This week we’re looking at one of the more demanding yet rewarding roles in Hell Let Loose – the Officer.
If you missed the previous guide where we looked at the Rifleman, you can catch up here.
The Officer
As an Officer, you will serve as a source of leadership and strategy for your unit. Working alongside your Commander and fellow Officers, you’ll organise your unit and provide instructions on your objectives as the frontline shifts.
Key Duties
Placing Spawn Points
Arguably your most important duty, it falls to the Officer to place both Garrisons (teamwide spawn point) and Observation Posts (unit-only spawn point). Failure to do so will lead to your team not being able to reinforce a sector under attack or bolstering a push on the enemy. Your unit will really appreciate not having to walk a long way to the front!
You can place spawn points by equipping the watch from your inventory. Observation Posts can be placed with no requirements by an Officer, but have a cool-down before another can be placed, whereas a Garrison needs supplies (provided by Support/Commander roles) to be built.
Communicate and lead
It is your duty as an Officer to not only lead your unit of soldiers, but to communicate with other Officers to help co-ordinate the wider battle effort. This can be done by making use of the Officer-only voice channel. Make sure to check in with them to synergise your battle plan and check if they need reinforcements.
Regarding your unit, you’ll decide when to attack, when to defend or when to make a tactical withdrawal. Maintaining voice communication with your unit will help ensure nothing is missed.
You can also provide descriptive location markers using your binoculars:
1. Observe 2. Attack 3. Move 4. Defend 5. Request Supplies 6. Fire Support
American Officer Loadout
Thompson (SMG)
Colt M1911 (Pistol)
Mk2 Grenade
M18 Smoke Grenade
Bandages
Watch (Observation Post & Garrison placement)
Binoculars
German Officer Loadout
MP40 (SMG)
Luger P08 (Pistol)
M43 Stielhandgranate
NB39 Nebelhandgranate
Bandages
Watch (Observation Post & Garrison placement)
Binoculars
Combat tips
Place that spawn point – As an Officer you should be ensuring that you always place an Observation Post down for your unit. This should be at the forefront of your mind when deciding on your battle plans. If the frontline shifts, or your original Observation Post is destroyed, be sure to place another one down in a viable location.
For the greater good – When placing a Garrison down, co-ordinate with your fellow Officers to ensure that it’s in a suitable place for your whole team. Clustering Garrisons together in close proximity will reduce their potential impact on the battle.
Keep your head down – Officers are a juicy target for a plucky Rifleman or Sniper. Unless absolutely necessary, try to avoid leading from the front of your unit. Losing an Officer at the start of an engagement denies a unit of smoke cover, binocular markers and even a rapidly placed Observation Post.
Hearts and minds – A unit wipe not only hits your team’s manpower, but it can also impact your unit’s morale. You may have lost that battle, but the war is far from over! Rally your soldiers with some positive words, keep their chins up and form a counter-attack!
Duty calls – When storming an urban area or trench system, the Officer’s loadout excels. Equipped with an SMG, a pistol and two types of grenades, you are a close quarter combat force to be reckoned with.
On the run up to Early Access launch, we’ve been keen to communicate that pretty much everything you see in the game is a work in progress, including what you hear!
The closed beta gave us a fantastic opportunity to get feedback on what our crowdfunder players thought of weapon audio in Hell Let Loose, and we heard you loud and clear!
So, in this week’s Developer Briefing we’re going to be making some noise…
Updated Weapon Audio
Below we’re going to share with you some first-person perspective (FPP) audio update teases for two iconic weapons in Hell Let Loose, the MG42 and the M1 Garand. Audio is still a work in progress, so please keep that in mind!
This is part of a wider update the team are working on in relation to audio across the board in the game. What we’re showing below is just the first step on our journey to making the audio in Hell Let Loose as immersive and powerful it can be.
