Hey Everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #69!

Soon you will be able to enjoy driving around in the German Puma Sd.Kfz. 234 and the Allied M8 Greyhound, but to really be able to put up a fight against the army of heavy Shermans, we have something special ready for you!

At first we were planning to make the Panzer VIII "Maus" or the Panzer XI "Bullen", but these could not hold the maximum troop capacity we had planned for the super heavy transport vehicles.

This is why we looked further into history and found another, truly special vehicle…



Manufactured by the Grytzenäu und Schtheel company in 1943, many large shipping docks were “purchased” and repurposed to start the secret project named Projekt C. 45 “Tiglioni”, but because this name was already in use. The name of the project, and later on the vehicle was then named: Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte". With her total length of a whopping 39 meters (128 ft) and skyscraping 11 meters (36 ft) height, this is what you can call “a big lady”...



As mentioned before, we wanted the maximum troop capacity for transport vehicles to go up, this is why the Ratte was added by the team. With enough room for 40 members in the tank itself, 6 members mounting the 20 mm Flak38 mounted on the vehicle’s engine its deck, and 4 members being able to mount the 15 mm MG 151/15, you can say you and the other squads will become a dream team in no time!



The Ratte's primary weapons are a dual 28 cm SK C/34 naval gun turret, modified by harvesting parts from a German battleship. With all that weight, and also having the hull of the vehicle being able to carry armour up to 25 centimetres (9.8 in) thick, this is a vehicle that needs to be deployed with the highest strategic care. Once deployed, you can not cross certain bridges or smaller roads, but all hedges will now quake in fear. To compensate for the smaller area of movement, the Ratte can fire armour-piercing rounds with 8.1 kg (18 lb) of explosive filler, and high-explosive rounds with 17.1 kg (38 lb) of explosive filler up to a distance of 40.930 m (44,760 yd).

The benefit of this amazing range, is that you can deploy the Ratte in for example Sainte-Mère-Église and obliterate the opposite team that is hiding in maps like Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, Utah Beach, Purple Heart Lane and even Omaha Beach This new gameplay system is called “Cross Map Artillery Support” and works the same way as the Artillery per map, but then across all other maps and servers.

That wraps up this week's tanktastic Developer Briefing!


See you on the frontline!

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #68!

Today we’re going to talk through some of the design changes coming to the vehicle roster and the meta behind it.

If you’ve followed us from our Kickstarter days, you’ll know that we’ve always intended to build out the real-time strategy elements behind the game - in order to put greater weight on strategic choices, resource management and how each battle is played.

This is why we’re now excited to start unveiling some of the new mechanics we’ve had on the backburner for the last six months!



Until now, our limited roster of vehicles has meant that any additions were made to the “base roster” available to both teams (ie. the vehicles that spawn in-map and continue to respawn throughout the game). What has resulted is a bit of a varied mix across all maps and forces - with some less desirable results.

From now on, we’ll be finalising the base roster of vehicles across all maps. They’ll look something like (this is not final):

3 x troop transport (a half-track, truck and jeep)
2 x supply vehicles (two supply trucks)
3 x medium tanks (three 75mm M4A1 Shermans)
1 x light tank (one Stuart)

3 x troop transport (two half-tracks and one kubelwagen)
2 x supply vehicles (two supply trucks)
2 x medium tanks (two Panzer 4s)
1 x heavy tank (one Panther)

The important thing to note here is that the numbers will vary per force, as we’re keen to reflect asymmetrical balance present in the war (typically - better, but less numerous German tanks vs numerous but less well-armored Allied tanks) and give each force a distinct and historically appropriate flavour.



Simply - Fuel abilities.

From the next Update onward, the Commander will have the ability to select specific vehicles to spawn from each of their respective categories. Each vehicle costs an amount of Fuel, and each has a cooldown to stop a Commander cheesing the mechanics by draining their entire Fuel resource.

PLEASE NOTE - The following icons and UI are a work in progress!

Step 1 - Decide you want a vehicle



Step 2 - Select your vehicle and spawn location, fuel allowing



Step 3 - Profit!




Teams that are able to keep spawned vehicles alive will benefit from an overwhelming armor presence on the battlefield, and a clever Commander will be able to run specific strategies as more vehicles are added to the game. We fully expect that some will be map type specific - with Heavy Armor taking a backseat in forest maps while more cheaper, more nimble vehicles join the line. Similarly, a cheaper transport vehicle like a Halftrack may give far greater utility to the battlefield than yet another heavy tank.

The base roster of vehicles will respawn as they always have (costing Fuel each time they respawn), but the additions to the battlefield are where we think you’ll start to see a difference.

As you can imagine, this will place even greater emphasis on team communication, as specially spawned vehicles will provide a greater threat to your team, or may indicate a specific strategy being deployed by the enemy. Calling them out will be crucial.

The first new vehicles to be added to the Commander’s array will be the Recon vehicles for both teams. We know that many of you believe they’re simply a wheeled light tank, so we’re very, very keen to show you exactly what they bring to the battlefield.



In addition to this, the Heavy Tanks for both teams (the Tiger 1 and Jumbos) have been moved to the spawn array too. Over the course of the coming months we’ll slowly be replacing the base roster with much more vanilla everyday variants, and moving the more powerful, interesting vehicles to the Commander’s array.



We’re also keen to assure you that this is still just the tip of the iceberg of what we have planned for Hell Let Loose. There are many more real-time strategy changes and additions to come as we rework the supply, ammo and resource metagames.

That wraps up this week's Developer Briefing - we'd love to hear what you think of these exciting changes coming soon to Hell Let Loose, so drop a comment below for us to read!

See you on the frontline!

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #67!

This week we’ve got an important message from Lead Developer Max on the current situation with Covid-19 and how the Black Matter team is facing it!

After that, we’re going to be looking at the German Puma Sd.Kfz. 234, along with a brand new screenshot.




Hi everyone,

We hope you’re all keeping well despite the current pandemic that is gripping much of the world.

As part of this Dev Briefing, we also wanted to openly communicate about how Coronavirus is affecting us here at Black Matter, and at our publisher - Team17.

As many of you may be aware, Black Matter is fortunate in that our remote working policies mean that the effect of Coronavirus on us from a business and development perspective is incredibly minimal. We have put in place contingencies should any of the team become sick, but we consider ourselves incredibly fortunate that nobody at Black Matter falls within an ‘at-risk’ category. The team is all hard at work - smashing through as many bugs as humanly possible while balancing out the coming overhauls and content.

