PARTISANS

The same day that the Supreme Commander Eisenhower made public the Armistice of Cassibile, a Nazi operation codenamed ACHSE was set in motion. Some million Italian troops would be disarmed in the days that followed, ending any military means they might aid the Allies. It wouldn’t be until mid-October that the Kingdom of Italy would officially declare war against their former Axis partner and join the Allied cause. The partigiani of Italy fought a war of liberation against Nazi occupation, after the capitulation and signing of the Armistice of Cassibile. Determined and successful resistance actions disrupted the enemy’s position at Naples over four days, kick starting major Partisan operations that would continue until 1945.

Strategic ally, tactical advantage

Italian Partisans have significant presence across both the dynamic campaign map, RTS missions and skirmishes. Partisans like your navy and airfields are a strategic resource that must be built up, by prioritizing their logistical needs in order to benefit from their ability to disrupt, sabotage and report on the enemy. In the Pre-Alpha Preview completing the mission to support Partisans at Avellino unlocked a strategic Partisan headquarters that made available several Partisan operations that could be employed to loot resources, sabotage enemy units or reveal them on the dynamic campaign map. 

Partisan operations will take time to execute, in contrast to the rapid operation and deployment of aircraft from your airfields. Timing will be key ,— Partisans can operate largely unchecked in enemy territory and have a variety of operation types they can carry out, but the effects won’t last long, these lightly armed forces aren’t supplied well enough for prolonged operations. Once a Partisan operation starts, support will be required to capitalize on any strategic advantage the resistance has created for their Anglo-American allies.

If you’ve partnered with the Partisans, maintained relations, and prioritized their needs on the campaign map you’ll have a number of active or passive abilities to draw from in the RTS. These will range from bonus weapon pickups for your Infantry squads, sabotage abilities targeting enemy vehicles and useful recon tools.

As well as access to unique Partisan abilities in skirmishes and missions, forward deployed Partisan safehouses will be activated for commanders that make the resistance effort a prime concern. Partisan safehouses will let you build unique Partisan squads specialized in raiding, sabotage, and demolitions.

Dynamic events, building relations

Partisan relations is an abstract measure of a commander’s score in maintaining civilian infrastructure, prioritizing the needs of the resistance and direct alliance with Partisans during their operations.  

To earn Partisan relations, you’ll have to shift your focus and contribute to the support of civilian infrastructure and support local Partisan groups with arms and equipment. You’ll build Partisan relations by completing dynamic events (think of these as side quests), they’ll task you with objectives such as airdropping supplies to Partisan groups or exfiltrating partisan leaders from nearby coastlines. Completing these objectives will improve Partisan relations, which will unlock new Partisan abilities for both the dynamic campaign map and in real-time strategy skirmishes and missions. 

Liberation and collateral damage

Capture mechanics are under revision internally here at Relic, something we’re exploring is the relationship between how you choose to capture and the dilemma of reward. Consider reducing a capture point to ruins to speed up the capture process, deal damage or even force the retreat of a garrisoned enemy Company. However, in so doing, the Partisan relations you might have earned are lost, structures of cultural significance, running water and electricity, bridges and many other infrastructure elements are damaged or destroyed, directly affecting the local populace (who Partisans rely on for food, shelter, and supplies). So, what does this mean for the operational commander? Tread lightly and balance the use of strategic bombing, naval gunfire support and artillery bombardments to dislodge the enemy against the need to preserve Partisan relations and leverage their ability to trigger uprisings, declare capture points as ‘open cities’ and disrupt enemy garrisons.

As the commander of MTO (Mediterranean Theater of Operations) it’s your call whether you favor striking at the enemy’s center of gravity and smashing their positions to rubble before rolling in with mechanized and armored formations or - alternatively fanning the flames of liberation through the resistance movement and efforts of the Italian people will allow your Partisan allies to move unhindered in enemy territory, sabotage supplies, preserve bridges and incite uprisings to prepare capture points for an Allied assault.

Here at Relic, we couldn’t be more excited to have you be part of our CoH-development initiative and to be first to play Company of Heroes 3. If you have some time, consider these questions, and drop your feedback in the forums!

