HLL Gameplay Guide
Introduction
This Gameplay guide contains some underlying information regarding Hell Let Loose to enable players to fully understand how the game operates. From joining a server, tips on avoiding team kills, to how objectives work.
Advice for New Players.
Accessing a server
From the main screen select enlist at the top-right to view the server list:
Click on a server and hit join server on the right. If the server is full you may get a message telling you that you are in a queue. If there are more than 6 players in the queue then you will get a message that server is full and to try another or later.
Choosing a Team
Select Either Allies or Axis – Note that when team balancing is active on the server, you may only be able to select one of these.
Choosing a Squad & Role
You will now be on the ‘Join a Unit’ screen – please take note of any particular rules that apply to this server in the box to the right of the map.
The available squads will display on the left hand side of the map. If you have joined an empty server your only options are to create a squad (infantry, armour or recon) as an officer or play commander.
If the server is populated it may look something like this:
You can view which roles have been taken in each squad and select accordingly – NOTE: the only unlimited role in a squad is the rifleman role. You can join a squad by clicking the small arrow at the side of the unit’s name, or you may wish to create your own unit but you can only select officer officer if you do.
You can select any available role within the squad by clicking on it, selecting any loadout choices that may be available and clicking confirm.
For more details on individual roles visit our role guide page.
Some squads may be locked – this could be because the squad leader only wants communicative players or maybe he is waiting on friends – ask to join if you want to, the worst that can happen is that they refuse you – no worries try another squad.
Settings
If you are new to the game please turn up the friendly tags distance to 500m in Options/Gameplay – this will help you to avoid making unintentional team-kills.
If you find your fps takes a hit in the game try turning down the dead body despawn timer in the same settings screen.
Communication is Key
Remaining in contact through the chain of command is vital to performing successful operations.
While a marker system and text chat is available, using a microphone(in combination with the marker system) outweighs the text chat for speed and efficiency, being able to communicate enemy sightings, position in a speedy fashion is vital to success.
Using your middle mouse button whilst aiming will place a temporary ping – use this in combination with vocal communication to provide information to your squad.
Pings can also be added directly on the map by placing mouse where you want to ping, clicking right mouse button and selecting ‘ping’ from the list.
The Map
Maps in Hell Let Loose are 2km by 2km in a 10×10 grid. The current playable area is 2km x 1.2km.
Each grid square is 200 metres.
Each map’s playable area consists of 6 lanes of 5 zones.
Each one grid width along the map is a lane
Each two grid width of all lanes is known as a zone.
The end zones are the team’s HQ zones.
Each zone has 3 sectors, each consisting of a 2×2 grid.
Each currently active sector has a strongpoint.
In the currently existing game modes the active sectors are randomly chosen for that round providing a variety of game situations. Please see our Game Modes Guide Page for full details.
Some maps play horizontal and some vertical.
North is not always directly upwards on the map which can sometimes be confusing during the game – check the compass on each map.
Objectives
Sectors can only be captured when active. To begin capture of an active sector a player must stand within it. There will be a progress bar shown, showing capture status. Only sectors next to friendly-controlled sectors can be captured. (The capture mechanic is slightly different for Offensive mode games refer to our Game Modes Guide Page)
Sectors, that are behind the lines or are in cool-down from being recently captured, are locked and unavailable for capture.
Within each sector is a strongpoint. This is a small area where each individual player’s capture value is increased. This does not change the speed of the capture but does give a smaller force the ability to block a larger enemy force.
Capture States:
CAPTURING – Friendlies in an enemy or neutral sector outnumber enemies.
DEFENDING – Friendlies in a controlled sector outnumber enemies.
CONTESTING – Equal numbers of friendlies and enemies are in the sector.
LOSING – Enemies outnumber friendlies in an enemy sector.
CAPTURED – The sector has been successfully captured and is controlled by your team.
ENEMY TERRITORY – The sector is controlled by the enemy and is locked and unavailable for capture.
Spawn points
Of Course, in order to try to capture a point you need to deploy onto the battlefield.
There are 3 types of spawn points available in Hell Let Loose, each with different characteristics.
HQ Spawn
There are 3 permanent HQ locations available to deploy located at the back of the team’s lines. These cannot be destroyed by the enemy but if within a sector which becomes active will become unavailable.
Garrison
A garrison is a temporary spawn point placed by either the commander or a squad leader (Officer or Spotter) to enable any member of the team to spawn nearer to an objective. The garrison requires supplies to be built.
Garrisons can be destroyed by enemy explosions (Artillery, Bombing runs, Grenades, AT rounds) or by an enemy dismantling the garrison using ‘F’ key – this takes 5 seconds (30 seconds in locked enemy territory)
Note that the recent update 7 also brought a few more changes to garrisons:
- Garrisons can only be built in friendly (Blue on the map) territory.
- Garrisons in locked enemy territory have a longer dismantle time (30 secs).