We feel that over the next couple of months, the quality of Hell Let Loose as a title will be drastically improved for the better - and we’re very excited to finally reveal what we’ve been cooking up. Despite the turbulence in world affairs, we’re very optimistic and excited for 2020. There are so many new features, maps, weapons, customisation options to come, as well as optimisation and bug fixes. Currently, the team is working across a huge degree of content including but not limited to:

• 3 new maps (only one of which is set in Normandy and is nearly entirely urban)
  
• Finalising TPP and FPP overhaul. This is really where the largest look and feel change to the game will be. We’ll be running you through this soon.
  
• Entirely new ballistics system (travel time and more for all firearms), including bullet penetration.
  
• Map overhaul on one existing map (bug fixing, drastically increasing cover, visual upgrade and a far more interesting experience).
  
• Assets being created for two entirely new biomes.
  
• Implementation of new Commander abilities.
  
• New loadouts.
  
• New weapons being made.
  
• Implementation of Recon vehicles.

And much, much more (we’re also always working on bug fixes and optimisation).

With all of that said, today we’re excited to talk through the second Recon vehicle to be coming to Hell Let Loose - the Puma Sd.Kfz. 234!





The Puma is the key reconnaissance vehicle for the German forces in Hell Let Loose. Much like its Greyhound counterpart, this vehicle will provide valuable frontline reconnaissance and useful firepower against soft targets.

Despite not seeing use in Germany’s desert campaigns, the Puma proved successful in its usefulness on both the Western and Eastern fronts of the war.

Thanks to its lightweight armour, powerful V12 diesel engine and independent suspension for each of its eight wheels the Puma was a highly mobile, hard hitting recon vehicle. This made it ideal support for multiple German Panzer Divisions, not only as fire support but as a key relay of information to the rest of the column via their radio communications kit.



The relative mobility of the Puma comes at a price though - light armour. In regards to how this translates to in-game, the Puma, much like the greyhound is highly vulnerable to all forms of anti-tank weaponry. From mines, to Bazookas, AT Guns and 'bigger' armoured vehicles, any Driver worth their salt will want to avoid meeting any of these at all costs unless absolutely necessary on the frontline.

But it should be mentioned that whilst in the Puma the crew will enjoy immunity from enemy small arms fire, giving them a great opportunity to push across enemy firing lines that include a high concentration of men and/or Machine Gunners.

As mentioned in last week’s Developer Briefing, we’ll be explaining exactly how our Recon vehicles will function in the very near future. We’ll also be taking the opportunity to formally introduce our new vehicle spawning mechanic as well as the new crewing options in both Recon and other upcoming vehicle variants - so watch this space!

We’ll see you on the frontline.

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #66!

With expanded recon mechanics right around the corner, we’ve been hard at work creating all the necessary assets to bring them to life.

We’re excited to show you the way they work and integrate into the larger picture of the metagame in both Offensive and Warfare gamemodes. We’ve noticed many community members speculating at the way the Recon vehicles specifically will work within Hell Let Loose, and we’re keen to assure you that they’re going to be far more than a wheeled version of a light tank - but more on that in a later Dev Briefing...





The M8 Greyhound will be the key reconnaissance vehicle for the United States army in Hell Let Loose. The Greyhound is a relatively unimposing vehicle in appearance, but will function as an important strategic boon to the whole of the team.

Roughly 8,500 M8’s were produced and distributed amongst both the American and British armies - a key support element within the larger advancing armored columns.

The Greyhound’s excellent on-road mobility enabled it to detach from the bulk of the column and drive outward and ahead of the main force to quickly survey and report back enemy movement, build-up and density - allowing for greater tactical and strategic decisions to be made by the leadership.

Somewhat ironically for Hell Let Loose, the Greyhound was initially developed as a new light tank destroyer. The army requested a 6x4 wheeled vehicle armed with a 37mm gun - complete with a hull mounted MG and a coaxial on the turret - much the same as the Stuart or Sherman tank. Its armor was supposed to withstand fire from a .50 caliber machine gun and side armor from a .30 caliber (7.62 mm) machine gun.




Very quickly, the US military realised that the Greyhound’s 37mm armament and lack of substantial armor thickness made it ineffective against the new Germany armour.

Looking for a better way to use these vehicles, they were quickly adopted into a long-range reconnaissance role. The M8 performed this function with distinction - acting as the “eyes and ears” of advancing columns. Each M8 armored car was equipped with a long-range radio set to assist in the exercise of command, or for the purpose of relaying information received from subordinate elements to higher headquarters. Another short-range radio set served to communicate within a cavalry reconnaissance platoon, reconnaissance team, or with headquarters.

The M8 was not designed for offensive combat, and its firepower was adequate only against similar lightly armored enemy vehicles and infantry. The vehicle's armor provided a fair degree of protection against small-arms fire but nothing more. With a meager .25 in (6 mm) of floor armor, the M8 was particularly vulnerable to German mines. The M8 in Hell Let Loose will mirror this historical purpose and function - allowing crews invulnerability from small arms fire.

Beware though - the Greyhound is very lightly armored and is prey to nearly every anti-tank weapon in the game. Historically, the Greyhound was so lightly armored that crewmen would line the interior of the vehicle with sandbags - to function as additional armor against mines and explosive rounds.

We’re looking forward to explaining exactly how the M8 will function in the weeks to come, as well as introducing the new vehicle spawning mechanics and the crewing opportunities in the Greyhound and newer vehicle variants!

See you on the frontline!

Welcome to Developer Briefing #65! This week we’re updating our Roadmap as we tread into 2020 to keep you informed about the trajectory of our content and where it will land! Last week we gave the state of development and we are super excited to be able to finally share the new content line-up!

Find our last roadmap here and the state of development from last week here!



The roadmap reflects our current development goals and schedule. While we always work as hard as possible to achieve these according to the order on the roadmap, occasionally features will change positions based on issues encountered.

As usual, each dev briefing we’ll start to unpack and dive into each of the aspects of the roadmap. Please know that this is not exhaustive. There are many more features large and small that are to come, but we want to commit to them and show them off closer to time of release. We also want to assure you that bug fixing and optimisation are a key priority.

That wraps up this week's Developer Briefing, thanks for checking it out! We hope you are as excited as us for all the content planned as we are to bring it to you all!

If you're enjoying your time with Hell Let Loose, feel free to drop us a review and let us know about your experiences with the game - it really helps!

See you on the frontline.

Hi everyone,

Patch 10 is here and it’s a smaller one to tide you over until our next big Update.

We assessed much of the initial feedback after the Update and have made as many changes as possible to quickly improve on your experience in-game. Fixes, additions and polish is always an ongoing process and we largely batch this together in Updates, however we felt that these fixes would be relatively low-risk and greatly increase the quality of life within the game.

• All spawn icons are now much more legible on the map.
  
