dribblesack. I'm not too excited about this expansion pack since it only caters to the single player community.

[ÜberJumper]

Let's just put it this way, I had tears of joy in my eyes after seeing Tales of Valour at the open house.

Shifty, it does NOT only cater to the single player community, but yes, the single player community is where most purchasers spend their time... so it's understandable that they focus their efforts there.

[Burns]

The direct fire mode sounds interesting. I think it could be awesome in multiplayer. A long while ago a buddy of mine said how cool it would be to have someone control just one of his units. So then he'd act like the overall commander with other people running the vehicles. It could be interesting or a total disaster.

[nomex]

@ ÜberJumper: Are you a single- oder multiplayer?

damm, what did you see?

[Rummy]

So Im guessing that 3/4 of all custom game modes in 3 months time will be the new Attack & Defend option, but is this playable with both Human Attackers & defenders (not just against the AI only)? and if so, will those who dont purchase the expansion be able to join/play these new multiplayer game modes in the game lobby?

[DarkWarrior]

I am not convinced this add-on will be all that great, but then again you never know.

[bonemachine]

The replacement units will be better than the ones they replace.

[IndigoSpyder]

You guys think we're gonna wait another 2 years for the Soviets? Or the Soviets will never come out at all and just appear in CoH2?

[Shaitan]

I dunno, either is not a very promising prospect. I know I will be buying Tales of Valor, but at the moment it doesn't look worthy of a pre-order. I'm not very excited, they will have to show me some very interesting MP content to make me get excited about this. At the end of the day I'm waiting for an expansion with more factions. It's starting to seem like this may not come.

The problem is that this doesn't seem like a whole lot of work for a whole dev team (maybe I'm mistaken). Maybe they will come out with a true expansion (one with new factions) in 6 to 8 months after Tales of Valor. Here's hoping.

[Lethal Dosage]

These last few pages are in desperate need of another Singleplayer player's opinion.

Personally i'm looking forward to it, a new game mode, preferably a few, and a few campaigns are definately good news. I'm kinda disappointed the Thunder confirmed that there will be no new faction for ToV, but Thunder's statement

2) The new units are new models and textures. New.

is kinda left open to interpretation, my understanding is that the new units will be new models & skins, and not just a reskin of some existing vehicles like some past speculative comments & questions seem to imply. I see his statement to mean that some ingame vehicles will be replaced by a new model & skin with some additional "perks" like the Schwimmwagen being able to reverse and it's "amphibious" capabilities. Pretty much like what we briefly saw in the Beta.

[nit]

1) No new factions are going to be introduced in Tales of Valor.
2) The new units are new models and textures. New.
3) Direct fire is something that we're featuring in the campaign, and perhaps one of the new multiplayer modes. It's not something you'll be using in a standard multiplayer game.

1. This is the first Relic expansion since like forever not to included new factions. Why?

2. Okay, Brits could definitely use some more units to create variation in their tactics. This could be good.

3. Direct fire sounds like crap. It's been done many times before (eg. Sacrifice from Shiny). None of them have ever been successful and that's not without reason. Best thing about this announcement is that it won't affect multiplayer, so at least it won't make CoH any worse.

How is this not inferior to Opposing Fronts (or any expansion to DoW for that matter) in every single way?

I really needed something nice CoH-wise to reignite my interest in the game I love (but I have become quite bored with lately) and this is supposed to be it?

I will be following the previews until release, but Relic better have some hidden treasures up their sleeves, otherwise this user will NOT buy their product.

[Lokus]

They're probably too busy with DoW 2 to make an expansion with new factions.