Don’t know if there are any Company of Heroes two players who have pre-purchased the game through Steam, but if there are and if you didn’t know they have apparently turned the beta back on as of today. It’s a pretty hefty download, but once you go through the pain it’s a pretty cool game IMHO. Don’t know how long this new phase of the beta will be for (might only be this weekend for all I know), but figured I’d give any 'dopers interested a heads up.
Seemingly not much interest in the game here, but I figured I’d give an update. I had read somewhere that the open beta would be open until the 18th, and that it was free to download to anyone who wanted it, not just folks who pre-ordered the game. Both things seem to be in error, as several of my co-workers have been unable to actually find a place to download the beta from, and on Steam I’m getting the executable could not be found error that indicates the beta is off line again. No idea if they will bring it back or not…I’d guess they will, as I’m pretty sure there will be some additional balancing issues to take care of.
A couple of things I noticed in this latest beta. The Germans could no longer get Tiger tanks…which really sucked. Instead, you could get the Elephant self propelled anti-tank unit, which is definitely a powerful unit, though really slow and cumbersome. Arty is still way over powered, IMHO, though it seems the did rebalance it a bit in this beta…at least I didn’t have my squads completely wiped out by arty as often this time around. I think the Germans are a bit easier to play and win with…the T-34’s are still outclassed by the German tanks, and Russian infantry is very much outclassed IMHO, though it’s also cheaper, so if you play smart you can win with either. I was able to win on pretty much all the available maps against Hard or Expert AI’s nearly every time, though the Expert AI gets some serious boost in munitions, fuel and personnel…plus I think their pop cap is higher than the regular player or AI. Still haven’t been brave enough to play against live opponents…just can’t judge how good (or, more likely bad) I am, but watching YouTube videos on game play I’m probably way out classed.
I managed to get up to around level 28 playing the AI though…Senior Sergent or there abouts, and had a good time playing while it was working. Looking forward to this one coming out and playing through the campaign and AI skirmishes, and maybe eventually getting up the courage to get trounced by human opponents. 
Turning into my own personal blog here, but I figured I’d link to this, which is what I sent my cow-orkers about the game and the supposed beta running through the 18th and being open to everyone. Since it’s the 4th today, it might just be down while they ramp it up for the full open beta.
Beta is up on Steam for all now…
Playing mostly as the Russians, playing as the specialism that gives you the Guard Elite anti-tank rifles.
Russian armour is crap. Got 3 T-34s wiped out by a Panther which didn’t take even half damage.
This game just requires too much micromanagement for me. Definitely a good product, though.
Use the ramming feature and then finish it off with an AT gun or infantry. Trying to go head to head with a Panther in even the T-34/85 is a losing position. The only Russian armor that has a chance is the IS-2, and even it will get beat to hell.
I’ve been playing both sides, and basically getting my ass kicked in playing 2, 3 and 4 on a side type games. I’ve only been on the winning side a couple of times so far in the random pickup type games. It’s been a lot of fun though.
I’ve played a couple of skirmishes against the AI and I can already tell that the blizzard gimmick is going to get old real fast. I know the Russian winter was harsh, but I still don’t buy that there was a blizzard sweeping through every five minutes. I did one annihilation game that dragged out and that battle must have seen a good fifteen blizzards over the duration.
Also, it’s really annoying that the Red Army can’t build any bunkers or heal troops other than at the main base, especially on the larger maps. I really try to keep my tovariches alive so I can hold ground but they’ll just manage to get torn up by machine guns or blown up by mortars if I leave them alone for two seconds.
I like the blizzards to be honest. In multi-player games it is a pretty cool tactical shift, since you either need to risk your soldiers freezing to death or use the cover from the storm to shift forces around or fix equipment.
I agree that the Soviets should get bunkers as well…it’s a huge advantage to the Germans if you play defensive (which I do) and one the Soviets don’t get. Also, I think the German anti-tank guns are more powerful, though the Soviets are more versatile, so I guess there is some balance there. But the Soviet armor is totally outclassed by the Germans IMHO. The Panther can take on several T-34’s with the expectation of winning, unless the Soviet player wants to use the ram ability or is backing up their armor with anti-tank.
