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.

Suppression fire

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.

HD Link

HD Link

Quality of life and other improvements

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.

HD Link

HD Link

Armor display

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.

HD Link

HD Link

Infantry squad redesign

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.

HD Link

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/

Open Beta

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!