November Update: Progress & Doctrine Concept news - Normandy 1944: European Theater mod for Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts

Hi! Just wanted to get back into the habit of making regular, monthly updates for everyone to ensure that:

A) We aren't dead, far from it
B) Keep the community alive (Although I understand that for the most part people aren't interested unless they get a release date or a download link...but that is the way things are and I get that.)
C) To keep everyone up to date as much as possible on the goals and current plans for the modification.

So while I have not been able to get much modding done lately due to the end of term assignment/exam pile, I'll soon have finished said pile and I will be able to start building the first variant of the modification which as described in the last post will contain:

Damage System
Cost modifications
Overall unit size changes (I hate four man units, so 4 -> 5 man, 5->6, etc.)

And not much else a the moment. Abilities and vanilla upgrade/setups will most likely remain the same, as the modding community has yet to successfully sit down proper with Relic and iron out what is okay and what isn't when it comes to models, units etc etc being added and so such.

Regardless, those wanting a more visceral and tactical experience in their CoH2 will get it soon enough and through the Steam Workshop I will be able to regularly ship out easily downloaded updates and fixes.

Now, onto the future! :)

I have been discussing concepts internally and I wanted to lay them out to everyone for the sake of doing so, and get some feedback and if nothing else show people where I am going with my logic. In CoH2, Doctrines are given five abilities which unlock automatically upon reaching the indicated number of Command points.

Our Commanders will represent divisions that fought during the war, starting from the timeline of June 6th on the Western front, and the beginning of Operation Bagration on the Eastern Front which began on June 22nd.

For those wondering, the reason that said dates differ and are not simply June 22nd for both fronts is that I am to represent divisions before they became fully embroiled in their respective combat operations. If one looks at divisional strength/loadouts later on in June and July some divisions outright disappear off the map or are, at best simply divisions on paper.

(An example is that many Panzer Divisions simply lost all of their main prime movers and vehicles and were down to a few hundred men and I have no desire to represent this at the moment.)

Every division will have the main roster, comprising of their own layout of units. These will unlock immediately upon choosing a Commander at 0CP and while we have made the decision to not make every divisional roster 100% unique in skins/unit names there will be a good number of rosters. Having 100% different unit entities and squads created for every single Infantry division of one country is simply too burdening. Unit rosters will differ in what the division has access to (Which will be unique) but the units themselves will not be.

For example, every AB doctrine will have the same type of infantry units. They're all going to be generically named units "Airborne rifle squad, Airborne Recon squad" etc. But what units/vehicles they have access to will differ. This allows us to create more divisions without the burden of clutter. It should simply be assumed that if the player is playing the 101st AB Division that his AB infantry is from the 101st.

Eventually, divisions with unique uniforms/setups (An example being the Panzer Lehr Division which was well known for wearing panzercrew tunics and not regular infantry tunics) will be represented in their own realm for the sake of variety and to set them apart as they historically were. But divisional symbols on infantry units and vehicles will not be present for now. This may or may not change later.

So, at 0CP you are given your regular roster. I have decided to allow one "Support" division or unit roster for every doctrine, which will not be a full roster outright as it is meant to compliment and not replace your main choice.

These will all unlock within a 3CP range depending on what level of "Support" they are. As an example, a support division that is a Volksgrenadier Division will unlock two CPs earlier than a support division of SS soldiers. This is to give a slight advantage to the former which will not only lack in general skill and prowess but also equipment. Of course, costs/upkeep/loadout and buildtimes will also balance these units anyway.

I currently do not have any ideas for the last three CP slots within Doctrines. These will be fleshed out at a later date, but I plan on making these revolve around helping the respective division. Off-maps, resource/income buffs, special call ins, something like that. Things that existed which supported the Main/Support division in question but were rare and thus are not regularly buildable and will be unlocked in the middle to late game instead of from the start.

I know that this is a wall of text, but I simply want to keep everyone informed of the "Goings on" so to speak. We do not have access to all the tools yet so it is either I tell you plans for the future and allow you as a community to be informed and give preliminary feedback or I say nothing at all. Sorry in advance.
Anyway, that concludes this update. Thanks for reading! :)