Campaign Structure

[Saavedra]

I think it would be better to have a more focused perspective and rely on an already written historical piece, than try to piece something together at random.

I would recommend using Antony Beevor´s "Stalingrad" for the Russian campaign, and his "Berlin" for the Germans. Stalingrad can start with the assault on the Volga by Rodimstev´s 13th Guards (the first Russian mission in Call of Duty, basically, with lots of conscript units sailing across the Volga on boats), and work up to the end of the battle with the destruction of the VI Army in the Uranus Operation. You can use the three current Soviet doctrines in the different stages of the battle.

As for Berlin, it can start with the German defeat at Seelow, then follow up with the desperate fighting in and around Berlin, and then follow the German Corps that stayed behind to protect civilians against the Red Army up until they surrendered to the Allies.

[Ost_Front_Soldat]

Will it have characters like in the relic campaigns? Cutscenes?

[Healmeal]

I think it would be better to have a more focused perspective and rely on an already written historical piece, than try to piece something together at random.

I would recommend using Antony Beevor´s "Stalingrad" for the Russian campaign, and his "Berlin" for the Germans. Stalingrad can start with the assault on the Volga by Rodimstev´s 13th Guards (the first Russian mission in Call of Duty, basically, with lots of conscript units sailing across the Volga on boats), and work up to the end of the battle with the destruction of the VI Army in the Uranus Operation. You can use the three current Soviet doctrines in the different stages of the battle.

As for Berlin, it can start with the German defeat at Seelow, then follow up with the desperate fighting in and around Berlin, and then follow the German Corps that stayed behind to protect civilians against the Red Army up until they surrendered to the Allies.

Gets close to what I suggested, but I like this more. Though the last mission for the axis that you suggested, do you simply want to do a timed battle against the commies until americans arrive, and then give up?

[Shadowmetroid]

...do you simply want to do a timed battle against the commies until americans arrive, and then give up?

Doesn't sound fun at all. 

[Ost_Front_Soldat]

Saavedra has got it down, although i'd start make a campaign side for each factions.

For instance;

Germans mission for Stalingrad, initial invasion, then after Operation Little Saturn, demoralized, cold, starving but not yet beaten. Around 5 missions.

Russians at Stalingrad, as Saavedra suggests throw in the resistance to Operation Winter Storm is a must. 5-7 missions.

Berlin and Kursk should also be include in campaign packs, with missions on both sides.

[Saavedra]

I would have it so the player has to protect certain road junctions through which trucks full of civilians are passing. The trucks come in from the sides of the map, heading south. The Russians come in from the north.

As time goes by, Russian attacks are harder to resist, and you will eventually lose junctions. The goal would be to have a set number of civilian vehicles evacuate through your lines. The more junctions you hold, the more civilian vehicles spawn and the faster the evacuation proceeds.

Holding on to all junctions would be possible and make the evacuation proceed faster, but it would strain your resources and you might find yourself surprised by sudden, overwhelming attacks, losing more ground (and maybe even junctions) than if you chose to abandon one or two of them in favour of having a stronger defense in all the others.


If you manage to save the minimum number of requested vehicles, you get a good end. If you don´t, you get a bad end.



I more or less have ideas for how I would structure the campaigns, but without access to Antony Beevor´s books where I am living right now, I can´t explore all the possibilities.

[thebomb]

Antony Beevor´s books

*shudder*

[Saavedra]

Antony Beevor´s books

*shudder*

Problem, communist?

[Shadowmetroid]

Antony Beevor´s books

*shudder*

Problem, communist?

Sounds like bad memories and a few sleepless nights.  Not our problem, comrade.

[Ost_Front_Soldat]

@ Saavedra, good idea.

I also like the concept of a scorched earth mission. You play as German mechanized battalion and you are tasked with;

Primary:
1. Hold Russian forces at the centre median while the rest of the Divison falls back safety to reestablished lines. Est. 45mins.
2. Destroy a bridge and the railway on the map.

Secondary:
1. Lay at least 100 mines and booby trap 12 buildings(must be completed before the blowing up of bridges on the Russians side.
2. Inflict 650 casualties.
3. Loose less than 250 casualties.

Bonus:
1. Lead armoured column throuugh Russians lines and destroy their ammo and fuel caches.
2. Save a platoon of grenadiers who are surrounded in the city core.
3. Destory all 3 bridges.
 

[Saavedra]

Woah, hey, start with deciding the overarching plot of the campaign, THEN the missions.



For example, if I had my hand in making the plot, I would have the Russian one be about a Red Army officer (you) having just been through Stalin´s purge, and barely judged innocent. You start commanding Rodimstev´s reinforcements in the passing of the Volga, with a Commissar at your back.

Right from the start, it is obvious the main character and the Commissar hate each other´s guts.

Follow with an assault on the Mamaev Kurgan (the cemetery on a hill from which one could watch the whole of Stalingrad) and maybe a special mission to direct a covert attack on the German headquarters. A secondary objective in one of the missions dealing with Stalingrad would be helping a certain dude defending a certain house...

All of this under the watchful gaze of the Commissar.

Then, you are reassigned, as an experienced officer, to one of the units leading the assault on the German Sixth Army outside Stalingrad. You go on from attacking the ring, to penetrating the Kessel and destroying the last airfield resupplying the Germans, and finally, taking Von Paulus´ command bunker.



At some point in the game, you are given the choice of killing the Commissar, or not. You get two opportunities: when he is trapped and he orders you to rescue him in a state of panic, or when you are leading the covert operation and you can target him with the Sniper Ace.

If you do it, at the end of the game, you receive a visit from the NKVD asking questions.

BAD END



If you play smart and keep him alive, he becomes a "friend" of yours, and helps you take some more steps up the Soviet Army´s command ladder thanks to his political influence.