I’ve been playing most of the weekend. There are some unbelievable players out there…and some that are pretty terrible. I’d say myself that I fall somewhere in the middle, with my particular turtle style of play working well with some but not so well with others. I wish I knew how some of these guys are getting so many build point so quickly. It seems that some of these guys are doubling or even tripling my own, rolling out numerous tanks in the time it’s taking me to get one or two. I also think that some of these guys are playing with something like Team Speak or Vent, since they are simply too coordinated to be simple pick up games. I think when the full game comes out I might try and hook up with some friends to play together against some opponents and see how that works out.
9 Days left in the beta, then 7 days until the full release for anyone interested in trying it out. You might see me in a game…you should recognize the ‘XT’ in my game name. 
I had beta access in the earlier beta, but the game doesn’t seem to install now. It’s still on my steam games list, but I think it’s a different version (beta early access) or something. Is there some way to get the current beta besides preordering? I’d like to see if they’ve done anything to improve the interface.
That was confusing to me as well. What you do is go on the grayed out Company of Heroes under your library and click install. It should install and uninstall your earlier beta install (that’s what it did with me anyway).
It’s a rude awakening from CoH 1, where 3 Shermans were a safe bet against a single Panther.
Managed to destroy one with two T-34-85s and 1 76, although lost the 76 and one of the 85s in the process, and the remaining tank was on a sliver of health. I’m only using the motor guards doctrine now for those 85s, the 76s are just too poor and waiting for an IS-2 is a risky proposition. Like CoH 1 the tank destroyers are very much glass cannons, too.
Anyone else finding the resources a bit wonky? I always end up with shedloads of ammo but hardly any fuel, and I’m pretty molotov and anti-tank grenade happy.
I played in one of the most epic games I’ve been in so far last night. 4 on 4 and pretty evenly balanced between levels of the players (I’m a 35 level, but basically I suck and am only this high because I play so much). At one point my side was up 100 points and had all three of the victory sectors. Then the Germans got panthers and those gods damned panzer shreck units and mobbed us at 2 of the 3 sectors (I was defending the little island down south and managed to beat back the nasty attack on my sector). Then the other team was up a hundred and we were mounting a desperate attack on the center and top. They had 3 panthers where I was, and I had 2 regular T-34s and 2 T-34/85s…no match at all. So I rammed my 2 regular T-34s into 2 of the panthers, and drove the other off with the remaining 2 T-34/85s and 2 anti-tank guns, plus Guards Rifle units with anti-tank guns (that don’t really do much against tanks except make them close their vision slits). I only managed to kill one of the panthers even with the ramming. Then the freaking Germans brought in more panthers and an elephant! Holy shit it was an ugly melee, and I thought we were goners. I lost basically everything in the center, and that’s when they counter attacked the bottom and broke my forces there, though I fought a pretty stubborn delaying action (that cost me a machine gun team and a Guards Rifle team, plus 3 teams that retreated with only 1 guy left).
At that point it looked grim again, but I managed to scrap up 2 more T-34/85s, 2 more AT guns and some troops just as the Germans were (stupidly as it turned out) trying to over run our base. We crushed their attack force, killing or driving off their panthers, killing 2(!!) elephants and scores of panzer grenadiers and panzer shreck units. There were dead bodies and broken tanks and destroyed and abandoned weapons everywhere. We launched a desperate counter attack with 30(!!) points left on the top and center, while another guy went for the bottom and we managed to capture all 3 (I lost both T-34/85s and an AT gun in the center to top attack) when we had 8(!!) points left…and we managed to hold onto 2 of the 3 in the final vicious counter attacks and desperate attacks by the Germans to retake the VPs. I wish I had saved the replay, but my power went out just as I got to the after game chat screen. It was epic though!
