Company of Heroes 1, 2, or 3: which one to learn?

[Dark Sun Gwyndolin]

So, lately, I've been trying to learn RTS's, and I'm trying to decide which CoH game to learn: 1, 2, or 3. 1 has the advantage of no MTX BS and has my favourite faction (turtle British), 2 has dramatic audiovisuals that I find immersive, and 3... it has its ups and downs. As a casual player, which would you recommend learning? I enjoy turtle gameplay and struggle to beat even the Easy bots at my current low level of skill.

[mayrc]

1 and 2 play abit different in the details but both are great. COH2 is abit easier to learn.
3 you can completely forget dont waste any money on it

[Demonic Spoon]

Originally posted by Fear Denies Faith:

So, lately, I've been trying to learn RTS's, and I'm trying to decide which CoH game to learn: 1, 2, or 3. 1 has the advantage of no MTX BS and has my favourite faction (turtle British), 2 has dramatic audiovisuals that I find immersive, and 3... it has its ups and downs. As a casual player, which would you recommend learning? I enjoy turtle gameplay and struggle to beat even the Easy bots at my current low level of skill.

it really depends on what your goal is. If your goal is PVP multiplayer then I'd say 3 just because that's the future (CoH1 and 2 aren't receiving any new updates whereas 3 is very early in its support cycle). That said, I will point out that "turtle" gameplay isn't really a thing in CoH3. CoH1 and CoH2 British are sort of designed with turtling in mind, and it works well for casual or coop-y gameplay, but generally falls apart in PVP.

from a PVP perspective, I also find that CoH3's core gameplay is a significant upgrade from the prior two iterations. There are a lot of things that are just more refined in 3 - for example, in CoH2, late game armor gameplay ends up being rather static with walls of AT guns against walls of heavy tanks and medium armor almost absent.

If you're looking for more coop-y/vs-AI play, then I'd say CoH1 or CoH2 both work great. As established games they have tons of mods available (though mod support in COH1 was better than 2) that add a lot of replayability and alternate options. The "turtle" gameplay you described is also better supported in CoH1/2 and works just fine against the AI. If you really do want to turtle hard, I'd recommend COH1 since the CoH1 Brits support that playstyle the best.

For single-player campaigns, CoH1's campaigns are tough to beat. CoH3's Italy campaign is a cool concept but probably needs some more polish/patching before I'd recommend it over the classics.

[mayrc]

Originally posted by Demonic Spoon:

Originally posted by Fear Denies Faith:

So, lately, I've been trying to learn RTS's, and I'm trying to decide which CoH game to learn: 1, 2, or 3. 1 has the advantage of no MTX BS and has my favourite faction (turtle British), 2 has dramatic audiovisuals that I find immersive, and 3... it has its ups and downs. As a casual player, which would you recommend learning? I enjoy turtle gameplay and struggle to beat even the Easy bots at my current low level of skill.

it really depends on what your goal is. If your goal is PVP multiplayer then I'd say 3 just because that's the future (CoH1 and 2 aren't receiving any new updates whereas 3 is very early in its support cycle). That said, I will point out that "turtle" gameplay isn't really a thing in CoH3. CoH1 and CoH2 British are sort of designed with turtling in mind, and it works well for casual or coop-y gameplay, but generally falls apart in PVP.

If you're looking for more coop-y/vs-AI play, then I'd say CoH1 or CoH2 both work. As established games they have tons of mods available (though mod support in COH1 was better than 2) that add a lot of replayability and alternate options.

For single-player campaigns, CoH1's campaigns are tough to beat. CoH3's Italy campaign is a cool concept but probably needs some more polish/patching before I'd recommend it over the classics.

sorry to say this.... but how can coh3 be the future? Less players than COH2. And with the current speed of updates COH3 will be on par with COH2 in about 5 years. So could you please correct that to new players that COH3 is the future..... in 5 years. Untill then you get a better game with COH2. At least THAT would be honest

[I>U]

Better to not start with CoH at all since it's not your typical "RTS". You may try CnC: Remastered or SC\SC2. A crapload of other RTS borrow from these two (and SC2 takes from CnC, while later CnC's adapt SC features). SC and SC2 should be f2p (m-player only) if nothing has changed, while CnC should be more available on keystores and durring upcoming Steam sale.

