Telling Soldier Stories in Company of Heroes 3

The Company of Heroes franchise is known for telling stories from the soldier’s perspective and CoH 3 is no exception. 

The main Campaign Narrative and the Narrative Arcs we’ve talked about here tell the story of our Generals and the Italian Partisans, but we didn’t want to lose that boots-on-the-ground perspective that Company of Heroes is known for. Soldier Stories are one of the ways we’re highlighting life on the frontlines for the regular soldiers fighting the war.

Soldier Stories are told through letters displayed on the loading screen when entering skirmish battles. Each letter gives a small insight into that soldier’s experiences of the war and builds towards an overarching story told across the course of the campaign. 

We have a wide range of characters appearing in our Soldier Stories including a medic, a Woman’s Airforce Service Pilot, a Polish soldier writing to his brother on the Eastern front, and Terry - a postman delivering letters to the front. 

Today, I had a bag that took me off my usual route. Come to find out, they were parcels for the veterinary corps. I had no idea we even still had a veterinary corps. I guess I assumed they’d retired it when we stopped using horses. Yet there they were, a whole squad with their pack mules and sighthounds. Lucky. I wish I had a dog to help me make deliveries. 

The fellas were in good spirits, so they let me pet one of them. He was a nice boy. Very calm. Looked like the mutt that Della and I had on Grandma’s farm. Animals have their own ideas about when they’re through with you, though. When I tried it with one of the mules, it kicked me flat on my back. I must’ve looked furious as I stood up, because their commander said, “Easy, Foote. The Army had to pay for that mule. You, they got free.” Had to drive all the way home in my muddy uniform. If that happens again, I’m petitioning the Army for hazard pay. 

Some of the stories change dynamically depending on your performance. Win a skirmish and the medic you’re following will talk about the friends he’s making on the battlefield. Lose and he’ll be more focused on the soldiers’ lives he’s been fighting to save. 

Our Soldier Stories are often inspired by real events or people. For example, our X Trooper story is rooted in the exploits of the real-life Jewish commandos that travelled across Europe wreaking havoc behind enemy lines. 

Other times the stories are a way for our writers to have some fun. Like Edward Sinclair, our British travel writer sending articles back to his editor in London. 

In the Footsteps of Caesar 

Edward Sinclair 

Looking down from Potenza’s ledges at the sprawling earth recalls the gods of Olympus gazing at the Grecian countryside. At a breathless 819 metres above sea level, it is one of Italy’s highest regional seats, an eyrie of the Apennines. Below it, the long, serpentine Basento River courses through the hills and carves out a valley lush with life. On the ascent, a rare late-summer gust buffets the outcroppings, rattling the shutters and billowing the clotheslines like sails. This hostile geography has made it a challenge to attack - it has changed ruling hands many times, though seldom for long. 

For those expecting a bustling capital, Potenza may seem sedate, with small churches and alleys too narrow for vehicles to traverse. Yet, after a day in its company, one realises that they have judged it too quickly. Its retiring countenance unfurls into the region’s best-kept secret. The streets encourage a refreshing stroll, and the intimate cafes provide a reason to linger, if not overstay one’s welcome. 

A single playthrough won’t be enough for you to see all the Soldier Stories. Some of them are very well hidden and will only happen under certain circumstances (keep an eye out for the tank hoarder when you’re playing the game). 

We’ve already got over 100 letters in the game with more going in every week. If you have any suggestions for cool stories or people that could act as inspiration, please let us know.

I want the 442nd Infantry Combat Regiment to make their debut here.
Like, some of their members send letters to their loved ones at Californian internment camps.
I also want to hear their accents, combat hardships and struggles of discrimination in their voices.
Their letters will also produce exuberant atmosphere or sad ones when Pyrrhic victories has occurred. I also want to
hear the voices of the Gorkhali and the Special Service Force in their letters to their buddies back at their homes.
The same goes with the US Army's  2nd Armored Division. Though, these thoughts are just my desire. 

Hello @Philip_RE  

Over a 100 wow that's impressive. This is good to have for multiple reasons but adding content that evokes emotion or perspective helps engross the player into the game and that specific time period AND locale/culture. If the quantity of letters is already that high, I suppose there will be no voice overs. For SP campaign, I always felt like voice acting the letters helps add a lil umph to the content. @Blackout - I think most games that have reading letters during load screens usually just have a button that says "begin" or "next" once you're ready to start the match. Some may complain they don't want a prompt to load into the RTS portion, but I think it's helpful as most people want a pause in game or taking their time to read the story at their pace. The benefits outweigh the few seconds saved from autoloading. Clicking a "continue" button gives players control (get up and get a drink, use the loo (as brits will say) or just take a break before getting into the RTS action (that has a tactical pause option in single player now as well). 

I think these letters/stories adds personable depth to the game that makes the overall gaming experience better. If you think about it, these stories/excerpts would have never been read by thousands of people generations later, if not included in this short loading screen. It's part education and part content delivery for Relic to hold our attention while the game loads instead of just a loading bar and CoH logo. I do like Wirbelwind's comment though perhaps with the letters there are set pieces or artistic designs/visuals to go with them. Even if the photo is not directly related to the letter topic it can still add a visual to go along with the letter, opposed to just a letter on a table with no visual. It's like stacking your deliverables in one snapshot. I'm glad some readers responded to FatDon's comment, I read that first post and thought the same thing that others mentioned that is for sure not majority I bet. I like the feedback but having no interest in italians? It's taking place in Italy! That's like saying I can't wait for CoH 4 to come out in the Pacific, but large majority have no interest in the Japanese. Italians may have not been a powerhouse army throughout the war but they are essential to the COH 3 story. And you suggest majority want the Chinese? Now I think you're just video gaming out, like just throwing out nations/factions you want like AOE4, just picking factions rather than telling a story. Philip states in his thread title it's about telling stories and he references his narrative threads. The good news for you Don is that this will have the most playable factions of any previous CoH game at launch so consider your wish granted. US/German/Common Wealth(Brits)/???? The others I think won't necessarily be other nations per se as much as like Panzer Elite and Wehr were both Germans but separate factions under same nation. 

It's almost March, how time flies, we have to be close to another slice being released if they want time to make the corrections/adjustments. I'd think March is a safe bet for the next coh 3 slice. April would be cutting it too close to make final changes in production prior to launch in SEPT/OCT. I don't have the latest FY22 RoadMap(after March) or if the game will be postponed due to pandemic. By time it reaches August, I am guessing the marketing hype will be at all time high and coh dev will be working out bugs and features as the focus rather than taking in new input from MP slices to make changes at that point would just create domino effect of issues to iron out and too risky to be implementing significant changes at that stage in the testing and the deployment phase. I am really hopeful the game does not launch with all sorts of server and bug issues that prevent playing the game smoothly so hopefully the final slices are released sooner rather than later or we may be looking at an FY23 release which if it means it's a better game for it, I'd rather wait a few extra months than deal with a buggy release. The disappointment of trying to play a game you've waited so long for but can't due to lag or bugs is always worse than the disappointment of not playing the game a few months later than expected. Midnight Suns was pushed back so I think it's not uncommon under the circumstances.

- Art of War

Guys, it's already March! Where is the Art & Authenticity dev diary stream which is supposed to take place in Feburary according to your roadmap? I've been waiting for it!