• Disabled "weapon sway" from Binos for Axis and Allies as players are having trouble marking accurately.
  
• Increase the drowning timer from 4 seconds to 6 seconds.
  
• Make all deadly rivers have a longer bank that will let you back out before falling in and drowning.
  
• Tanks crew now drown if they fully submerge their tank for too long.
  
• Jumbo tanks are now present on most other maps and game modes while we test their effectiveness and balance.
  
• Fixed: On the Enlist screen, changing the filter order multiple times will present the user with a server that they cannot join
  
• Added audio menu volume slider for Ping Marker
  
• Maximum marker count for Officers is now 5, and then resets the first marker thereafter.
  
• Maximum marker count for Commanders is now 5, and then resets the first marker thereafter.
  
• Maximum of one of each marker type.
  
• Quicker PING Fade
  
• Changed resource node marker to tent icon node marker
  
• Removed extra smoke marker but have left the “Request Smoke” marker.
  
• Markers now have a different volume at different ranges. i.e 500m+ plays no sound. It then gets progressively louder the closer they are. This is designed to cut down on audio clutter and give urgency to nearby marks.

• Fixed: No Node markers for Manpower, Fuel, Munitions
  
• Fixed: The POI Marker animation on the player's name does not play to players that had their HUD toggled off when the Marker was placed
  
• Fixed: The in-game map pauses the POI Marker's player name animation
  
• Fixed: [PHL-O] Strafing Runs from 3 specific directions don't kill players
  
• Fixed: [PHL] Spawning on the German mid HQ spawn can result in the player spawning above the ground
  
• Fixed: [PHL][G4] House and plane location do not match in-game map.
  
• Fixed: Reset Key bindings so When we update new designated keys, players who have rebound don't have that key bind empty - make it so this is reset every time a new designated key is introduced.
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] The game has crashed on the loading screen after initiating a map vote from Hurtgen Forest
  
• Fixed: [US Heavy tank] The 76mm and 75mm Jumbo tank will stop reversing after a short distance
  
• Fixed: In Offensive mode the 'Strong point' UI will still display on the HUD when the player enters, after the sector has been captured
  
• Fixed: The user can navigate the menus after they have connected to a server

• Drastically reduced memory usage of Purple Heart Lane - resulting in much faster loading times, higher frames and less disconnection while joining server.

• Fixed: Player can fall into a hole which will make their camera judder.
  
• Fixed: No collision on roof - Purple Heart Lane
  
• Fixed: Invisible collision above a short bush in H2
  
• Fixed: Boat covers produce metal PFX when shot
  
• Fixed: "Fantastique" poster in E3 has graphical issues
  
• Fixed: No collision on ammunition heaps - Purple Heart Lane
  
• Fixed: Invisible collision wall Purple Heart Lane E4 Numpad 9
  
• Fixed: Collision on a bush on the ground Purple Heart Lane E4
  
• Fixed: Missing collision for multiple assets present in sector H5
  
• Fixed: Invisible collision present on top of a stone wall in sector F8
  
• Fixed: A wooden fence post asset produces concrete PFX when shot
  
• Fixed: Missing texture next to the bridge in sector E4 causes the players to see under the map, and makes it possible to shoot other players
  
• Fixed: Inconsistency with barbed wire bullet collision
  
• Fixed: [E3] Invisible collision present on sidewalks of main road bridge
  
• Fixed: A low resolution grass texture is clipping through the wall in sector E3
  
• Fixed: Metal mooring bollards produce concrete PFX when shot
  
• Fixed: Metal stairs produce concrete PFX when shot
  
• Fixed: Invisible collision present in E3
  
• Fixed: Wooden bridges produce concrete PFX when shot
  
• Fixed: Metal supports are missing collision in E4
  
• Fixed: Missing texture on barn floor in sector C9

Offensive mode starting defender garrisons have been moved further back to mirror the changes made to Purple Heart Lane. This is to create a much less grindy experience for attackers on the first flag. More Offensive mode changes will be coming in U6 to overall improve the experience across all maps.

Fixed: Players can completely clip through a particular building wall on SME

• Fixed: Graphic snow overlap mound
  
• Offensive mode starting defender garrisons have been moved further back to mirror the changes made to Purple Heart Lane.

See you on the frontline!

Hey everyone!

Update 5 has been enormous for us, and it’s been fantastic to watch you jump into the rainy fields of Purple Heart Lane (and also jump into some rivers) for the last couple of weeks. We’ve been collecting and prioritising a huge amount of the feedback as we decide the way forward.



While we’re in Early Access, developing Hell Let Loose largely feels like we’re building an airplane while we’re flying it. We’re continuously fixing things as we introduce new features, as we balance out completing the game with ironing out as many new and old bugs as possible.

In addition to this, there are several key systems overhauls that have had to occur in order to finalise the experience and lift things to the best quality possible, but also to optimise each aspect of the game from both a netcode, CPU and GPU perspective.

The next two updates (6 and 7) will contain the largest scale infrastructure overhauls that we need to achieve before we’re able to settle into a significant period of bug fixing and optimisation (paired with lower risk content like maps, weapons, customisation options, vehicles etc). As a team, we’re really looking forward to moving past Updates 6 and 7 as we’ll be able to profile the game from an optimisation perspective without the baseline moving from the introduction of more large-scale features.

As many are aware, the largest overhaul to hit the game will be the TPP and FPP animation update. This will transform the way the game feels and looks and we’re very excited to show you this in the very near future.

The other very significant overhaul is a rework of our entire ballistics system - away from a line trace system to a fully realistic ballistics model. We’ll be deep diving into what this entails in the coming weeks so watch this space!



We’re aware of several issues from Update 5 and have been working since its release to fix up the largest aspects. We’ll be releasing a patch next week that will address the following:

• Spawn location icons are now much more legible on the map.
  
• Deep rivers and waterways now have more gradual side inclines, meaning that walking or driving into them allows you to back out before quickly drowning.
  
• Vehicle occupants will now drown
  
• Enormous memory optimisation for PHL, allowing much faster loading, better in-game physics handling and overall performance increase.
  
• Added the new Jumbo tanks to other maps and gamemodes to allow us to profile them further (there will be added into the Commander reinforcement ability in the coming Updates).

We’ll be releasing the full changelist on the day of the patch, but we hope to address most of - if not all - your key issues and feedback from our Update 5 release.

To reiterate, this was possible thanks to your feedback. Thanks again to everyone that shared their feedback, both positive as well as constructive criticism / bug reports.



We will be releasing our updated roadmap next week that will give you an insight into the order of things to come over the next two updates.

