Heroes & Generals eliminates the formulaic baggage that weighs down the shooter genre by delivering satisfying strategic action in a full blown first-person shooter experience. Players are transported from the comfort of their browsers to authentic WWII battlefields, where they fight alongside thousands of gamers for persistent progression and military supremacy.

Each player in Heroes & Generals chooses their own destiny. You might join the Axis and climb the ranks as a foot soldier, firing off countless rounds in epic battles for crucial landmarks. Or perhaps you’ll become a general in the US army and accept the task of deploying resources and reinforcements across a vast strategic map.

Either way your decisions and actions fundamentally impact the game. Whether you play a fearless infantryman blazing the trenches, a hotshot pilot renowned for precision bombing runs, a brutal gunner assigned to a rumbling tank battalion, or the ace commander directing it all from strategic command – every active soldier contributes to an evolving online war that will soon expand to smartphones and tablets as well.

Heroes & Generals is getting a new Squad experience, changing the way players fight together, bringing them closer to each other, improving the gameplay experience and supporting their efforts towards victory.

Furthermore, the 'Devyatayev - Squad' Update brings the new Soviet T-20 Komsomolets terrain vehicle, new camouflage uniforms for all factions, the German Panzerwurfmine and more exciting news.

The new Squad feature helps new and Veteran players to get together and fight to succeed on the battlefield. Every Squad member benefits from each other by being awarded experience for fighting together in a Squad and for achievements on the battlefield. Additionally, for every Squad member with a Veteran Membership, every other member gets a five percent bonus of the Veteran Membership for free.

"Soldiers go to war fighting for their country but end up fighting for their friends. The new Squad system makes it much easier to stay and fight with your friends and find new ones" says Jacob Andersen, Game Director at Reto-Moto. "We all know that working together as a team greatly enhances your chance for success. The team at Reto-Moto has worked hard on this new feature for many months and we are all really proud to deliver the new Squad system so our players can be more successful on the battlefields."

The Soviet T-20 Komsomolets is a Squad-friendly vehicle, with plenty of space for soldiers to hitch a ride to the frontline. Squads can quickly advance from one control point to the next, while being protected by light armor and supported by a light machine gun - an uber-useful vehicle for all Soviet Squads!

All factions receive new camouflage uniforms, which help soldiers to stay unseen in any kind of terrain. Additionally, having similar camouflage uniforms in a Squad can be a fantastic way to show you fight together, even if you fulfill different roles.

For the German troops, we introduce the new Panzerwurfmine, which is a throwing anti-tank grenade that grants more mobility than the existing ground or magnetic mines.

The ‘Devyatatev’ update is named after the Soviet Soldier Mikhael Petrovich Devyatayev, who managed to escape a labour camp with the help of three other soldiers. His story is representative of the whole update's significance: Working together will lead to success.

Devyatayev - the Squad Update

Squad Changes - Action game

• Everyone will automatically be in a Squad when in an Action Game.
  
  • The Squad can be pre-made to play with friends.
  • If you join alone you will assigned to a squad.
• If a member of a Squad has veteran membership, his veterancy will give the other players in the squad a 5% veteran bonus to their experience. This bonus can be stacked.
• Squad Leader Functions
  
  • A Squad Leader (Rank 6+) can assign orders to his Squad via Q (default button)
    
    • Available commands are:
    • Attack
    • Defend
    • Rally (Tankers and Pilots don’t have this command)
    • Clear Area (This command is only available for Tankers and Pilots)
  • Squad leader (only) can change access points for his Squad, with a 60 second cool down period.
  • A Squad Leader (and Squad Leader Cadet) can dismiss a member from his Squad.
    