With Early Access, we have three core objectives around audio -
1. An immersive first person and third person audio experience (firing, reloading etc).
2. Sound behaves in a consistent and accurate way allowing for players to gauge distance and direction of shots (With a focus on positioning).
3. Each individual weapon is identifiable at distance based upon their audio characteristics (Calibre, rate of fire etc).
Now, let’s give these weapons a listen…
MG42
When updating the MG42’s audio following the closed beta, the team’s primary focus was striking a careful balance between audio captured from a firing range and the cinematic feel that gamers have come to expect from their weapons.
Below you can view a short clip that shows the updated MG42 in action:
In Hell Let Loose, you’ll have access to 14 different roles on the battlefield, offering players unique experiences depending on their preferred playstyle.
Each week we’ll be highlighting a role and offering our top tips to assist you on the frontline.
To get things rolling, we’re starting with the humble yet mighty Rifleman.
The Rifleman
The Rifleman is the backbone of your army. Their role will consist of working closely with their Officer, pushing enemy lines from the front and providing covering fire for Assault roles as they flush out buildings and trench networks.
A Rifleman’s loadout may look basic, but it’s versatile role in battle can’t be overlooked!
American Rifleman Loadout
M1 Garand (semi-automatic)
Mk2 Grenade
Bandage
Small ammunition box
German Rifleman Loadout
Karabiner 98k (bolt-action)
M43 Stielhandgranate
Bandage
Small ammunition box
Combat tips
Use your reach – Both the M1 Garand and Karabiner 98k excel at mid to long range combat, giving players the ability to lay down fire, or pick off an unaware opponent with precise accuracy. However, whilst these rifles can be used at close range, they are outclassed by SMGs and handguns in close proximity. Keep that in mind if you’re clearing out a trench system or rushing a building.
Take a deep breath – When lining up the perfect shot, or scanning the area for enemy movement, try holding your breath when aiming down sight. This will give you a brief window where you’ll receive a slight zoom and increased accuracy/reduced weapon sway.
Know your weapon – How many bullets can your rifle fire before needing to reload? What’s the recoil like? How quickly can I shoot multiple targets? Taking the time to learn the answers to these questions will pay dividends in the heat of intense combat.
Don’t wander off – As a rifleman, you are the eyes and ears of your Officer. From your position at the front of the unit, you’ll be one of the first to spot and engage the enemy. Not being with your unit will deny them of the valuable ranged fire you provide.
Ammo here! – Hey riflemen, you’ve got the ability to put down a small ammo box. This allows your team to resupply their primary weapon ammo to keep up the fight! If your unit are holding a strongpoint, or you come across a group of friendly soldiers, ask them if they’d like some ammo. Keep a close eye out for ammo hungry Machine Gunners in particular, they’ll quickly become your best friend if you give them a resupply.
Use that throwing arm – The Rifleman comes equipped with grenades. These are fantastic at flushing out enemies behind cover or taking out a clustered group of foes. Don’t be shy on using them either, after all, they’re no use to you on the respawn screen!
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Before we get stuck into the Developer Briefing, we’d like to let you all know that the team are working on the feedback we received during the closed beta.
We’ll be able to share more once we’ve finished working on what we’ve learned, but we can tell you that weapon audio, troop density and bug fixes feature on that list.
Map update!
In this week’s Developer Briefing we’ll be showing you some updates to our map, Sainte-Marie-du-Mont.
Those that played in the closed alpha last year will recognise this map, but the team have been hard at work behind the scenes adding new levels of detail to Sainte-Marie-du-Mont that open up new tactical options for our players.
Strongpoint overhaul
All strongpoints on the map have received a visual update, with some also receiving micro-terrain updates to add more cover and ambush options for both attackers and defenders.
Building quality update
The buildings that make up Sainte-Marie-du-Mont have received an aesthetic makeover, adding to the immersion for players seeking to garrison, or storm them.
Extra vegetation and cover
Players that find themselves fighting amongst the farmland will now discover the addition of crops in some of the fields.