We’ll also be releasing a separate “Project Roadmap” to give you a broader sense of what we want to do with Hell Let Loose up to the end of Early Access, and then beyond that. We know that many new players aren’t aware of our commitments to the Russian front and forces, as well as the broad spectrum of features still to come (melee, flamethrowers, transport vehicles etc.). We hope this works as a great way to quickly show people where the project is headed.

As we’ve said previously, we’re still in the early stages of Hell Let Loose, and there’s far more to come - so we very much appreciate your patience.



Two weeks ago we shared with you a first look at some of the updated faces / heads coming to Hell Let Loose.

Today we're excited to show you extra detail being added by Character Artist Dmitry, who's been spending time giving these upcoming faces a much more war torn and photo-realistic appearance.


Rough and ready

The team have also been making great progress on the upcoming Recon Vehicles, which will bring whole new strategic options for Armoured Units to the frontline.


Big cat spotted roaming European countryside, approach with caution.


That wraps up this week's Developer Briefing, thanks for checking it out! As you can see we're getting close to sharing more details with you about some of our most anticipated update content - we're very, very excited to share it with you.

If you're enjoying your time with Hell Let Loose, feel free to drop us a review and let us know about your experiences with the game - it really helps!

See you on the frontline.

Hi everyone!

We’re now seven months into our Early Access period and we’re hugely excited to bring you Update 5. At a changelist length of 13 pages it’s one of our largest so far. We also feel that it’s one of the most important ones we’ll do to better encourage communication and teamwork within Hell Let Loose.

Below you’ll find the major content additions, the full changelist, some known issues and then an idea of what’s to come. Next week we’ll be releasing our updated roadmap for U6 and U7 so you can know what to expect in the short term. Due to community feedback, we’ll also be putting together a long-term roadmap, as we know many new players aren’t sure of what our full vision for Hell Let Loose will look like.

As always, we’re excited to read your feedback. Hell Let Loose is shaped by the community and we’re always keen to implement fixes and changes suggested.

We want to thank you for your patience, generosity and friendliness in the way you interact with us as a dev team on all our channels. It makes communication really easy if we know that we can have a friendly conversation with the community about changes, fixes and issues. We’re also very thankful for the positive way the community welcomes new players and relates to one another.

While we know new content and features are exciting, we also want to assure you that over the coming months our focus will be turning to optimisation and performance. As we bring in huge overhauls and engine upgrades we’ll be profiling the systems and broader game to make sure we increase FPS across the board. During the last four weeks we’ve begun upgrading some internal workflows and systems to enable us to optimise far easier. We’re excited to spend time focusing on delivering you a smoother and more performant experience.

If you want to find out more about what’s to come, we go into some detail after the Update notes. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the full changelist!







Purple Heart Lane map with both Warfare and US Offensive modes

Purple Heart Lane is a wet, brutal battle down a single road and across four bridges.
Warfare sees the battle unfolding under stormy skies in torrential rain, while the US Offensive mode is clearer in a sun-shower.

We’ve worked hard to push the photo-real quality of Purple Heart Lane, as well as create an even cover density and level of micro-terrain to make fighting across the flatter landscape more fun and rewarding. We expect that control of bridges and crossings will be key to pushing across the battlefield.

PHL will also be the last Norman countryside map that we produce for a while (we are not upset about moving away from fields and hedges!), as we look to flesh out new battlefields with different styles of combat and environmental challenges. While we’re producing new maps, we’ll also be going back to overhaul the older maps - so that each one feels consistent in its visual quality, optimisation and variety of gameplay.

You can read more about Purple Heart Lane here.

During the last couple of years we’ve learned a huge amount about the Hell Let Loose level design process. Initially we used to place every single prop by hand, with each artist working in isolation. Over the past four months we’ve spent large amounts of time revisiting our workflows in order to achieve much better consistency of quality, variety of gameplay, greater detail and all wrapped up in a faster workflow. We’re very excited to show you what we’re cooking up for the future!


Overhauled Non-verbal Communication Systems (Markers and Pings)

We now have all new non-verbal communication systems and totally overhauled markers and icons across the game. To mark locations, simply hold MMB to open up a radial menu. To quickly PING a location, click MMB. Otherwise, you can open up your map and click RMB to open up a drop down menu. We’ve spent a huge amount of time thinking about the way the markers relate to other units, roles and the Commander. For more detailed information you can always read the dev briefing in which we outline the design behind the system here.

In addition, we’ve added an array of new options to allow each player to tailor their visual experience to show as much or as little information as they like - or in the manner that they prefer.

• Hide markers with HUD (press T to show and hide it)
  
• Marker display duration
  
• PING! display duration
  
• HUD display mode
  
• HUD display duration

Added Sherman Jumbo 75mm and 76mm variants

Sherman Jumbo 75mm “Cobra King”



The 75mm is the only tank so far to have smoke shells added to its loadout. The German tanks will soon be supplied with on-vehicle smoke canisters. Use the smoke shells carefully to block lines of sight in order to better manoeuvre against the enemy AT positions. We are being careful with giving many tanks smoke shells due to optimisation load from hundreds of smoke shells being fired.

The 75mm main gun produces more shrapnel than the 76mm - making for easier infantry kills, but will struggle slightly against the thickest armor of the Tiger.
A true assault tank, the strongest armor is at the front. Make sure to stay at the front of the column in order to protect your less armored companions.


Sherman Jumbo 76mm “Nice n’ Easy”



The 76mm is equipped with the same armor as the 75mm variant, with the key difference being the higher penetration power of its main gun.

Best serves as an anti-tank platform and is the best counter to the Tiger and Panther, as it’s main cannon has an easier time of penetrating both of them when compared to the 75mm.
Like the 75mm, the 76mm is a true assault tank. Try to stay front-on and mitigate clear shots of the side or rear.

A note on vehicles:

The Sherman Jumbos signal a change in the way we’ll be adding new vehicles to the game. Previously, we’ve been adding a base amount of vehicles to each side with a rough balance applied. We’ve only had five or so different types of tanks - which has meant that the starting lineup has always been relatively contained and similar across all the maps.

However, as we continue to add a large variety of vehicles, we designed the Commander role specifically to house the additional variants we’d be introducing. Therefore, as we start to introduce more and more unique vehicles and variants to the game, we’ll be tailoring the initial lineup of each map and gamemode to better reflect the design and historicity of the battle (this is a mixture of historical account and asymmetrical balance), but at the same time enable the Commander to spend Fuel in order to spawn new or different variants onto the battlefield should resources permit.

The desired outcome of this is that each team starts each battle with a balanced but asymmetrical lineup of vehicles that more closely match the historical account of the battle, but that the Commander can work with their Armoured units to spawn specific additional variants in order to turn the tide of battle and enable organised teams to play specific strategies.

