Friday 12 January, 2007

In a second encounter with cesanders I was once again the victor. This time I made use of a different command tree which gave an infantry focus to the play style. With an early rush foward the central territory of the map was the subject of a series of small skirmishes. The changing frontlines demonstrate how rapid and fluid the pace of the game is as both cesanders and myself fought and lost minor advantages over one another.

With static defences being costly and mostly ineffective more resources are spent on units. This creates a more dynamic style of play as MG42 teams retreat to avoid being flanked and snipers move after each shot to avoid being found. Of course the AI does not do this on its own and the game requires exceptionally fast mouse control to micro-manage your troops out of trouble or give them the edge in an otherwise even encounter.

To better understand why I won and even analyse the play style of my opponent I saved the replay of the match. With this feature I was able to view the recent match from both sides, and it was evident that despite excellent use of cover and micro-management cesanders lost as he became too focused on individual areas of the map. Idle units and my simultaneous attacks from other areas were given little attention.

Unfortunately company of heroes does not allow an axis vs axis or allies vs allies game. Because of this it is impossible for me to directly compare myself to an opponent as each side has different units and tactics. It also means that cesanders can keep complaining about my units being overpowered giving me an early advantage. In my next blog I will play as axis to assess balance issues.

A good game log.

I like how your experience is not only focused on multiplayer, but on two games against the same opponent. Very interesting. Make sure to always look into what is contributing to your experience. What effect does your opponent have on your game experience?