We are Relic Entertainment and we've made Company of Heroes 2 Ask Us Almost Anything

Would you rather fight 3 Schwimmwagen sized King Tigers

Or 1 King Tiger sized Schwimmwagen?

1 King Tiger sized Schwimmwagen.

• JS

Any chance you'd be able to tell of any plans, even if they're ideas of DLC for COH2? I know it's early, but I'm spoiled. I'd love to see the Finns, Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, and/or Italians be added later on as a new playable faction.

We do have ideas for DLC and expanding the game. We can't share what those plans are yet, but if you look at how we expanded the original game you might get some ideas of the scope of what we're planning.

Also the Commanders give us a lot of flexibility in adding new content.

• JS

I heard a German soldier complaining about Americans complaining about Pio-Spam. Good work, my friends.

Thank you. We always enjoy writing that additional unit dialogue.

• JS

Hey guys! Homeworld and Homeworld 2 IMHO are two of the best games ever released. Solid game mechanics, great story and a fantastic soundtrack. I've never played but also heard that CoH is similarly high-quality. So I wanted to say, in a dystopian future ridden with greedy and obtuse game developers, thank you for standing out.

Are there any plans to start a Homeworld 3?

The rights to Homeworld went to Gearbox in the post-THQ auction. So while it'll always hold a special place in our hearts as the studio's first game we can't really do anything with it at this point.

• JS

What was the mood like when you learned THQ was no more and the future of CoH 2 was on the line?

I know I was scared the whole time! Viva SEGA!

Nobody was happy to see THQ go out of business, our friends worked there. They were a part of our family for over eight years.

But we were confident in the quality of the game and as we demoed the prospective buyers of Relic and saw their responses our confidence grew even higher.

And yes, Viva SEGA!

• GW

1. Is Dawn of War 3 happening? If so,
2. Are you or Creative Assembly making it?

1. ?
2. ??

We'd play it!

I came here to ask this very question, not sure about the response =/

Sorry, we can't talk about unannounced games and we certainly can't talk about other studios' unannounced games.

But a Creative Assembly DoW game would be pretty awesome.

1. how many commander's will their be total for each army when the game is release?

2. how many maps will there be for multiplayer when the game is released?

1. 5 per faction for a total of 10 at launch.
2. 13 at launch (8 unique with + 5 seasonal variants)

• GW

Hi, I want to ask a few questions in behalf of the largest community of Brazilian CoH players (www.battlecentral.com.br). My questions summarize common doubts of all our players. I hope you don't mind the length of the list:

• Will "spectator/observer" mode be implemented for CoH2?
• How many DLCs will be delivered for CoH2? Is there an estimated value for the amount of DLCs)?
• Are there any plans to improve the replays system such as rewind, quick jump to the end of the middle of the replay?
• Will map editors be available? we are asking for the possibility of making some awesome e-sports focused maps. Please, tell us we will be able to make some maps.
• Any plans to improve the UI (that mid-bottom line doesn't show any unit information, and it is a shame not to know the current damage or fire rate of my unit).
• Will ladderboard be implemented?
• That "sync error" thing that came back from CoH1, will it be fixed?
• We already have the "Control+A" command to ping the map, but will we have any defensive commands like "Ctrl+D" to defend, "Ctrl+S" to scout, or "Ctrl+C" take control of that area?
• will we be able to veto any map in automatch or will we be forced to play every possible map?
• Will Steam workshop be implemented?
• Regarding the DLCs, are there any plans to include more historically coherent units like King Tiger, Fallschirmjäger, 88mm AA guns?

• We've integrated Twitch.tv as a starting point and will look to improve and add more ways for people to watch and share their love of CoH 2.
• We don't have a hard limit, but have lots of great ideas!
• This is technically very challenging for our system, but these are all ideas that we've discussed and hope to do at some point.
• A map editor will be available some time post-launch.
• Our UI team has been working with the community during the Open Beta and collecting feedback. We're always looking at ways to improve the game.
• The first version of our leaderboards will be available through Steam.
• We fix them where we find them. When you see a sync-error it means that data is mismatched between the two computers playing the game and which SOMETIMES implies cheating.
• This is something that we're evaluating. Keep your eyes peeled!
• Map Veto is part of our ongoing feature support. So yes, we'll be adding it as soon as possible.
• We'd love to add Steam Workshop, no set date on this though.
• Regarding DLC we've got all of WW II to draw from.