This opens new options for cover, flanking manoeuvres and ambushes for the bold, or foolish amongst you.
Top Tips
Secure Strongpoint compounds – Use sandbags, tank traps and spawn points to lock down and secure these highly defensible compounds.
Line of sight – Sainte-Marie-du-Mont features many areas with an obscured line of site. Ensure that your unit has as much visibility as possible on potential enemy approaches or risk being flanked.
Fish in a barrel – Buildings offer a strong option for players looking to hole up and defend territory, however, isolated players and units can find themselves cut off and eliminated.
Tanks for that – With more open ground that Hurtgen Forest, Sainte-Marie-du-Mont gives tank crews an opportunity to shine at medium to long ranges. Just watch out for anti-tank soldiers sneaking around your flank!
Field of Battle
Sainte-Marie-du-Mont offers an entirely different battle scenario compared to Hurtgen Forest.
Players will battle across wide open fields, hedgerows, farms and urban environments – a stark difference to the dense woodland of Hurtgen.
Prepare for new challenges to overcome and strategies to employ.
Keep up to speed with all things Hell Let Loose by wishlisting us on Steam:
This week’s Developer Briefing is a break from the usual format as we take a moment to touch base on the closed crowdfunder beta that ran from the January 11th – January 14th!
The beta saw crowdfunder backers and the developer team take to battle in Hurtgen Forest as infantry, tanks and artillery clashed in brutal warfare!
We enjoyed charging to the frontline with you, taking sectors and holding strongpoints. Some of you even managed to send us to the respawn screen…
We’d just like to say a huge thank you to our backers that played in the beta. From taking the time to give us your feedback, thoughts and bug reports to battling alongside you, the weekend was both fun and incredibly valuable to us.
In a nutshell, the beta went great! We’ll have more to share on what we learned, as well as how this translates into development plans, in the future.
In the meantime, here’s some highlights from the YouTube community to check out:
As you may already know, this weekend we’ve been running a closed beta for Hell Let Loose.
The beta, available exclusively to crowdfunding backers on this occasion, is running from until Monday 14th January, 11am GMT.
Due to the limited access of this beta, we’re hosting a livestream today that will give non-backers an opportunity to see Hell Let Loose in action, with the added option of asking us any questions you have about the game live on stream!
Stream time
Sunday 13th at 7pm GMT / 11am PT / 2pm ET on the Hell Let Loose Steam Store page!
The sixth instalment of the Hell Let Loose Developer Briefing is here, bringing with it reinforcements to the frontline!
This week we’re taking a look at spawn points and how smart respawns can work in a player’s favour.
Spawn points – The basics
In Hell Let Loose, there are three different types of spawn point that you can choose to use. Each spawn point will deploy players in waves to give you the best advantage in keeping your unit together.
• Headquarters – Fixed point, teamwide usage, shortest respawn timer. • Observation Posts – Variable locations, unit only usage, medium respawn timer. • Garrisons – Variable locations, teamwide usage, longest respawn timer.
Both Observation Posts and Garrisons come with their own strengths and weaknesses that should be considered when you’re deciding how to use them, both as an officer and a respawning soldier.
Deployable spawn points are not limited to just being placed in territory your team holds. They can also be deployed in neutral and enemy held sectors when the situation demands it.
Only recon units can deploy OPs in enemy territory
Observation Posts – Keeping your unit united!
Deployed by officers, Observation Posts (OP) are a quick and efficient way to place a spawn point for your unit almost anywhere on the map.
For an officer to deploy an OP they must have at least one other member of their unit in close proximity. Once this condition is met, simply equip your watch and place that spawn! The OP is ready for use immediately following its deployment and lasts until it is destroyed.
The OP is a versatile item but lacks endurance and must maintain a secure perimeter. If an enemy soldier enters anywhere within a 10ft radius of it, the OP will be destroyed.
