Timers are dynamic based on the difficulty you play. If you play the campaign on a lower difficulty the timers become significantly longer, to a point where they are almost unnoticeable.
We have received some feedback on certain missions being too difficult after recent AI changes, so we may have to tweak specific missions and adjust the timers respectively. Which missions are you specifically having issues with so far?
It's released already! ;)
There should be a ReadMe included with installation instructions :)
Hi! Apologies for the late reply. I don't usually check here for comments after all these years of release. Yes it is possible, but you would need to extract the mod from it's archived state. Quite a few steps to do so. Are you familiar with modding?
Instructions are included in the v4.1 .rar package. But I recommend playing our in-development 5.0 version, which is installed in a similar way.
You can get it by joining our discord, where you will also find the instructions. Discord.gg :)
Definitely a choice for style. Plenty of things that aren't exactly historically correct for the setting, but we generally roll with a "inspired by history" type of mentality rather than trying to go hardcore on historical immersion.
It is important to us that units look and feel different for the sake of game readability and overall sense that units aren't a simple copy-paste of one another.
Hi there! Nice to see a familiar name still lurking around here. :)
Yes, our in-development version of 5.0 is available for preview. Check out this article:
Official version - yes. Although our in-development version of Back to Basics 5.0 is publicly available.
Check out this article: Moddb.com
Yes it does. Unlike any other mod out there (that I am aware of), our Commonwealth AI will properly set up its HQ trucks in sectors it deems most valuable, yet also in positions that are safe enough. Furthermore, it will relocate them when danger comes too close. Additionally, it will construct emplacements, most notably Howitzers, and utilise these to great effect.
Keep in mind that the aim of this mod is to have an environment that respects the nature of the original Company of Heroes gameplay, and it simply is not a mod that adds units just for the sake of variety or based on existence.
So yeah, I recommend you try out our v5.0 Sandbox! Although it is an in-development version, both the AI and overall state of balance and gameplay is miles ahead of v4.1. With that I mean 4 years of development ahead. ;)
Nice to hear you’re enjoying it!
Halftracks need to setup in friendly territory in order to reinforce infantry squads :)
Thank you for the kind words :). We're investigating the possibilities, but I can't make any promises yet.
The 5.0 Sandbox is available for the public already, I'd recommend you try it out because every aspect of it is just a better product compared to 4.1. The AI is no exception to this, it's on a whole new level of competent in 5.0.
I think you'll feel right at home here then :).
I personally avoid the "realism vs. arcade" discussion in games because it tends to be up to subjective criteria one sets.
If your criteria for realism is solely 'one-shot-kill', then I wouldn't consider BtB to be in that category. However, our damage model is generally more lethal with a lower time-to-kill than the base game.
We aim to create an environment that features a balanced and enjoyable gameplay in both a pvp and pve setting, a goal that foregoes almost everything. The overall unit designs, and many features are inspired by historical references. This isn't to say it is historically accurate, but one has to draw a line where gameplay must be prioritised. The mod's main description explains much of this quite well to be honest..
Back to Basics 5.0 Sandbox is available to the public, if you join our discord server. Links can be found in the main description as well.
That really depends on how you interpret realism or arcade gameplay..
Since I really can't give any better answer: Soon™ :)
It's getting there, we're working on it quite intensively. Overall we're quite satisfied with the core gameplay, faction designs, and global balance. That said, major changes happen quite regularly..
We share our on-going changelogs, on our Discord server, check it out for exclusive details! Don't forget that our latest development version - the "5.0 Sandbox" - is also up for grabs already, if one really can't wait for the finalised version.
There is still quite a road left for us. One of these things is to support the campaigns, as this is a much desired feature by players.
Great to hear that you've managed to identify the issue. Looking forward to the next version!
Which of the things I mentioned are bugs in the engine?
Sure, taste on how certain samples sound is of course subjective. However the sound balance related to quantity as I described above is definitely something you may want to consider adjusting, as it makes the game a lot harder to read based on the sound feedback that is given.
Hey! Thank you for this ambitious work. A majority of good things can be said, and there are definitely a lot of awesome sound effects that I would like to use. From my initial testing, the engine sounds are really solid, definitely great work there.
Now for some (constructive) criticism.
There seem to be plenty of weapons; most notably the BAR, Bren, and StG44, that have a really odd close range firing sounds. From normal camera distance they are somewhat fine and the base sound effect seems really good. When you zoom in however, it literally sounds as if the weapon is fired into a barrel. Massive heavy bass, low frequency sound thundering through every other effect. Sounds really horrible.
I also have to mention the MG42. This sound effect has been around the CoH community for a long time, yet I personally find it quite a bad sample that feels rather underwhelming overall. It sounds really flat, with no depth of sound at all. Compare this to the M1917 that sounds fantastic..
The FG42 also sounds quite odd because it seems to have some digital clipping when multiple are being fired next to each other.
The M1 Carbine sounds like a toy gun, on top of it being too quiet. There is a much better sample available to be honest. The same can be said for the 20mm and 37 mm autocannons (check out Back to Basics for example).