Huge fan of Homeworld here, could you tell about the process of choosing names for people, places, etc? Do you hire a linguist, or just have brainstorming sessions?

I don't remember where half the names came from.

There were some reference that were gathered, and a middle eastern feel to go with the desert environment. It was a long time ago, I don't really remember.

• QD

I played Homeworld. It's great. No idea how it was made.

• JS

How are things at Sega?

Great!

It's been amazing working with SEGA. They get our niche market segment. They get PC games. They get strategy and they get games as a service.

They just want to support us at being better at what we do.

• GW

ok questions. Mainly coh2 related.

My number one question/request for coh2.

"Ability to reconnect after dropping in a MP game. This is by far my single BIGGEST issue I have with COH2 (and historically coh1), Massive issue when I playing with friends". Making it limited to only if you had been in the game previously and that are already on your steam friends list. I'm not looking to join a game in progress or anything like that. Just the ability to rejoin after dropping for some reason.

COH2 feature request. Some sort of in game diagnosis/behind the scene checks that let users know if they will get the "so and so is lagging" due to ports not opened/forwarded correctly. ie. a little icon next to names in the game lobby etc.

Also some other questions taken from various coh forums (official/reddit etc).

1. Coh1 style leader board instead of just time earned rankings?
2. Why did you decide on an armoured unit whose sole purpose is to ram into other armoured units?
3. World builder like coh 1 will there be modding support?
4. Cutting down or making the flashing ui optional.
5. Why the removal/downgrading of cover as compare to coh1? (perhaps this is just player perception that this has happened?)
6. Steam : Ability to see if someone is in an actual game vs auto queue/menu.
7. Why change to a hover over to show unit kills? Current picture isn't helpful or useful.
8. POV record/replay option?
9. How will the micro purchases work?
10. Will there be more factions that just russian / german? finish? etc?
11. Will coh1 lobby be fixed for the new steam version? (leaderboards etc?)
12. Units seem to not fire/respond to enemy attacks while on the move. Bug or by design?
13. Ready button in multiplayer menu ahla coh1?
14. Choosing starting location in custom map type OR automatch AI.
15. Any plans for different AT gun types? airburst? switchable AP/HEAT rounds etc

ps: have loved coh since day one and still play it weekly with a core group of clan mates.

We answered a lot of these if you want to read through. I'll try a crack.

1. We'll have Steam leadboards to start with, maybe more later.
2. Ramming is a valid tactic and was used on the Eastern Front.
3. We answered this a few times, there will be mod support as there was for the original game.
4. We're constantly taking feedback on all aspects of the game including the UI. I'll pass this feedback on.
5. I'll see if I can get Quinn to answer this.
6. More options along these lines are planned for post-launch.
7. Quinn question.
8. There's replay options, but the addition of Twitch.tv into the game is the first step we're making towards letting people watch, share and analyze games played much better than they could in the original game. We've had a few replies on this topic.
9. It's Soviet and German at launch. As with the original game more factions may arrive later.
10. Yes. We said this a few times, and post launch will begin working on it.
11. Not sure. Some units can't fire while moving by design, check the unit description to make sure that they're not the ones you're seeing on it.
12. Maybe something we might look at adding.
13. Not at the moment, possibly in the future.
14. Anything that saw combat during the war is open to us adding it in. We'll see some new units, maybe AT gun types.

Glad you liked the original game, and it's great to hear you're still playing it!

How happy are you with the current balance of CoH2?

Pretty happy currently. The metrics look good, but there is still work to do. We have to dig in and get more details from our stats. But we're going to keep working at it.

QD

What type of metrics and stats do devs look at when dealing with balance?

We look at win/loss ratios for each faction in every different game mode and on every different map.

We also look at the feedback we're getting. If it's split 50/50 between saying Germans or Soviets are OP then we know we're onto something.

• JS

I think we've answered this, or a variation. But yes we're happy with it.

However as with the original game we'll continue to adjust the balance on an ongoing basis for the life of the game.

