While we’re working towards yet another massive update to CtA - GoH, we’d like to offer you a short glimpse of things to come.
As announced earlier, we are currently working on “Content update II”.
In this blog, we want to present a small part of that update - with more to follow in the next one - in a way that will appear familiar to those that have been following us for years. However, not everything will be “business as usual”, because we’re about to introduce some new elements; keep reading!
New single player & co-op mission
We have finished a mission that will be added to our “Za Rodinu” singleplayer campaign.
It will be added at the end of the current storyline; it takes place in october 1944.
A co-op version of the same scenario will be included as well.
Historical backgroundSeptember/ october 1944. The Red army has resumed its advance after a pause. They had halted in august, when operation Bagration ended; already it seemed obvious that the next step would be an attempt to cut off German army group north from the rest of the front.
The Germans were not very optimistic about their chances, having suffered appalling losses in previous months. To think they would be able to hold on to Courland was not very realistic at all, but evacuation of civilians was not even ordered. Instead, they received orders to dig deep and defend any attempt by the red army to reach the Baltic sea. As far as they were able to, they built a layered defence to consolidate their positions, as illustrated below.
The soviet offensive; note the 4 defensive lines east of Memel/ KlaipedaAfter the pause in august- september, the 43rd army under hero of the Soviet Union
general Beloborodov advanced to the southwest with the aim to reach the coast south of Klaipeda, or Memel as it was then known.
The 43rd was part of the first Belorussian front, whose objective was indeed to isolate the German forces north of the East Prussian border. They achieved their goals in a matter of days, even in the face of fierce resistance from the “Grossdeutschland” and other divisions; the Soviet assault had become seemingly unstoppable.
Major- general Afanasy Beloborodov around 1950. Source: Mil.ruThe mission in Gates of HellOur mission takes place on the 8th of october. The first two defensive lines in front of Memel have been successfully breached and the 43rd army pushes forward to the next.
You’re part of the southern attack pincer and you’re advancing to Baltic sea coast south of Memel. You have been tasked to breach the third defence at the first possible opportunity.
HD LinkYou may have received reports that your opponents are exhausted, short of supplies and outnumbered, but it would be really bad to assume this will be a walkover.
One of your enemies is known to be a tough cookie, who has survived Stalingrad; don’t expect him to retreat or surrender!
This German unit was there. The officer in the photo is Oberst Willy Langkeit, who got heavily wounded near Memel on october 15thYour orders are to lead the assault on defensive positions. Speed is of the essence, the enemy might be moving in some reserves and you have to reach the coast the day after tomorrow. You’ll have to balance aggression and caution, and make sure you do not fail your general - or risk an investigation and interrogation by the NKVD! Fortunately, it’s entirely up to you to hand- pick the units you consider to be best suited for this operation.
New elementsThis mission, in a way, will pay tribute to where we come from and where we are going.
Where we come from - in a nutshell - is a desire to take as much input from the community as possible while developing something that honors the veterans of world war 2.
This mission was crafted with a lot of repeated feedback from the community in mind. Maybe this was something you suggested? In any case, this is how we used the input.
HD Link
HD LinkIt’s a huge battle that can be played in any direction and completed in any order, because “all you need to do” is to complete all of the objectives.
Besides being endlessly replayable because of its layout, the mission takes advantage of the recent doctrine selection feature.
This new gameplay element allows you to choose a doctrine before starting the battle. It will change the entire approach and unit availability and we expect that it will make for a popular cooperative mission as well. We also plan to add further improvements to the cooperative mode in the long run.
Because the mission takes place in late-war, you will experience the tremendous firepower and destructive ability of the weaponry deployed in the last stages of the eastern front conflict.
Other additions
The update will add the odd easter egg too, but most importantly, you will also find nostalgic throwbacks. What kind of throwbacks? Well, that is for you to find out when we release “Content update II”. We’re already edging quite close and we will announce it quite soon.
Did you know?
- Content update II will be the second free addition to CtA - GoH
- There are easter eggs in other GoH missions and maps as well
- We are working on the lend- lease doctrine for USSR
- We accept suggestions, ideas and bug reports mostly on Discord
That’s it for this update, we’ll be preparing the next one and publish it as soon as we can. Thanks for stopping by; see you on the battlefield!