[QUOTE=Mr. Kobayashi]
It’s a rude awakening from CoH 1, where 3 Shermans were a safe bet against a single Panther.
[/QUOTE]
Heck, one of the most mind blowing things I remember about CoH 1 was that 3 Sherman tanks could take on a TIGER with a good chance of success! I remember the first time I went for tiger tanks thinking that once I had it that would be it, only to run into 3 Sherman tanks who kicked my ass.
If you can wait for the IS-2 that’s a pretty nasty tank, but I go with the T-85s as you get those nasty mortars and the Guards Rifle guys with AT guns who are great against the early vehicles and against infantry. You just don’t get a good sector artillery unfortunately.
If you play the Soviets and go with the T-85s use your spare munitions to have your engineers build a ton of anti-tank mines since you only need munitions for AT guns for your guards rifles and flame throwers for your engineers. When I play the Germans I’m ALWAYS short of munitions, since the PG units need MG-42’s, bunkers need them as well, pioneers need flame throwers and you need munitions for sector artillery attacks and the like.
Ugh, freaking iPad posting. Obviously that should be T-34/85s in the last two sentences. For me, that’s the best commander choice, though sometimes I’ll go with the IS-2 or even IS-152 commanders, but those are big ticket items that cost a ton and you have to be patient to get them…and then it’s hard to risk them after waiting so long to get them. Usually by the time you have them you almost HAVE to risk them, as the Germans are mobbing you under.
On the German side I’m a little less sure of which commander to take. In the early beta I’d go with one of the commanders that gave me tigers (there were 2 around level 20 or so). Now there is just a commander that gives you elephants, which I find less useful, though the artillery in that one is pretty nasty. I generally go with the defensive commander though, as it gives you a fixed AT gun position which is way nasty and hard to destroy, plus the hull down feature that lets you fortify your tanks into bunkers. As I’m a more turtle oriented type player, that works well with my game style. The Germans, unfortunately, don’t get any infantry units through any of their commanders, which kind of sucks. The other commander that’s ok is the one that gives you sector artillery, fixed artillery gun and half track mortars, but I almost never go with that one.
I don’t know if anyone else is still playing the beta, but they released a single-player demo mission in the latest update which takes place in Leningrad and is actually pretty cool. Charging German artillery positions across a frozen river with infantry probably ranks right up there with starting a land war in Asia, tactically speaking, but it certainly looked awesome. And fortunately I managed to grab one of the German howitzers so when I later ran into a couple of snipers with MG support I just barraged the hell out of the area.
Well, the beta has almost run it’s course. Only 2 days left, though there is a strange message on the home screen of the beta saying that there will be double exps for player verse player games on the 22nd and 23rd, the anniversary of the start of Operation Barbarossa and the invasion of Russia by Germany. I’m not sure, based on what I understand of the timetable of the beta, how this is going to happen, since the game itself doesn’t launch afaik until the 25th.
At any rate, any rank or medals you got during the beta stay with you if you per-purchased the game, which is cool. I capped out at level 40 with most of my service medals filled in and a lot of my fruit salad missing (I assume it will be part of the single player campaign to fill all that in). I haven’t tried the single player campaign in the beta, as I’m waiting for the full game so I can play through the whole thing.
The beta is winding down…only 6 hours left I guess, according to Steam. 
Had a good time. Looking forward to the full release, especially the Theater of War section that has been locked the whole time. Finally got some of my co-workers to play some multiplayer and they really liked it. Even going against the AI is fun, as the AI is actually relatively challenging at standard and hard level…it’s ridiculous at expert level.
I doubt anyone here really cares, but I think the beta is still ongoing if you pre-ordered the game. I checked in this morning just for drill and the game still seems to be up and working at this point, the day after what I thought was the end of the beta. I guess that little blurb about double exps on the 22nd and 23rd makes more sense now.
I’m hoping that in the released game they have additional PvP maps, as the ones they have atm are getting a bit old to me now. I’m also looking forward to the Theater of War section, which has remained disabled throughout the beta but sounds like it’s going to be pretty cool.