Company of Heroes Online

Company of Heroes Online
Developer(s)	Relic Entertainment Shanda
Publisher(s)	THQ Shanda Windysoft
Designer(s)	Josh Mosqueira, Quinn Duffy, Brian Wood
Engine	Essence Engine Havok (Physics Engine)
Version	3.10090.0.4441
Platform(s)	Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
Release date(s)	NA September 2, 2010 Asia 2009-2010
Genre(s)	MMO RTS
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Media/distribution	Digital Download
System requirements Microsoft Windows CPU: 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium IV or AMD Athlon XP or equivalent Hard Drive Space: 6.5 GB DVD-ROM: 8X DVD-ROM RAM: 512 MB RAM Video Card: DirectX 9.0c 64 MB VRAM with Pixel Shader 1.1

Company of Heroes Online was a free MMO real-time strategy computer game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. The open beta for the game started on 2 September 2010 and closed on 31 March 2011. The game has no link with the original Company of Heroes series multi-player system and is a stand alone game, unlike its predecessors. The game uses the same graphics engine as the retail release of Company of Heroes.

International Releases

Relic has also released a Chinese and a South Korean version of the game earlier. Both of them are currently in Open beta stage. The Chinese version has been co-developed and published by Shanda while the South Korean version was published by WindySoft and developed entirely by Relic Entertainment.

The Korean and American versions feature the entire single player campaign from the retail release while the Chinese version does not.

Gameplay

Company of Heroes Online (CoHo) is a real time strategy game based on the retail game Company of Heroes. Company of Heroes Online gameplay places emphasis on usage of varying degrees of cover which together with a destructible terrain, facilitates opportunities to use the game world to a player's advantage. Another departure from mainstream RTS's is the implementation of sector supply whereby the resource income of a player is linked to the sectors under that player's control. A unique feature of COHO is the bewildering amount of combination of hero units, special abilities and doctrinal abilities a player can utilize, giving the potential for very diverse yet equally effective strategies emphasising on creativity.

Game Modes

There are two multiplayer modes: Reward or Custom Game.

Reward Games are by definition, games among human players. Two sides match up with each side having from 1 to 4 players. The aim of the match is to control more "victory points" than the opposition, thereby draining the ticket counter of the enemy to zero causing them to lose the match. Alternatively, a complete destruction of the opponent's base structures will have the same effect. In a reward game essential parameters of the game are always preset and the map of each game is chosen by the matchmaking system at random from a pool of available maps.

In Custom Games, players can customize the game at will. Customization choices include, starting resources, map used, amount of human and AI players participating, prevailing weather conditions etc.

Major Differences between Company of Heroes and Company of Heroes Online

Hero Units

Company of Heroes Online adds hero units. These are typically marginally more powerful than standard units and feature specific bonuses that affect a unit's use. A combat unit may gain builder abilities or a builder unit may specialize in combating tanks. Heroes gain experience and level up, when used during gameplay. Usually low level heroes are only a little better than standard units, but heroes that are fully levelled up have special abilities and are significantly better than standard ones.

Army Items

The player can customize their unit with up to eight army items to represent specialized training. Army items are passive Buffs applied to one type of unit. e.g. a faster tank

After completing a match, the player character is awarded experience points and supply points, and may randomly receive up to six heroes or army items. Trading supply as an in game currency allows for acquiring specific heroes and army items.

Each item is assigned a color depending on rarity. Yellow, Green, Blue (Common, Uncommon, Rare) can be found or bought, while Purple, Red (Very Rare, Extremely Rare) can only be obtained as an in-game drop.

Supply and COHO Cash

Supply points and COHO Cash are the virtual currency used in the COHO environment.

Special abilities known as Army Items and Hero Units are expendable units/abilities that need to be charged with a certain amount of "charges" in order to be used in a game. All hero units and army items selected before each game, will have charges subtracted from them regardless if they are actually utilised during that game. Army items or hero units without any charges left on them will not be available to use in a match.

Every game played (including against AI, campaign mode, training missions, and online games) will award each player "supply points" which allows the user to buy army items, hero units as well as recharging army items already bought.

While supply points are awarded after each game regardless of victory or loss, the amount awarded varies. Match winners and reward games participants will earn more points than non-reward games/losers.

COHO cash is a separate way to earn items by paying real life money for items and charges. This is achieved by the option on all army items, hero units and COHO Marketplace items to be purchased or charged using COHO Cash.

There is no direct relationship between supply points and COHO Cash due to variations on purchases. For example, a Hero Unit can be loaded with 50, 100 or 200 charges. The supply point cost is skewed toward bulk buying making a 200 charge purchase cheaper on a "per charge price" as opposed to 100 charges.

Not all items available in game can be bought. Several items are awarded at random at the conclusion of each match and are not available in the COHO Marketplace.

To provide balance all items require the user to achieve a certain level before they can be used in game. Lower value and/or rarity heroes and items are usable from early levels with the level requirement increasing as the value and/or rarity of the items increase.

In an attempt to map out the potential cost of the different combinations of units and heroes, community members have developed custom tools to allow for quick reference to costs per ability.^[1] This was done in an effort to facilitate better financial planning on behalf of users.

As of February 1, 2011, COHO Cash is no longer available for purchase.

Command Tree

A distinguishing feature of Company of Heroes Online from the retail Company of Heroes is that a command tree is chosen before the game starts instead of during game play. Similar to choosing a class in other MMORPGs, as one plays with this character/army it will become more powerful unlocking new abilities that didn't exist in the original.

There are two factions: American and Wehrmacht, and each faction has three command trees to choose from. American has Infantry, Airborne, Armor, while Wehrmacht has Defensive, Blitzkrieg, and Terror. Each command tree has eight abilities, however, only five at a time can be used and only if the player has leveled up. Initially only two abilities can be used, with three more unlocking at levels 12, 20, and 30.

Furthermore, each ability has Improvement Points (IP) that can be spent on it to make that ability more powerful. Every time you level up you gain access to one IP. Furthermore you can retrain all the abilities for a certain amount of supply. Maximum level attained is 50.

References

1. ^ "Company of Heroes Online Calculator". http://www.gamereplays.org/community/index.php?showtopic=703952#. Retrieved 2010-11-30. 

External links

• Company of Heroes Online official press release
• Company of Heroes Online North American
• Company of Heroes Online