Moving into Update 6, you’ll start to see the Commander vehicle-specific abilities come online as we start to tighten up the vehicle roster and widen the Commander’s functionality.



Gameplay

• Commanders can now dismantle friendly Garrisons
  
• Added an option to hard enable HUD with T (as opposed to having it pop up all the time) - allowing for fast hide and reveal.
  
• Make Server Browser sort by Player Count & Ping by Default
  
• Increase Map/Kick vote cooldown times - this is to immediately cut down on the endless spam. We will be reworking this feature drastically in the following Updates as it is rarely useful and needs a lot of refining.
  
• Drastically increased server browser refresh speed.
  
• Experience V2 has been implemented, resulting in increased experience gained across the board - with many of the slower leveling roles having their actions balanced to earn more experience. We will continue to watch this, but our intention is to significantly increase the gain compared to our first iteration (which was too slow and too punishing for many roles).
  
• Added new German “NCO” Officer Loadout
  
• Added new US “NCO” Officer Loadout
  
• Added new German “Veteran” Assault Loadout
  
• Added new German “Veteran” Automatic Rifleman Loadout
  
• Added new US “Veteran” Automatic Rifleman Loadout
  
• Players are awarded significant exp for being revived - as opposed to giving up. The intention here is to reward players for being patient in waiting for a Medic.
  
• Fixed significant armour issues eg. the German Panther tank can be one-shot by a US Sherman medium tank.
  
• Added 'Reset Hints' button to options menu
  
• Additional speculative fix for exp bug. We expect this to solve it but will continue to monitor.
  
• Fixed: Users can edit the 'Engine.ini' config file to remove some shadows and all FX
  
• Player’s camera now shakes when going prone.
  
• Consolidated and made uniform / weapon and gadget slots across all roles.
  
• Added Stuart Light Tank to Foy Warfare

PLEASE NOTE - Our experience system always saves your accumulated experience during a battle. This means that if you leave early before the battle ends, it will save the experience you’ve earned so far.

Currently, the notification when you leave indicates that all you will lose are your end of match bonuses. We will work to make this notice clearer, as many players believe instead that they lose ALL experience if they leave a match early - which is not the case.

Performance

• Removed Game Analytics. Many players will see FPS and stutter issues fixed by this.
  
• Re-work sandbag walls to remove internal geometry and bring within poly budget.
  
• Fixed: Spawning on a Garrison in a fully populated server, in a busy area, can cause a locked frame rate

SFX
[/list]

• New sound engine has been integrated and tested thoroughly. From here we will start to overhaul and polish sound and mix treatment within the game (this is similar to an Unreal Engine upgrade - now that it’s done we can begin working with the new tools). This allows for better directionality, clearer highs and lows, location-specific sounds.
  
• Integrated SFX into the mapping process so that all maps will now have area specific ambient and prop specific sound (fire burns, flies buzz etc)
  
• All bullet casing eject audio has been overhauled to be sensitive to the surface the casing is dropping on, as well as new assets and where it sits in the mix.
  
• All tanks now have a separate fire sound for the interior positions of the vehicles
  Shells now have proper flyby sounds as they fly past you - each according to the weight/caliber of the shell.
  
• New audio now plays when your vehicle is being repaired.
  
• New gravel footstep and bullet hit sounds
  
• Fixed: the frontend's music can be heard skipping soundtracks

HUD/UI

• All new player role icons
  
• All new spawn location icons
  
• Overhauled deployment screen key
  
• Overhauled Create Unit screen
  
• Added new marker placement radial menu (hold MMB)
  
• Added quick ping function (Click MMB)
  
• Overhauled ability to mark map directly (RMB opens up menu when clicking on map)
  
• Overhauled view team and view personal buttons on final screen
  
• Redesigned deploy button.
  
• Redesigned artillery icons (this treatment will be given to the rest of the emplaced weapons we add, as well as current ones - such as AT guns)
  
• Animated spawn point icons
  
• Adjusted Commendation messaging to make it much more obvious (per community feedback):
  - Increase Commendation time by 10 seconds
  - Place an explanatory line of text at the top of the Commendation screen so that people know what to do.
  - Show who Commended you.
  
• We now hide unoccupied seats in seat nameplates (increased work on vehicle nameplates is to come)
  
• Commander interface appearance has been overhauled
  
• Adjusted look of Barracks UI
  
• Redesigned most inventory icons.
  
• Redesigned bandage/morphine prompt
  
• Redesigned deploy weapon prompt
  
• Redesigned enter vehicle prompt
  
• Redesigned all vehicle position icons
  
• Created unique icon for Heavy Tanks
  
• Added Early Access disclaimer on boot
  
• Added social links to landing screen
  
• Fixed: the text format used for the Outpost, Garrison and HQ tool tips are inconsistent
  
• Fixed: the "Unit Member" icon found on the in-game map legend does not match the icon used on the map itself
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] the first strong point icon is misaligned on the UI
  
• Fixed: In the US Barracks, the Grenade and the Smoke Grenade icons have scaling issues
  
• Fixed: After the user has finished performing the animation of bandaging or reviving, the heal/revive button prompt will briefly show again
  
• Fixed: The keybindings for switching seats is found in the 'Common' keybindings
  
• Fixed: All tanks display "1" as the keybind for their shell types
  
• Fixed: When a player is unable to be muted, an empty tooltip will appear when hovering beside their name on the scoreboard
  
• Fixed: Inconsistent Icon Placement for US Helmets unlocked below Role Level 10
  
• Fixed: Map Player Icons scale inconsistently with map zoom
  
• Fixed: The Tiger tank map icon doesn't scale correctly
  
• Fixed: US resources can be observed after the user has joined the server, but before they have joined a team
  
• Fixed: The player will see a message that states "No Bandages" if they are killed by an explosion while injured
  
• Fixed: "+0,000" is briefly displayed before the experience calculation begins
  
• Fixed: Attempting to enlarge the map's key for the first time in a server results in the key to quickly enlarge and shrink
  
• Fixed: Currently equipped cosmetics are not highlighted while on the 'Barracks' screen
  
• Fixed: If a player is kicked from a unit, they are still shown as part of the unit they were kicked from on the scoreboard.
  
• Fixed: Make the unit prefix on the voip notification better spaced and larger and more obvious.
  
• Fixed: Foy HUD Compass is noticeably off set

Visual Improvements
[/list]

• When you mouse over a cosmetic option it will now preview on your character.
  
• Fixed: Unrealistic movement of flying cockroaches
  
• Fixed: The player can observe the horizon reflecting off the inside handles of the drivers view port while inside a Tiger tank
  
• Fixed: In the Barracks, multiple helmets are very low resolution with the Low Video Preset.
  