- If an enemy is within 15m of a garrison that garrison is considered ‘overrun’ and cannot be spawned upon.
- Minimum distance between friendly garrisons is now 100m.
Outpost
An outpost is a temporary spawn point placed by a squad leader (Officer or Spotter) to enable any member of the squad only to spawn nearer to an objective. The outpost does not require supplies to be built, but is subject to a cool-down timer. (See Squad Leader Role Guide Page for more information)
Outposts cannot be destroyed by explosions, only by an enemy getting close to it.
Both Garrisons and Outposts within a zone where the active sector is captured by the enemy are all destroyed upon the capture of that sector. It is therefore imperative to build back-up garrisons just outside the zone before launching an attack on a neutral sector in case the enemy takes it first.
Garrisons (since the recent update 7) can only be built in friendly territory (Blue on the map). There is no more building garrisons in neutral or enemy territory.
Outposts can only be built in an unlocked sector. Should the sector become locked then any outposts or garrisons within it will be destroyed. (Special rules apply to the Recon Spotter check the Recon Team Role Guide Page for details)
Spawn Times
Each spawn point spawns in waves:
HQ – Every 10 seconds
Outpost – Every 20 seconds
Garrison – Every 40 seconds
Note that you could enter the spawn queue at any point in the countdown to the next wave so could have less than these times to wait depending on when you hit the queue.
The HUD
For immersion purposes the HUD is initially set to auto toggle off with a variable timer between 5 and 30 seconds and will toggle on whenever the active sector state changes or new squad markers are placed. This can be set to ‘always on’ or ‘toggle only’ if so desired. The HUD can be toggled on or off at any time using the ’T’ key,
The HUD provides various information as shown:
Top of screen:
- Chat Feed (Can be hidden or displayed using ‘o’ key and can be set to auto show on new messages or not within Gameplay settings
- The state of the game – captures of active sectors. This shows we have almost captured the 3rd sector.
- The current sector name and state.
- If in strong point the balance of friendly vs enemy forces
Bottom of screen:
- Commander & Squad information
- Compass
- Current weapon and magazines information
Resources
Resources are split into 3 areas, Munitions, Manpower and Fuel. New resources are added to the team’s pool every 60 seconds. The amount received depends on the amount of Munition, Manpower and Fuel sectors controlled by the team and can be enhanced by building nodes. Refer to the Engineer Role Guide Page for a more detailed look at nodes.
Resources are depleted by various actions during the game.
The current state of resources for the team and the rate at which they are being earned can be viewed at the top of the map screen.
Munitions
Munitions are used by artillery, Anti-tank guns and some Commander abilities such as bombing, strafing runs and supply drops.
Manpower
Manpower does not affect spawn times, HQ, Garrisons and Outposts will always respawn in 10, 40 and 20 second waves respectively.
Manpower is currently drained whenever a player dies, with the drain amount equating to the class they are playing, but does not affect the ability to spawn even when it reaches zero.
The only uses currently for manpower is by the commander to use to reinforce, final stand and encourage, and in the overtime mechanic in Offensive Game Mode – Refer to Game Modes Guide Page for details.
Reinforce – gives defending units a boost in friendly-controlled sectors.
Encourage – friendly-controlled sectors generate double resources, this does not boost node output.
Final Stand – your team does not lose any resources for about a minute.
Airhead Garrison – A new feature since update 7 to provide a way of the commander deploying a temporary garrison behind enemy lines.
Fuel
Fuel is depleted when new tanks are spawned, this occurs automatically at differing times depending on the map and also can be used by commander to spawn tanks and recon vehicles.
Game Tips
Grenade Cooking
German grenades begin cooking when you prime them, American grenades do not. Airbursts are very effective.
The Redeploy
You can redeploy at any time Just make sure you have a nearby spawn point to return to the point. Redeploy by pressing F1 then Redeploy – this will suicide you – you can then change role if required and/or return with a full loadout. Note that with certain deployables such as supplies – if you place again will remove any unused old supplies you dropped. Note that since update 7, the time to respawn is now increased if you suicide and if you have team killed (The latter to prevent the workaround of someone killing you to avoid the penalty for suicides)
Resupply at Cover
It is helpful for riflemen to place ammo boxes at the last piece of cover before an open area. This allows medics, assault, and squad leaders to throw smokes and then resupply, allowing the team to quickly and safely travel the dangerous area.
Run For It
1 grid square is 200 meters. It takes 45 seconds while sprinting to travel 200 meters.
Dismantle or Not?
If you aren’t sure if an object is a team node/supply/land mine/whatever, simply hit T to see if you should dismantle it or leave it alone.
Commend your Team Mates
You can give someone +10% XP by clicking the medal left of their name on the scoreboard just before the game awards XP at the end of the match.
Take Control
Capturing a sector relies on outnumbering the enemy in the active sector. Your team needs to:
-Cut off new enemy soldiers from entering the sector.
-Remove enemies currently in the sector.
-Secure the strong point.