Dear Community Members, the Steam Summer Sale has started! Call to Arms - Gates of Hell will be on sale for 2 weeks, so get it while you can!
We’ve also been working on a big game update, with Conquest as one of the main subjects.
Steam Summer Sale
This sale will run for 2 weeks. If ever there was a time to either start or complete your Call to Arms - Gates of Hell collection, this is it! Except the “Jubilee” DLC - which is free, of course - everything is at a discount.
As we’ve said before: don’t miss this shot! If you use the bundle for anything, you get an additional 10% off. Click below to check your discount:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/26447/Complete_Edition/
Game Update
Today, we start the Open Beta for game version 1.064.0, which includes significant changes. This beta will run much longer than usual (at least for several weeks) to give modders more time to adapt their mods to this new version.
Highlights
Conquest
For this Open Beta, we have made several improvements to defensive Conquest missions, including a new skippable Preparation Phase and a new way to control where reinforcements enter the battlefield.
Defensive missions now begin with an official Preparation Phase before the enemy attack starts. During this phase, the remaining preparation time is shown in the UI, giving players a clear sense of how much time they have to organize their defense.
Players who are ready sooner can now use the new Skip Preparation Time button, located above the call-in stages on the right side of the screen. Pressing this button immediately ends the remaining preparation time and starts the enemy attack.
We have also added a new Move Deployment Point feature for defensive missions. During the Preparation Phase, players can choose where their stages will spawn by moving the deployment point to a new location on the map. To do this, click the Move Deployment Point button above the stages list, then click on the ground to place the deployment point.
Any stage called in during the Preparation Phase will spawn at the current deployment point. Placing that point closer to key objectives or defensive positions can greatly reduce the time needed to set up a defense. The deployment point can be moved as often as needed while preparation time remains.
Once the Preparation Phase ends, the deployment point can no longer be repositioned and will return to its default location near the edge of the map.
General
Many tweaks and fixes can be found in the changelog, as usual.
For instance, we’ve made all snow embankments destructible, except for “Ostfront,” which does not have them. Here are some before & after comparisons:
A note for mod creators: as part of our effort to reduce the game’s installation size, some unused assets will be moved out of the base game. The vanilla game does not require these assets, but we understand that some mods may still depend on them.
To preserve compatibility, we will package these removed assets in an official Workshop mod. Mod creators who need them will be able to use that mod as a dependency. We will announce the mod separately and provide a full list of included assets.
Opting in for the Open Beta
To join the beta, you only need to switch your game to the beta version.
Once the beta becomes the live version, no further action is required. Your game will update normally.
If you would like to try these changes early, open your Steam Library, right-click Call to Arms - Gates of Hell, select Properties, then go to Betas and choose Open Beta from the dropdown menu. You can switch back to the current live version at any time by following the same steps and selecting the default branch again.
Steam Workshop
In the coming weeks, we will be reviewing the Call to Arms - Gates of Hell Steam Workshop. This review follows several reports regarding Workshop items that may violate Steam’s Terms of Service. In particular, we will be checking for mods that use content from other creators without permission, as well as those locked behind a paywall.
Mods found to be using unauthorized content or requiring payment for access may be removed from the Workshop.
Please note that voluntary donation links are not considered paywalls, as long as the mod itself remains freely accessible.
Our goal is to keep the Workshop fair and accessible to all mod creators while ensuring we remain aligned with Steam’s policies.
That’s it for now. Thanks for stopping by, and we’ll see you on the battlefield! If you haven’t already, you can check your Complete Edition discount here:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/26447/Complete_Edition/
P.S. If you are new to the game, you are welcome to join the official Discord by clicking the banner below. It is a good place to ask questions, discuss the game, or talk about World War II in general.
