Realism meets Persistence.
Fortress Europe will be the first persistent realism modification for Company of Heroes.
Players assume the role of a Company Commander for one of the Allies or Axis nations. Create your companies at our website, take them into battle, and customize them as they grow in experience. No special launcher or extra steps will be required, simply create or edit your company on our website and start the game.
On our website you will be able to create up to eight companies per nation, and you can choose one at the beginning of every battle. Any company type that fought cohesively on the front lines is available for you to use, from infantry companies to tank companies, and everything in-between. In addition to the integral platoons of that company, you can also get support from platoons that historically fought alongside your company type, allowing you to make a well-rounded force that can tackle any obstacle. Support units are divided hierarchically, from Battalion to Corps.
We use a points-based approach to balancing platoons, with more effective units costing more points to acquire, and everyone being limited to the same point total. Rare equipment is unavailable without perks, ensuring that you cannot create bizarre companies with rare equipment combinations that never fought alongside each other. After the minimum platoons are deducted from your point total, you can spend the remainder on strengthing your company or adding support. Even a mighty Schwere Panzer-Kompanie (German Heavy Tank Company) can have a fair battle against an American Rifle Company.
All units are organized according to their historically accurate formations. Countless hours of research have gone into examining US Tables of Organization and Equipment, British War Establishment documents, and German Kriegsstärkenachweisungen papers. These wartime documents detailed the size, ranks, and equipment allocated to all military units, allowing us to make formations in Fortress Europe be as historically accurate as possible.
Armour penetration data that was collected by the various combatant nations has been used to calculate our own target tables. The effects of explosions are split between the direct impact and the shrapnel; impact hits can spall armour, inflicting damage to the interior from metal fragments, while shrapnel can only wound infantry and puncture unarmoured vehicles. Flamethrowers can smoke out the crew of vehicles and cause engine fires, in addition to being a terror weapon against infantry. Vehicle crews will abandon their vehicles and flee off the battlefield if their situation becomes hopeless due to crippled equipment or casualties. Ammunition is tracked individually for infantry, gun teams, and vehicles, forcing you to manage your resources carefully during the course of the battle.
Every soldier in your force is named, ranked, and gains experience with every battle. Heavy losses to a platoon can wipe out its overall experience gains, bringing them back down to the level of inexperienced recuits as new members replace the dead. Units can be retreated off the battlefield, allowing them to resupply themselves with ammunition before returning, or to escape annihilation so they can retain their experience for a future battle.
Your company commander, as well as your integral platoons, gain experience with every battle which is used to buy perks. Perks unlock rare units and provide benefits that further help customize your force as they become battle-hardened. Support platoons and batteries do not gain experience, as their are loaned from other units and are only under your control during the course of the battle.
We are nearing the Public Alpha testing state, which will include several companies for the United States, Great Britain, and Germany.
Visit our forums if you have any questions or suggestions!
Developers: eliw00d, Sturmhaubitze, escforreality, Mirage Knight, Panzer Jager
2011 updates
2010 updates
Frequently Asked Questions
Last Updated: 2011
Will there be balance issues?
At the moment, units are balanced according to cost and some other factors. There are some Infantry platoons that have the same cost as an Armoured platoon, but if either is used properly, it can counter the other. For example, nearly every Infantry platoon will have some form of anti-tank weapon, just as nearly every Armoured platoon will have some form of anti-infantry weapon.
Will Company A be more powerful than Company B?
That depends entirely on the players who built each of those companies. Did Player 1 build Company A with combined arms in mind? Did Player 2 build Company B with no support options? Each Company has a plethora of combinations that can be put together based on their options, so no two companies will be exactly alike - unless by purpose.
Will the Allies always outnumber the Axis?
That also depends on how the companies are built. It's true that the Allies had numerical superiority in nearly every aspect of the war, but that doesn't mean a company can't be understrength or have more expensive options. Axis platoons will generally be more expensive, due to the fact that they have more experienced units and very ambitious vehicles. However, there are expensive Allied platoons as well, such as the Armored Rifle Platoon, which costs more than a single King Tiger.
Will Fortress Europe have a persistent war?
That is entirely up to the players, and what their needs are. We hope to accomodate any sort of community based campaign as much as possible, but we don't exactly have a playerbase yet, due to the mod being unreleased. However, I have a lot of plans for where we could go with community campaigns, I would just need some dialogue with interested parties.
Will there be bonuses for winners?
