Kaskad

*** Update 9/4/08***

See the new press release here.


Company of Heroes: Modern Combat
Forums

Introduction

This mod will create a deep, entertaining vision of modern warfare, pitting the modern-day Chinese and American militaries against each other. These two unique factions, with their all-new companies, abilities, and artwork, will work together with the outstanding starting platform that is Company of Heroes in an effort to provide the most immersing, tactical, and fun approximation of modern strategic combat on your PC.

Almost everything in this post is subject to change at any point. This is far from a final outline, and doesn’t include many specifics, but is rather intended to generate interest in the mod as a whole. If you like the concept please visit and register at our forums. We are actively looking for more team members so if you know how to model, map, texture, program, or have some other skill we may need don’t hesitate to put in an application on our forums.

Americans

This faction will emphasize mobility and high technology in order to win battles, with units such as the M1A2 Abrams battle tank, and the AH64 Apache attack helicopter being used in concert with elite infantry.

The infantry will deploy as three man squads, however, you can attach further specialized units to each one in a similar manner as the British can do with officers. These specialized units, such as anti-tank missileers, will specialize the squad into its roll on the field, whether it be anti-tank, anti-infantry, or even anti-air.

The armor for the Americans will consist of Stryker attack vehicles, M2 Bradleys, the M1A2 Abrams. These vehicles will be complemented by several variations of the versatile HMMWV, and will work together with the infantry to wipe the Chinese forces off the map.

The American base will be a small mobile deployable vehicle that can be upgraded to allow different units to be deployed from the off-map spawn point.

American Factions:
Mechanized Command
This faction will allow the commander access to several varieties of HMMWV, such as anti-tank and anti-air, as well as the deadly M1A2 Abrams.

Air Superiority:
This faction will allow you to call on the deadly A10 strikes, or to deploy the AH-64 Apache to the field, as well as deny airspace to the enemy with F-35 JSF patrols, along with several other useful abilities.

Preemptive Strike:
This faction will allow you to deploy elite SEALs, as well as the UH60-BlackHawk, and the M-109 Paladin to the field. This faction will emphasize quick surgical strikes, and covert operations to win the battle.

Chinese

The Chinese will rely on vast numbers of units to win the battles, with larger infantry squads and cheaper tanks the Chinese will attempt to overwhelm with massive quantities of men and equipment.

The Chinese infantry squads will feature a global upgrade that increases their size from 6 to 8. These infantry will have individual squad upgrades for weapons.

Chinese Vehicles
Includes the All-Terrain Mobility Platform: , a heavier but slower version of the Fast Attack Vehicle, can be used for late early-game and early mid game infantry support, as well as the ZSD89 Armored Personnel Carrier , an armored personnel carrier. This one is like the all round vehicle to the Chinese. This vehicle has many upgrades depending on your doctrine choice and tier, and can prove very useful for many different situations.

Armor:
ZTZ96 (Type 96) Main Battle Tank, the basic heavy tank for the Chinese, and the Type 99, which provides the punch of the tank/arty doctrine when combined with the artillery to clear out AT infestations. These tanks can get the explosive reactive armor from the tank/heavy artillery doctrine, which vastly increases its survivability in late-game armor battles.

Artillery Pieces

The Chinese will have two types of artillery, the PLL01 155MM howitzer, a howitzer that can be built on the map by engineers like the American infantry doctrine howitzer. This gun is immovable once built and takes substantial pop-cap to balance its power, and the TYPE 81 122MM multiple launch rocket system which is a truck that carries a 122mm multiple launch rocket system, which can fire single rockets (low reload time, low munitions cost, relatively low damage) or a big rocket salvo (huge reload time and a high munitions cost, enormous damage)

Doctrine 1: Airborne

Allows para-dropped vehicles and troops, as well as air cover and helicopters. This doctrine is similar in many respects to the US Airborne doctrine in vCoH.

Doctrine 2: Tank/Heavy artillery

Allows access to Laser Guided Projectiles for artillery, as well as the WS-2 MLRS rocket truck for one side, and reactive armor upgrades for tanks, the GBL130 Mine dispenser personel carrier, and the Type 99 Main Battle Tank


Doctrine 3: TBD

Work done so far

I know this is what you all want to see, the models and the screenshots so far!