• JS

How excited are you releasing CoH 2 on Tuesday?

Everyone's very excited. Company of Heroes 2 went through some pretty big events during development so it's nice to finally be near the finishing line.

However I think mostly everyone's just focused on finishing the final touches up and getting the game ready for launch. We don't get to sit back and drink for awhile yet.

• JS

Alright!

What were the big events during development or is it classified info? :)

Btw I love the new maps you released today and i'm waiting for starting Operation Barbossa!

For us the big events are always around press events and things like E3 and that's where we invest time in polish and quality. The game makes a big leap forward and all of a sudden you know what you're doing, you know what you're building.

• QD

Very!

• QD

Hey I'm an indie game dev - I'm making a (partially) Homeworld inspired mix of space sim and RTS (the Homeworld portion).

Question: what do you guys think? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb5izYgWsVA << the first trailer

It looks cool. Good luck with the Kickstarter!

• JS

Next time I visit, will I be asked to fix the build server again? (PS: Miss you guys!)

That's a standard part of the Relic studio tour.

• JS

You should have made it better.

• QD

Relic,

What is the most challenging aspect of creating RTS games?

Love Dawn of War series and looking forward to Company of Heroes 2, especially TrueSight!

RTS games are complex and take a lot of iteration. There's thousands of moving parts. Creatively speaking its trying to inject the right type of tone and story telling.

Post-ship there's this living breathing eco-system to keep tabs on and figure out what levers to pull to keep the game interesting and competitive. - QD

I can only compare it to working elsewhere on sports games. The easy thing about sports games is that everyone knows what you're talking about. My mom knows that I got to do something with sports league X and people she's heard of. My dad can (sort of) play the game.

RTS is niche and it's a great and passionate fanbase but my dad's never going to give me a good game at CoH.

But the passion of the fanbase makes having my parents not understand what I do worth it. - JS

Your life story as a One-Liner?

Should have stayed in school. - QD

Dude, wait... what? - GW

Happy to be here. - JS

Upon reflection I'd like to change my life story to:

"If only fanny-packs were cool, I'd have been a king!"

• JS

Can we expect to see the see the Pacific anytime soon?

We're trying to convince SEGA to approve a team trip to Hawaii for research but they haven't given us the green light yet! It'll be warmer than Russia!

Hey Relic! I have two questions for you guys.

1. Something I miss a lot from older games was the ability to create your own maps. Will this feature be available with Company of Heroes 2? If so will it be via an ingame option or similar to Steam Workshop?

2. Why such a long gap between CoH and it's sequal? Are we looking at a major difference from the way CoH 1 feels?

I know that was three questions :P

1. We've covered this, but we do want to work with Steam Workshop. No announcement yet.

2. Getting the right team in place. Thinking up the requirements and getting the right publisher behind it. We wanted to do an Eastern Front expansion for the original game, but didn't think we could do it justice.

• QD

Are you guys ever going to make a sequel to Space Marine? I absolutely loved the first one and felt it captured the setting excellently. Anything Imperial Guard related would be fine too.

I loved the first one too, I worked on it! I was the last Relic employee working on it! I'm still working on it!

We can't talk about anything that's not announced.

Having said that as a studio we're focusing on PC strategy games right now. So while I'd love a continuation of Titus' story, we may have to wait.

• JS

Space Marine was game of the year for me, I really loved it, you absolutely nailed the feeling of being in a giant suit of armour.

It was a really fun game. I don't think any game captures that sense of raw power as well. Going through a horde of Orks really felt like it should, like you were an OP unit and a goddamn Space Marine.

• JS

I don't know if you're still here but I wanted you guys to know something (assuming that you all worked on Homeworld together).

I bought Homeworld when it first released in 1999. I brought it home (I was living with my parents at the time) and stayed up reading the manual, which is one of the greatest manuals of all time. Anyway, as I was reading my phone rang. It was pretty late, my parents were asleep, so I answered the phone.

It turned out one of my best friends had died; the phone call was his brother letting me know that it had just happened. He was a couple years younger than me and a total wreck, sobbing on the phone. I couldn't believe it and sat back on the couch, not sure how to react. He was the first friend that died, the first person I was close to that died. I didn't know what to do.

