Company of Heroes is a real-time strategy computer game developed for Microsoft Windows by Relic Entertainment.
Like any other RTS game, gameplay mainly depends on mouse for selecting Squads or vehicles simply left click on them or draw square around multiple units to select them using "Marquee method" (click & drag) followed by right clicking to desired position on battlefield to order selected units to move towards desired position, garrison or attack depends on whether you click on clear area, building or enemy respectively.
The game allows for multiplayer matches of 2-8 players via LAN or the Internet.
For Company of Heroes, Relic began using a new online gaming system called Relic Online. Previous Relic games used GameSpy Arcade or World Opponent Network services. This new system includes many features that the previous systems did not have, including a built in automatch and ranking system. Numerous complaints have emerged about the net code that COH runs on. Some players cannot connect to each other online because the game was written to work on peer to peer and not client servers. Certain routers have also caused problems with connecting multiple computers on the same network to Relic Online. Linksys routers have been known to generate the best results with playing multiple online players using the same router.
Resources
The resource management in Company of Heroes closely follows an earlier computer game, the RTS version of Axis and Allies but while retaining micromanagement details such as reinforcing troops, which in A&A is done automatically when the unit is in supply range. This has the effect of creating a more tactical RTS experience.
The resource model found in Company of Heroes is also similar to that of another Relic game, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. Players must take control of certain points on the map. The more of these points a player controls, the more resources they acquire. This concept demands constant expansion of a player's territory. These points are connected like supply lines, and so, during the course of a battle a player can capture one point in the "supply line", isolating the rest which had been connected to the base through it, therefore severely reducing the enemy's resource intake.
Players collect three resources: fuel, munitions, and manpower. Fuel allows players to purchase tanks and other vehicles, as well as global upgrades. Munitions allows players to upgrade individual squads or vehicles and use special abilities. Manpower is necessary for all units. The player can decide, at a manpower cost, to place observation posts on their resource points in order to increase their production and make them more durable against enemy takeovers, which means sacrificing resources in the short-term for a greater long-term intake.
Game units generally require a sizable amount of resources to produce. This separates Company of Heroes from other games in the RTS genre, where large amounts of massed units are a common sight.
Units Allied units tend to be cheaper, more numerous, and more versatile, whereas German units tend to be more expensive and fewer in number, but often more powerful in their role than their allied counterparts.
The German Wehrmacht forces include infantry, like the conscript Volksgrenadier militia, and mid-tier infantry like grenadiers or elite squads comprised of Knight's Cross awardees. German field operations can be supplemented by specialized equipment like the Nebelwerfer rocket artillery. German armor is far less mobile, but in direct combat generally superior, fielding equipment like StuG IV, StuH 42 assault guns, Panzer IV and Panther tanks. With specialized commander focus, German forces can deploy superior units, like the Tiger I tank, in two versions: crewed by normal crews, or crewed by a designated "Tiger Ace".
Expanding on the cover system implemented in Dawn of War, units in COH automatically seek out covers (such as sandbags, walls, and destroyed vehicles) without orders from the player to give them an advantage over enemy forces. Units hiding in cover gain a defense bonus, making them more effective in combat. Green cover signifies heavy cover, while yellow signifies light cover. Utilizing cover effectively in COH is essential to victory. The advanced AI is also aware of its surroundings and reacts realistically in certain situations.
Infantry units, such as an Allied rifleman squad, can pick up heavy weapons (Panzerschreck, M9 Bazooka), man heavy weapons like machineguns, anti-tank artillery, or mortars, and pick up and use certain automatic weapons (examples are the Browning Automatic Rifle or for the Germans, the LMG variant of the MG42.)
Unlike in Dawn of War, squads of units must be near a headquarters (HQ), forward barracks, or half-track vehicle to reinforce (replenish) lost units within the squad. American airborne troops are exempt from this limitation as reinforcements are parachuted to the field.
Also like Dawn of War, some units can be upgraded, like a .50 caliber machine gun with gunner for a Sherman tank, or Panzerschrecks for German infantry units. Certain add-ons or upgrades affect unit abilities, like the Sherman's crab flail which can clear mines and destroy enemy infantry, but reduces the speed of the tank while in use.
Because COH features a physics engine, different types of cover are more effective against certain units. For example, some types of cover can be destroyed by tanks.
Several units, such as the medic station and the Allied anti-tank gun, have a small COH on their sides.
Buildings
Units can occupy a building and convert it into a field HQ, allowing certain units or squads to be created by that building.
Infantry units can also occupy buildings and use them as cover or a garrison to protect against attack, but this limits their firing range because the infantry are a stationary, immobile target, rendering them vulnerable to sniper fire and easy to surround. Also, while garrisoned, infantry units can only shoot out of windows or holes blown into a building. Certain weapons are immensely effective against units holed up in a building; satchel charges or infantry-carried rocket launchers can demolish a building, tank fire can blast the building, and infantry or tanks armed with flamethrowers can literally set the building on fire and burn out the occupants. However, there are advantages; infantry are well protected from small arms and most buildings are sturdy enough to stand up to limited tank fire before collapsing.
Occupied buildings can be destroyed after taking fire from enemy units or any other attack like artillery fire or demolition charges. Civilian buildings cannot be repaired or rebuilt. However, both the Allied and German forces can construct garrisonable buildings (the Allies can build a .30 caliber machine gun nest, while the Germans can construct bunkers).
Story
Company of Heroes is set during World War II where the player commands two U.S. military units during the Battle of Normandy and the Allied capture of France. Depending on the mission, the player controls either Able Company, a United States Army unit, or Fox Company, a unit from the 101st Airborne Division.