One thing that’s so striking and cool about COH is the sheer quality and fluidness of the in-game graphics. The animations are so numerous and life-like that you often feel you’re watching real men at war — no wonder so many COH machinas have found receptive audiences. Just check out this simple yet incredibly poetic COH machina, set to the soundtrack from the film The Island.
This is one reason why I find it so entertaining — and educational — to Photoshop screens from COH into art for Rifles Ready! I’m still struggling to gain some proficiency in Photoshop, so everything you see here is an amateur’s effort. That said, I’ve decided to start rotating the blog’s title banners depending on the season… say maybe a new banner every two months. Starting today, as you can see.
QUESTION: I’m thinking about sponsoring a Photoshop tournament for all COH fans, to see who can come up with the coolest screenshots from the game. The prize could be a free copy of the iconic World War II film, Patton, which I’ll be reviewing on Rifles Ready! sometime next month. Would you guys be interested? Leave a comment!
Due to overwhelming popular request, I’ve decided to go ahead and do Battle Reports of replays between expert players from GR.org. While my commentary will be somewhat limited (can’t know exactly what other players are thinking), you’ll continue to get the blow-by-blow, detailed recap and analysis you’ve come to love. We’re going to kickstart this new initiative with an utterly thrilling game between two pro-tastic players, Sweix (aka Telekinez) and the legendary Sepha (aka Seph). This is a rollicking retail match between Seph’s talented Panzer Elite and Sweix’s plucky Americans on the bloodiest, most back-and-forth map in COH, Angoville. Stay tuned for our first PRO Battle Report between Sepha and Sweix, coming later this Labor Day weekend!
The zones show where fights favor the northern player.
This will seem to be an overly simple “tip” for some folks, but I can’t tell you how often a situation arises where this tip isn’t followed. The premise is simple: you’re facing the Panzer Elite or the Wehrmacht and they just jacked up your army on one side of the map, forcing a general retreat. Now, about 90% of mediocre and even average players will do something very predictable — reinforce and go attack the SAME AREA THEY JUST LOST. Why is this not a good idea? Well, it really depends on the map, but on many, many maps, you can simply SWITCH SIDES OR AVOID HIS ARMY. Take good old Angoville for instance — with the U.S. Rifle squad’s hyperfast 1.25 capture rate, you can retake the side of the map your opponent isn’t on, thereby assuring your flow of resources.
The disadvantages of facing your enemy again on familiar ground are many. First, he’s had time to spread his guys out, place MGs, find cover, etc. Second, he’s had time to lay mines, drop Butterfly Bombs, repair vehicles and call in reinforcements of his own. He is anticipating a counterattack — that’s the flow of all COH games, attack then counterattack.
Divide and bait You can mix it up by moving where he is weak, a classic doctrine of master strategists. One piece of advice from ZeroCrack’s brief but succinct anti-PE guide for U.S. players is to AVOID your enemy where he is strong. Avoid him and retake territory he’s left open, so you can continue your tech and bait HIM into attacking your position.
This way it can be YOUR mines and barbed wire and troops entrenched in green cover that your ENEMY is forced to run into. Clearly this principle is best illustrated and best used in a U.S. vs. PE matchup given the two factions’ respective capture rates. The U.S. caps territory faster than you can blink while Panzer Grenadiers cap 50% slower than Riflemen.
Other maps
Most Relic-approved maps divide resources evenly, so it’s possible to do this tactic on just about every map. Of course, some maps are much easier to “switch sides” on than others. These include Angoville, Beaux Lowlands, Langres and Wrecked Train. Maps where you can’t effectivelyswitch sides due to cutoff points, tight spacing and/or uneven resource distribution include Semois, Sturzdorf and St. Mere Dumont. These are my opinions based on experience of course; your mileage may vary.
The news is swirling madly around the forums at GR.org and the rumor mill is in full swing: there will be a new COH game, and it’s most likely going to be the long-awaited second COH expansion pack. This game is currently titled “Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor.” The evidence is circumstantial, but it’s compelling nonetheless. The most powerful piece of evidence we have is this listing on Amazon.com, which is currently accepting preorders for COH: Tales of Valor. The game costs $29.99, too cheap for a full-fledged game but right on point for an expansion set. Amazon lists a release date of March 2009, again, mirroring the roughly 6-month window between the unveiling of Opposing Fronts and its release.