American doctrine-selection screen (in-game screenshot)


M16


UAV


Type 56 (Chinese assault rifle)


HMMWV (Base)

Buguba

It looks really good! I especially love your Humvee models.

I'd suggest maybe doing some sort of specified infantry doctrines for the US and Chinese. That's usually a staple.

Hope it all works out though! I might consider shooting an application for attributing editing, if you guys need any help on that front.

Solja

Cough. Cough.
Balancing?

DeadKennyIsDead

As soon as the mod is in a playable state we are going to begin recruiting balance testers. We know that an unbalanced strategy game is worthless and as such balance is something that we will constantly strive for.

W0w00t

Looking good!

Eddie

As far as the Chinese using sheer numbers then I hope you're ready for the US to become slaughtered... The Chinese are completely overhauling their entire military force. They have cash to splash, and they certainly are making a tsunami out of it

DeadKennyIsDead

I am aware the Chinese are majorly overhauling their military, which is why its set to take place in the "near future" rather than the "future"

Currently US forces maintain a technological superiority, and Chinese forces maintain a numerical superiority. Even should Chinese forces become equals in equipment, which they aren't at this point in time, and won't be for several years yet, the US still has vastly better training, which is much more important than equipment.
In reguards to current Chinese spending: Yes they have a lot of incoming money and technology but they still dont have equipment on par with the American military, or even with the Russian military, and no amount of money can remedy this overnight.

We are using current and very near future equipment for both sides. We are not dwelving into "what could be" but rather "what currently is" and thus although Chinese training and equipment is improving its current state will be used, rather than its state five-ten years down the road.

Also keep in mind that this is a game, and it will thus we will be putting gameplay ahead of reallism. We will be balancing this from the top down for fun and intuitive gameplay rather than extreme realism.

straig

What about OF there are now 4 factions, i know your busy with the original 2 but any ideas on who the other 2 will be? (brits and russian) :P

and go kenny you are ftw :P

DeadKennyIsDead

Currently we will just have the two factions, however if after release there is enough interest in the mod there is a distinct possibility that we could begin work on additional factions, however the release of these is still quite some distance in the future, so additional factions will be still further.
Due to this length of time we naturally have not given much thought to what additional factions, should there ever be any, will be.

Nutter[G]

Nice going mate, after all the talk of a modern version of CoH someone's got round to doing it and setting up a team (If it is a team). So big hoorah! To you, now all we need is the object editor for the model to be animated.

Kaskad

Thanks. DeadKenny and I started this about a month ago, having realized we both had similar interests from a thread speculating about a modern war mod at GR (there's a similar one here, I think the same guy started it). Since then we've been fleshing out the design documents and picked up several more members (two researches and another modeler). So yes, we are a team, although a very small one. Anyone who can do anything is encouraged to apply.

Monkey Soldier

Well...I would love to join...But whats the story? I mean the president of the US can't just say:''man im bored..lets start a war with China.'' XD
I have copied this from an another thread:
Just think of a story that looks a lil bit like the one from CoD4 & Armed Assault.
What if the Chinese invade all the smaller country's in Asia and Russia refuses to do something about it.
America wants to do something about it and China and the USEU are not very far away from a war with each other.
See it a bit like the Japanese empire did in WW2, but then a nice story which has got some soldiers/officers which have some sort of role like say captain mackey (or whatever his name was) has in CoH.
US and EU (I mean the whole of the EU not just Germany, France etc gives some more variation) Commando forces are infiltrating into Chinese military rocket launch systems and trying to disable the nuclear ICBM's which are pointed at major city's in the US and the EU.
After they have been disabled (at least most of them by lots of commando teams)
the US and the EU are starting an all out war against China.
China would have lots of cheap units.
They are good, but not as good as their US/EU counterparts.
But the Chinese army shouldn't be an army that just got lots of infantry and tanks.
It also has got Chinese special forces, but you need to choose a special doctrine to use them. But they are expensive.
The USEU (US+EU) should have smaller squads of infantry, but more specialized infantry. One special squad which goes for AT and Demolition etc etc.
They have more artillery then the Chinese, but less armour so you need to micro your tanks, because they are expensive.
Thats just my idea of a cool Modern Warfare mod.