• Changed the main menu background lighting and look.
  
• Fixed: The LOD of the Heer Winter coat noticeably changes once within 6 meters.
  
• Fixed: Stretched polygons are visible when the German LMG wearing the Heer Summer Uniform goes into prone, critical or fatal stance
  
• Fixed: The German Commander's coat animation appears to reset when switching from a weapon
  
• Fixed: The US Melton Winter uniform, German Commander's coat, and Heer Winter uniform gets stuck to the front of the player after going prone
  
• Fixed: The US Anti-Tank's rocket bag on their back stretches depending on where they're aiming
  
• Fixed: Shadow incorrectly baked on German Anti-Tank role's hand within the Barracks
  
• Fixed: In the Barracks, multiple Roles have a clipping issue on the crotch with the Heer Winter Uniform
  
• Fixed: Observing the German Commander's coat while he is in the prone position results in an animation issue
  
• Fixed: Heads that use the winter headscarf will clip through some German helmets
  
• Fixed: In the Barracks, the Allies Assault's backpack is stretched when the Summer Uniform is equipped
  
• Fixed: In FPP, when a player switches from certain stances or vaults while looking directly downwards, their equipment moves to the left briefly
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] The propeller on the Higgins Boats does not appear to be animated
  
• Fixed: Lowered loading screen progress widget
  
• Fixed: Character models will not cast a shadow when looking at them at a distance with Binoculars or a Sniper Scope but all helmets will.
  
• Fixed: Players can observe a graphical issue with the Bazooka in FPP when vaulting over objects
  
• Fixed: Backface culling observed on the right hand in FPP when vaulting with the M1 Carbine

Customisation

• New Assault Vest uniform for the American forces - we were going to implement the US Airborne, but community feedback led to us looking at how we may better implement this from a game design perspective ;).

Bug Fixes

• Fixed: Users would be booted out of the queue (and the queue was reset) when a game would end). Users now stay in queue and join the server as expected after the map transitions
  
• Fixed: The player character is seen to climb up in air and teleport to their destination, when climbing a ledge.
  
• Fixed: If players are killed during a climb/mount animation the player camera will be locked to 180 degree rotation on respawn
  
• Fixed: The 'Team Killed' notification will sometimes dismiss itself through no input from the user
  
• Fixed: Application can become unresponsive during the transition from the Enlist screen to a server while minimizing the window
  
• Fixed: Player can clip through part of a log pile asset while prone, allowing them to see through the object
  
• Fixed: A particular couch asset reflects the sky on Low and Medium graphical presets
  
• Fixed: The Tiger Tank wreck has a small gap in the panel on the turret where players can see and shoot through
  
• Fixed: Players will result in having stuttered and inaccurate collision when exiting a tank that is at an angle
  
• Fixed: The Axis Helmets Icon Box automatically scrolls back to the currently selected helmet
  
• Fixed: In-game hints are being reset after the user closes the game
  
• Fixed: Placing the cursor between the third and fourth row of helmets on the German Sniper role violently shakes the helmet list
  
• Fixed: Border highlights for cosmetics will not appear correctly if the user traverses over the icons quickly
  
• Fixed: Pasting large amounts of text into the search bar on the Enlist menu will cause a severe performance drop
  
• Fixed: On the scoreboard, there is no tooltip present when hovering over the Mute icon
  
• Fixed: On the scoreboard, when a player is muted and the icon is greyed-out, it can be difficult to see
  
• Fixed: When headings or servers are highlighted on the 'Enlist' screen, there is no audio cue to accompany their highlight
  
• Fixed: The player cannot initially build constructibles if the player equips the watch/wrench and opens up the UI in quick succession
  
• Fixed: Tank coaxial machine guns do not automatically reload after resupplying until the player swaps seat or exits and reenters the tank.
  
• Fixed: A player that gives a Commendation to a user that already has 5 Commendations will use up their Commendation
  
• Fixed: Initially joining an Infantry unit results in the 'Rifleman' description to be missing
  
• Fixed: The cosmetic helmets list does not refresh to the top after changing tabs or menus
  
• Fixed: If the player begins using a bandage on themselves while prone and stands up during the animation, it will end the bandaging animation
  
• Fixed: On the loadouts screen, the Anti-Tank's wrench displays the opposite team's tooltip
  
• Fixed: The 'Redeploy' option is not greyed out on the post-match screen
  
• Fixed: Players are unable to reposition Commander abilities slightly left or right of the map icon
  
• Fixed: Players are unable to reposition the Commander's Munition abilities on the predicted path when it is going certain directions
  
• Fixed: On the deploy screen if the player changes the loadout then selects another role before deploying, they will be given the incorrect loadout
  
• Fixed: Incorrect amount of Resources lost by the Defending team once a full column/row is lost
  
• Fixed: While performing an overhead grenade throw, pressing the button for the under head throw results in the grenade immediately being thrown
  
• Fixed: Joining a Recon or Armor unit without a Leadership role puts the player as the Leader, however without any leadership functionality
  
• Fixed: Multiple windows can be produced by repeatedly clicking the button to kick a player from the unit
  
• Fixed: [QL][Enlist]– The banned players can join the server queue
  
• Fixed: The player is unable to select Commander role after a map change if the previous Commander has not yet loaded into the map.
  
• Fixed: Users can create empty Units
  
• Fixed: Once a player has been kicked from a unit, the player can create empty units and subsequently deploy into active gameplay as an empty unit
  
• Fixed: The second US smoke grenade cannot be 'cooked' and is immediately thrown

Animation

• Fixed: Cooking a German grenade while running results in the running animation to play in the hand holding the grenade
  
• Fixed: The Walther P38's magazine can be seen flying into the player's hand during the TPP reload animation
  
• Fixed: Inconsistent animation between commander and unit leader when using the watch/pocket watch to place a garrison
  
• Fixed: There are clipping issues with the cables attached to the Heer Panzer Cap from a TPP
  
• Fixed: The German sniper has incorrect TPP sprinting animations when running forward-right/left
  
• Fixed: The German Sniper has incorrect TPP walking animations in certain directions

Crashes

• Fixed: Destroying a tank just before a map change from a map vote may cause multiple users to crash

RCON

• When following the format given for the VipAdd function within the RCon Guide the user will be met with a Fail notification. To successfully add a VIP the user must add a comment after the player's Steam ID, however this is not stated within the RCon Guide. Now the VipAdd functions format reads VipAdd <steam-64-id> <comment>.