Sources tell Rifles Ready! that Relic is slated to officially unveil the game at the ongoing Leipzig Games Convention in Germany. The convention runs from August 20-24, meaning it will end at the end of the day tomorrow. No official word yet on exactly what Tales of Valor will entail, although rumors have linked this new game to the “Tiger Ace” campaign that appears (but is inaccessible) in the menu of all the balance beta builds since 2.500. Many GR.org posters have expressed anxiety that Tales of Valor will be composed primarily of “single-player crap,” though reaction has run the gamut — other players are afraid it will introduce new factions and the massive slew of balance issues that accompany new armies.
Time will tell — but rest assured the reporters at Rifles Ready! stand poised to deliver the truth you have a right to know, as soon as we confirm the news. There’s finally wind in the sails, sports fans! Rejoice!
This is probably the most off-topic post ever on Rifles Ready!, but there’s just not a whole lot to post about at the moment. No news on what changes might be in the next beta patch, while the current beta patch remains devoid of players. I myself just haven’t had the heart to really get in the game. Nevertheless, you can count on another Battle Report sometime next week.
For now, I submit the following amusing video, which is a minor robbery I covered while working as a reporter at the Maryland Gazette, a small community newspaper in America’s heartland — by which I mean Glen Burnie, Maryland.
If you watch carefully, you’ll notice the robber actually fires a round into the row of cigarette packs behind the clerk. You’ll also notice that the robber casually tells a female customer entering the store to “leave, miss. Leave.” And she, without saying an audible word, leaves. You can see her actually get back in her car calmly and drive off. One hopes a call to 911 followed as her vehicle was pulling out of the parking lot.
As far as I know, the boys in blue never caught this fearless individual, who acts like he’s in a rapper biopic. “Where my hundreds at?” he demands of the terrified young man behind the counter.
I might make the same demand of Relic. Where my hundreds at, eh?
The latest beta patch, now at 2.503, was released to the adoring masses of balance beta players (all 26 of them, that’s like the daily average these days anyway). This time Relic has tweaked only sound-related issues, tuning many of the new gunfire sound effects introduced in 2.502. There are no bug fixes, there are no balance changes, there is nothing here that would make someone more likely to hop into the beta. Sure, I always thought the King Tiger and Jagdpanther guns sounded like crap, and the Hetzer’s gun sounded too strong, but these are not pressing issues. Sigh.
Fortunately Relic’s current community liaison, one mukkel, addressed some concerns over at the RelicNews forum. Here’s what he said:
“Hoping to have the missing VP fix for the next patch. Also will be putting in a huge network optimization, which should reduce lag tremendously and also improve connectivity significantly.”
He also mentioned that “it’s about time” for new maps and will put some remaining maps into the next patch. But for now, suck on — I mean enjoy — these thrilling changes.
v2.503 08/19/2008
Audio: - Tweaked and changed some of the large cannons back to previous firing sounds based on community feedback.
- Fixed the firing volume of Greyhound.
- P47 – Fixed bug where plane engine sounds continued after the plane was shot down.
- Firing sound for Off-Map Artillery has been added.
- Artillery explosions now heard at distance.
- Added “wet road” surface sound for vehicles driving in the rain (and squishy footsteps).
- Fixed the Quad 50/Flakvierling firing sound.
- The “Vampire” AC now shuts off its engine while stealing resources.
I’ve been getting this rather frequently in the last two weeks, and I thought it was worth sharing with the Rifles Ready! community. I currently have two accounts on COH, my original account adrock2xander for serious AT/RT/1v1 and EmplacementSpam to prove just how easy and OP Brits emplacements are.
Still lvl 11 after 101 games. More difficult at higher levels? Or have readers just caught on?
And yes, in case anyone is wondering, I’m still trying to climb the Brit ladder with that gay way of playing. Only this time, people have caught on to it. Many times now after the screen loads I encounter players from both sides saying ‘hi’ to me and went on to have a quick chat on how they’ve read ‘my’ blog. Well for starters, Rifles Ready! isn’t my blog. It belongs to CorkscrewBlow. But I guess it’s a mark of the wonderful posts we authors have made to make this blog our own. It isn’t just a singular effort, but a collective toil borne out of the passion to the game and desire to share our interests and knowledge (or lack thereof lol) with everyone. We thank you readers :O
Anyway in our conversations, many players have told me how they’re aware of what I’m trying to prove and will try to stop it. I thought this was rather interesting. How does my strategy play out against opponents who know what I intend to do? After getting some compliments from players, I scribbled some stats from Game 79. Read the rest of this entry »
Mortar, you say? Naw, this is just a telescope for really short people
These days you can pretty much expect a Wehrmacht player to go tier 2, unless it’s the beta and they can field phase-shifting Pumas (there’s a bug that gives them a 60% or higher chance to dodge incoming fire). But seeing as how pretty much no one is playing the beta in its current craptacular state (can you tell I’m bitter? Does it show?), you are probably playing retail COH, which means your Americans are getting constantly jacked up by long-range mortars, tons of Grenadiers and MG42 bunkers pinning you down everywhere you move. What’s a guy to do? Your options are pretty much these: Rifle upgrades + WSC, or tech to Motorpool. But the truth is more brutally simple. You’ve got to get that WSC up and use your own mortar/MG/Sniper to keep map control so you can survive to get proper counters — Tank Depot or doctrine-specific abilities like Off-map Artillery/Howitzer or Strafing Run or the Calliope. It’s tough, and it’s really frustrating to fight a good Wehrmacht player who’s laying barbed wire, building multiple bunkers and doing all kinds of other really annoying stuff.