It's from this point when "casual RTS" player should decide whether to dive deeper into the genre (with unconvient titles like CoH) or move to lighter experience which means MOBA. Yeah, its's literally devolved RTS (DoTa-likes -> DoTa2 -> DoTa as UMS map of Warcraft3).

And If you will go for the right option, get into CoH1. It's playerbase is immortal after so many years and CoH2 betrayal. Even if Relic will shut down their servers, CoH1 still has a chance.

CoH2 is a bubble inflated with giveaways and discounts. CoH3 is pretty much DoW3 at this point. Also, both games use encryption on assets and CoH3 has Denuvo over that, leaving CoH1 as the only real choice for modders.

[Pop]

Depends on your personal preferences. If you enjoy the custom MP games then by all means use COH3. The other two are not being upgraded anymore. You will eventually want to install some of the custom maps and tuning modules so that the game plays the way you enjoy it. If feasible, create your own private group of players so you are evenly skill matched and there is no waiting for a game. Our group regularly plays humans versus AI but humans vs humans is also fun.

[mayrc]

Originally posted by Pop:

Depends on your personal preferences. If you enjoy the custom MP games then by all means use COH3. The other two are not being upgraded anymore. You will eventually want to install some of the custom maps and tuning modules so that the game plays the way you enjoy it. If feasible, create your own private group of players so you are evenly skill matched and there is no waiting for a game. Our group regularly plays humans versus AI but humans vs humans is also fun.

So funny people just repeating the same old nonsense. Yes COH2 or 1 ist NOT updatet anymore but hast like 3 times the content, balance and fun. As i said COH could be the better game but not in the next 5 years

[Rithrin]

Originally posted by mayrc:

Originally posted by Pop:

Depends on your personal preferences. If you enjoy the custom MP games then by all means use COH3. The other two are not being upgraded anymore. You will eventually want to install some of the custom maps and tuning modules so that the game plays the way you enjoy it. If feasible, create your own private group of players so you are evenly skill matched and there is no waiting for a game. Our group regularly plays humans versus AI but humans vs humans is also fun.

So funny people just repeating the same old nonsense. Yes COH2 or 1 ist NOT updatet anymore but hast like 3 times the content, balance and fun. As i said COH could be the better game but not in the next 5 years

If anything, that makes COH3 especially good for someone who is just starting out in MP. You can just start practicing MP in COH3 and get into it without having to worry about 20 commanders to choose from and an intricate web of which commander counters which.

[mayrc]

Originally posted by Rithrin:

Originally posted by mayrc:

So funny people just repeating the same old nonsense. Yes COH2 or 1 ist NOT updatet anymore but hast like 3 times the content, balance and fun. As i said COH could be the better game but not in the next 5 years

If anything, that makes COH3 especially good for someone who is just starting out in MP. You can just start practicing MP in COH3 and get into it without having to worry about 20 commanders to choose from and an intricate web of which commander counters which.

ooops ok i guess your right. i forgot its a console title so totaly different type of Audience. I guess they could even reduce the game to make it more fitting then.

[Khanwolf]

Originally posted by Fear Denies Faith:

2 has dramatic audiovisuals that I find immersive

there is nothing immersive about CoH3:

They used only 6 voice actors for all the factions together and as soon as you are immersed you are stuck in a totally buggy and unbalanced game that starts in photomode every time you hit multiplayer. The german language in this game is not german and the units will have nothing cool to say on top of that: Remember how funky the british were in their various voice lines in CoH2?... Gone!

It is a true E-Sports Title like DoW3: All factions play roughly the same, because Relic thought it is time to get rid of unique factions we had since Dawn of War 1 (the blueprint for CoH1!)

CoH1 had a diverse set of artists making music tracks, CoH2 had the great Chris Valesco OST that made it really intense, CoH3 has just a main title menu you will hear over and over again.

If you are looking for immersion, this is as far away from immersion as it can get. They hired very inexperienced people to milk a loyal fanbase of a very famous IP and fired them after release. This is the neverending Early Access Simulator camouflaged as a Triple A Title with Amazon Prime Give-Aways, Skins for watching their Marketing Streams and an Ingame Shop which finally arrived before the console edition release to offer us things which should have been in the Deluxe (Digital Premium) Version for horrendous Prices.