Foy

• Fixed: [Foy-O] The initial US tanks spawn instantly when the required Fuel is acquired, and do not subtract their Fuel Cost
  
• Fixed: [Foy-O] Long snow mound section in F10 is missing bullet collision
  
• Fixed: [Foy] The character needs to jump in order to pass through a wall break from E4 sector only when starting from one side of it
  
• Fixed: [Foy] A house located at sector E5 has LoD issues

Sainte-Marie-Du-Mont

• Fixed: [ST Marie Du Mont] – A tree from the edge of the map in D1 has a noticeable LoD change
  
• Fixed: There is a noticeable performance drop in a section of the St Marie town
  
• Fixed: A house found in C3 of SMDM has noticeable texture issues when viewed at different distances

Utah Beach

• Fixed: [Utah] A puddle in I6 has its murky water plane noticeably end
  
• Fixed: [Utah] Certain sandbags and barbed wire are floating when observed from a distance greater than 115 meters away in sector I6
  
• Fixed: On Utah, the ground of a specific destroyed structure has incorrect collision
  
• Fixed: On Utah, players can navigate to a specific area in sector A5 that is outside the intended playable area of the map

Hürtgen Forest

• Fixed: [Hurtgen] A specific tree has a noticeable LoD change at 27m
  
• Fixed: [Hurtgen] Multiple sandbags in B6 are low resolution
  
• Fixed: [Hurtgen] A smoke particle effect can be seen floating above a destroyed tank model
  
• Fixed: [Hurtgen] A specific tree becomes visible only when within 25m from it
  
• Fixed: [Hurtgen] There appears to be a large gap in the maps geometry on the far West side of the map

Omaha Beach

• Fixed: [Omaha] There are multiple wooden fences that have tank collision
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] Grass can be seen clipping through the house in sector E3
  
• Fixed: Bunker doors clip through terrain in H5 of Omaha
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] A specific section of the stone slope in sector I5 is altering its texture due to an LOD issue
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] The character can clip through the top of a haystack in the F5 map sector
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] There is a noticeable LOD issue on the roof of a building in sector C4
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] Grass can be seen clipping through the house in sector E5
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] The character can clip through the top of a haystack in the H6 map sector
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] Failed collision with the roof of the church located in the E6 sector
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] LOD issues present on two houses present in sector B5 of the map
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] Grass can be seen clipping through the house in sector F4
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] LOD issues present on a house in sector D4 of the map
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] There is a kitchen wall that has a widow that leads to a brick wall in sector D6
  
• Fixed: Players can see through bunker roofs while performing a jump-prone action
  
• Fixed: [QL][Omaha] A portion of the ground is missing collision with the character in the H7 sector
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] - A house in I8 has noticeably low LOD when viewed from a distance
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] Dirt tracks are not connected to the terrain in sector H8
  
• Fixed: [Omaha] Multiple visual issues with LoDs are present in sector D6 of the map.
  
• Fixed: On Omaha, there is a stationary tank inside a specific boat which the player can clip through, and potentially use as an exploit
  
• Fixed: On Omaha a Scarecrow produces a blood particle effect when shot
  
• Fixed: On Omaha, seaweed on hedgehogs produce a concrete PFX when shot

Sainte-Mère-Église

• Fixed: [SME] Strafing runs sometimes cannot be placed horizontally or diagonally
  
• Fixed: Players spawn above the ground on the bottom German HQ spawn on SME Offensive
  
• Fixed: [SME] Outposts and Garrisons cannot be placed on the sidewalks
  
• Fixed: [SME] There is a back garden in sector E5 that the player can enter and not exit
  
• Fixed: [SME] Outposts and Garrisons cannot be placed on top of wooden plank pathways used next to allotments

Known Issues
[/list]

• The new Sherman Jumbos are currently only available on Purple Heart Lane. We will be amending this to include one of them on each other map, as well as a reinforceable option for the Commander at the cost of Fuel.
  
• We’re currently still cleaning up the code that is resulting in “Server Full” and “Lost Connection” messages.
  
• Performance is well under where it should be across the game. We’ve developed a huge amount of new systems and processes during the course of developing Update 5 that we’re rolling out in order to improve FPD across the whole game.
  
• There are some mapping issues present in Purple Heart Lane. We’ll be rolling out a hotfix to tackle these soon.
  
• Both Offensive and Warfare mode have been played long enough for us to get a sense of key fixes and tweaks we need to make in order for them to be far more finished and fun to play. We’ll be making many changes to these according to community feedback for Update 6.

Currently Working On (in no specific order)

• Overhauling FPP systems to make them far more fluid and photoreal.
  
• Overhauling TPP systems to use recorded mocap animations.
  
• Currently upgrading Unreal Engine version to 4.24 to achieve large scale optimisations
  
• Stats system to tie into the Barracks.
  
• Replacing current fat FPP hands with photoreal hands and integrating new sleeves to reflect new uniforms.
  
• Working on Western Front map
  
• Working on an urban Western Front map
  
• Working on an unannounced map.
  
• Working on overhauls for many key locations in older maps (in order to both optimise them and create better gameplay and visuals)
  
• About to add all new character options to the career level progression.
  
• Currently working on new uniforms, helmets and heads (including more grizzled and appealing options for heads).
  
• Currently working on Scout Cars and Recon mechanics.
  
• Implementing melee combat.
  
• Continued overhaul of UI and HUD features according to community feedback
  
• Large scale audio overhaul in-progress in the animation branch (for all new animations).
  
• Flamethrower FPP setup.
  
• Re-assessing supply boxes and ammo boxes to remove ugly “redeploy” gameplay loop.
  
• Continued visual upgrades and optimisations on all maps and fx.
  
• Continued bug fixes across the entire spectrum.

We’ll be updating our roadmap shortly. This will lay out what we have planned for U6 and U7, as well as patches between them.

Sound Engine

Currently, we’re in the midst of several enormous overhauls and upgrades. Having just introduced the new sound engine, we’re starting to work through the missing gaps in our soundscape before we start iterating out audio changes in all coming updates.

We expect you to hear the difference each Update as we move towards a far more finished and full sound experience.


New Ballistics Systems

We’re currently working on a new ballistics system. We’ll detail this closer to its launch.


Unreal Engine Upgrade

As if one engine-type upgrade wasn’t enough, we’re also in the process of upgrading our Unreal Engine version to 4.24. The new engine version will fix several in-engine bugs, as well as allow us to optimise the game to a far greater extent. While it’s time consuming and often breaks things, we know that the reward in performance and stability gains will be well worth it.

The downside is that the upgrades generally tend to take a week of dev time. With that said, we’re feeling quite confident about this particular upgrade as our initial impressions show that there are only a few key issues.