Winners and losers alike will gain or lose experience and morale points during a battle. We don't plan on punishing players for a loss, as there are many cases where it might just be a tactical withdrawal or a close match. It also entirely possible to win, but at a greater cost than the other players, which would cost you valuable morale points as your men lose confidence in you.
Will air superiority be represented?
Each company will have air support options that have costs based on priority. Allied companies will have higher priority than Axis companies, due to air superiority.
Will there be strategic bombing to limit production?
As this is more of a tactical game, there will be no strategic aspects of the war. Also, units are not produced, but assigned to your company. The only way we will represent production is based on the number of units actually produced during the war, which will have an effect on the availability of certain units.
Will you be able to have intel on an enemy's forces?
I have some ideas about this, but need to discuss it internally with my team before revealing anything.
Operation Overlord
My original mod idea, before Fortress Europe, circa 2009.
I'm just looking to test the waters and see what kind of interest this community might have in a mod I'm working on.
The working title is Operation Overlord, but that's subject to change (and most likely will). The name aside, here's what I'm setting out to do with my mod:
1. Transparent Persistent Online Experience
I've come up with a way to retain data (experience, vet level, etc.) without the need of a web interface or a launcher. Essentially, all you have to do to play my mod is run the shortcut, find a game and play. I say transparent because unless I told you how it worked, you probably wouldn't realize what's happening.
2. Pseudo-realistic Balance
I like realism, but I also like gameplay. I'm going to be reading a lot of technical data, historical data and try to get soldiers, weapons, vehicles, etc. as close as possible to their real life counterparts. Obviously, even with research, it will be hard to make it 100% realistic or historically accurate, but my goal is to achieve as close to that as possible.
3. Pseudo-realistic/historical Organization
I have been doing a lot of research on Tables of Organization and Equipment for the American, British and German armies. I plan on incorporating squad, platoon and company sizes according to these TOEs. Each player will be in charge of one of their nation's Battalions. You can only deploy one Company at a time from this Battalion, for reasons I will get into later. Each Company will have a number of Platoons and support personnel, depending on the nation you've chosen. The individual units will be mostly static, but there will be a weapons pool for Companies and Platoons to give you slight customization.
Here are some examples of what you'd see in the mod:
A German Fallschirmjäger Rifle Squad is split into two teams of five, as follows:
Team 1
1x Squad Leader (MP40)
1x Rifleman (K98k/G43 Scoped)
1x Rifleman (G Gr Ger K98k*)
1x Machine Gunner (MG42 LMG)
1x Assistant Gunner (P08)
Team 2
1x Assistant Leader (MP40)
1x Rifleman (K98k)
1x Rifleman (G Gr Ger K98k*)
1x Machine Gunner (MG42 LMG)
1x Assistant Gunner (P08)
* Gewehr Granat Gerät 42, aka Rifle Grenade Launcher 42
I've been told that the Germans rarely ever split their squads like this, but if they did, this is how they would do it. I decided early on to split the squad so that it is easier to use in combat and also because it seems more efficient. Bigger squads in CoH also become buggy/glitchy, so that was also a factor as well.
With the formation above in mind, remember that you have 3 Rifle squads in a Rifle platoon, and 3 Rifle platoons in a Rifle company - that's a lot of troops! I've tested this with some close friends and it actually works out pretty well.
I plan on implementing a rest/refit system as well, so that a company used in battle #1 will be resting for battle #2. Resting/refitting will replace any casualties incurred in battle #1 so that the company will be ready and able for battle #3. This will balance your veterans out as well as your losses.
Experience and veterans will play a large part in this mod. I plan on at least 10 levels to start, if not more later. The more battles a squad survives, the more capable they become. However, there will be experience dilution, where replacing losses will cost you valuable experience. For example, let's say you have a team within a Rifle squad that has 5 men. In battle #1, you lost 2 men, but gained 50 experience. Resting/refitting will bring you to 30 experience (3/5*50, or currentMen/maxMen*exp). The reason for this is pretty simple: your losses are being replaced by fresh recruits with no experience. Obviously, in time, they will become veterans themselves, but there has to be a representation of the replacement. This will also keep people from vet hording.
I'm pretty excited about this mod myself, it's mostly just been for fun, but I thought I would ask you guys to see what you think.
Also, to get an idea of what Battalions will be included in the mod, here is the website I have been using as a reference:
http://www.bayonetstrength.150m.com/...l/site_map.htm
I've been e-mailing the author back and forth to get as much information as possible.
Originally Posted by tankdestroyer