Garrisons – Taking your team to the frontline!
Garrisons are the second deployable spawn point available for officers. Garrisons provide broader utility than the Observation Post as they allow any Infantry or Recon player on your team to spawn on them, not just those within your unit.
Garrisons are also more durable than their counterpart, requiring an enemy soldier to physically touch it and complete a short action to put it out of commission.
Due to the increased utility that the Garrison brings to a team compared to the Observation Post, it requires supplies in order to be deployed.
Once a Support role has placed down supplies, a Garrison can be built next to them. This will consume the supplies. Because of this, it’s important for an officer to be in close communication with their support player to ensure supplies are placed where they’re needed.
Top Spawn point tips!
It’s a long walk back to the front – As an Officer, you should make an early decision as to where you’ll place your first Observation Point and act on it. The initial engagements in the battle are important and your unit being able to respawn directly to the frontline will greatly support your team’s ambitions.
Officer’s Quarters – Officers can only have one active Garrison each! In order to support your team’s push across multiple fronts it’s important for officers to co-ordinate with each other on where they plan on placing theirs.
Behind friendly lines – When looking to place a spawn point in a location that you expect to be contested, like a strongpoint, it’s normally a wiser decision to place the spawn slightly behind the key location. This will allow for a counterattack should that point fall to the enemy.
Aggressive spawn points - When territory falls to the enemy, your Observation Post and Garrisons within the sector will be destroyed - so take care in making sure you don't over-extend. Only the recon units have the ability to place an Observation Post in enemy territory - if they can first infiltrate the enemy line.
Not a retreat, just a tactical withdrawal – If an Observation Post or Garrison has been compromised by the enemy, don’t be afraid to fall back to a different spawn. Throwing away your life (and with it manpower) for a lost spawn point isn’t a wise investment.
Your spawn points, your strategy!
Spawn points play a vital role in both holding territory and keeping up the pressure during an offensive.
In Hell Let Loose, we’re giving players the flexibility to place Observation Posts and Garrisons almost anywhere they see fit (terrain allowing).
Whether you just want to place a standard spawn, or establish a base with fortifications and deployables around it, the choice is yours.
Livestreams this weekend!
Join us this Saturday at 2pm GMT and Sunday at 7pm GMT as we stream live from the Hell Let Loose closed crowdfunder backer beta!
We’ll be streaming to the Hell Let Loose Steam Store page, so simply head over there at the above time to watch the broadcast.
We’ll be answering viewer questions on stream as we take part in the battle for Hurtgen Forest, showcasing 50 vs 50 combat, tanks, artillery and more.
Welcome to the fifth Hell Let Loose Developer Briefing!
This week we’re taking a look at sectors and strongpoints, as we share the key role they play in the metagame.
Sectors & Strongpoints – The basics
In Hell Let Loose, territory is power! Each map is split into sectors, being three sectors high and five sectors wide. Each side starts with six sectors under their control, with the rear three being your HQ spawn points.
There are two ways to claim victory over the opposing side in Hell Let Loose:
1. Capturing and holding two of the enemy team’s HQ sectors. 2. Owning more territory than the enemy when the match time runs out.
Sectors are captured by having a greater soldier count within the area than the enemy. Sectors take time to capture, so a fierce tug of war battle can occur over hotspots on the battlefield.
To add a further level of strategy, each sector also contains a strongpoint. Strongpoints are a small section in a sector that doubles a soldier’s capture value when taking or holding a sector – so are critical for teams trying to hold a sector against superior numbers. We’ll be going into greater detail about strongpoints further on in the briefing.
Sectors – The territory that keeps on giving!
In order to keep your team’s war machine rolling, you’ll need to acquire three different resources:
Manpower – Allows the Commander to use infantry related orders, such as force respawning dead infantry, or increasing the capturing power of infantry in a chosen sector.
