Company of Heroes 2 rewards "smart", tactical players

Company of Heroes 2 isn't about maximising your build orders and clickety-clicking; Relic wants it to play more tactically than its RTS rivals.

Speaking to Joystiq, designer Quinn Duffy said Company of Heroes 2 isn't like popular and worthy RTS rivals like StarCraft, in that minute-to-minute tactics are highlighted over resource management strategy gameplay.

"We want to be rewarding smart players. It's not an [actions-per-minute] game," he said.

"To play Company of Heroes 2 you need to play smart and be aggressive in your decision making. We want smart players to be able to maximize the value of their units. A guy playing smart with his defenses and his cover and his movement, you want him to beat up on a guy with three squads."

Company of Heroes 2 is due in early 2013.