*Edit*

The USEU army should have like the panzer howitzer 2000 as mobile arty.
The 105mm gun from the americans, the M1A1 Abrams, Leopard 2A6, Fennek (recon vehicle), British sniper, American demolition team, German & Dutch (in one squad but different camo patterns) recon squads, French assault squad, British German and American commando squads (Like say the British commando's can camoflage Americans have more firepower and the Germans have bigger LOS)

The Chinese army should have the T55(light tank) , T72(medium tank) , T90 (heavy tank).
Their commando's are some sort of mix of all the USEU commando's (not better LOS then the Germans, but better then British and US) Their infantry are relatively large squads if you compare them to their USEU counterparts. But the USEU squads have got a MG gunner (M249 SAW) and the Chinese don't have a MG gunner in their standard infantry squads. The Chinese standard infantry squads have the rifle grenade upgrade.
The USEU standard infantry squads have the upgrade to toss a smoke grenade which calls in artillery fire (not a free ability and a very long recharge time)

If hope I can help with this mod because it is a great idea and not just a discussion but wil be eventually become a mod
If I am allowed to help...I could make a story, but I can code too and I can map. (I prefer the first one ^^)

zazas789

this looks cool good luck

DeadKennyIsDead

We are currently working on a story, however it is nowhere near a releasable state.
If you are interested in joining the mod there is a link to our forums at the top of the first post, head on over there and post an application.
Thanks in advance.

Kaskad

I should also note that at this time we have no plans to make a singleplayer campaign. It could happen, but due to manpower and the time investment it would take, we are focusing on multiplayer-only for the time being.

Monkey Soldier

Well, just made an acc at the forums..But how about a Singleplayer department? Recruiting people that can SCAR, map and NIS. And if there is also a position for someone that can make a story I would love to be on that position I can code and map, but if I had the option to choose from: coder, mapper or a creating a SP story I would choose the last one. I mean if you got a department that concentrates on the SP part and a department that concentrates on the skirmish/MP part would be much easier.
I only need mappers, people that can SCAR and people that can make ingame movies. (Im not saying it will be easy finding good people that can do that, but there are enough people that are learning)

tasos

New army : Greece
Basic soldier equipped with M16 Rifle, upgraded with MG3 machine gun, stinger anti-air missile, Milan anti-tank gun
sniper equipped with Barrett M95 sniper rifle
katadromes special forces infantry unit equipped with M4 carbine (can be used as a paratrooper unit)
light tank: M60 Patton 105mm gun
medium tank:Leopard 1A5 105mm gun
heavy tank:Leopard 2A6 Hellenic 120mm gun
Armored Infantry Fighting Vehicles:BMP-3(manufacturer ex-Soviet Union)
Armored Personnel Carriers:Leonidas II(manufacturer Greece)
Artillery:Panzerhaubitze 2000 155mm gun(manufacturer Germany)
Anti-air:S-300(manufacturer Russia) or Tor M1
Aircraft:Mirage 2000-5 Mk2 or F-16 Block 52+
Helicopter:Boeing AH-64 Apache(maybe Boeing CH-47 Chinook as a transport)
sources:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...e_Hellenic_Army
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellen...e#Modernization
cool video on youtube about the greek army(you must listen the song ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUEM...feature=related


Good job btw kaskad and Deadkenny

BillyChaka

Why would you use an army as random as the Greek army? It just seems so random.

Monkey Soldier

Not very logic...And Greece isn't a superpower. Thats like saying:''Hey, why don't we use Holland as a faction.'' I don't want to offend you, but that just doesn't makes sense. One last thing..The Leopard 1A5 has been completely fased out.

Abokasee

Russia would be good, I think the super powers end there, even then Russia isnt a powerful as it once was

Eddie

The M16 is in limited use within the US military.

Kaskad

It's the US military's primary assault rifle.

Eddie

Not anymore it isn't. The USMC has replaced most of their M16A2s with M16A4s, while the Army and USAF are replacing the M16A2 with the M4 (S-1-3).