My friend, call him J, had joined the military the year before to become a translator. We had spent a lot of time together through our teens and enjoyed a lot of the same video games, especially the original XCOM. He loved tactics and strategy, but didn't really go for the hardcore simulators. As I sat, not sure of how to feel or what to do, I thought about how I'd been looking forward to telling him about Homeworld. The idea of a truly three-dimensional real-time strategy game would've been right up his alley.

In the end I just sat there for a while, reading the awesome textbook style manual to keep my mind off my sadness and when I was done I installed the game and played it for him, in memoriam. He would've loved it.

As a result I have very powerful emotions tied up with Homeworld; the fact that it was a stunning game and a wonderful story (and that Yes song at the end... perfect) only compounded this. This was the first game I ever played that made me cry; whether it was my own heightened emotional state or not, the post-credits sting of the galactic map and "you are here" crushed me.

I just wanted you to know that you touched someone very deeply with your game and that it helped me with what would've been a very difficult moment in my life. I know that's not the reason people make games in general but whatever. You have a fan forever, even if you make games I wouldn't normally be interested in.

That said, I didn't like Homeworld 2 very much (seemed too simplified and the story didn't touch me like the first one did). Sorry. I hold out hopes for a Homeworld 3 (or even a remake of the original) but whatever, I know the audience for 3d scifi RTS games has shrunk. I'm glad you made such awesome Warhammer 40k games (ALL of them including Space Marine) and I'm glad you guys survived the crash and burn of THQ. I bought all the Dawn of War games twice so it wasn't my fault.

Seriously, you guys are awesome. I'm pretty sure you even replied when I applied for a job with you despite having absolutely no appropriate training or background experience. So thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you. That was a great story and we're glad we've been an important part of your life!

• JS

If I get collectors edition what is the difference?

The Collector's edition has a bunch of extra content that I'll post below. If you've already pre-ordered a regular edition however you can always upgrade after launch.

What the CE has (sorry this is off a marketing checklist:

Digital Collector's Edition The Digital Collector's Edition includes the following:

Vehicle Skin Combo Pack

24 Vehicle Skins Exclusive Collector Faceplate

Collector’s Edition Faceplate with Integrated Badge Commander Archetypes

Soviet Commanders Anti-Infantry Tactics Conscript Support Tactics Terror Tactics German Commanders Joint Operations Doctrine Spearhead Doctrine Commander Pass

Access to Five Commander Archetype’s Available Post-Launch Theater of War Mini Pack

Post Launch Content Bundle Company of Heroes Complete Pack

The Award Winning Game Collection that Started it All

First I would like to send my thanks to each and every one of you guys that made this game. CoH was by far the best and most innovational RTS game ever made and CoH2 will be no different. Hearing about THQ was a definite downer but I hope your new publisher is just as great and cooperative! I cant wait till the 25th!

Secondly, what is your stance on mod support for CoH2? Mods like Blitzkrieg and Modern Combat were very fun to play and I hope you guys will still have decent mod support for the next upcoming game.

We love the great stuff that the mod community created for CoH and we hope they're going to be hard at work with CoH 2. There were team members at Relic who invested a lot of their personal time in helping modders and we've hired mod guys onto the balance team.

So we're all for it. Hopefully we'll be able to help them create such cool stuff this time around.

-QD

Thanks for coming,

Are there still any plans to deal with balance before the release? One of the most common complaints I saw coming out COH 2 open beta is that AT Guns are not nearly as useful as they were in COH 1 and that the pinning system mainly employed by heavy machine guns is no longer as effective (mainly enemy infantry could run through machine gun fire without getting pinned quick enough and could lob a grenade to take out the whole machine gun crew).

We've got a dedicated balance team, and the Open Betas have been really helpful in getting feedback. Balance is an on-going process and we'll never really stop fine tuning things.

• QD

Is the process for getting community made maps into the game, and into the automatch queue, going to be any different than Company of Heroes 1?

We don't know yet. We're still working that out, but hopefully it'll be easier.

• QD

Very big fan of the games and COH continues to be my go to RTS. Today we get stuck with regurgitated sequels that update graphics and storyline and not much else in a lot of other games. What sort of mechanics are being introduced to COH2 that make it more of its own game?

