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Company of Heroes 3 - Unit Weathering & Damage

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3 years ago
May 18, 2022, 4:37:41 PM

Unit Weathering & Damage


Following up on our post from last week covering Unit Personality and Authenticity, we've got another great overview from Senior Artist Amar! Catch Amar, Kristian and myself on the next developer livestream later this month on Twitch. - JohnT_RE

Hello folks, I'm Amar, a Senior Artist and the harbinger of destruction on Company of Heroes 3. One of my responsibilities on this project is to apply the dirt, damage and destruction wrought by war to our vehicles. Our artists spend weeks carefully crafting each vehicle, getting all the details just right and then, when it is all perfect, I burn it to the ground. When a vehicle rolls out of your base it will always be fresh and new, as if it had just come off the production line. But nothing stays fresh and new for long, especially in the brutal environment that is a WWII battlefield. We have invested in a surprising amount of technology to support this effort and have brought this to the game in multiple different ways.



Weathering is what we call the dirt and wear that accumulates over time as vehicles traverse the battlefield. In CoH3 you'll see that your shiny new tank gets dusty or muddy based on the environment that it is traveling through and the amount of dirt that accumulates is based on both how long you sit in the elements and how far you travel. True off-road enthusiasts will see a lot of mud spattered on their armored bullet buggies while more sedentary drivers will be able to keep their vehicles a little cleaner.




Early Pre-Alpha renders


Of course, every battle has conflict and vehicles that survive will carry the scars of enemy encounters forward into the next skirmish. To enhance this sense of authenticity, attrition and veterancy we have built a system that allows us to show you not only what your vehicles were hit by but also where they were hit. Flames and artillery have a very different effect on the skin of a tank, and it is our hope that these details will help to tell the story of where you units have been and who they have been tangling with.



Early shader concept art.


Early Pre-Alpha charring and weathering mockups.


Eventually even the most battle-hardened units may succumb to the rigors of war. Skeletons of tanks that have been destroyed will litter the field, charred and burning. Of course, those armored hulks could provide cover to your enemies, so you'll want to crush them under the treads of your heaviest vehicles. It's our hope that all these painstakingly crafted details amplify the cost of war on the screen for our community.


I hope you enjoyed this quick look at what I'm working on and I can't wait for you to see these systems when they're finished!


- Amar



Updated 3 years ago.
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3 years ago
May 18, 2022, 6:11:48 PM

Intresting to see. 

The wooden barriers on the front and the back of the sherman, do they just disappear "completly" at some point or will we be able to see the wood splattering off the tank?

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3 years ago
May 19, 2022, 10:07:33 AM

Very cool! I was wondering if the veichles will become fresh again after reparing? I also hope you could add the weathering and destruction effects on individual soldiers.

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3 years ago
May 20, 2022, 3:40:36 PM

Really nice level of details, would be great for a unit surviving a battle to keep its scars over time to show its veterancy

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3 years ago
May 20, 2022, 10:32:49 PM

Hello @Allen_RE?, @Kristian_RE , @JohnT_RE,


First off thank you John for responding regarding my input on art design and authenticity. I think you bring up a good point and I mentioned it as well in my last post, but screenshots or photos do no justice to the game art compared to real time in the game affects and others systems all coming together. I love the level of detail that goes into every aspect of the game. 

I enjoyed this post on weathering and damage features that will be unlike any prior COH, this really will impact the experience and overall immersion. The first question that it led me to ask myself though is stepping back from unit weathering & damage I wonder if weather will be a factor in the Dynamic Campaign. I know this is weathering in a different sense but the actual weather impacts weathering so that was my initial thought. Terrain impacts the vehicles and troops but weather remains a bit of a mystery, at least on it's impact on the game. It was a huge feature heading into COH2 so I wonder if in the dynamic campaign maybe plays on that feature. For example, high tide prevents us from beach landing OR severe rain storms impact our air attack. This drills down further into the actual RTS match from tanks not able to cross a creek that floods, maybe mid-match? Day/Night cycles in match, perhaps it's raining early morning at the start of the match but due to the duration of match by the end it's sunny cloudy sunset afternoon? Maybe there is a night time feature where lighting on vehicles and street lights or windows showing off the new graphics engine? I know COH 2 had General Mud and snow weather patterns were received with mixed results. I think if it's just a feature on some maps it will be enjoyable, not necessarily an impact on every map.

Amar mentions attachment accessories they attached to vehicles which makes me think perhaps they can personalize those vehicles with randomized names like Tanks from Fury they had name on side or logs on the side of the tank. Perhaps a way to take it another step with that sort of customization but controlled by the player. I like the body language changes depending upon the environment really does create an experience opposed to just a great visual.

Keep up the great work, can't wait. My new monitor (wide screen) so hopefully ratio won't be an issue like I read it was for SC2. That comes next week and I'm going to buy my new PC in Oct primarily for this game. Let us know if there will be a launch party or some sort of official community event to celebrate the game going live. I still hope it's a live match of Liddy vs. JohnT 1v1 to overtake THEGREFG highest peak viewers on twitch. Loser of the match has to shave their head, doh, okay maybe team Relic can come up with a better win motivator. 


- Art of War

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3 years ago
May 22, 2022, 6:12:49 PM

I hope relic push for higher specs PC. 


A minimum of Intel 8700K/Ryzen 3600 class, should not be prohibitately expensive by launch.

8GB main ram

6GB vram

enhanced for DX Storage SSD.

No need for RT, nice to have, but maybe a later patch for RT path lighting.


It should a step up we need for the next 5-6 years of coh3. And give the animations more smoothness which still seems like half the fps to main game in the video.



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3 years ago
May 26, 2022, 12:08:59 PM

Цікаво !!!

Updated 3 years ago.
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3 years ago
May 26, 2022, 12:35:11 PM
Icehour писал:

Интересно посмотреть. Так держать!

:)

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3 years ago
May 26, 2022, 6:32:04 PM

nice :0

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3 years ago
Jun 21, 2022, 12:21:32 AM
Unit weathering is an intersting addition to a game 
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