Welcome to the Heroes & Generals (H&G) getting started guide!
Heroes & Generals consists of two major parts. One part is the Heroes, a multiplayer first person shooter. The other part, Generals, is a massive multiplayer real-time strategy game. This can be a lot to absorb, so this page exists to assist in the learning curve.
The Generals part of the game requires high-ranked soldiers, so it's limited to the more experienced players. Therefore, in this tutorial, we will be focusing on the Heroes part of the game. Don’t worry though, if you follow this tutorial, you will be a General in no time!
Getting Started
Technical Requirements
To start, please review the Heroes & Generals hardware requirements and drivers section. If you have any technical questions or require support, please review the “Support” section of the forums here.
Registering
Once you are sure your machine meets the necessary hardware/driver requirements, you need to register an account. Registering will give you the username and password needed to log into the game. You can register by visiting this page.
Downloading
Now that you have registered, you need to download the game. You have two options: a stand-alone client, or Steam (a free to use digital game store).
- As the game runs, you will notice H&G Sync, a small program that handles the files needed to play. The download size is currently around 1 Gigabyte. You will only need to download that once. After the initial download, H&G Sync will make sure that you have the right version of the game and download any future patches for you automatically.
Stand-Alone Client
Click here to download Heroes & Generals.
- Once the installer is downloaded you need to run it and it will download your game and install it.
Steam
Click here to download Heroes & Generals via Steam.
Login Screen
After a successful download/patching, you will be prompted to login. Use the credentials rendered via the steps above to continue.
War Selection
If you are logging in for the first time or if the war has recently ended, you will need to choose a war. At present, there is only one war. But when there are more players online, more wars will be available to join.
Character Interface
Once you logged in the game and chose your first soldier, you will see main interface or "Heroes" tab which includes numerous options.
Let us go through all the numbers and buttons.
- Bulletin. The most recent game news and articles are shown here.
- Notifications. Here you will receive important notifications: weapon repair costs, battle summary, and more.
- Messages. You are able to send and receive instant private messages with online players or send and receive mail that can be received even while offline. A small number on the icon will indicate any new messages received.
- Veteran membership status. Once you purchase Veteran Membership, you will see its current status. By clicking on the line, you will receive full information about your veteran membership.
- "Heroes" and "Generals" tabs. As soon as you reach Player Level X (10), you will be able open the "Generals" tab which includes War map. More information about War - down below.
- Credits. Credits are the most common in-game currency earned through playing the FPS. With credits, you can purchase almost everything in the game - including new soldiers and veteran membership.
- Warfunds. Warfunds are the second type of in-game currency. It is earned and used in the War effort. You are able to earn Warfunds by playing War battles once you reach player level 10.
- Gold. This kind of currency can be purchased with real money and can be used everywhere. Also, you receive free 4 gold after finishing your first battle each day.
- Player Level. It displays your current player level. The higher the level, the more game modes and soldier types available.
- Store. New equipment, vehicles and camouflages can be purchased in the Store.
- Options. Here you find all kinds of settings and helpful links.
- Faction icon. It displays a faction of soldier chosen. Once you unlock "factions" you will be able to scroll through soldiers of different factions by pressing the left and right arrow keys.
- Rank. Current rank and progress of your soldier is shown here.
- The name of a soldier. You can always customize your soldier by changing his name for some Credits.
- Experience. It displays amount of experience that your soldier needs to get new rank.
- Next rank shows you insignia of the next rank. You can also click on it to open "ranks" window for more information.
- You can switch between weapons, vehicles, camouflage and field gear which your soldier owns but have unequipped or can purchase.
- Equipment depot. Once you promote your soldier to General, all his equipment will be placed here. You can spread equipment among other soldiers but they have to meet the requirements of particular equipment.
- By pressing these buttons you can see weapons, combat badges, vehicles, camouflage and assault teams currently equipped on your character.
- List of soldiers of one faction. Here you can see all your soldiers and generals of one faction. You can enlist additional soldier by pressing on empty slot with "+" in it.
- Weapons list. Here you can see current set up of your soldier. You can change soldier's set up by using "drag and drop" function.
- List of equipment that is owned by your soldier or able to purchase.
- Ribbons. By playing the game, you will earn experience not only for your rank but also for your ribbons. Here, you can see the full list of ribbons you can get. You can click on the ribbons on this page to get a description of the rewards and how to level up that ribbon. Ribbons unlock a great deal of equipment for purchase.
- Next unlocks. By playing the game, you will unlock a lot of stuff. The closest unlocks are shown in here.
- Soldier filter. You can filter your soldier list to only display one type.
- Game chat. You can always chat with other players or create a specific chat room and use it with your friends.
- Friends. Every player you added to your friend list will be shown in here as well as his online status and war faction. You can also queue for a friend's battle from the friend list.