    • Upon being dismissed, you are stuck on the original career of the Squad
  • A Squad leader is always visible on the map with 2 stripes
• The gunner positions of the squad's vehicles is only accessible by the squad owning the vehicle
• Changed pooling of Assault Teams
  
  • Switching Assault Teams is no longer needed
  • ISV’s, 4x4 Vehicles or Motorcycles can be directly selected at an access point if available
• Revamped switching between soldiers
  
  • Quitting a match as a Squad leader dissolves the Squad. When quitting a match, as member or leader, will result in not being able to join the same battle again
  • UI has changed to show more details about your available characters for battle
• Revamped scoreboard
  
  • It now shows all available types of resources
  • Squad Name is visible
  • Added extra score details
    
    • Score
    • Captures
    • Kills
    • Deaths
    • Headshots
    • Tank kills
    • Plane kills
    • Ping
• Scoreboard can be interacted with to get more details from individual players
  
  • Clicking on a player will show:
  • Favorite Weapon
  • Favorite Vehicle
  • Nemesis
  • Savior Kills
  • Revenge Kills
  • Battle Time
• During the deploy screen, all Squad members are listed at the bottom center
• Experience can be earned for the Squad Member and Squad Leader ribbon by following / giving orders and performing Squad duties
• Added Squad Chat, which you can access by pressing ‘Tab’ in chat

Squad Customization

• Squads can be customized when owner is rank 6 or above
• Up to 12 Squad Customization Points can be unlocked by earning opints on the Squad Leader and Squad Member Ribbons
• Squads can be customized with extra player slots:
  
  • Up to 5 other Infantry or Paratroopers
  • Up to 3 other Recons, Tankers or Pilots
• Squads can be customized with up to 3 "auxillary seats", of a different type than the squad. So if one auxiliary seat is available for a tanker, then 1 player at a time can switch to tanker in the action game, even if the squad is an infantry squad.
  
  • 3rd Member costs 2 Points
  • 4th Member costs 3 Points
  • 5th Member costs 4 Points
  • Infantry character slot costs 2 points (if you have a non-infantry Squad)
  • Paratrooper character slot costs 3 Points
  • Recon character slot costs 3 Points
  • Pilot character slot costs 4 Points
  • Tanker character slot costs 4 Points
  • With each additional character slot the cost goes up by 1 Point
• Squads can be named for a small fee (name is remembered), this name is visible in the scoreboards and the game

Matchmaking Update

• Matchmaking algorithm improved
• Matchmaking filter options and screens have been reworked
• You can only queue for "all war missions", this is done to improve matchmaking time.
• To individually select battles you need to do this from the war map.
• Vehicles can not be un-equipped anymore, but instead you will be able to choose (only as tanker for now) which vehicle you want to use in matchmaking.
• Joining a specific mission is now focused on the players having resources in that specific battle and the friends they invite to their squad. These are the five requirements:
  
  • Tier 2
  • Premade squad (minimum 2 people, you and one other player)
  • The squad has resources in the mission.
  • Queue’ing for a mission if you meet all requirements is only possible in the preparation phase of the mission. After the preparation phase has ended it’s no longer possible to queue for it on the War Map
  • Priority is granted to a Squad with units in the battle (please note: Priority is not a guarantee that you are picked)
• Improved the way the server location for a battle is set. Match maker will pick a server based on the players in the matchmaker queue, weighed towards the hosts that have the most players. This will help overall ping, for the majority of players

UI Changes

• Enter Combat button moved to lower right hand corner
• Enter Combat re-named to Combat
• ‘Play’ Re-named to ‘To Battle!’
• All windows, such as the loading screen, squad interface and queue window can now be minimized
• Re-located the ‘Chat’ and ‘Friend list’ icon to separate them from the mission results and in-game mail system
• Squad Icon has been re-located to the middle bottom
• Revamped Squad Window appearance to show more details and Squad customization
• Friend list updated and enhanced
  
  • Friends show the faction and if they are online
  • Pending are the friend requests you have not yet accepted or rejected
  • Ignored is the list of players you receive nothing about, this also blocks friend invitations from them
  • All game maps can now be previewed by clicking on them in the matchmaking window under their respective gamemode area

Action Game Changes

• The Small and Medium Impacts (impacts on Ground, wall, water, roofs, etc by all handheld weapons such as LMG’s, SMG’s, Pistols, etc) have been optimized to improve looks and performance.
  More about the performance optimizations > HERE <

Weapons & Vehicles

• Added new Soviet Vehicle T-20 Komsomolets to complement M29 Weasel and Kettenkrad
  
