‘Company Of Heroes 3’ changes how detachments will work after feedback

Company Of Heroes 3 has made some changes to its Total War-style campaign map, following feedback provided by fans during a pre-alpha preview.

In a recent blog post (thanks, PCGamesN) Relic has shared that detachments – support units that can give companies of your soldiers “extra capabilities” – were adding “a lot of complexity to each player turn” during the pre-alpha preview. This was because these detachments could move and act independently to larger company units.

To simplify things, Relic has changed detachments so that they are permanently embedded in companies and are no longer controllable units.

“With a company selected, you can open a menu to produce detachments. Early in the game, your choices will be limited, but more options will unlock as you earn skill points and purchase upgrades. A fully upgraded company can command up to three detachments,” explains the blog.

In an example given, “a US Armoured Company can requisition an engineer detachment to unlock the Repair ability, while a UK Artillery company can unlock a howitzer detachment, letting the company construct howitzer emplacements on the campaign map”. Other examples include requisitioning medic detachments to heal companies, as well as the ability to construct anti-air and supply cache emplacements.

The abilities and construction opportunities provided by detachments will likely have a huge influence on the campaign map in Company Of Heroes 3. As Relic explained, the newly-changed detachments make companies “stronger in both mission and skirmish gameplay,” and with the new changes they’re likely going to be a bit easier to understand.

In our hands-on multiplayer preview of Company Of Heroes 3, we noted some issues with performance but said “Company Of Heroes 3 could be a grand entry in the RTS genre”.

In other news, official pink and blue PlayStation 5 controllers are now available to pre-order, with a purple option coming in February.