Also, do you off internships and can I intern for you, please?

Edit: Thanks for doing the AMA, I look forward to buying COH2.

There's been dozens of changes in all areas including gameplay. We've introduced True Sight which is a feels completely natural as part of CoH 2's gameplay. Even little things like infantry vaulting small objects, which adds a lot of tactical variety and the environments having a bigger impact on the way the game is played.

• QD

Do you plan on adding steam workshop for company of heroes 2, so its much easier to add maps and infantry skin packs.

We'd love to. We'd love to release the world builder and integrate it with the Workshop at some point in the future.

• GW, QD

is CoH2 going to come to mac? Will the first one come to steam for mac?

• Nothing to announce, but as a Mac owner I'd love to see it. I'm digging playing the first one on my Macbook.

• Nothing to announce. Not sure. We didn't handle the port, so that's not all to do with us.

• JS

I'm a fan of literally all your work since Homeworld 2. The Dawn of War series is amazing, but CoH is easily my favorite. I guess a large part of the charm is the amazing depth and nuance. Zooming in on anything, be it an infantryman, tank, or light vehicle, shows a level of animation and attention to detail that you just never seen anywhere else. That depth is also reflected in the complexity of the game mechanics. It's really an amazing series!

My question has to do with how you will support CoH2 post-launch. The original was amazing, but it was marred by the very slow patch cycle. It took a long time to fix big issues, and fixes came in such huge batches that you got massive pendulum changes and overcorrections. Under SEGA and with steam support, will you be able to maintain a more frequent patch schedule to better keep game balance in check?

We're planning on a more robust patch cycle than with the original game, which we did manage to keep patching well past launch. The addition of things like being based on Steam and the move of games as a service will allow us to keep on top of that more than ever before.

• JS

Hey Relic, I'm a big fan and I've purchased all of your games so far... I love CoH.

I have a question about performance. A lot of players have reported performance issues since around the beginning of open beta. Is this something you are looking into?

We're constantly looking at improving performance. We get metrics on what PCs people are using to play the game and are doing our best to optimize for those.

We've also made improvements to the auto-detect.

• QD

Hey Relic! You guys make amazing games, long may you continue! Also want to give a shout out to the sound design on all your games! The unit chatter, the music, the sound effects - you guys have had it nailed all the way from Homeworld 1.

As a CoH related question: Did you guys consider other settings like Cold War/Modern Combat? One of the things that amazed me with CoH1 is that it managed to spark my interest in WW2 again when the market at the time was flooded with WW2 FPS games, and personally I'd have loved the same for a more modern era.

Not seriously. The conversation was about where in WWII we'd go, not in finding a different war.

Having said that we wouldn't rule out doing another war in the future.

• JS

Heya guys! I've been a huge Relic fan since the very early days. Looking forward to playing CoH2!

My question is in regards to the singleplayer Campaign. Are there separate campaigns for Germany and Russia, or are they combined into a kind of super-campaign?

There is only a Soviet campaign in the game.

• JS

Looks like some Soviet commanders have identical abilities (Shock Troops and Guards for example). Why did you decide to do this? There were no identical abilities in CoH1 - all doctrines were different and had different options. Will we see some new special Soviet abilities and German call-in units (infantry especially)?

It allows us to do way more Commander Trees, and provide Trees with different flavours. It also allows them to be flexible for expansion with new content.

• QD

Do you guys think you could add more options to the replay? Everytime after a game I love reviewing my strategies and I'd like the option of going back to a certain point not just have the thing play forward only.

It's technically very challenging, but it's something that we'd hope to do in the future.

The addition of Twitch.tv will give players another avenue to share their games with others, and better view other people's games.

• JS

Will there be any new units,maps and doctrines at launch.

We just patched in the rest of the progression tree and maps for multiplayer for the Open Beta. There are a few unique units and commanders in the Theatre of War and campaign.

We will be introducing free maps overtime for multiplayer modes and we'll also have a variety of dlc content for players to choose from down the road.