Munitions – Required for additional fire support, such as the HQ artillery battery. Munitions also allows for supply drops, strafing runs and bombing runs to be called in by the Commander.
Fuel – Instrumental in fielding tanks and other armoured vehicles. Allows the spawning of additional vehicles on top of starting units and enables use of the force respawn order on destroyed vehicles.
Manpower, munitions and fuel can only be earned by capturing the sector that offers the corresponding resource. You can find out which sectors will best suit your team’s strategy by checking your map.
Once under your team’s control, a sector will provide a steady stream of supplies, assuming you can protect it!
Strongpoints – Tactical localities worth your attention!
As previously mentioned, strongpoints are small areas in each sector that double a soldier’s capture, or hold value, for that given sector.
Strongpoints can be identified on your map by looking for a small, shaded area in a sector. Each strongpoint will have a different size, shape and location within a sector, so each must be attacked, or defended, with a different strategy.
On the battlefield itself, strongpoints are usually found at points of interest. For example, some of Hurtgen Forest’s strongpoints include:
These locations will see fierce combat. Because of this it is important to make sure they can be reinforced by Garrison or OP spawn points positioned to the rear of these critical areas.
Top sector tips!
Have a plan – As an officer, communicate with your commander and fellow officers to formulate a battleplan. Which resources will you prioritise? Will you focus on vehicles or artillery and support orders? Where will you attack and who’s defending? A cohesive plan will increase your chance of victory.
Counterplay – If you notice an enemy team being overly reliant on vehicles or artillery support, it’s worth considering a targeted play to deny them of the sectors that fuel their strategy.
Turtle power – Sectors, and specifically strongpoints on the frontline will be consistently contested. Setting up fortifications, deployables and MG teams in or around them will greatly aid in holding the line.
Go hard or go to respawn – You can expect strongpoints to be heavily defended. Having the support of recon units, artillery/armour and smoke grenades will increase your chances of a successful push.
Behind enemy supply lines – If the enemy has captured deep into your side of the map, a brave unit can sneak deep behind enemy lines and capture a bridging sector, isolating the enemy team’s captured sectors and stopping them from sending supplies to their HQ.
Go forth and conquer!
Now you know the role that sectors, and strongpoints play, as well as their importance in a battle’s metagame!
Each member of the team will play a role in earning a victory. There will be dynamic cases of well executed strategy, victory against the odds, plucky plays and heroic last stands!
For the fourth instalment of the Hell Let Loose Developer Briefing, we’re bringing out the big guns!
Artillery – The basics
It can be your saving grace or your worst nightmare. If you hear the unmistakable sound of an artillery shell hurtling towards your location, you’d better hope it isn’t aimed at you!
Artillery is located at the centre HQ sector for both teams. There are three artillery pieces per team and each can be manned by two players:
Gunner – Aim, fire and relay co-ordinates with unit officer. Loader – Reload, load HE or Smoke rounds, aiming support and further communication.
Artillery can be operated by a one-man crew, but at a reduced rate of fire.
In order to be an effective artillery crew, you’ll need to be aware of these two key pieces of information:
Traverse – This is the direction that the gun is facing. The Gunner can use A or D on their keyboard to turn the barrel, whilst the Loader can rotate the entire gun using A and D.
Elevation – This is the angle of the barrel. Aiming the barrel higher will fire the shell closer to your location. On the flip side, the lower the barrel, the further the round will travel. On the left of the gunner’s screen, they’ll see a chart of elevation mils and the corresponding range in meters. To set the weapon to the needed elevation, the gunner muse use W or T to raise and lower the barrel. The elevation can be seen in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
The big guns
Say hello to the artillery that you’ll be firing in Hell Let Loose!
The US will take to battle with the M114 155mm Howitzer, which can fire either the HE M107 (High explosive) or the HC BE M116 (Smoke).
On the other side of the front line, the Germans will be using the sFH 18 ‘Evergreen’ 15cm, that can be loaded with 149 MM x 260 R (High explosive) or 149 MM x 260 R (Smoke variant) shells.