But hang tough, soldier: you can seize the initiative and turn the reliable, methodical nature of all tier 2 Wehrmacht strategies against the player employing them.
Ah, the American M4 Sherman — a key part of Roosevelt’s “arsenal of freedom” — pitted against the Panzer Kampfwagen VI, better known to COHers as the Tiger I. This here is the immortal matchup of the last great war. I was just bouncing around the Internet the other day when I decided to do a Google search for clips of the Sherman squaring off against the Tiger. Now I only expected to find some grainy, black-and-white documentary footage. Instead I got the fascinating 5-minute YouTube video embedded below, which offers lots of live footage of a restored Tiger and Sherman being operated in the present day. Still more titillating for all COH fans, an 88mm Tiger round is fired into the armor plating of the Sherman, with paper targets representing the crew behind the armor. Man, you definitely don’t want to be inside the crew compartment of a Sherman with an 88 shell hits the side, that’s for sure.
Whew, finally Relic has stepped forth to reveal the release notes for the latest beta patch, numbered 2.502. Woe to those of you who doubted this day would come. That being said, the notes are pretty unremarkable. They consist almost entirely of bug fixes, including many fixes you sort of like, but don’t care too much about — case in point, better sound effects for the Sherman’s cannons (75mm and 76mm) and the Jagdpanther/King Tiger cannons. These are nice, but not exactly the stuff most people are crying about (for general amusement, check out the GR.org thread accompanying the patch notes). I hear complaints center around the British, with their early trenches and colonial-style gameplay. Hell, I’ll even agree on those points.
Anyway, here’s the patch notes. There’s pretty much no point commenting on these, as they’re all self-explanatory. NOTE: For non-beta players, Schwimmwagens and T-17 Armored Cars are “bonus” units from the last beta patch, replacing the Panzer Elite Kettenrad and U.S. M8 respectively.
v2.502 08/11/2008
Online
- Accounts with a banned key can now log in to Relic Online. The banned product however will be inaccessible.
Audio
- Vehicle voice volume has been fixed.
- “echo” fixed – Try the reverb again, it’s been tweaked. (Dual Core+ Only)
- Tiger engine turned down.
- Volksgrenadiers and MG42 have had their speech fixed.
- Sherman 75mm and 76mm fire sounds replaced to be awesome.
- Many sound improvements have been made to the Tiger, Jagdpanther and King Tiger.
- Menu now randomizes between two original CoH pieces and the OF theme.
- Radio effect modified – no more piercing resonance!
Fixes
- Fixed an issue where the 105mm Howitzer Team firing range is shown incorrectly on the minimap.
- Multiple Squads can no longer booby trap the same building.
- Axis Repair Bunker Repair Pioneers will now repair AT Guns and Flak 88 cannons
- Off-map artillery will now drop!
- 25 pounders set to Counter-Battery will now fire on infantry units that use grenades.
- The Panzer Elite Schwimmwagen is no longer considered a salvageable wreck before it is actually a wreck.
- The Bergetiger can no longer repair American M3 Halftrack or British Cromwell and Firefly wrecks.
- Panzer Elite Schwimwagen will now obtain the Advanced Repair ability when the upgrade is researched.
- Panzer Elite Schwimmwagen Booby Trap ability will now have the appropriate recharge time applied once the “Booby Trap Strategic Point” Commander Tree Upgrade has been researched.
- Allied War Machine will now function on the American T17 Armored Car.
- Axis Schwimwaggen when rebuilt from the Bergetiger will now have a visible weapon and gunner with proper animations for the weapon.
- All Axis Captured Weapon teams will obtain veterancy when researched from the Kamptkraft center for their respective veterancy types.
- The Axis Schwimmwagen will now obtain veterancy when researched from the Kamptkraft center.
Posted by CorkscrewBlow 
Posted by CorkscrewBlow 
Posted by CorkscrewBlow 