The Boys AT suffers from that same issue of being too quiet overall, it's difficult to differentiate it from other sounds going on, and it also feels a bit underwhelming overall.
Then there is something weird about the volume and general sound volume balance. Equalizing sound volumes is of course good and very important for overall comfort and preventing tinnitus or other damage to hearing. However, it seems that everything is leveled out in a way that doesn't take into consideration that sounds amplify with quantity. So, singular tank guns and cannon fire is now way too quiet and disappear into the background when there is a lot of small arms fire going on simultaneously. It's almost impossible to tell when a cannon fires in such situations, which is quite bad from a sound-feedback perspective.
I do think that this has the potential to be a gem of a mod if you manage to adjust and polish these things.
Great! Join us on discord so we can discuss the possibilities.
Unfortunately not. Relic seems to have disabled the ability to release mods on steam.
If you look at this with a vCoH mindset, then I understand your concerns. However, if one looks at a larger perspective of how the balance and dynamics between factions are in the mod, then it's not as extreme as you think.
All I can really say is join us on Discord and try out the 5.0 Sandbox, judge for yourself, and leave us feedback accordingly.
Hi!
Assuming that points 1-5 concern v4.1, all I can respond is that you could be right. It's literally been more than 4.5 years ago since I touched v4.1, so I have little memory about the state of balance, or AI behaviour, of that build. While I can imagine that some light vehicles may have been be either too squishy or sturdy, I honestly doubt that StuG's required 4-5 hits to destroy a Greyhound.
Generally speaking, lethality should be higher in v4.1, especially for vehicles. The entire damage model was overhauled in v5.0 and now feels more intuitive and fair, while at the same time as balanced, and consistent as possible. With almost all instances of instant squad wipes removed from the game, and vehicles being able to take a larger amount of hits overall, skirmishes have become much more interesting and dynamic. Fights revolve more around good positioning and are decided less by the initial alpha damage strikes at the start of a battle.
6) No, this is not possible. We would have to introduce the Ostheer and Soviet factions ourselves, and incorporate them into every aspect of the mod. No such plans though.
If you haven't already, feel free to join our discord. Here where we share our on-going development updates and changelogs. It's also possible to playtest our in-development version of Back to Basics 5.0, which we call the "Sandbox" version.
Removing both the ui_selection and ui_territory folders in DataAttrib\attrib\ should revert the circles.
Thank you for the kind words! I am pretty sure we have a dedicated channel over there, where we do post updates sporadically.
Yes, that has definitely been fixed. The AI can be quite relentless now!
Unfortunately it seems that Relic has disabled the possibility to put new mods on Steam :(.
While they are capable of conducting repairs in v4.1, Armored Infantry were redesigned and rebalanced in v5.0, losing the ability to repair altogether.
The Mechanized Strategies Commander Tree now features a CCKW Truck that can repair vehicles onced upgraded to Engineer Truck.
Fair enough, thanks for the information. Yeah, DX10 has always been badly optimised for CoH1.
It would be good to make screenshots of your texture pack with Reshade disabled. Since it obviously affects the overall visuals, it's difficult to judge what the improvements are of your mod and which are part of Reshade respectively.
In other words, I wonder how much of the overall graphical improvements are part of the textures themselves. As far as I can tell, a lot of the depth of field, contrasts, and shadows are likely boosted through Reshade and not part of the improved textures, but I could be wrong.
Some of these textures look absolutely incredible! Others, mostly splats of craters and rubble seem to have sharpened a touch too much though.
My biggest concern: How does it affect performance?
p.s. Is that my rework of TheSphinx's Downtown map? ;)
We've worked on the campaigns before; they are for example fully supported in the publicly released v4.1.
Leapfrog and soft select cover are simply said functionalities that make infantry behave "humanlike", e.g. diving and jumping forward, and hugging objects that provide cover. It makes for an overall pleasing visual appeal and also reduces the need to "babysit" singular squad members.
However as it turns out, it actually made infantry combat inconsistent, often resulting in squads leaving a safe position by diving out of cover for no apparent reason. We therefore chose to reduce the overall effect by tuning these parameters.
The result is that singular squad members may not hug cover as well as before, but squads will also no longer leap out of cover nor make random movements during fights that reduces their overall damage output.
Celution
I joined
28 years old, born Dutch, made Swedish. Celution enjoys playing games, game development, social activities, and spending time in the outdoors. In his professional life he works as an environmental engineer and hydrogeologist. As the lead developer and founder of Company of Heroes: Back to Basics, Celution enjoys the philosophy behind gameplay design and mechanics, with a strive to create solid and balanced gameplay in both player versus player, and player versus AI environments. Known within the Company of Heroes modding community for many tutorials and offering general support and troubleshooting with regards to modding this title. As well as being part of several other big projects such as the Eastern Front mod. Brainstorming and testing new concepts with the aim to improve the overall playability, player experience, and game quality with co-developer and friend AGameAnx is what keeps him going.