Whether an artillery crew are using HE shells to take out enemy positions, or smoke rounds to provide invaluable infantry cover during an advance, precision use of artillery can change the flow of battle in front of your very eyes!
Top artillery tips!
Buddy up – Whilst possible to man an artillery piece alone, having the support of a designated loader will allow you to focus on adjusting your elevation and traverse to perform different strike patterns and styles – including a creeping barrage onto an enemy position. You’ll also have a significantly faster rate of fire!
Danger close - Artillery is realistically powerful. It will kill and main anyone within a 50m area. Be very careful when firing near friendly units.
Request orders – A marker placed on a target by your Officer will allow you to immediately check the precise range.
Finite firepower – Artillery ordnance is fed by your team’s munitions resource. This is a limited resource that can only be replenished by friendly forces capturing and holding munitions sectors on the map. Running out of munitions means you’ll lose the ability to rain hell down on your enemy, so use manage this resource wisely!
Take note – Creating a range book or map to record the elevation and traverse needed to hit significant roads or strong-points will allow you to quickly sight the artillery piece without the need to manually find the range each time. Clear communication of degrees and traverse will empower your battery to quickly change targets or adjust its fire pattern.
Incoming fire support!
If you’re meticulous in your execution and enjoy impacting the battle from afar, then using artillery could be the playstyle for you!
Through working together with your unit’s Officer and making use of your own frontline coordinates, you’ll have the power to support infantry advances or slow down enemy tank advances with smoke rounds, as well as raining down hell on enemy positions with a high explosive barrage.
Your shots will ring out across the frontline as infantry and armour alike dash for cover as they hope, with baited breath, that the incoming barrage doesn’t have their name on it.
Festive break
Due to the Christmas period, there won’t be a Developer Briefing next week. But fear not, we’ll be back in the first week of January with the next instalment of the Developer Briefing and more!
Have a fantastic Christmas and we’ll see you in 2019.
We're pleased to announce that the Kickstarter Backers closed-beta for Hell Let Loose will take place in January 2019!
Running from Friday, January 11th to Monday January 14th, the beta is exclusively for Hell Let Loose Crowdfunding backers, who have closed-beta access.
Whilst access to this beta is restricted, we thought we’d let you know it’s happening as the chances are you’ll be seeing new gameplay related posts here on Steam, as well as footage from the beta on YouTube and various streaming platforms.
Will non-backers get a chance to play before Early Access launch?
We’ve been seeing community questions and requests related to if/when there will be a chance for a hands-on with the game before Early Access launch next year. To answer this question, we’d like to share with you that we’ll be exploring options for those outside of the Kickstarter backer community to join the battle in potential future betas.
If you’d like to see the closed beta in action, keep an eye out for coverage from the Hell Let Loose content creators!
We’ll also be hosting Developer Streams during the beta on the Hell Let Loose Steam Store page. Dates and times for this will be announced closer to the beta.
What’s new in the beta?
Backers who played in the Hell Let Loose closed alpha earlier this year will notice some new additions to the game, including:
Improved player movement.
Strong Points – Significant locations in each sector that double the capturing or defending power of each player within them.
New weapon animations.
Dismemberment.
Player controlled artillery.
Engineer role.
Anti-tank role.
Fortifications - Barbed wire, sandbags, dragon’s teeth, Czech Hedgehog, Belgian gate and vehicle repair station.
Deployables – AT mine and AP mine.
Tanks – Panther and Sherman, both with realistic physics, gear shifting, shell penetration and ricochets.
Machine gunner upgrade – Can brace fire and deploy with their bipod on hard objects.
New look spawn points.
Smoke update – Now deployable using artillery or medic and spotter roles.
Sounds – Updated weapon sounds. (Work in progress)
Graphics and Net-code Optimisation. (Work in progress)