Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront News

Community members and friends! As you know, Content Update 5 is coming your way soon.
In this blog, we’re listing a few of the improvements that will be included during the testing phase; so let’s have a look at the latest on new game mechanics, design, and quality of life changes. We also want to show you a small collection of winter landscapes, as a counterpart to our earlier selection of summer landscapes.

[h2]Suppression fire[/h2]
In the game, you can use the "attack ground" function, which makes your units fire at one specific location. Alternatively, you can attack a target, whereby all selected units will engage it.
We have brought back (and improved upon) an old feature - which was present in the earliest games made in the GEM2 engine - called suppression fire.
This function will now allow your troops to fire at the general area of the designated location, useful for carpet bombing or keeping enemies ducked behind cover. If enemies are spotted in those areas, your troops will prioritize them, even if you use the ‘suppression fire’ button on the ground nearby. The function lasts for 60 seconds, after which your troops will return to their previous behavior.

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[h2]Quality of life and other improvements[/h2]
CU 5 will introduce a number of overall quality-of-life improvements, here is a short selection;

• The death of the squad commander will no longer cause de-selecting squads. Other squad management details were improved, so squads feel more responsive.
  
• Improved the interface to require fewer clicks to perform some common functions (make buttons more accessible).
  
• Added squad disbanding button
  
• Going in and out of trench walls will no longer take the player out of third person.
  
• Looting a weapon in a crouched stance will no longer cause the soldier to stand up.
  
• The synchronizations of the multiplayer netcode for HE shells are currently being improved.
  
• Host can select doctrines for bots, and in the case that there are bots on both teams, it will be the different sides who can set bot doctrines.
  
• The menu interface has been improved in some areas.
  
• Were adding a set of new HDR skies
  

So far the selection for this blog. A lot more awaits you; we'll specify everything in the usual changelog of course.

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[h2]Armor display[/h2]
We have improved the “armor display” that pops up when hovering your cursor over a vehicle. Currently, when inspecting a unit, you will see the armor thickness. Now, you can see it listed/ differentiated for the hull, turret, and any additional armor (if present) like plating, track shields, or side skirts. This is particularly important with US vehicles like the Super Pershing, which has respectable armor in the actual fighting compartments and also a lot of additional armor plating. Without the detailed armor view, it would be difficult to assess the real thickness of the composite armor layers.


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[h2]Infantry squad redesign[/h2]
As you may know, CU5 will bring a lot of diversity into squads in multiplayer.
Over one hundred historical squads have been added across the different war periods, nations, and doctrines.
This colossal amount of squads made it hard to remember and choose wisely which squad was suitable for which role. To improve this situation, we have overhauled the infantry squads giving them standardized custom roles.
As of now, you can purchase “recon infantry”, which (compared to standard infantry) has better spotting range but less resilience.
We also have “stealth infantry squads”, which are tougher to spot, even from up close, but are only featured in the irregular doctrines.
Following this example, we added “veteran infantry” and “defensive infantry" as new squad types.
The defensive squads have a lot of equipment, and higher health regeneration but slower speed, which makes them ideal for a “place and forget” situation when you want to keep your territory secured. The veteran infantry cost more, but as their name indicates, they come with veterancy which translates to better accuracy and reload time. These squads are a good buy when you need an elite squad but cannot afford the highest tiers, or when units that you want to use are on a cooldown timer.
In-game there were already some squads that were set up as veteran squads, but now you will be able to see their role at a glance, easing the choice and helping the players anticipate how the units they buy will behave.
Even when playing different doctrines with different squads available to you, the players will be able to make the right choices while enjoying the vast diversity of historical squads in the game. For those players who are not knowledgeable about the different squad and unit denominations in WWII, this redesign will help them make the right purchases, which is especially important in the rush of a competitive multiplayer game.

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In the meantime, with its release scheduled for November 29th, have you put “Liberation” on your wishlist yet? Do it now!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2447590/Call_to_Arms__Gates_of_Hell_Liberation/


You will be able to test the changes when we start a short open beta for Content Update 5, which will start in the next few days.