Kaskad

The M16a4 is the M16. Only the Air Force has plans to completely transition to the M4, unless you can prove otherwise?

Eddie

"In the United States Army, a combination of the M16A4 and M4 Carbine continues to replace existing M16A2 Rifles."
Link

"The M4, along with the M16A4, has mostly replaced M16 and M16A2 firearms"
Link

Kaskad

It's right there in your own source. Only the USAF plans to completely transition to the M4.

spud..

greece? ......... erm... have u ever been there? that is a poor country dude making them a super power is kinda ..odd hiow about russia, china, south koria, some place that has klouth to spend on an army! the greek army is kinda piss poor if u ask me! been there and seen what they have

straig

How does the skinning work on this game? Ive been part of a few rome total war mods and skinned, minor modeling work (editing already made models to look more realistic like a crossbow to a bowcaster in the star wars mod :P and i changed a unit into a wookie along with making a jedi unit) and some minor scripting (changing descriptions, texture locations, sound locations and such)

Or i could just research :P might aswell put those higher history skills to work.

DeadKennyIsDead

If you know how to skin go put in an application in the applications section of our forum

We definatelly need skinners

straig

yeah, i put in a app now :P Just for research till i learn more about COH's skinning process

raizan

mod is looking great, it would be awesome to have a modern warfare mod

Btw, what program do you use to model? I'm pretty good with 'blender'...

DeadKennyIsDead

3dsmax 7 or 8

Kaskad

I used 9 for those actually, not that it makes a huge difference.

raizan

I looked into getting 3dsmax, until i seen the price tag

straig

meh i have my sources :P thats where i get all my high price stuff

Monkey Soldier

Lets not talk about your sources straig I probaly know what you mean

Nutter[G]

I have 3DS 8 somewhere around here..

Well incase you'd want to know I put an app in, just saying what I can do, as I'm not sure what I'd really want to do and really hate to do.

Monkey Soldier

Check out the forums to have some discussions, or discuss it here...
Or if you have any questions...I am willing to answer them, so as most members of the team.

zazas789

is somebody making a modern mod or its just a discussion?

DeadKennyIsDead

Did you read the origional post :P

Yes we are making a modern combat mod

supahpingi666

2 bad its not US and another nato country vs Insurgents and iran?
Would be cool to have US as technical superpower and the insurgents with alot of things liek carbombs and IED's

DeadKennyIsDead

There would be no way, in my opinion at least, that such a mod could be balanced by any definition of the word.

Happy_the_Hobo

One idea is to break the US into different military branches. For example it could be broken down to Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force; the navy would be included with Marines "navy corpsmen". The Army would have basic air support, blackhawks and apaches, but superior armor, abrams, bradley, and the different versions of the strikers. The Marine Corps would have the best infantry, ok armor support, abrams, and AAV-7A1 "Amphibious Assault Vehicle" and humvees, but poor air support, cobra attack helicopters and osprey. The air force would have the best air support, but would have poor armor support, limited to different versions of the humvees, and weaker infantry, but the infantry and vehicles had the advantage of deloying from the air anywhere.

Monkey Soldier

Thats why the doctrines aren't really based on that...We want to have fun modern combat gameplay..I would say that the Airforce is underpowered and the Army would be overpowered...Thats the beauty of CoH...One doctrine isn't (mostly) overpowered compared to the rest..So if the airforce hasn't got any tanks...They will be very dependant from other people..So very few people will choose it...

SteveO2160

Hobo, not to sharp shoot you or anything but the Marines have better Airsupport then the Army... I think it would be a good Idea though to have the doctrines split between the Branches. Oh, and make sure for the Army they get Airborne Rangers

Monkey Soldier

If you ask Santa very nicely if there will be Airborne Rangers, you may get lucky ^^ (Not confirming anything, we are still discussing about lots of things internally)

DeadKennyIsDead

I can tell you that the doctrines will not be Army/Marine Corps/Air Force
Read the initial post in this thread again, the doctrines will be Air Support, Mechanized Company, and Preemptive Strike.

Chubba

Focus on getting the armies out without all the doctrine first, cause this idea is awesome.

Monkey Soldier

The armies are already out, but we need to know the doctrines (we are still discussing about it) so we can start coding.