Monthly Overview - March 2010

[OnkelSam]

Welcome back to our third monthly overview!

We have a lot of in-game content to show to you this time, but we're starting out by welcoming another team member.

Wiseone9 will be joining our team as a coder, and is already well-known in multiple Company of Heroes communities. He's been working on modifications like the Specialized Production Mod and the Company of Heroes: World at War mod. Let's give him all a warm welcome!

Next up are the in-game screenshots. Our mod is still a Work In Progress, so you have to keep in mind that not everything is finished yet.

First of all we have the Soldiers to show. The Soldiers are the backbone of the PLA, and are much like the grenadiers. Although having less men in their squad than the Militia, they do have better assault rifles compared with the Militia. The Soldiers can easily be distinguished by their Type 07 camouflage, which is the latest digital camouflage to have entered the PLA. The Soldiers represent the modern day and well-equipped troops from the elite divisions of the People's Liberation Army. They use the QBZ-95 with a scope.
http://moderncombat.blacksandstudio.com/gallery/Soldiers2_thumb.png (http://moderncombat.blacksandstudio.com/gallery/Soldiers2.png)

Next up is the Rocket Launcher Team. The Rocket Launcher Team will provide mobile and flexible support against armoured vehicles from the U.S. Army. The squad exists out of three men, two of which are equipped with the Type 69, a Chinese version from the RPG-7. The other soldier is equipped with the Type 56 assault rifle, which is a Chinese version of the AK-47. This squad is ideally suited for hit and run tactics against armoured vehicles, but they cannot stand up against infantry squads.
http://moderncombat.blacksandstudio.com/gallery/Rocket-Launcher_Team_thumb.png (http://moderncombat.blacksandstudio.com/gallery/Rocket-Launcher_Team.png)

The Militia squad is much like the Volksgrenadiers. They are cheap, reliable and provide reasonable amount of firepower. Militia squads are equipped with the Type 56 assault rifle, and wear the Type 03 'Plateau' camouflage, which is strongly influenced by the Flecktarn camouflage worn by the German Army. The brown and black camouflage is quite effective in swamps and muddy environments.
http://moderncombat.blacksandstudio.com/gallery/Militia_thumb.png (http://moderncombat.blacksandstudio.com/gallery/Militia.png)

Last but not least, we have the builder squad. The squad is much like the Engineers in the original Company of Heroes. They can be upgraded with a flamethrower and the squad consist out of three men. Armed with a QBZ-95 assault rifle, just as the Soldiers, and are the primary builders of the People's Liberation Army. Their camouflage is the Type 99 woodland camouflage, which is similar to the former U.S. Army woodland camouflage, with the most notable difference is the use of an extra tint of green instead of khaki in the pattern.
http://moderncombat.blacksandstudio.com/gallery/Builder_Squad_thumb.png (http://moderncombat.blacksandstudio.com/gallery/Builder_Squad.png)

Many thanks to DemoSS for creating the skins, his hard work has payed off, as you can see in the screenshots.

If you are curious about the lay-out of our factions, you can find the PLA lay-out here (http://moderncombat.blacksandstudio.com/index.php/mod/pla) and the U.S. Army lay-out here (http://moderncombat.blacksandstudio.com/index.php/mod/us). Don't forget to drop by on our forums (http://blacksandstudio.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=240), where you can ask questions and discuss the mod.

With that, we would like to close this monthly overview, and we hope you enjoyed the eye candy. Thank you, and see on moderncombat.blacksandstudio.com

[Chopin]

Pretty good !

[gamer_1001]

Since you got the infantry down maybe its time for some name change? Soldier and Builder just sounds weak...how about sappers and motor rifles?

And is it just me or they look so German? And I seriously loled when the Soldier looked like the grenadier. Combine the not-usually-used armor vest and it made them look meaner than the real PLA soldiers.

[Hongjian]

good job!

have you already thought of unit uprades/equippable weapons of each of these infantry squads?

if you guys havent planned the PLA to only have global upgrades, like the US Army in vanilla COH, I would suggest the soldier squads to have the options to equip one member with a squad automatic weapon (like the QBB-95), that enables them to use a 'supressive fire'-ability that costs ammo (like US Rifle-Squads). or with a single Type-69 Launcher that grants the ability to launch a fairly expensive HE-round.


As for the RPG-team, a global upgrade that allows them to fire a volley of Tandem-Heat Rounds for more damage (which costs ammo), would be appropriate in conjunction with a doctrinal perk that allows them to throw smoke grenades, that makes them invisible and boosts their speed for a short time (but makes them more vulnerable to explosive damage), to really make them useful for 'hit-and-run' tactics.

The militia squads on the other hand, should benefit from global, doctrinal upgrades, that enhances their capabilities to make them useful even in mid- to late-game, fitting to their specific roles in the doctrine - for example; in a armoured/tank-dominated doctrine they can get the ability to carry out rudimentary (thus very slow) repairs on vehicles and buildings, while in a guerilla/infantry-dominated doctrine they will be able to steal ressources and lay booby traps or receive the ability to infiltrate in a assymetric-warfare doctrine.

[Chopin]

Do the Chinese soldiers speak English or Chinese?...

[Chopin]

Combine the not-usually-used armor vest and it made them look meaner than the real PLA soldiers.


Yeah.....much meaner.....:eek:

[Darkbladecr]

umm they speak english... in the chinese version of the game there is no chinese speech. Also we cannot take sounds from other games where it is all done and put in ours. So if we want chinese speech it will have to be custom.