That’s it for now, thanks for your time and see you on the battlefield!

Community members and friends, welcome to another devblog for Call to Arms - Gates of Hell.
In this blog, all we want to do is reveal the release dates for Content Update 5 and the long-awaited “Liberation” DLC.
We have stated in earlier blogs that this would all take place in 2023, and we will keep that promise. Are you ready?


Our free “Content Updates” and “Community Updates” have become quite numerous, and we’re not done yet. As stated in development update 136, Content Update 5 is another one of these free updates which every player will receive. Together with previous updates “Ostfront” is now roughly twice the size as it was on release in June of 2021. These are the vehicles that will be added by Content Update 5:

Germany
Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D
Sdkfz 251/2 Ausf D "Stuka Zu Fuss"
Schwimmwagen
Jagdpanzer IV L/48 (Early production)
Jagdpanzer IV L/48
Wespe

USSR
M3 Lee (Lend Lease)
M3 Stuart (Lend Lease)
M4A2 75 (Lend Lease)
ZiS-6 with BM-8-48
ZiS-6 with BM-13-16
T-60 with BM-8-24
M-30 rocket launcher rack
M-31 rocket launcher rack
76mm M1938 AA
YAG-10 with 76mm M1931 AA

Finland
BA-6 Captured (And new BA-6 texture and camo for USSR, too)

As we said, it will not stop here; we will keep updating Ostfront in the future.
So here’s the plan; Content Update 5 will go first, and we plan to release it around November 20th, 2023.

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A few days later, on November 29th, we will release Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Liberation.

This DLC is by far the biggest DLC we have made; it even surpasses the original “Ostfront” release in size!
Check out the store page now, and make sure you have Liberation on your wishlist:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2447590/Call_to_Arms__Gates_of_Hell_Liberation/?curator_clanid=10379584

So there you have it; the release date has been set. From here on in it’s up to you to keep an eye on your Steam notifications, provided you have wishlisted Liberation of course.

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Shortly before Liberation drops, some of Barbedwire Studios’ trusted content creators will treat you to some sneak previews; if you want to take an educated guess who that might be, check out our YouTube channel and make sure you subscribe to some of them at least. This is also where our release teaser will appear when the time comes, so make sure you’re subscribed there too!

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If you have any questions about this update, there is a quick way to find answers. Likewise, there is a place to quickly find players, or to discuss ww2 history, or just chill and chat about Call to Arms - Gates of Hell. We’re talking about our official Discord server, of course. You’re welcome to join any time.

Well, that’s it for now; do these release dates fit your holiday schedule? Are you looking forward to it? Let us know in the comments. For now, thanks for stopping by, and see you on the battlefield!

Community members! We’re getting closer to release, and in this blog we will continue a tradition of ours; to tell you the full historical story behind a single player mission.
As you may know, we follow history closely with these missions. The intention of the missions is not just to entertain, but to tell you a little bit about the hell that soldiers endured in ww2.
We will also explain which elements will make the singleplayer missions in the Liberation DLC different from what you’ve experienced before.


As advertised, Liberation will come with a single player campaign for each of the US and German factions. These will offer 6 single player missions each. The US single player campaign will be augmented by the 4 skirmishes we will add to that faction, and these will be woven into the single player campaign.
If you’re familiar with our work, you’ll probably anticipate these to be based on historical facts. That will indeed be the case! In this blog, we take a detailed look at one of the German single player missions.


In December of 1944, the Germans sprang a big surprise on the western front by launching a counteroffensive in the Ardennes region. The aim was to split the British and American forces, whilst advancing to Antwerp.

The allied bomber offensive had been targeting oil and fuel production facilities for quite a while. As a result, the German fuel situation had deteriorated so badly it was a logical thought for any field commander to try and capture allied fuel along the way to Antwerp.

The Böhlen synthetic fuel plant left in ruins after a 1944 aerial bombardment.

