Isonzo News

[h3]We no longer have to talk about 'the new special game mode' for Isonzo, because today we can reveal that you'll be playing the Ascent mode![/h3]
Ascent is going to be our latest limited time special event, in the vein of the Verdun Christmas Truce or Tannenberg Wolf Truce. If you haven't experienced either of those before, check out their trailers below:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

No doubt the name already gives you some ideas what might be involved, but because we're feeling generous we also have another screenshot for you - which you might have already seen if you follow our socials or hang out on our Discord...

An interesting set of equipment, often used to reach greater heights!

Otherwise, it's a shorter blog this week as the release day for Ascent marches closer.

One more exciting detail to share with any of your friends who play on console: this is the first special game mode which will be coming to consoles as well as PC!

[h3]Updated Roadmap![/h3]
Our plans have changed a little since the last roadmap was posted, so it's time for an update!



[h3]The Altitude Units Pack is available to wishlist![/h3]
Our next cosmetic DLC can be wishlisted on Steam now. If you’re looking for uniforms and gear suited for the extreme conditions of mountaintop combat, this pack has you covered!

Find it here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2719540

An Italian officer with uniform and gear from the Altitude Units Pack. Notice the unusual aviator goggles, available both on headgear and to wear.

An Austro-Hungarian engineer and sniper dressed for the cold. Balaclavas and more goggles!

We’ll be back in two weeks with a full intelligence report on the limited time Ascent game mode! Before that though, there will be new teasers appearing on our social media channels, so if you can’t wait, you know where to go.

[h2]Until next time, soldiers![/h2]

This hotfix deals with the stability issues introduced by last week's update, as well as some visual issues.

• Fixes for stability issues
  
• Fixed shadows jittering in some scenarios
  
• Fixed the Madsen offset LMG grip animation in the After Action Report
  

The download is expected to be around 48 mb.

With the arrival of the frozen mountainside and ice tunnels of the Marmolada map we also released the Glacial Units Pack to provide improvised clothing for the extreme cold. But as the fighting continues with no sign of the conditions improving, it’s time to offer something a little more heavy-duty.

Today we’re excited to officially announce our next cosmetic DLC: say hello to the Altitude Units Pack!

Everything you’ll find in the Altitude Units Pack!


Compared with the Alpine Units Pack and even the Glacial Units Pack, these uniforms are thicker with more padding and layers. For instance, with the Alpine Units Pack the Austro-Hungarian troops got great coats and a scarf here or there, but they still had bare hands and regular boots. That won’t do in the extreme conditions like those seen fighting for the heights of Marmolada! With the Altitude Units you get fur lined coats, thick gloves, balaclavas, wool hats, and even some unusual wicker footwear…

An Austro-Hungarian Engineer and Sniper enjoy a moment’s clear weather.

Reference photo showing wicker shoe covers worn by an Austro-Hungarian rifleman.

The pack also includes ski jackets and their accompanying hoods, as you can see in the center-right soldier below. There’s a range of headgear choices, with many caps and helmets included with or without balaclavas and hoods. Often there are goggles or sunglasses in easy reach. Of course these are not modern sunglasses – instead they tend to use mesh or thin slits to try and limit the sun’s blinding impact.

Italian Assault and Mountaineer troops advance through the snow.

Italian mountaineers, one with ski hood.

This closeup on an Austro-Hungarian officer and rifleman shows off the full face sun goggles – very useful against snow blindness caused by UV light reflecting off the snow.

There are also a number of smoking pipes in the pack – including this one with has been customized with the addition of carved ‘trench art’.

Last but not least, there are three mustaches and two mustache-beard combos included, as well as two face options with the slightly haggard old soldier Giacomo and fresh faced Georg who has likely just arrived at the front. As always you will be free to mix and match these items within historical limits. We hope to announce the release date for the Altitude Units Pack soon!


We did say that a bigger teaser for the new game mode would be part of this week’s blog. Have a gander at this very small part of the ground you’ll be fighting over…


[h2]Make sure to wrap up warm out there![/h2]

We released an update today that makes several improvements to voice chat and allows Steam and Epic players to communicate with each other. Additionally, there's a host of additional fixes across the entire game.

Please keep in mind that people on different versions of the game cannot play together, so player numbers may be lower than usual shortly after the update.

The download size is expected to be around 1 GB.

