When I first experienced the dynamic Italian campaign in Company of Heroes 3, I found the loyalty mechanic unclear. To gain more clarity on this subject, I did some extra research and continued to play through the campaign so that I could write this article for those who found themselves in the same boat as me!
What is Loyalty in the CoH 3 Campaign?
Loyalty is a new mechanic introduced in CoH 3 to measure the trust and cooperation between your forces and your allies. The Italian campaign features three main factions: the United States, led by General Buckram, the United Kingdom, led by General Norton, and the Italian Partisans, led by Eleonora Valenti.
Throughout the campaign, these leaders will suggest actions and set objectives for the player to complete. The loyalty of each faction towards the player can be influenced by the decisions made and their resulting outcomes. Each ally has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, and they will offer you different rewards for completing objectives. It is essential to choose your allies wisely, as they will have a significant impact on your campaign.
How to Manage Loyalty
Loyalty is important because it affects the following:
The amount of resources you receive from each ally.
The number of units you can deploy from each ally.
The availability of special abilities from each ally.
The likelihood of each ally joining you in battle.
If you lose too much loyalty with an ally, they may withdraw their support and leave you to fight on your own. This can make the campaign much more difficult, so it is important to manage your loyalty carefully.
Here are some general tips for managing loyalty in the Italian campaign:
Complete objectives. This is the best way to increase loyalty with all three allies.
Take cities. Cities in different regions give loyalty to different leaders.
Listen to your allies' advice. They will often give you suggestions that will help you win the campaign.
Accept their missions. These missions will often give you rewards that can help you increase loyalty.
Avoid making decisions that your allies disagree with. This can cause you to lose loyalty.
Managing General Buckram (U.S.)
General Buckram approaches the Italian campaign in the good old American gung-ho way. He prefers aggression and swift offense. In my opinion, he is one of the slower generals to max out on loyalty. The best way to increase loyalty with General Buckram is by taking his action as a priority over others (the others have other ways to increase loyalty easily). Using bombardments and air combat generally increases loyalty. Taking cities aggressively in the north also tends to increase loyalty with General Buckram.
General Buckram’s Loyalty Tree
Tier 1 - Airborne Reinforcement
Tier 2 - Advanced Landing Fields
Tier 3 - Anti-Air Support
Tier 4 - Buckram's Loyalty
Tier 5 - Marston Mats
These rewards allow you to take a more aggressive playstyle on the campaign map, and the reinforcements are handy for staying in forward positions on the battlefield!
Managing General Norton (U.K.)
General Norton takes a much more defensive stance, favoring linking up with the southern detachment of Allied troops near Bari. He prefers taking naval action and you can easily max out loyalty with him by playing defensively in the South. Taking every port and city towards Bari racks up loyalty points quickly. Allowing your troops to rest also seems to grant loyalty as well.
General Norton’s Loyalty Tree
Tier 1 - Navigator
Tier 2 - Naval Reserves
Tier 3 - Amphibious Operations
Tier 4 - Norton's Loyalty
Tier 5 - Logistics Chain
These rewards are good for playing a more slow and methodical game on the campaign map. Having ample resources allows for the purchase of call-ins and companies and also allows you to keep your companies at full health.
Managing Eleonora Valenti (Partisans)
Increasing loyalty with Eleonora Valenti is fairly straightforward. Capturing Partisan towns (the cities/towns with the dagger symbol), and committing partisan acts will increase loyalty easily. Avoid bombing towns and cities (especially the ones that are marked in red when you hover them with the bombard) before you take them in order to preserve your loyalty status with Valenti.
Eleonora Valenti’s Loyalty Tree
Tier 1 - Local Relations
Tier 2 - Civilian Intel
Tier 3 - Enigma Decrypts
Tier 4 - Valenti's Loyalty
Tier 5 - Captured Material
These rewards are mainly information based. Civilian Intel and Enigma Decrypts give information about the enemy’s whereabouts and actions respectively which can help you plan your moves to surprise and counter the Germans!
Extra Details About Loyalty
Here are some additional details about the loyalty mechanic:
Loyalty is a technically hidden stat, so you cannot see exactly how much loyalty you have with each ally. However, you can get a general idea by looking at the loyalty window which you can access in the bottom right of the campaign map.
You can check your allies' attitudes towards you by opening the diplomacy menu.
You can decrease loyalty by making decisions that your allies disagree with, such as choosing to work with a rival ally or using your resources inefficiently. You can also decrease loyalty by attacking your allies' forces (bombarding partisan cities) or by failing to complete objectives.
You need at least loyalty level four with at least one commander to get their help in the final offensive (Winter Line).
It is possible to max out loyalty for all commanders at once. Doing the recommended actions above for each commander makes this a fairly easy task.
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