• GW, QD

Having played the beta for a couple of days now, first of all I would like to clarify that i absolutely love it and that you should keep up the good work. However, there are certain things which I feel should be reworked in some way or another:

1.I only play comp stomp with my friends and we have noticed that the ai seriously cheats (even more than in CoH: ToV). Things like no FoW, infinite resources, much quicker deployment rates downright to 100% accurate infantry and tanks, engineers being stronger than 2 conscript squads, my units taking 1 sec to be suppressed while their 5 secs etc. I hope that you fix this because it really takes away from the game
2. Do you have plans for adding Americans because even though Russians are a nice twist in terms of gameplay, I miss my rangers and airborne
3. Ostwind flakpanzer should be nerfed! In its current state, it can 1 hit light cars, kill ANY number of infantry and even destroy a t-34 (not too common)
4. Are these all the units available in the game or are there going to be more because some of my favourite German units are gone (Volksgrenadiers, Knight's Cross Holders, Tiger tank...). Also, Russians need some decent infantry since they currenly have conscripts who are laughable and penal infantry who are weaker than grenadiers. They also have guards which are really only useful against vehicles and shock troops which are fine but you need to be a certain general to have them

1. We're always tweaking the AI. Make sure you fill out the post-game survey in the Open Beta to give us your feedback and help us improve it for you.

2. Rangers were fun weren't they.

3. We'll take a look at that.

4. There are a few unique units and commanders in the Theatre of War and campaign that aren't in the Beta.

• JS

Hey Relic, I'm a huge fan of your WH40k rts games (DoW2 was my favorite, love tactical squad action and Space Marines made me feel so powerful) and I would like to say thank you for doing the brand justice (imo). I look forward to seeing more WH40k content from Relic!

Question: Did THQ's disassembly halt the development process of CoH2?

No. The team kept working on CoH2 through the auction. So the core of the game team remained untouched.

The changes that did happen were with associated teams like changing marketing and QA teams and customer service and localization services.

• JS

Why is the Tiger tank available so late in-game for German players?

Motivation. :)

• QD

Any plans to bring COH2 to Mac?

Nothing announced. The original game did come to the Mac, so anything is possible.

• JS

No leaderboard really, really sucks. Otherwise I like it :) blizzard too. :D

We will have Steam leaderboards at the start. But we're glad you like the blizzards, and the game too!

• JS

Relic all of your games kick ass. Keep up the good work!

Thank you. Now could you write my mother a letter to tell her that I have a real job?

• JS

Any future plans for the Space Marine franchise? That game is one of my absolute favourites this generation.

Not at the moment. We're currently focusing on PC strategy games, rather than console action games. But we love the game and one day would love to return to the story of Captain Titus.

• JS

Can you give us an update about the status of the Warhammer 40k license? You don't need to confirm that you're working on DoW3 but is it even a possibility if we know that Slitherine is already working on a 40k strategy game of their own?

We can't really talk about anything we may or may not be doing.

We love GW and the 40K-verse, and have a good relationship with them. We're still working with them to support our DoW and Space Marine games.

• JS

I just wanted to say that I still play the original Homeworld. It is one of my favorite games of all time. Thanks for that.

Thank you for letting us know. That means so much to us.

Really, it does.

• JS

What is the internal pressure you have both on yourselves and from publishers to make CoH 2 as big, if not a bigger, success than the original? It was my first RTS that I learned mastery over and I thank you ever so much for your kick ass games.

Thanks! We're glad you think our games kick ass.

The only pressure we have is to make the game the best we can. I don't think there's ever been a stated goal to outsell the original. It's more a creative challenge.

• QD

I played games casually on the PC before you guys released Homeworld.

Damn you all for what that series did to me. A damned master piece.

That's great to hear! Homeworld made a lot of people into PC gaming fiends!

• JS

Cloud computing is the next big frontier in game development. In your opinion, do you see this as a problem or a benefit?

Our servers are hosted in the cloud, it gives us the flexibility to scale based on need. In the past this would require buying new hardware, configure it and get it going. Now if we need to we can expand our server cluster all through the cloud.

• GW

How's the relationship between your new publisher?

Why did you guys not go for a new engine? The one in Company of Heroes 2 was used for the original and Dawn of War 2 right? Don't you think it's a bit outdated and to be honest it doesn't look that good anymore.

Thank you for any answers.

We've answered about SEGA elsewhere. Short answer it's great!