GOOD END (you might feel like a douchebag, though)





The German campaign starts on Seelow Heights, and there are three characters involved. A German Wehrmacht officer, a Waffen SS officer, and a specially sent representative of the SS (think the equivalent of a Soviet Commissar, and yes, these guys existed though I don´t know their names). The main character is the Wehrmacht officer, and he meets the others after the defeat at Seelow Heights, when you are commanded to defend one of the "fortress cities". Anyone with a brain, however, figures out it cannot be defended, and even the SS Commissar figures that out with some persuasion.

This is when the great escape begins. You lead desperate defenses against the odds and watch German soldiers give their lives to protect the civilians or run away as cowards.

At one point, you are given a choice. Resist to the death to give time for the civilians to escape, or run away. The Waffen SS officer decides to resist with his troops, and the SS Commissar also orders him to do it (but runs away at the last moment anyway).

If you, the Wehr officer, decide to run, you go on to the next missions but lose all Waffen SS support since the Waffen SS officer is angry at you because of the losses suffered by the SS. You gain some last-ditch troops drawn from forced conscription, but they are no veterans. On the other hand, if you decide to stay, you are rescued at the last moment by the Ninth Corps (or was it Army? ). You keep your Waffen SS support and gain a few more regular units.

Gaining or losing units would mean gaining or losing access to doctrines in the last missions.

After this choice, you go on to fight in Berlin, and then form the rear of the refugee columns fleeing to the Allies. You fight in city ruins, forests in fire, and river crossings, always hounded by the Red Army.

In the final mission, you have to fight to give time to the last civilians to escape. You get two objectives:

1- Protect the road junctions until X number of civilian vehicles has escaped.
2- Keep the Wehrmacht officer alive.

If either of these objectives is not met, your character dies, and few civilians manage to get through.

The Secondary objectives are:

1- Keep the Waffen SS officer alive (he could be riding a Tiger or a Panther)
2- Something something something

If you keep the Waffen SS officer alive at the end, the cinematic shows him dressed in normal Wehrmacht uniform shaking hands with the Wehr officer before disappearing among a crowd of surrendering soldiers. The Wehr officer is taken in to talk to some nobody called Patton.

Years later, the SS Commissar that ran away is shown in civilian clothes, in a bar. A gloved hand rests on his shoulder and when he turns to look, it´s the Waffen SS officer with a sharkish grin.

Later, in a dark alleyway, a single shot sounds, and a man with the distinct silhouette of the Waffen SS officer walks away calmly. The game ends.

GOOD END (if you like douchebags being heavily implied to be dead by the hands of another douchebag)




If you don´t save the Waffen SS officer, the scene is the same for the Wehr officer. He is taken to talk to some high-ranking Allied general.

Years later, the Wehr officer is approached in the same bar as the other cinematic by the same SS Commissar. He heavily implies that he has started a new organization of questionable integrity that supposedly needs him for morale purposes and to attract new recruits. He leaves a card behind with a symbol all too familiar to the Wehr officer, and says to call him if you are interested.

The scene ends with the main character asking for a strong drink as he looks in disgust at the card... and then, either picks it up, or tears it apart (depending on whether you chose to run away in the first missions leaving the Waffen SS officer to defend the city by himself, or if you chose to resist together with him at the end).

QUESTIONABLE/ BAD END

[Ost_Front_Soldat]

That is one hell of a post. Although i'm not sure this campaign will even have characters liek in the relic ones. But if it will have a plot, i'd like to see seperate mission and characters that rarely, if ever, interact(kind of like how the American Able(infantry) and Fox(airborne) companies mission ran parallel).

 I'd like to see a Russian Guards officer as one character. This man has had his whole life torn apart by the Germans, his wife and daughter perished in Leningrad and he was fueled with revenge. He is not only interested in beating the Germans to ther own country, but crushing them into dust.

Then there is the Armoured officer. He is a simple man from the country, parents were farmers and all he thinks about are women, vodka and tank battles.

 The Artillery Officer is more tame, he was a university student-made officer and maintains order in his regiment. Young and naive, but tactically brilliant.

For the Germans there would an honorable officer from the Totenkopf, appalled by the tarnish reputation of the 3.SS, he is determined to fight long and hard for both his country and his Division's honor. The last mission in the 3.SS can called "Meine Ehre heißt Treue", or "My Honor is called Loyalty", the divison's motto, it can be set in Hungary, giving to the mood of the desparate bitter fighting that took place there.

There is the Special Tank Battalion officer, who is a veteran of the war and nothing phases him now. He just wants to hold the savages back, thinking that for every day he holds the Russians back, is another day his little boy is alive.

The final officer is a young infantry officer, just barely 22, he is not a nazi by any stretch and only wants to go home and ensure the safty of his sickly mother and young wife. Young, but not stupid, he is willing to fight to the bitter end if he has to.

[guynumber7]

first off i dont think the EF team can do professional CGI cutscenes.

second of all i dont even though if missions with multiple outcomes is possible in CoH.

[Shadowmetroid]

The EF team can make cutscenes.  There's a tool for it.

[thebomb]

The problem with your ideas Saavedra is that they have a massive political slant. Company of Heroes is a politically neutral game. Having your ideas implemented would change what Company Heroes is all about.

For example, your idea of having the player hold back the Soviets while the civilians evacuate doesn't feel like Company of Heroes. It feels like Goebbels' Company of Heroes. Not only is your scenario historically inaccurate but it presents to the player the fact that towards the end of the war the Nazi regime distributed propaganda that depicted the Red Army as savages and animals. While it is true that such propaganda was distributed widely in an effort to push the civilian population into a last stand to help Hitler - is this Nazi propaganda necessarily a good thing for a politically neutral game? I don't think so.