[h2]Changes[/h2]

[h3]New[/h3]

• Steam and Epic players can now communicate through voice chat
  
• New Voice Chat Settings:
  - Added Voice Chat Modes setting - Players can now select between 3 different settings; Off, Listen and Talk and Listen
  - Added Audio Output Device setting
  - Added Voice Chat Input Device setting
  - Added Voice Chat Output Device setting
  
• Added a new indicator on the scoreboard to show if a player is muted or not
  
• Bots in squads - bots now join existing squads and are removed when real players join
  

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed players sometimes dying from desertion when they shouldn't be
  
• Further improvements to players sometimes being invisible and/or invincible
  
• Fixed players not always being able to use the periscope
  
• Fixed an issue where player aborting reloading wasn't visible in third person
  
• Fixed not being able to get the Sacro Egoismo achievement if any class was prestiged in the meantime
  
• Fixed some game sounds not responding properly to the Volume setting
  
• Fixed an issue where the base ability cooldowns weren't properly calculated upon use
  
• Fixed Shaken Not Stirred achievements not always properly tracking
  
• Fixed players sometimes not getting Damage done XP
  
• Fixed players sometimes not getting Assist XP
  
• Fixed flare gun showing the wrong prompt on first equip
  
• Scoped weapons now apply suppression to players
  
• Firing the Bodeo no longer has a big impact on performance
  
• Fixed twitching for the pistol holding animations
  
• Fixed players sometimes not being able to instantly spawn after Charge ability was used
  
• Fixed players getting resupply points when not supposed to
  
• Austro-Hungarian non-built Forward posts now show the correct preview
  
• Piave bridge no longer prevents bots from walking across the river until destroyed
  
• Fixed bots not being able to plant/defuse bombs on bridges
  
• Bot spawning improvements
  
• Fixed bots getting stuck in the last sector of Dolomiti
  
• Fixed an issue where players were sometimes not shown in their correct stance while on an HMG
  
• Fixed Longest distance kill Medal being overtaken by bots
  
• Fixed various medals not being achievable
  
• Game pop-ups can now be interacted with even if player spawned in the meantime
  
• Fixed Officer call-in screen remaining active when the match ends
  
• Fixed not being able to add spaces in player reports
  
• Fixed objective UI sometimes being visible in Settings menus
  
• Kill cam movement improvements
  
• Fixed sector cooldown UI appearing when the match ended with an Attacker victory
  
• Fixed Hunter challenge counting non-primary weapon kills
  
• Fix for long Custom Match name not being correctly displayed in menu
  
• Fixed Inventory Display in HUD settings missing the toggle option
  
• Fixed Lanciarazzi Very Flare gun name in kill feed
  
• Improved sector outline visibility
  
• Various Localization fixes
  
• General Performance improvements
  
• General map fixes and improvements
  

You get an extra blog this week, thanks in part to the tireless efforts of the fighters on the Western and Eastern Fronts in Verdun and Tannenberg. Last weekend we ran one of our multi-front Campaign events where battle casualties for both the Entente and Central Powers are tallied up, with the side taking the least losses winning.

The result means that we are sharing a mini-teaser about the upcoming new game mode in Isonzo. But first we have news of a small but significant feature update that will be arriving sooner.


Alongside a selection of bug fixes and general quality of life improvements for Isonzo, we will soon be improving our voice chat system on PC so that Steam and Epic players will be able to talk together – all the better to coordinate your attacks and defenses. At the same time we will be implementing voice chat on consoles for the first time, something we know the community has requested.

A US Army field radio station in 1919. Communication technology has come a long way! It would take 16 key presses to call someone a n00b in morse code.


Historically with the Battle of Verdun the Germans hoped to inflict heavy casualties on the French by taking vital ground and then smashing their counter-attacks. This plan failed, with both sides suffering enormous losses over the course of one of the longest battles in history.

In our games, so far the Entente always win the campaigns, so we challenged the community to see if they could give the Central Powers an ahistorical victory, with the potential prize a teaser about the upcoming new Isonzo game mode. The result…

[h2]Entente Victory! Again.[/h2]
It’s not so easy to change the course of history. But, if you look at the numbers below you’ll notice the Central Powers only lost around 7000 more troops during the campaign. In previous campaigns the difference would usually be closer to 40-50,000 more Central Powers casualties.

The final results from the campaign.

It’s still a good performance, and while you couldn’t quite beat our challenge we’ve still decided to share a very mini-teaser with you:

[h3]You can see part of the combat area of the new map from our most recently released map: Marmolada.[/h3]

It’s not much, but we know you can be resourceful when it comes to figuring out new game content. And if not - there will be a bigger teaser coming in next week’s blog.

[h2]See you then, soldiers![/h2]