Hi Catanians,

We want to inform you about some changes in the way we will communicate with you about what we are working on. We saw that our daily updates on Discord did not have the intended effect of you feeling well-informed. Presenting you with smaller pieces of info and letting you know about every fix (as little as it might have been) did lead to more frustration than it did any good.

We will now try our best to paint a bigger picture in our announcements and let you know on a weekly bases, what we are working on and how last week's changes affect this week's work, and the situation in the multiplayer. This will allow you to get all the info you need in just one weekly post.

We will post every Tuesday.

Last Week 21st - 27th Nov:


We worked on further changes to our cloud code to make it more stable. Our team has thoroughly analyzed the release from last Thursday to plan this week's tasks.

Unfortunately, we saw issues with the introduced changes which subsequently did lead to a roll-back on Friday. We fixed those issues in the last days and prepared a release for this week.

This Week 28th Nov - 4th Dec :

Our team will update the servers again with the fixed changes from last week. We have one release on the servers planned for Tuesday 29th and another one for Wednesday the 30th. Both of those changes are in preparation for a client update we started to work on. All these changes are focussing on the matchmaking process which is still causing most of the issues in the game.

We will also tackle the known graphical issue with Macs using M1 (or newer chips).

We are planning to release this client update in the week of Dec 12th. More on that in next week's announcement.



Our team is committed to improving the current situation with online multiplayer. We thank you very much for your patience.

These days winters are not associated in many places (especially in the northern hemisphere) with incessant snow and ice, but the colder season still means difficulties for airports - they have to be prepared for anything, especially the harshest weather conditions.



What is the biggest problem in aviation when winter comes? Those who think about temperature and fuel problems are wrong. Aviation fuel only freezes at -40 degrees Celsius, and importantly: we are talking about the temperature on the ground, not in the air. What does this mean?

During flight, the temperature outside the aircraft is as low as -56 degrees Celsius. How come fuel is not freezing? To put it simply: because it passes through the engine and is heated there. The cool air itself also has a higher density and so the plane can reach its destination using less fuel, meaning the flight is more efficient. To be honest, it's the warm air that poses more of a problem for planes - already at around 50 degrees Celsius on the plus side, plane can have trouble taking off from an airport.

OK... so if not low temperatures, then what hinders the operation of airports in winter? The answer: atmospheric phenomena associated with low temperatures, namely snowfall and ice deposition. In addition, there can be fog or even snow blizzards - although this problem is reduced with the help from ILS system, about which you can read more here.

The key is to properly secure the airport for adverse conditions. So what are the procedures?




This is the most important operation to be carried out at the airport: various types of machinery will be used to remove snow from the runway, such as plows, vehicles equipped with special brushes to thoroughly remove the layers that the plows have not been able to remove or even large blowers that are designed to remove even the smallest snow accumulation with the use of warm air.

So how much equipment are we talking about? Well, let's check the 2021 season list from small polish airport "Zielona Góra-Babimost":

4x sets of snowblowers,
2x sprinklers,
1x tractors,
1x rotor
1x deicing machine
resources consumed annually:
+/- 12-15 Tons of urea
+/- 5-6 tons of formate
+/- 1000l of deicing fluid

Now you can imagine what kind of forces are needed to carry out similar operations at the worlds largest airports.



fot. Welcome Airport Service

Airplanes also need to be handled in terms of snow removal and deicing. While desnowing an airplane is not a big problem, protecting it from ice is more important. Frozen water not only puts a strain on the structure, but also affects its load-bearing capacity. That's why machines are sprayed with a special agent before takeoff to prevent freezing. In turn, during the flight itself, the wings of the aircraft are protected from snow and ice deposition by a heating system that warms the wings from the inside.

JOIN OUR DISCORD

We would like to inform everyone that Luminary: Rise of the GoonZu shall perform its server enhancement maintenance, this process will be used to update the servers and make certain system upgrades.

➡️ Start Schedule:
🔊 November 30, 2022 (PST/PDT)
🔊 12:00 PM PST/PDT

Make sure to add us on the following social media sites to follow Luminary!

Webpage - http://luminary.valofe.com/center/default.asp
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/LuminaryGlobal.vfun
Discord - https://discord.gg/y78StTp

Regards,
Luminary Global Team.

Characters from the Marketplace are usable
Working on items

Hey Everyone,

It's time for another update from the trenches! After the rollout of the first two U13 PTEs, with players having their first hands-on experience with most of the U13 content, we have a LOT to highlight here today, including; the U13 release date, a new full time Community Manager, animation optimisation, Steam free weekend, and the new premium DLC bundle that will be rolling out alongside U13.

Update 13 ‘Burning Snow’ Release date Tuesday December 6th!

Time is almost upon us, as many have noticed over the last few months we have been highlighting and in some cases sneak peeking into the upcoming Burning Snow update for Hell Let Loose.