  • Unlocks at Chauffeur Ribbon grade 5
  • Can be equipped in the 4x4 Vehicle slot
  • 2 Skins are also available. Kutuzov and Vasyugan
• Added machinegunner position to BA-6
• Added German (throwable) Anti-Tank Grenade Panzerwurfmine
  
  • Unlocks at Tank Destruction Ribbon grade 5
• Removed the following ‘Captured Weapon’ unlocks (as all factions now have a throwable Anti-Tank grenade, the option has been removed so the captured weapon system can receive an overhaul)
  
  • Removed RPG-43 as Capturable Weapon from the United States and German faction
  • Removed Sticky Grenade No. 74 as Capturable Weapon from the Soviet and German faction
• Tweaked all 7 throwing animations for the various Grenade types
• Several price adjustments to vehicle repairs (some increase, some decrease)

Sounds

• Added new Capture sounds
  
  • Changed Capture sound behavior: Capture sounds now only play on capturing or losing an objective
• Added Charge sounds for the 7 throwable Grenade types
• Sound tweaks for Kettenkrad (More dynamic and variation in tracks-sounds + various mix and eq tweaks of all sounds)
• Sound tweaks for Weasel (More dynamic and variation in tracks-sounds + various mix and eq tweaks of all sounds)
• Replaced sound for the DT machinegun on T-20, BA-6 and several tanks

Camouflages & Skins

• Added 3 new Camouflages for Soviet Infantry, Paratrooper and Recon
  
  • Amoeba Leaf Swamp
  • Amoeba Leaf Summer
  • Amoeba Leaf Fall
• Added 3 new Camouflages for United States Infantry, Paratrooper and Recon
  
  • Nagual Jungle
  • Nagual Caro
  • Nagual Jade
• Added new Camouflage for German Infantry, Paratrooper, Recon and Tank Crew
  
  • Sumpfmuster 44
• Added 2 new skins for the M29 Weasel
  
  • Olive Drab and Black
  • Ochre, Olive Drab and Black
• Price adjustments for several uniforms
• Christmas skins from 2015 now have a correct tooltip again

Strategy Game

• Generals can now reinforce all their assault teams in 1 window and status of reinforcement for each team is shown
• Generals can now deploy all their assault teams in 1 window and status of deployment for each team is shown
• Moved Assault Team overview from the right side to the left side
• Time passed in War is now shown within the Capital overview at the top
• Selecting one of your units now shows the morale and resources of that unit
• Find Battlefield moved to the right top corner
• Fixed an issue where the resources from a closed access line would show up on the still available line
• Fixed the correct naming of town Constanța on the War Map
• Fixed the ‘Moving to …’ label when moving Assault Teams not requiring reinforcements
• Replaced the Assault Team stacks on the map overview of a town by faction icons

Ribbons, Combat Badges and Unlocks

• Moved German Hafthohladung to Tank Destruction Ribbon grade 3
• Moved the M3A1, M3A1 Lend-Lease and Sdfkz 250-3 unlocks to Chauffeur Ribbon grade 9
• Moved the M16 MGMC, GAZ-AAA M4 Maxim and Sdkfz 7/1 unlocks to Chauffeur Ribbon grade 7
• Moved Sdkfz 2 Kettenkrad HK101 and M29 Weasel unlocks to Chauffeur Ribbon grade 5, to equal T-20 Komsomolets
• Moved Iron Fist Bronze unlock to Chauffeur Ribbon grade 2
• Moved Iron Fist Silver unlock to Chauffeur Ribbon grade 4
• 42WLA, 42WLA Lend-Lease and R75 with sidecar moved to Driver Ribbon grade 3 for Recons
• Increased M1918 Specialist ribbon experience gain by ~17%

Other

• Price adjustments for the halftracks and anti-aircraft vehicles in relation to their unlock adjustments
• Removed ability to add yourself as a friend
• The German Rank 22 is no longer cut off in the rank overview
• Fixed an exception error shown when clicking on ‘ammo’ right after assigning a weapon from the equipment depot

Localization

• Re-named Obecné to Generál in Czech Localization
• Fixed an issue where the rank 6 Soviet soldier would have a weapon name in Czech Localization
• Corrected grammar mistake in Kettenkrad description text
• Replaced ‘No connection to server’ with ‘Connecting to Server’