Animation Overhaul

By far the largest bulk of work is the animation overhaul. It’s reaching the 90% complete mark and is something that we feel will transform the look and feel of the game to a huge degree (and for the better!).



All TPP animations seamlessly blend together and use motion captured movements to give it a far more natural feeling. The FPP is also seriously improved and feels far more AAA - with procedural recoil, each animation blending from one to another, better deployed MG handling and a level of polish that we’re happy with.



All movements are procedural, allowing us to quickly introduce new weapons. We’ve made sure that the new animation systems also retain the aspects of gunplay that the community enjoys - such as the reliability of recoil control.



In addition, the new FPP hands and rig have given a huge graphical quality increase to the game. No more giant hands!


Scope Overhauls

Something we haven’t mentioned yet is that we’ll be doing an overhaul on the sniper scopes. This will greatly increase the immersion and skill needed when using them. This will be introduced with the animation overhaul.


In Closing

If we detailed the rest of what’s to come, we’d be going for another 4-5 pages!

Needless to say, vehicles, new loadouts, new weapons, new customisation options, new maps, optimisations, UI and HUD polish, new features and a whole lot more are all on the horizon. We’re very excited to continue the development journey with you!

Thanks everyone - we’ll see you on the frontline!

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #62!

This week we’re sharing with you a first look at the soldier face updates that’s coming after Update 5.

Fear not, your favourite faces that you know and love won’t be going anywhere, they’re just getting updated to better reflect the face of a soldier that’s been fighting tooth and nail on the frontline.



Note: All the images on the left are the existing models, the ones on the right are what the models will be updated to.


Surprised to serious.



Battle weary to battle scarred.



Recruit to veteran.



Cocky to combat ready


And finally, the one you've all been waiting for...


Mendez vs the Mendez she tells you not to worry about


The team will be adding even more faces to the line-up as we move through Early Access to further bolster the options available to players.

To give you a clearer look at how these will look on your soldier, here’s a render for your viewing pleasure.





Join community stalwart and Team Dixx streamer ‘SakuraRagdoll’ on February 14th both here on the Hell Let Loose Steam Store Page and on her Twitch Channel as she takes to the frontline with a themed Hell Let Loose stream!



Watch Sakura’s stream, join her in battle and share your love for Hell Let Loose.

Stream start time: 6:45pm MT / 5:45pm PT / 8:45pm ET / 3:45am CEST
Stream end time: 1:00am MT / 12:00am PT / 3:00am ET / 10:00am CEST

Sakura's Twitch Channel: Watch here
Hell Let Loose Steam Channel: Watch here

Sakura will be streaming and shooting all through the evening so jump in, show your support and have some frontline fun.



The team has been working incredibly hard on Update 5 and are excited for you to experience it next Tuesday.

We’ll be sharing the changelist with you on patch-day, including new content additions, optimisations and bug fixes.

See you on the frontline.

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Developer Briefing #61!

Today we’re pleased to confirm that Update 5 will arrive on February 18th!

As your deployment to Purple Heart Lane rapidly approaches the time has come to show you exactly where you’ll be fighting, as well as the history surrounding this infamous location.

Before we delve into the tactical map let’s set the scene…



Dawn, Saturday morning, June 10th 1944.

Lt. Col. Robert G. Cole ordered troops of the 502nd across the Douve in pitch darkness with I Company leading the attack. I Company was followed by G, H, and HQ company of the 3rd Battalion. The fierce defense set up by Colonel Von Der Heydte was marked by a “Belgian gate” on Bridge No. 4 with 3rd Battalion deployed in the flooded fields siding the N13 road where dry patches of land provided no cover for the Germans.

The Germans had dug their heels into the wet soil with the intention to defend Carentan to the last man as Hitler had ordered the 6th FallschirmJäger Regiment to not let the city fall into enemy hands.

The N13 was a hard, barren road embankment and provided no cover or opportunity to dig
trenches or holes alike and consisted of four bridges:

• Bridge No. 1 spanned the Jordan River
  
• Bridge No. 2 spanned the Douve River.
  
• Bridge No. 3 crossed a small stream known as Le Groult.
  
• Bridge No. 4 leading into Carentan which crossed the Madeleine River.

By daylight the men of the 502nd were strewn along the N13 road with the Germans picking them off from both flanks. The Americans grew more frustrated and angrier with each passing hour. This led to the stretch of road above Carentan being given the name Purple Heart Lane.

The battle dragged on, then on the night of June 10/11 two German Stuka Dive Bombers came down the road with strafing fire and dropping bombs on the men of the 502nd.

This contributed to the heavy losses inflicted on the 502nd during the approach to Carentan and changed the tone of the confrontation. What this led to was savage, with little quarter given to any Germans attempting to surrender.

Eventually, after squeezing men one at a time through the Belgian Gate at Bridge No.4 in the darkness of Sunday morning, June 11, 1944, the 3/502nd regrouped and prepared for a renewed offense in daylight...



Before Lt. Col. Cole's now renowned bayonet charge, he stood in plain view of the hidden enemy, bellowing orders in his usual loud voice, deploying his troops.

The USS Texas started its smoke barrage on the field which was followed by a whistle.

Cole's charge and the men behind it secured the morning's objective, earning Cole a Medal of Honor. One German prisoner who had been on the receiving end of the charge told war correspondent Robert Reuben, "They charged like wild animals. They screamed and shouted when they charged into our fire. It was unbelievable!"

A hard's day of fighting ensued in the Cabbage Patch which was captured by the 1st/502nd. Desperate fighting around the apple orchard beyond the Ingouf Farmhouse raged until midday, the Germans would not relent that easily.

A brief truce to request a German capitulation and to collect wounded took place, followed by a furious resumption of the fighting.



In a desperate test of will, the German and American parachutist fought to a standstill all afternoon. This continued until Forward Observer St. Julien Rosemond of the 377 PFA Bn called for a barrage which almost landed on top of the American lines, breaking up the last German counter-attack of June 11 and bringing about the close of the assault.

Casualties on both sides were heavy, the road to Carentan now open for the Allies…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vic24tsNOTc

A large amount of credit to the Tripwire user Lt. Stephenson who laid out the context and history of the location so wonderfully.



Much like all our maps in Hell Let Loose, Purple Heart Lane is created to be as accurate as possible through the use of archive footage and aerial imagery from the time.

This is your tactical map, study it and prepare for deployment:



This isn’t just a map that carries the location’s name, we’ve worked hard to recreate the battlefield in-game for you to experience.

Now here’s the tac map side by side with actual aerial footage, showing how we’ve built the map to replicate the location.



That wraps up this week’s developer briefing! Purple Heart Lane, two Jumbo tank variants and more will be arriving in Update 5 on February 18th.



See you on the frontline!