1. What do you think is an important aspect of Partisan actions that should be represented in gameplay?
2. Do you have any stories or reference to Partisans in other media that you think are noteworthy?
3. Should Partisans play an equal role both on the dynamic campaign map and RTS skirmishes/missions?

Hi @Drew_RE ,

Awesome overview of the Partisan involvement. The one thing that stood out in your overview above is this section here...

As the commander of MTO (Mediterranean Theater of Operations) it’s your call whether you favor striking at the enemy’s center of gravity and smashing their positions to rubble before rolling in with mechanized and armored formations or - alternatively fanning the flames of liberation through the resistance movement and efforts of the Italian people will allow your Partisan allies to move unhindered in enemy territory, sabotage supplies, preserve bridges and incite uprisings to prepare capture points for an Allied assault.

I don't see much of a debate of choice here to be honest, 90% of players are going "resistance and partisans" side because it unlocks all of the additional cool features/abilities in campaign and RTS. The counter or flipside is hey less German resistance so easier RTS match, I don't think that is enough "pull" or reason to give the player a difficult choice on what path to take, it seems arbitrary. I'm sure in a subsequent playthrough just for the sake of trying the other path i.e. - "scorch the earth" path a player would attempt but as far as a actual tough choice the player would have to make on a consistent basis, it's never really an either/or option. It doesn't seem weighted as a tough decision. So in my opinion two ways to resolve..

1.) You give more benefits to the player that does NOT take this route, besides just weaker German resistance, like really reward them with something cool, new feature or something, that'll actually counter the Partisan perk.

2.) You still offer partisan access regardless of route but let's say certain perks are limited or not allowed if you're destroying their country and going that route. In Tales of Valor, when we played as the PE in our first skirmish Operation Market Garden we had to defend a village with paks and armored cards, the upgrades were Roman Numeral Icons 1,2,3 or Shield 1,23 that you could mix/match 1 aggressive/2 defensive or whatever version player chose. So maybe allowing a perk like for US upgrades but providing them for Partisans IF you support them, you unlock those upgradable Partisans with additional features but not prevent the other players chose the other path from accessing them completely either? Not sure if I'm making sense but basically doesn't feel like a debate as I know which way I'm going no doubt. 

1. What do you think is an important aspect of Partisan actions that should be represented in gameplay? See above but also maybe camoflauge features, maybe perhaps literally but also figuratively. They can dress up as enemy like imposters, who'd confuse an italian for a german may be a reach but maybe very limited sabotage abilities like that let's them pass a check point unless they get too close. Something along those lines. 
2. Do you have any stories or reference to Partisans in other media that you think are noteworthy? I do not. (the shortest worded answer you'll ever get from me, obviously)
3. Should Partisans play an equal role both on the dynamic campaign map and RTS skirmishes/missions? Yes, from the pre-alpha when I used them in campaign map it didn't really feel rewarding, the sabotaging their lines was sort of "did i do it?" "did i sabotage them or not? I feel like if you are asking that question, something is wrong with the design. I'd use them by clicking and moving on if I could afford it but I think the impact is really at the heart and soul of COH which is RTS.  I'd argue equal may not be necessary but it should be RTS based, then those perks in dynamic campaign those are nice to have's but didn't really feel like wow that totally impacted my strategy. I get it too they aren't made to change the tide of the war with one bombed route or one recon run but still, perhaps a higher cost but more bang for your buck. I'd rather go that route than low cost use frequently route like just scout plane or something. I'd rather have a very cool perk that is expensive and more limited than the frequent meh I could or could do without. That's my two cents.

I remember the Falaise Pocket mission of the original coh campaign and being disappointed that the second AI-controlled army was never updated to be the British forces even after their release in Opposing Fronts.

Here are some suggestions I've come up with that depend on an independent Partisan faction for the campaign map and its RTS battles (can be campaign-only for balance reasons):

1) Missions can lead to a partisan uprising, such as dropping supplies (or a high-ranking officer)

    a. A campaign mission to relieve a city that has thrown out the German garrison but is surrounded! Much like what we saw in the campaign, but something that feels more dangerous and rewarding

      i.The timed abilities felt lackluster… I’d love to see more indications on the map of what the partisans are doing and the strength of the partisans in each town. Maybe a bunch of uprisings can be coordinated at once, or a single strong one can be planned.

     ii.I’d love to have Partisan companies come out of an uprising!