This week, we are excited to confirm that the update will be going live on Tuesday the 6th of December, across all platforms!



Burning Snow has some great features which we think players new and old alike will enjoy. We feel that providing a brief summary of some of the items in the update might be worthwhile for you all to get a glimpse of what is coming before Tuesday, December 6th.

Some of the items to watch out for in the new ‘Burning Snow’ update include:

New Vehicles:

• T-70 Light Tank
  
• Jeeps for all factions USA, Germany and Soviet

New Weapons:

• US: M2-2 Flamethrower
  
• GER: Flammenwerfer41
  
• SOV: Molotovs
  
• SOV: Bazooka

New Map:

• Kharkov (Snow map)

Additional Improvements:

• Updated and improved Player Animations
  
• Updated and improved Uniform Loadout presets
  
• UI Improvements

And a host of fixes and bugs squashed. In addition to the above, lots of work has been done to iron out a magnitude of small items like minor terrain glitches etc.

The above is merely a short summary of the bulk of the Burning Snow update. Upon release, we will disclose the full changelog which illustrates in detail all the improvements and changes made with this latest update.

Welcome to WombatMedic, the new Full Time Community Manager!

Throughout the last 12 months, both the Hell Let Loose team and community have continued to expand, and as part of that growth, we are thrilled to welcome and introduce Alisha ‘WombatMedic’, as our new full time Community Manager!

Alisha will be dedicated to supporting you on the frontlines, and has already been working away behind the scenes for several weeks and can’t wait to meet you all.

She’ll be jumping into Discord chat today to introduce herself, so head over there and give her a warm welcome!

Free Weekend December 01

Starting December 1st, there will be a free weekend for Hell Let Loose on all platforms. If you have a friend or family member that is keen to hit the trenches on the frontlines of HLL, this weekend will give them the opportunity to do so for a limited time, for free.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/686810/Hell_Let_Loose/

Animation Optimisation - Bones Rework

Amongst the quality of life updates we are implementing to U13 we have included the first iteration of an animation optimisation improvement. This is done through a rework of the animation bones used in the player models.

The purpose of the animation optimisation is to improve the look and feel of the animations, whilst optimising the performance of the third-person skeleton.

First, we optimised the TPP skeleton by removing excess bones which reduces draw calls and improves performance. This involved removing about 20 bones on the skeleton. This reduces calls by more than 2000 per frame to help boost fps. Next we added twist bone constraints and re-skinned all the skeletal meshes for more accurate bone placement. This improves fidelity of mesh deformation and makes for smoother animation visuals. Arms and legs bend cleaner and animations appear smoother and more natural.

Helmet Pack - Skull Bucket

With the release of Update 13 we are also rolling out a new DLC cosmetics pack for players to purchase and enjoy. With the adept name of ‘Skull Bucket’, this DLC pack will feature 2 unique helmets for each faction of US, Germany and Soviet forces. The helmets include the following:

• US - 101st Airborne 506th PIR Paratrooper M1
  
• US - 29th Infantry Division M1
  
• Germany - Paratrooper M38 Fallschirmjäger Helmet
  
• Germany - M35 Double Decal Police Helmet
  
• Soviet - 1941 Model Blockaded Leningrad Helmet
  
• Soviet - M36 Budenovka Winter Cap

Let's take a look at how these helmets look with some detailed renders by our character artist.


US - 101st Airborne 506th PIR Paratrooper M1


US - 29th Infantry Division M1


Germany - M35 Double Decal Police Helmet


Germany - Paratrooper M38 Fallschirmjäger Helmet


Soviet - 1941 Model Blockaded Leningrad Helmet


Soviet - M36 Budenovka Winter Cap

Community Highlight

Today, we are giving a shout out to the HLL Seasonal competition, which has been running for some time now, with many groups involved. The Seasonal has been a great insight into the competitive side of HLL. If you are curious, you can check it out below.

The HLL Seasonal Tournament, one of the largest worldwide community driven competitions, is returning for its fifth edition. Pitting 33 teams in 90 games over the course of 16 weeks, the HLL Seasonal Fall 2022 edition will once again be the peak of competitive HLL.

Again, the world's top teams fight for the fall crown in 4 stages: First, second, main and the feared play-off stage, with the event currently being in the main stage. All the games are being broadcast - check out discord.gg/hllseasonal for more information on where to catch the games live.

The Discord is also the best place for any additional content regarding the HLL Seasonal: make your predictions on the games, follow the map eliminations, and come support your team! The HLL Seasonal has, as always, a wide variety of casters from all over the world, which will cover most matches in English - and some in German, French, Spanish, Chinese and more. If you have missed a match, you may find some of them in #replayschannel of the HLL Seasonal Discord.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_U0OC5ilq8

War Correspondent, Content Creator and Community HLL Videos

Time for some more community highlights from the below creators. We highly recommend giving them a watch.
If you see a Video you like make sure to post in the Discord #hll-videos channel.