[Siokawsi]

! or 2.

You have to wait till some really good mods come out for 3.

I cannot fathom how HORRIBLE the Balance and Mechanics currently play out for CoH 3.
Relic has always been bad at balance, but even the key mechanics of the series are such TRASH atm.

Step One) Play the Spearhead Mod with the "Q" Mod and double the health of all units.
This is how the Mechanics should work in a game like CoH (still needs some tweaking like suppression being a little too fast, but you will get the idea.)

Step Two) Go play CoH 3 Vanilla or better yet one of the Angriff Mods to get all the units to play test with. You will see how HORRIBLE CoH 3 plays and how pathetic the AI currently is.... light vehicles anyone.

The Engine and Units are there but it is such a LAZY Development Effort with an Astounding Frustrating Result.

It is so amazing how horrible CoH 3 plays from the Vanilla standpoint.
"a Fast Paced Cheesy Arcady Light Vehicle Console Frenidly Focus Pile of Trash."

I have had such a passion for RTS games over the years and CoH 3 (Vanilla, from the Devs) is one of the few RTS games I HATE playing, again truly a pile of (*$%(*#)($*#()*$(#*.

Atm for me the closest thing you will get to CoH 2 is the Spearhead Mod with the Q Mod with double the health for all units. Thank you Modders for all your hard work.

[wowcoh56]

lol, COH3 is the future. July patch will have most of what people have been complaining about since launch. My prediction is by the time the first expansion hits which will be in less than 6 months, COH3 will have more players within a month of that launch so... no you do not need to wait 5 years I would say less than a year it will be the most played COH game by far. Not only that but COH1 and COH2 are no longer supported and some key things in the game don't even work anymore which tells you something right there. If your smart and your budget is tight just get 3, the game play is still a blast and some of the new changes are also a nice plus.

[Dark Sun Gwyndolin]

Originally posted by wowcoh56:

lol, COH3 is the future. July patch will have most of what people have been complaining about since launch. My prediction is by the time the first expansion hits which will be in less than 6 months, COH3 will have more players within a month of that launch so... no you do not need to wait 5 years I would say less than a year it will be the most played COH game by far. Not only that but COH1 and COH2 are no longer supported and some key things in the game don't even work anymore which tells you something right there. If your smart and your budget is tight just get 3, the game play is still a blast and some of the new changes are also a nice plus.

Are you seriously telling people to buy an $80 game because their "budget is tight", rather than get two games that regularly go for <$10 on sale?

[Dark Sun Gwyndolin]

Originally posted by Rinkashikachi:

Originally posted by Fear Denies Faith:

Are you seriously telling people to buy an $80 game because their "budget is tight", rather than get two games that regularly go for <$10 on sale?

Are you seriously want to learn something as a casual player and of all strats you choose turtle which is by definition across whole RTS-genre is what people do, when they don't want to learn.

Are you seriously asking to help you with game choice when you are a casual player who obviously doesn't care about how actual and/or perspective game is while at the same time you expect to make decision based on that?

Are you seriously talking ♥♥♥♥ to someone who responded to your question with common sense?

Are you seriously asking this question while your mind is clearly made up since in this response you throw the third game out of the window right away for its price?

Let me make this clear, I have no problem with the third game. Yes, not having as much support for turtling is annoying, and so is the price tag. However, it's not a dealbreaker and I'm still considering buying the game.

What I was commenting on is the idea that buying CoH3 is a "budget-conscious" decision even though it's substantially more expensive than both the previous games combined (once sales are taken into account).

[ShodaN]

Originally posted by mayrc:

Yes COH2 or 1 ist NOT updatet anymore but hast like 3 times the content, balance and fun.

CoH2 doesn't have balance. It has a bunch of issues, that will never change. So part of the community just accepts it, another part exploits it and the rest simply doesn't understand it. The latter are the ones that claim it's all sunshine and rainbows with CoH2, because they don't know any better.

[SimpleSiren]

Best game out of the 3 is one to this day holds up better than 3. I have replayed COH 17 times and loved every one of the replays. Only thing I remember from 2 is the dumb blizzard level. 3 is just garbage right now.