We did iterate on the proprietary Essence Engine technology to make CoH2 the game it is today. There's a lot happening below the surface (simulation) that combined with other systems is Relic's "secret sauce" and the essence of our games.

• GW

[deleted]

Brian was a great guy and everyone loved him. He was a big part of this studio, and CoHO. He still is a big part of the studio, we have an internship named after him and most people here still remember working with him.

However his death had nothing to do with the cancellation of CoHO. It would have happened regardless.

• JS

Are you going to change the graphics for the base buildings? I think the structures in COH looked cooler, if less... realistic.

The intent was to do front line buildings and to reduce the footprint of the buildings themselves. This allows more flexibility in map layout and gives the game more of an Eastern Front tone.

• QD

Are you going to make Soviet and German infantry DLC skins?

Skinning of infantry is particularly challenging due to the importance of unit recognition from a distance. Changing the colours of units can make them hard to see at a distance from 100 feet above.

We might have new units, but we're not looking at skins for infantry right now.

• GW

Are you planning or at least have thoughts of releasing coh2 on a console? The UI in the beta felt very console-ish to me.

No. We're focused on the PC.

While there's been some interesting RTS games on the console, I don't think any of them really had a control scheme that felt as natural and perfect as the PC's keyboard and mouse.

• JS

1) Have you considered making a Company Of Heroes game set in the Pacific Theatre? 2) During development, were there any points where CoH 2 was completely different from what's about to be released? 3) Has Relic considered putting in weapons/vehicles/tanks that only existed in blueprints like the German E-series?

1) No, not really. Islands are a challenge. Ship based stuff is a challenge, so it's rarely come up as a next step for the franchise. 2) Early we really pushed some crazy ideas completely re-imagining the economy and tech trees but it didn't feel like CoH. 3) No. We'll put almost anything in, but we really want it to have seen combat even if it was a rare vehicle.

• QD

Are you still working on Dawn of War III? Some of the early press releases (mosly regarding army customization) made me very excited to see this game.

Whatever may have been announced previously under a previous publisher isn't necessarily what we're working on now.

As we said we can't talk about games that aren't announced.

• JS

Hey Relic! First off, I'm a big fan of your games. I've purchased every single one and I've enjoyed them all immensely. CoH is one of the best games of all time and the second game looks to be a well worthy sequel.

However, I do have some concerns with the performance and I was wondering, how much focus are you currently putting into optimization? Can we expect minor or big improvements in this area at release, in the near future or have you reached your limit? Would really love to enjoy the game in all it's glory.

Thank you Relic and keep up the great work!

The team has been doing a lot of adjustments during the various betas.

One of the things we've improved is how the autodetect configures the game, so that it runs better on your computer.

We're going to keep looking for opportunities to improve performance. Please make sure you keep your drivers up-to-date. It makes more of a difference than a lot of people think.

• GW

What was your main goal for Company of Heroes 2? I played the beta and loved it and did notice some changes, personally all for better reason

We started the original more than a decade ago. We shipped it more than seven years ago. We wanted a strong update in keeping with the feeling of CoH.

We re-imagined the creative vision for the game. This one was to let the player experience the "ruthless truth of war" and tell the darker story of the Eastern Front where 13 of the 15 bloodiest battles in the 20th century were fought. (The other two were in WWI).

• GW, QD

How does it feel getting paid to reddit now that your comrades left, Noun?

It feels good. It feels like DONUTS!

• JS

First of all, thank you so much for this AMA. I love your games and have been very active on Company of Heroes over the few years I've owned it. One question comes to mind however, what is your official stance on modding? Is it something that you all at Relic have spoken about before?

Also, speaking of Company of Heroes 2 specifically, will there be a theater mode added later on? I'd love to be able to watch my replays with friends, it could be a great tool to help teach new players the basics without having them actually jump in and lose a bunch of times before they understand the basics.

Adding Twitch.tv was a big step forward for us in expanding the ways people can view content together, and in enabling the community to share their experiences with the game.

That being said we're interested in building out the toolset that our fans have in being able to promote their clans, learn new tactics and share their love of CoH 2.

• GW

Is the King Tiger in Company of Heroes 2?

Not yet.