2) The partisan faction can help or indirectly hurt the player

   a. A good relationship can lead to AI squads coming in at the player’s request or regular intervals

   b. A very good relationship could lead to a partisan squad call-in or the ability to take over AI-controlled squads

   c.The partisan AI might trigger a German counter-attack by attacking the Germans if you’re too slow at completing the mission. 

   d.Perhaps in a more scripted scenario, but say the partisan AI is biased towards taking any engagement, even if it's a losing one, and the German AI has a veterancy gain bonus against the partisan squads. So maybe you’re on vet 1 and vet 0 units while the AI has lots of vet 3 units.

3) The relationship between player and partisans depends on campaign interactions but also RTS actions

   a.If the partisans take heavy casualties or the player forgets them in their base and they see no action in the battle, the relationship could be hurt

   b.The partisan squads could have their own objective — a bias — like capturing a certain point or garrisoning a building. But the player can request that they be put elsewhere (if they’re AI controlled) or simply do what they please with them. If the partisan squads aren’t doing their objective they could “withdraw and refit” and mutiny, or return and be controlled only by the AI

4) Scripted missions — I love some of the ideas here, like about landmarks or choosing how to conquer a city. Perhaps there could be room for a scripted mission where there is a partisan HQ sector in the middle-ish of the map and the player has to save the partisan base. 

Why independent faction?

I know it's a tricky balance, but I often like having to switch plans or feel as if there's a partner working with me rather than just myself slogging through a campaign in a sort of one-on-one. You don’t want the friendly AI strong enough to do things all on their own, but you also don’t want them to be or seem totally useless.

As an aside, I’d also like to see RTS battles that are more than just 1v1. Bringing in an independent partisan faction would obviously mean a second member on a team, but perhaps other companies could serve as reinforcements, so the player could choose which company they want to have control over and which to leave to the AI! And the same could be done with the German AI, so a player might find themselves in an envious 2v1 situation!

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I appreciate @spacesoldier117's post above with images of Italian armour, and I'd like to throw my hat in the ring and give my support to that. More variety in light and medium vehicles is definitely appreciated, especially ones we haven't seen in CoH before (honourary mention to Panzer III — we need it in CoH3)!

Hi @stark21_pl ,

I've enjoyed several of your recent posts, keep sharing your great ideas.

I agree with you in Ardennes Assault there was a level of scripted maps that just could be memorized where enemy arrives, what sort of enemy arrives etc. That can only last or be fun for so long, it has an expiration date attached to it. Those scripted "triggers" need to be dynamic hence this campaign idea for COH 3. I hope the campaign map is not the only dynamic aspect of the single player game. I hope the RTS matches in game are not just scripted prompts of enemy as well. I remember in COH 1 one of the early maps you played you had to progress through a map and then at the end of it ambush a convoy going through the map that you just went through taking out flak cannons. It had a timer of like 3 minutes to prepare mines/ambush of the convoy. I feel like those sort of scripted events (it's the same convoy, same time limit, same map) last longer because what the player builds where the player positions his troops changes which gives the replayability a bit more life. We did that in Carentan at the church, it was used several times I believe with much success.

Someone else mentioned it in another post, I cannot recall who but don't want to claim it was my idea, but they said they liked having AI teammates sometimes they used it a lot in COH 2 campaign but having AI base helping in a fight so more of a 2v2 or 3v3 but in the RTS map, that was a good idea. I like those matches too, they always have to dumb down the allied AI so the player is the hero/victim but perhaps an improvement in AI design will let the allied AI play normal and contribute without being completely useless. Long winded way to say I agree with you that hopefully they don't just lump in random Skirmish VP maps for the sake of variety. To your point we can play Skirmish VP on our own time outside the story. If they do have VP type maps make them specific and unique with the narrative.

- Art of War