The fuel allocation might have just allowed the German forces to reach Antwerp, but if circumstances would have forced the German tanks to fight along the way and go offroad a number of times, the resulting higher fuel consumption would have put Antwerp out of range.
This is what happened to the 116th Panzer division; they had to make a detour to find a bridge across the river Ourthe, and that’s where the story of our mission starts.

The tactical situation of December 20th that resulted in the struggle for Samrée and Dochamps. Note the dual objective for the 116th Panzer division


In the CtA - GoH mission, you will be advancing through the Ardennes, commanding part of the 116th Panzer Division. Like every one of the German armored spearheads, your options are limited by your fuel situation. As you would expect, this makes fuel the first objective.
Let’s quote the voice- over from the briefing video on this one;
”You will lead the spearhead of the 116th Panzer Division. You are advancing toward the towns of Samrée and Dochamps. The disposition of enemy units is unknown; what we do know is that we desperately need any fuel the Americans may have stocked in Samrée, if we want to achieve any of our offensive goals.” which is no surprise for most players, probably.
Following the allied autumn offensive, extensive US army depots were set up behind the front lines.
One of those depots had been established for the US 7th armored division. It sat in a small village just 25Km (15 Miles) north of Bastogne, a picturesque little village called Samrée.



Given the surprise that the offensive had sprung, it didn’t take long for the 116th Panzer Division to reach this little town, even though they had made a detour to find a usable bridge across the Ourthe river earlier. For most of the way, you’ve met little resistance; but any time now, you’ll run into the Americans. When you do, you must put the element of surprise to good use - you can’t hang about!
First, you’ll send in your scouts. Given their superior FOW range, you will be able to see what you need to see and deploy your main force optimally.

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As soon as you know what’s ahead, it’s time to blitz the defenses and take Samrée. You need that fuel! Find the dump, and refuel your tanks in a hurry; you never know how quickly the enemy will react.
Your awareness of the situation in and around the town will give you the edge here. If the enemy counterattacks, where is that likely to come from? You need to get it right, because the Americans are not going to sit and wait until you come to them…
Sure enough, here they are! Now it’s time to use your armor to your best ability. If you make sure the enemy doesn’t flank your tanks, you should be able to hold the line. A fierce battle ensues, and on paper your tanks should be able to deal with the enemy armor. But… defending wasn’t the plan, you need to advance!

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As soon as you take back control of the situation, you can think about moving forward again.
Which side of the village will you break out from, as soon as you’ve refueled? Well, if you want to drive to Antwerp, the general direction is north- west. The next village on the map is Dochamps; and all of the time, you will need to keep the US forces on the backfoot, and in a defensive posture. However, the enemy has obviously already anticipated your next move; where is that artillery fire coming from? And, more importantly, who is directing it?

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As long as enemy artillery can take aim at this road, you can’t risk it. Something needs to be done about the artillery, or you’ll get stuck here! It seems they have a position somewhere roughly north- east of your own position. You will have to take that position sooner rather than later - get your men to sneak up on the enemy and silence their battery for good.
Your own artillery officer has made it very clear; he will not risk counter- battery fire for the few guns he’s got left. That’s one more reason to take the enemy battery out first, and only then will he be willing to deploy his precious units in support.

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So, your tactical prowess is indispensable. Your improvisation skills will decide the outcome; and as long as you act quickly enough, you’ll succeed in keeping the initiative. In other words, “Auftragstaktik” is key, it’s really up to you as a commander to push to Dochamps and do whatever is required to keep marching on Antwerp.

Now you know part of what happens in this mission; you’ll discover what follows when you play it yourself; we’ve revealed enough for now!


Each of the singleplayer missions in the Liberation DLC will give the player a choice of doctrines before the mission starts. That means a variety of special units get added to your order of battle. Part of the Gates of Hell replay value comes from the realistic landscapes; these allow you to try different tactics every time you play the mission - and we know that most players will try more than once. The map we use for this mission is modeled after the real situation as usual, as a satellite versus minimap comparison shows. Another bit of replay value lies hidden in the subtle differences between the doctrines for singleplayer missions; which support units do they offer? Which one supports the tactical plan best? The answer to that question is very much a matter of taste and style on the part of the player, and trying the different options will make your mission feel quite different with each doctrine. Our aim is to make replaying the mission more varied than ever before.