- Your squad. Here, you can adjust your squad and see portraits of soldiers who are currently in your squad. More information about squads.
- Map filters. You can adjust map filters to join specific types of battles.
- COMBAT button. The main button which allows you to join battles.
Time to Squad Up and Go to Battle!
Looking to join a battle? Click on the COMBAT! button in the bottom right corner to open the Map & Filter selection.
1. There are different game modes to choose from. When you're first starting out, only the 'Encounter' game mode is available.
2. Once you press TO BATTLE! you will enter match-making. |
Squads
More info on Squads and Squad Leader.
1. Through the shield button you access the squad menu. 2. To invite friends to your squad, use the '+' symbol on the bottom or add them in the squad player list.
3. Once you've gathered your friends, use the COMBAT! button to select a game mode.
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Squad Customisation
A squad is the core of team work and can be customised before (but not during) a battle to fit your needs.
- Each of your soldiers has his own squad but can only customise it if he is rank 6 or higher.
- All customizations are saved and bound to the soldier with which you made them.
- As of now, you can only change your squad settings when having at least 1 person in it or while in match-making. This is bound to change, the date of that is unknown.
- For each squad member who has an active veteran membership, everyone in the squad gets a 5% bonus on all experience earned.
1. In order to do most customisations, you need Squad Upgrade Points. 2. Inviting more than 2 friends will cost you squad upgrade points for each additional player. 3. Spending points on Auxiliary Seats allows you to use different types of soldiers during a battle. 4. For a fee, you can rename your squad. The name is saved to your soldier and is visible in the game. 5. A squad chat is automatically created to enable you to communicate with your squad members in the lobby as well as during a battle. | |
Squad Upgrade Points By playing as a squad member or a squad leader you earn experience in the corresponding ribbon.
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Upon joining a battle you have a preparation phase of 30 seconds (1.) to look at the resources in battle (2.), hide the battle briefing window (3.) and do last minute changes to your squad (4.)(e.g. adjusting the auxiliary seats). |
Auxiliary Seats
Setting up auxiliary seats allows you to be more versatile while ingame. You can spawn a soldier of a different type than the squad type.
- To be able to spawn it in battle, you need to own that type of soldier as well as have the resources, or assault team, available.
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Squads in War
In war, unlike in staged battles, you have the ability to queue up for specific battles.
In order to do so, you have to open the war map, look at the ongoing battles (burning cities or burning points in between cities) and discuss with your squad which one you would like to join.
There are several criteria that have to be fulfilled to be able to join as well as a way to increase your chance of getting in. More information on that: Joining Specific War Battles
Game Modes
As mentioned at the beginning of Time to Squad Up and Go to Battle, you gradually unlock more game modes as you level up your Player Level.
- You gain progress in the player levels by increasing your score which is done by playing the action game with any kind of soldier.
There are two categories of game modes: Staged Battles and War Battles. Both categories feature all game modes and all maps.
- For a more detailed look at the game modes and mechanics of the Action game view the Action Rules.
Staged Battles
In staged battles, every faction has exactly the same type and the same amount of resources, or assault teams, which resemble spawn tickets.
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Encounter
Available from the very beginning (player level 1), this fast-paced game mode is meant to introduce new players to the game.
Maps: |
Skirmish
Once you reach player level 2, the Skirmish game mode is permanently unlocked for your account.
Maps: |
Assault
Once you reach player level 4, the Assault game mode is permanently unlocked for your account.
Maps: |
- The lines from which the attacking team assaults vary. In war battles, this depends on connections from adjoining cities to the current city (if any), and whether Assault Teams have been sent.
- Once a point is captured, the controlling team can spawn in a connected spawn area.
- Certain vehicles like tanks, fighter planes and infantry support vehicles can only be spawned near an objective (e.g. 01) or an access point.
- If the time limit (30 minutes) runs out while one team is holding one of the objectives, the game will enter sudden death. Whichever team captures all objectives first, wins the game.
- Assaulting is generally harder than defending.
- Every soldier type may participate if the corresponding resource, or assault team, is available.
- Battles generally last for around 30 minutes.
- Read more about this game mode: Assault
War Battles
Once you reach player level 10, the ability to join war battles is permanently unlocked for your account.
You earn +50% rank experience, +50% ribbon experience as well as warfunds for participating in war battles.
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War battles are set up by players.
Though not everyone can set up war battles, all players with a player level of 10 or higher can join war battles.
- To set up a war battle, players have to send their own resources (assault teams) which is done on the war map as part of the Generals portion of Heroes & Generals.
- Only players with at least one soldier above level 12 can equip and deploy assault teams.
- More about the Generals portion: Strategy Game
Joining Specific War Battles
Apart from letting the match-maker find you a battle, you are able to choose your own battles on the war map.
In order to do so you first have to choose a faction for which you want to fight for the duration of the current war.