Most Chaotic Game Of Hell Let Loose I've Played - TallGrass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi1aozNLrOs

Battle Highlights: Carentan Offensive - November 9, 2022 - SoulSniper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz2fgwQM6Cw

Hell Let Loose Gameplay and Laughs 16 - Tiger_Mafia Gaming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z56MvLgqoFI

Don’t forget that if you haven’t checked out the other Hell Let Loose socials you should do so. Like our discord you will find them great places for information and community interaction.


Join the Discord here https://discord.gg/hellletloose

Our other social platforms can be found here:

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HellLetLoose/
Twitter https://twitter.com/hell_let_loose
Youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/HellLetLoose
Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/HellLetLoose/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hellletlooseofficial/
Steam http://steamcommunity.com/groups/HellLetLoose

Well, it's time to free up some SSD space for U13 and wrap up today's Dev Brief.
See you all on the frontline!

• The “More Dakka!” and “More Flash!” achievements unlock consistently. If you've done the requirements for these achievements previously and it didn't unlock, the achievement will be granted retroactively on game launch.
  
• The “Find all Secrets” achievement is updated.

• Increased readability for kick options and hat pricing.
  
• Teef count for “The wall imperturbable” has been fixed

Additionally, the following community items have also been added and can now be earned through playing the game.

• 6 badges
  
• 5 trading cards
  
• 3 profile backgrounds
  
• 5 emoticons

//misc
- Sprout Escapade achievement: You now need 5 Giant Bro minions of different types (instead of every Giant Bro type as that was a bit much).
- Necrotic Skirmishes: Some of the new contraptions have been added to some maps (eg Sullenwoods now has Fungal Growths, Cathedral now always has a Lexicanium Archive).
- Sacrilegious Altar contraption: When used it will now say what type of deamon was summoned.

//bug fixes
- Minion Boneways screen: The normal Giant minion wasn't unlocking. The Giant Barrower was listed as x2.
- Collecting 4 Rune Arcs would create an ungodly ultra giga lightning storm.
- The level 3 Scholastic Researcher meta was preventing the extra spells gained from the Sorcerer Hollow's Occulto Bookwormios meta.
- The Fungal Growth contraption was increasing the Shroom Bro minion by +3.
- Bottled Fairy relic: The Choose Boneraise/Relic/Spell screen was removing the extra fairy invincibility frames.
- Sacrilegious Altar contraption: When used it wasn't removing a Soul meta. The summoned Deamon was counting as a legion minion which would causes issues (eg it could be sacrificed to summon a Diablos).
- Beggar Seller event: You weren't given the relic even if it was real. You could move the selector down into an invisible fourth option.

In the upcoming War Thunder update, the 9A35М2 will become the earliest SAM available for research in the Soviet tech tree.


Features:

• Maneuverable missiles
  
• High profile
  
• Unable to hit ground targets
  
• Amphibious

With the release of the next major game update, enthusiasts of Soviet vehicles in War Thunder will receive the 9A35M2, a.k.a. Strela-10M2, the first air defense system available for research in the Soviet ground vehicle tech tree. The machine, built on the chassis of the MT-LB armored tractor, is designed to destroy enemy aircraft at short and medium distances.

The 9A35M2 ammunition load is 8 surface-to-air missiles with a thermal seeker: four in launch containers and four available for reloading. The missiles are capable of hitting enemy aircraft at distances up to 5 km, while the missile has a good maximum overload indicator for its rank, which results in high maneuverability.




The new 9A35M2 should feel very familiar to tankers already familiar with the Shturm-S, as both vehicles share the MT-LB multi-purpose chassis. It is a quite mobile amphibious platform that can easily overcome rough terrain. The armor of the vehicle is only bulletproof and will not protect against tank guns, autocannons and close bomb explosions. By the way, the 9A35M2 itself has a fairly high silhouette, so it would be wise to fire from behind cover or from the lowlands.

The new Soviet air defense system will take place between the artillery anti-aircraft guns and the 2S6 SAM, thus covering the need for anti-aircraft missiles at the pre-top ranks. The vehicle will be able to provide invaluable assistance to the team, destroying attack aircraft and early helicopters, which are forced to come close to the tank battle area due to the limited range of their ATGMs.




Look for a new SAM vehicle at rank VI of Soviet armored vehicles research tree immediately after the release of the upcoming War Thunder winter update. You will always be the first to know about other interesting vehicles, locations, new game mechanics and game improvements in our Devblog series. Stay tuned to the news!

The exact release date is to be announced soon.

Right now the game is on the final stage of testing before Early Access release.

How about joining our Discord server?
Here's the link: http://discord.gg/invite/9eHyYap

And a page on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kishmishstudio

https://www.knockoutcity.com/updates/patch-8-0