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As you can see, we are on our way to create a spectacular DLC. We may do another devblog like this one, to showcase another mission from the singleplayer campaign.
Have you wishlisted Liberation yet? You can click in the image below to do that, and there’s zero risk involved. Just click below:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2447590/Call_to_Arms__Gates_of_Hell_Liberation/

Thanks for stopping by; do you think you will like playing this single player mission? Is it something you expected to be in the campaign? Well, if you have an opinion on that, or if you have any questions, you’re always welcome to join our Discord. Join by clicking on the image below.

Community members! We recently announced that we will be updating “Ostfront” soon. In this blog, you will find out what that means; we will discuss the mechanics, visuals, new units and netcode improvements that will make up this vast update. Curious? Keep reading!


Content Update 5 will be the largest free update we have introduced so far, giving every Ostfront player a reason to come back and play. It will not only add to the original “Ostfront” package, but to “Talvisota” as well!
With this update, the original “Ostfront” game has been expanded by quite a margin.
The original 2021 version had roughly half the content you will have when CU5 goes live.
When “Ostfront” was about to be launched, we published Development update 99, in which we listed what would be in the release version; compare that to the package after we release CU5, and you’ll be amazed. Back then, we made a statement about expanding the package, and Content Update 5 will be the last step to fulfill that promise. Over time, we published a lot of free updates, each adding content. Besides vehicles and maps we added a lot more; assets, updated sound, added and updated game mechanics; added a game mode, and then some. So what’s coming in this update?

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[h2]Destructibility[/h2]
In our original release, the destructibility of trees was not catered for. With this update, that will change; when hit directly by a large HE shell, trees will now disintegrate.
Besides destructibility, trees will behave more naturally when hit by a sufficiently large projectile, or when heavy vehicles push them over. If the circumstances are right, trees will shed leaves when hit on a summer or autumn map, and shed snow when hit on winter maps. This will add a more natural feel, which helps immersion.

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[h2]Doctrines redesign[/h2]
A massive effort has gone into overhauling the doctrines for all nations.
We hired one of the most competitive players to help us shape this, because it is much more than a re- shuffle of the existing units; it re- shapes the way they work.
The doctrine choice has been modified to affect the infantry squads available to you, giving doctrines more meaning and more distinct flavors. Almost all of the infantry units migrate to the infantry menu, and the brand new “Unit Visualizer" we designed for it will show you exactly what your choice amounts to. Players can see the units they will have at their disposal while selecting the doctrines in the multiplayer Lobby. This allows them to plan ahead and check which doctrines have their favorite units.
We also added a new doctrine type, which is the Lend Lease type. Some of the doctrines will fall into this category.

You will be able to preview the selection of units your doctrine brings

[h2]New units[/h2]
We have added a respectable amount of new units for the Soviet Union, Germany and Finland; a lot of new squads, vehicles, weapons, humanskins and tanks will be included.
Some squads are no longer always the same when you purchase them, they cycle. One in every X squads will contain a sniper, or different weapons loadouts. It's not random, it's a cyclical system. This allows us to add squad variety and add historical accuracy to platoon-level squad loadouts.

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[h2]Netcode improvements[/h2]
You will have noticed that in multiplayer, when vehicles get stopped or destroyed, it could take a second before these units would be shifted to the correct position, due to what is called “position lag”. We have Improved the netcode to address this.
Another important issue that has been improved on is the so called “inventory desync” that would sometimes occur.

[h2]Conquest[/h2]
We are always working on conquest, and Content Update 5 will bring some new functions to the table. Players will be able to choose the theater of operations, and choose the enemy’s nation. The region of operations option filters out the nations available, plus the maps that will be used for the campaign.
This also means that modders get a lot of new options, new combinations and possibilities with these features. The visualizer below shows you how it works.



