I used to be a fan of RTSs. Then I went through a BIG burnout period.

Two games dragged me out of that burnout: Company of Heroes, and World in Conflict.

I don't have words strong enough for recommending both games. Absolutely brilliant.

I really hope the WiC expansion does indeed come out. And I still need to play the CoH expansion.

I have to agree with the above. I've been a stalwart RTS fan for ages and CoH and Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War are the best recent RTS's I can think of. Both are made by Relic. The story telling in the single player campaigns are top notch, especially the original. The expansion is also a stand alone with two nice campaigns. The dynamic nature of the battlefield truly makes things intense and half the time you're flying by the seat of your pants as the cover you squad was in gets blown to bits. With the expansion you get 4 armies to choose from with each having their own style and combat "doctrines" to choose from. Very little time is spent base building and dealing with economy, it's all about the action. As you cap points with your squads you get resources so it makes for fun back and forth trying to take and hold those vital resources like fuel which allow the best upgrades and tank creation. Of course the best resources are in the middle, a la that map type in Age of Empires II where you have all the gold in the middle of the map.

As far as multiplayer, it's your standard community for an RTS, you have your pros and your beginners and everyone in between. It's been a while since I played last but I always had fun. It's smooth play and overall a good time. It has some balance issues, but what game doesn't?

If you decide to get it, shoot me a pm and I'll be more than happy to show you the ropes.

I'm still playing. At least twice - three times a week and usually at or around 8 PM CST. SexyRexy is the name -- look me up if you're on and care to join in.

I'm not an RTS guy at all, but CoH has been one of my absolute favorite games to play over the last couple years since I got it. It's an amazing game, completely different from the unit zerging of other traditional RTS's in favor of a more small squad-based tactical combat.

I would have never gotten it, had my wife not picked it up for me for my birthday. I'm glad she did.

Pick it up for sure. I'm playing throuh the expansion right now and loving it. I also tend to play multiplayer with a few non-GWJ friends and we have been on and off playing this since it originally came out. There hasn't been an RTS yet that makes us want to switch.

Like I mentioned, if anyone ever catches me on (I was on last night -- be on tonight if it weren't for a cousin's b-day party) I don't mind making your multiplayer experience go down a bit easier than the taunting 15 year olds that tend to dominate the servers.

You can always join in on games that are 'comp stomp' to get an idea of how other people play relative to yourself.

I figure I might as well jump in on this conversation while it's hot...

I played through most of CoH from the disc a year or two ago...made it through all but the last mission.

Decided to fire it up again, having purchased it recently on Steam. Different key, different computer, different version...I was perfectly okay with playing through it all again, because a) I really enjoyed it and b) I needed to work my way back up to that booger of a final mission.

So I start it up...and it's showing the missions I've already played through as "completed!" It's clearly saved my progress so far. No biggie...kinda cool, actually...but um, how? I checked, and I am not logged into "Relic Online," or anything except for Steam. And it wasn't the Steam version I played through before.

What timing. I just installed CoH for the first time two days ago. Enjoyed the first mission (D-Day), but haven't had a chance to play more yet.

Steam sale today, which means I finally picked up Tales of Valor. Anyone up for some Operation Stonewall?

How about some stonewall on friday night?

Greg

@Itsatrap
LOL! Hope you didn't get discouraged from those last games. We played with some real pricks. It's actually a really fun mode when playing with cool folks.

@Greg
My cousin & I are usually playing on the weekends. We'll probably be on around 7-8pm est.

Yup, the build order is completely different for your typical skirmish. The key difference is you don't have to build structures to produce units/vehicles. Instead, you just use your manpower to unlock and buy them.

We were doing much better in that second game, but not long after you disconnected, we pretty much got swarmed and destroyed. Haha!

Some tips:

-When the game starts, try to grab either the Bank in West (you'll get a boost in manpower to unlock/buy units earlier), or the Manor in the east (higher population cap).

-Early on, just produce a few MG & Riflemen squads, since it's all infantry units in the first couple of waves.

-Be more offensive-minded early on, since it's the only way to increase your manpower to unlock/buy units.

-Try to unlock/build Rangers and A/T's as soon as possible, as the armored vehicles start appearing at wave 4-5.

-Retreat and reinforce often. Heal your units up north by the church.

-Try to save your abilities (strafing run, bombing run, artillery) for the later waves.

-Use your Supply Drop ability to block the south road. If done perfectly with others, enemy tanks/vehicles/infantry won't be able to get through, which buys us time between waves to up our manpower, produce units, build MG nests/triages etc. It's almost like a glitch. LOL!

-Always be wary of when many of our units are grouped closely together, because the computer will drop arty & Nebelwerfers on us, and it's deadly accurate!

Hi Dakhath,

I will be there. I haven't played for months.

Thanks,

Greg