Hey everyone,
Public Testing for our new Skirmish Mode variations is now live for 24 hours on the Hell Let Loose (Public Testing) Steam App!
A huge thank you to all of you who participated in our first PTE for Skirmish. We appreciate the time taken to share feedback; the insights into your experience have been instrumental in helping us tweak and improve gameplay, and we’re working hard to remedy the issues.
We’d like to take this opportunity to reinforce that Skirmish is optional – this mode offers a shorter gameplay experience for players looking to learn the mechanics and immediately throw themselves into the action.
If you missed last week’s PTE, you can read about Skirmish, for a full explanation of what the new mode entails: [Click here]
El Alamein Changes
We’ve redesigned El Alamein to deliver an improved gameplay experience that accommodates Skirmish. Map visuals and layout have been enhanced and improved – bringing graphical consistency to the level with an overall colour and tone pass. We’ve transformed the roads to increase visual quality; populated many open, empty areas; and new military posts have been set up across the map. Please see the full list of adjustments and improvements in the changelog below.
The roads in El Alamein have had a major overhaul to increase the visual quality
The Oasis location has been extended and now includes two towns connected by a bridge that overlooks it
New Skirmish Mode variations
This PTE includes two new variations of Skirmish Mode that we have been developing named Phased and Majority.
Both these variations play out quite differently compared to Foy and Kharkov Skirmish which involved both teams fighting for control over a single Capture Point.
What is Phased Skirmish?
Phased Skirmish is based on two or more phases during a match with one team attacking and the other defending. Each phase can include several Capture Points that must be captured by the attacking team to progress to the next phase. The Defending team always has initial control over the sectors with pre-placed garrisons to support their defensive tactics.
Win Conditions:
- The attacking team must capture all Capture Points in each phase
- Defending team must prevent the attacking team from capturing all the Capture Points
El-Alamein and Driel Bridge are our two Phased Skirmish maps
El-Alamein - Phased Skirmish
- German Africa Corps are the defenders, British Eighth Army are the attackers
- Map orientation is east to west
- The match is structured around two phases, with Capture Points located in the middle sectors of the map
- Only the territory in the middle sectors can change hands by gaining control of the relevant Capture Point(s)
- Only the hard capture radius is active
Driel Bridge - Phased Skirmish
- Germany are the defending team, Great Britain are the attacking team
- Map orientation is north to south
- The match is structured around three phases, with Capture Points located in key sectors around the bridge
- Similar to offensive mode, the attacking team can gain control over the majority of the map sectors except for the HQ sectors
- Only the hard capture radius is active
What is Majority Skirmish?
Majority Skirmish is based on both teams fighting for majority control over several Capture Points. All Capture Points are unlocked and can be captured and retaken at any time throughout the match. When the match ends, the team with the majority control over the Capture Points wins!
Win Condition:
- Capture and hold the majority of Capture Points when the match ends
Driel (non-bridge version) is our Majority Skirmish map
Driel - Majority Skirmish
- Germany and Great Britain teams are fighting for majority control over all of the Capture Points
- Map orientation is north to south
- Only the territory in the middle sectors can change hands by gaining control of the relevant Capture Point(s)
- Soft capture and hard capture radius are active
Why are there two Driel Skirmish maps in the PTE?
We wanted to try out two different versions, one that focuses on the bridge and one that doesn't.
We also wanted to see what different variations of Skirmish mode the Driel map could support and test both versions in the PTE to see what our community thought about each one and whether or not players prefer one more over the other.
Many of the rules and details from the Foy and Kharkov Skirmish still apply, such as…
- 40 minutes match duration
- Limited armour and recon squads
- New Forward Position
- Smaller map size
Further info:
- Match duration is 40 minutes with 3 min warmup
- Skirmish mode takes place on a smaller map. Playable space is 1.4km x 1.12km (10x8 Skirmish grid)
- Sectors and grid sizes are also smaller to reflect the new map size
- Grid square is 140 compared to 200 in Warfare
- Skirmish mode features a new type of garrison called the Forward Position. Forward Positions have a distance rule of 140 meters from each other. The radius is visually shown on the tactical map
- For Driel Majority Skirmish, We show on the tactical map the soft capture i.e. 2x2 grid square where the Capture Points reside
Updates & Changes in El Alamein
- Currently, the tactical map has not been updated
- Some performance issues on the El Alamein level have been highlighted. We are currently doing a full level pass where we are tackling assets that are not performant and reducing the draw calls of smaller assets to increase the frame rate of the level for release
- New HQ locations for Skirmish mode
- New Capture Point locations for Skirmish mode
- Populated open and empty areas with trenches, buildings, and military outposts to provide more cover and improve the overall flow of the map
- The map visuals and layout have been enhanced and improved, with an overall colour and tone pass to bring visual consistency to the level
- The roads in El Alamein have had a major overhaul to increase the visual quality
- The Oasis location has been extended and now includes two towns connected by a bridge that overlooks the Oasis
- A large number of exposed empty areas have been populated with winding canyons that provide more cover for infantry and visual interest
- Various capture points now have new themes and storytelling added
- New mine tunnels have been fully implemented into the map, creating alternative paths and refuge areas for infantry spawns
- New military posts have been set up across the map
- Trench visuals have been improved and redressed in multiple locations around the map.
- Added a variety of trees and vegetation
- Heavy optimisation of the level has been implemented and is currently an ongoing task.
Updates & Changes in Driel
- Currently, the tactical map has not been updated
- New HQ locations for Skirmish mode
- New Capture Point locations for Skirmish mode
Other Updates and changes
Based on the 30th November PTE feedback we have made a temporary improvement change and reduced the opacity of the Forward Position radius in the tactical map
Work In Progress
These PTE sessions are a way for you as a community to feedback on Hell Let Loose work in progress, which means we can look to implement your feedback before a patch or update is released. Although we can currently only hold public testing sessions on PC, we encourage everyone to take part to be able to share feedback.
Streaming & Recording PTE Sessions
You are welcome to both stream and record PTE footage, but as these sessions are showing unfinished work, it’s always good to let your individual communities know that the footage is from a PTE session, where you might encounter unfinished items, bugs, and other issues.
Feedback Questions
Once you have completed a game and are ready to provide feedback, please use the forms below!
How to Take Part
Check your Steam Library for the Hell Let Loose (Public Testing) application, or re-download it from the Steam store, you’ll want to boot this version up to take part in the PTE!
Once you’re in and have selected a server, you’ll be able to test out the new game mode!
Submit Feedback: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=dzO7_29vdE2wkFIXThwvGavPYX8LIbRMtn3WncW9OkpUNUcwUVNESVkxREc3VFlVQU9TWDZMMUU1NC4u
Share Bug Reports: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=dzO7_29vdE2wkFIXThwvGavPYX8LIbRMtn3WncW9OkpUNlpORllYSk8wWkhQT0pHNlRETkRTUFFZNC4u
Please note:
Because PTEs are run on development servers that have logging activated, you will experience a slight decrease in performance. You will also not earn any exp and your progress will not be carried over to the live game.