[h2]Visuals[/h2]
To match the new standard we want to set with the “Liberation” DLC, we have upgraded some textures and 3d models to improve their visual fidelity. You will see quite a difference to the “old” environments. Things will look different, and we think you’ll like it.
We have also improved the “direct control aiming circle”; the projected spread of salvos will become easier to understand as a result.
Last but not least, we have improved visuals of many of the infantry weapon (small arms) 3d models, so they are third/ first person worthy.

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/2447590/Call_to_Arms__Gates_of_Hell_Liberation/

[h2]Planning[/h2]
Content Update 5 will go live around the time when we’re ready to publish the Liberation DLC, which (currently) means this will happen before the end of the year.
The exact moment will be announced at some point, together with a detailed list of contents in the shape of a change log.

• ”Ostfront” was the first title Barbedwire studios ever developed
  
• Development update #99 (linked in the text above) was published on the day of the Ostfront release
  
• That update was read by around 8000 people in june 2021; nowadays the average number of readers is between 7 and 12 times more

That’s it for now, thanks for your time and see you on the battlefield!

P.S.: If you’d like to see one of the vehicles that is not shown in this blog, join the official Discord to get that render, by clicking the image below.

Community members! In our previous development update, showing part of the US units for the “Liberation” DLC, we promised we’d show you some of the German units as well, so that’s what this blog is about. We also want to show you some of the specifically German buildings and landscapes and we’ll talk about the release planning for “Liberation”.


The German part of “Liberation” consists of a number of things. In the single player campaign, for instance, we follow the 3rd Fallschirmjäger Division and the 116th Panzer division. If you trace back what these units did and where they fought, you’ll see that they both were in the thick of the fighting from Normandy right until the end of the war.
That means we need more than the units themselves; we need French, Belgian and German landscapes and buildings as well.
Maybe you noticed we have revealed a good number of summer & autumn landscapes last week; there are several German landscapes and towns in there. Let’s have a closer look at some of the buildings:

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There will be many buildings, of which these are the most specific “German” ones.
On another note, you will need some specific weapons when fighting for the German units in “Festung Europa”, as our German single player campaign will be called. Whether you’re fighting as a paratrooper or as a panzer commander, you will need artillery support every now and then. This calls for some iconic units to be present in this DLC, and they will be. Let’s have a look at some of these:

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Besides these, some new tank hunters will be introduced. None of these fought on the Western front exclusively, however they were not present in “Ostfront” or any of the previous DLCs. Check out these vehicles, do you know which ones they are?

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Some of the new German units will be added for free, some will not. We will announce which ones these will be at a later stage. The paid German units (the “Liberation” exclusive ones) will be part of a doctrine for the existing German faction.


We are going flat out at the moment and progress is very good. The release of Liberation gets closer every day! As we have stated before, and as you can see on the Liberation store page, we will release the Liberation DLC before 2023 ends.
The roadmap on our website used to mention that we planned to release in Q3 of 2023, and this has gotten many people excited assuming it would be coming in September. It also contains a statement which tells you it’s subject to change. It is our tool to let you know our broad plans. We have updated the roadmap to reflect the reality we are predicting for release in 2023. If anyone asks you, tell them to follow our development updates for official predictions.

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Have you wishlisted Liberation yet? Do it today, there’s no risk involved, other than the chance you might get addicted to it after release:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2447590/Call_to_Arms__Gates_of_Hell_Liberation/?curator_clanid=10379584


To make the wait a bit easier, we will be entertaining the community with something completely different. We released our very first title in 2021, and if you were already part of our community back then, you may remember we played a meta game before the release of “Ostfront”.
We love playing games and so, we are currently lining up the next metagame for you!
Once more, we will launch a quiz that tests your knowledge of world war 2 and the Liberation DLC. The 5 high scorers of this metagame will receive a free key to “Liberation”!
This new metagame will take place on our Discord server, starting Sunday, October 1st.
We will be asking you to answer a number of multiple choice questions, with a new question appearing every weekend. So make sure you are there; click HERE to join, if you haven’t already!