• QD

• Are you monitoring the forums companyofheroes.com as previously sega?
• My big request, you have you considered this: Star the camera positioned correctly (HQ own in south, enemy north) or customized?

• I'm on the forums every day. Way too much. Even at home. My wife says I am ignoring her. Can you tell her it's important, she doesn't believe me. - JS

• Yes we had that option in for awhile. It wasn't completed, and we'll look at it again. - QD

First of all may I say you have done a pretty good job of laying the core foundations down to a very good game.

However, I have been playing multiple online games with people vs the AI. Can you explain how in some games a standard AI is too easy, and then in the next, is almost near impossible to beat? Even on Easy sometimes this happens and I imagine it could be rather daunting for newcomers to the series.

Also, I was somewhat disappointed in the limited number of units - only because this is meant to be the next step in the series, and with complete honesty, it feels like a slight upgrade to CoH 1, with better effects and gameplay (without the expansions).

Thanks

We ran a community survey in the Open Beta to collect people's views on AI strength, and will be acting on that.

We've invested a significant amount of effort in improving the AI to make it more dynamic so that its more fun to play against it time and time again. This introduces new tactics to it, and gives it more variation which may be what you're seeing.

-GW

Hi, I've been playing CoH 1 a lot and loved it (especialy with BK). I've been playing it mostly with friends in co-op against the ai. So i am wondering will you lift the zoom-out restriction in non-competitive games? Because the zoomed in view right now is game breaking for me and probably a lot of oter people.

The camera is basically the same as the original. Adjusting the camera also expands the visible area dramatically which affects performance.

• GW, QD

Why is CoH2 so bad when compared to CoH mods like Blitzkrieg and Eastern Front?

Why did you decide to say "fuck the people who like Dawn of War" when you chose to make Dawn of War 2 not a RTS?

• The mods are really good, but we do feel that CoH 2 is a strong and is a successful follow on from the original game. I'm not going to rundown community mods, or insult them in anyway. If you prefer those more then stick with the original.

• Dawn of War 2 is an RTS. It may have been non-traditional, but it falls under the category of real time strategy game. You may be thinking of Space Marine.

• JS

I want a controls list and I want it now not everyone played the previous game.

Like a manual or keyboard shortcuts?

There's a PDF that comes with the game. There's also tutorials that'll help get you up to speed. Playing the campaign is also helpful as is the Theatre of War mode.

Hopefully we've given people lots of ways to learn how to play.

• QD

With CoH2 almost out, do you already have something new on the table (even if you can't talk about it!) or are you largely going to concentrate on supporting CoH2?

We can't talk about unannounced games.

The team coming off of CoH 2 will continue to support CoH 2 and we've got a lot of stuff in the works for that.

Frankly I'm happy about it.

• QD

With the COH2 release date drawing near when can we expect to hear about another Dawn Of War game?

What are the chances of a Space Marine sequel somewhere down the line?

We can't really talk about unannounced games.

For Space Marine it was a great game, I still love it. However we're focused on PC strategy games for now and thus that one isn't going to happen in the foreseeable future.

• JS

I really enjoyed playing Company of Heroes Online around the beginning of 2011. COHO was then canned without any real explanation as to why. I have two questions related to this fact:

1. Why did Relic stop supporting COHO?
2. Did Relic begin working on COH2 around this time? If not when did COH2 development officially start?

1. THQ didn't want to be investing a lot of money in a new type of game (free-to-play) so CoHO for them wasn't what they wanted to be doing. They closed a few f2p games at that time including a WWF one.

2. I don't have exact dates, but CoHO closing opened up the team to really focus on CoH 2. A lot of the CoH 2 team are from the CoHO team.

• JS

How long is the single-player portion/campaign of CoH2? And why is the graphics seems so sub-par?

• It's about the same length as the original, though length will vary depending on player.

• We've been updating graphics for the last few weeks. Maybe try adjusting your settings?

• QD

Are there any short term plans for introducing support for eSports into CoH2, such as leaderboards or in-game advertising for tournaments and community events?

• To start with we'll be using Steam leaderboards
• Nothing on in-game advertising
• We do work with different groups for community events and tournaments. CoH2.org and GameReplays have been sites we've worked with to host things like Sunday Night Fights and we'll be doing more of that in the future.