While vanilla CoH2 mainly had things like the US Forces’ Major which can call recon runs and bombing strikes and act as a retreat point, the mod adds three new officers per faction that are not meant as effective combat units, but as force multipliers. The best feature, however, might just be the expansion of the officers into bonafide support units. The expansion in the roster of howitzers, heavy tanks, paradrops, infiltration units, and more - all in line with the game’s original balance - creates a deep, extremely broad, and surprisingly even experience that could rival even the heights of Men of War. The mod even brings back COH1 favourites such as the Wehrmacht Recovery Truck, the Medic Station and Bunkers, and the British 25-pounder artillery emplacement, allowing players to turtle if they want before doing a coordinated push across the map to seize victory.Īs a result, matches flow in a completely unexpected direction every time, as the enemy has several more options than ‘infantry or tanks’. It also expands on the roster of all factions, including a US Airborne Support Centre and OKW Fallschirmtruppe HQ with eight and six types of paradrops, respectively, and a Partisan HQ for the Soviets with 8 unique Partisan troops - including LMG and CQB variants that were missing from the vanilla game. By ignoring Relic’s original PvP design choices, the mod actually turns CoH2 into a better and more competitive game than it’s ever been.Īs you have several types of units (mechanised, artillery, infantry, specialised, airplanes) duking out, the end result is a vastly more dynamic warfare, where infantry and tank pushes are constantly accompanied by recon runs for intel and artillery barrages to soften the target, bombing runs to destroy reinforcements, and behind the line insertions of paratroopers and commands to cut off the enemy’s supply line.īesides adding the eponymous 170 units - either by relocating vanilla units to be always available or straight up repurposing them into new units - the mod also adds vehicle crew and weapon racks for all factions, makes vehicle critical hits directional (you won’t shoot out a tank’s engine by hitting it head on anymore), and removes the limit of one heavy tank per faction in the map at a time. More importantly, the mod also introduces a healthy and extremely necessary dose of common sense into Company of Heroes 2, allowing every faction to build most defensive emplacements and equip different weapons on their troops on the go, as well as bringing missing units like the US Forces snipers and transport trucks into the game to create a much more well-rounded force. There’s nothing you can’t do with proper resource management, prioritisation, and enough time. Do you like air support? Get an airborne officer who has ALL the bombing runs. Do you want paratroopers and howitzers to support your Ranger infantry assault? Build an airborne forward command. Do you want a heavy tank as the Soviets? Unlock the Mechanized Armour Kampaneya. Instead of resorting to the tank rush meta of the vanilla game, for example, and barely using munitions unless you were playing an ability focused Commander tree, now you are always encouraged to unlock and use every single aspect and mechanic of the game.
It turns out having all the options makes for a much deeper and more interesting player experience than being arbitrarily restricted in player choices. But 170 Units flips that in its head and opens up the whole roster. This means that US forces may not be able to build something as simple as sandbags, or the Soviets get exactly zero heavy tanks, unless you choose a specific commander. In most cases, those units and abilities are unobtainable any other way, and you can’t change your mind part-way through a match. The vanilla game gives you a choice of commander which unlocks a mix of active and passive abilities and unique units. Gone are the times where you were prevented from using airdrops or artillery because you choose an infantry or armour command - this mod turns every single battle in Company of Heroes 2 into a full-form, gigantic combined arms assault. Instead, this amazing fanwork takes every single unit in the game - including those locked behind pay-to-win Commanders - and makes them all available at the same time. This is not a balance mod - the game’s unit stats such as health and damage remain untouched. Enter 170 Units mod, a giant game restructure that is much deeper and cooler than it sounds.