There are several conditions that have to be fulfilled to be able to queue for a specific battle:
1. The available resources have to match you squad type and there have to be enough resources for the battle to be "fun" (Otherwise the battle won't start, more informations: Battle Director). 2. If you're not by yourself, you have to be the squad leader to be able to queue up. 3. If all conditions are met, you'll be able to join the battle. Otherwise a "Missing Condition"-warning will show above this button explaining you what is wrong.
4. Check additional informations like time, weather and ping here. If ongoing battles have a high ping for you, it may impair your game experience negatively. |
How to fight
You shoot the enemy. You capture the objective. You coordinate with your teammates. Also, don't forget to whistle.
Controls
Here are some of the more useful controls. You might want to use these in your first battle.
See also Action Game Controls - a full list of game controls.
Important Controls
- M = Map (right mouse click to zoom in/out). Use this to see where you are in relation to the objectives.
- F = Whistle (this can be used to signal teammates when on foot). You can use this to ask a teammate in a vehicle to wait for you to board.
- Mouse Wheel = Camera Angle / Position (used when in a vehicle)
- B = Binoculars (requires you to have binoculars equipped) Binoculars are used by soldiers to better survey the battlefield and help spotting enemy units.
Squad
After joining a battle, you will be put into a squad. Depending on your level and other factors, you will either be a Squad Leader or become a squad member. As a squad leader, you will be able to give orders out by pressing 'Q'. While holding 'Q', move your cursor to the desired location and press left mouse button to confirm your order. Available orders: 'Attack','Defend','Rally' or 'Clear Area'(only avilable to tankers and pilots)
If you would like to dismiss a squad member or leave the squad, you just need to go to the scoreboard (default 'Tab'), then either find yourself on the scoreboard then press left mouse button and select 'Leave Squad', or select the member of squad you like to dismiss, press left mouse button to dismiss the member from your squad.
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Spawning
You can spawn near any point your team has captured.
If you like to spawn previously selected auxiliary seats and the desired ressource is available, you can select the auxillary seat soldier through your soldier list.
Assault Team Spawns:
- Pilots spawn in a plane.
- Paratroopers must choose a capture point as destination where their transport planes will fly to, then will spawn in the plane, and be able to jump out when it reaches the point, (or before, if needs be) unless the para planes have ran out. If the team resources have ran out of transport planes, then paratroopers will spawn the same way as regular infantry.
- Tank Crewman can spawn in a tank near the main objective or access point, or as a passenger in a tank driven by a friendly tanker.
- Infantryman can spawn in an APC at any time. If you are assaulting, you can only spawn in an APC if you are on the same attacking line.
Switching from infantry to tank Auxillary seat
An infantry under spawn protection |
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Capturing
In order to capture a point, you must be within the radius of the capture zone (normally within the fences,walls etc). When you get inside the capture zone, a circle with the capture point's letter and number appears on the UI, along with (a) red/blue number(s). The blue number represents the amount of friendly soldiers inside the capture point, and the red represents the amount of enemies. The higher the amount of allies you have inside the capture point (the blue number) the quicker you will capture the point. However, if there are an equal amount of allies and enemies inside the capture point, the counter will stop - it will remain at its current status. E.g. if you are attacking A3, an enemy point, and there is one enemy inside as well, the capture point status would get contested but it will remain the enemies' point. In order to capture the point, you must remain inside the point, kill any enemies inside the capture zone and defend until the circle at the top of the screen is fully surrounded by blue. | Capture Counter
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Defending
The primary way to defend a capture point is to prevent enemies from getting into the capture zone. However, if enemies got inside the capture zone, they will start capturing the point. You need to either eliminate all enemies inside, or, get inside the capture zone to slow down enemies' capture timer and wait for reinforcements. To reward players for defending capture zones, you will receive extra 10 Exp bonus point for each opponent you eliminate inside a CONTESTED capture zone. Use cover to your advantage, setting up Anti-Personel mines or cover the entrances. Use whatever way to help you defend the capture point.
It is adviced to use machine guns or sub-machine guns if you are planning to defend the objectives from inside. These weapons are ideal for close quarter combat. Anti-personnel mines can be placed inside or near the entrances, but can also be placed in the direction where you expect your opponents to come from. However anti-personel mines are rather expensive to maintain. Plus you teamates can triger it as well, so use them wisely. Also be advised that anti-tank mines will NOT be triggered by players on foot, so do not place them in buildings unless you are planning to trigger them manually by shooting at them as enemies walk by. |
A capture point that is being contested
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Attacking
It is important to get to know the layout of the map when attacking. There are many medical/ammo/anti-tank supply crates scattered on the battlefield (they are usually close to capture points). You're also able to equip vehicles with crates. Use them as you can. You can find out if you have any of these items nearby by pressing 'M' button to display your battlefield map. Then press zoom in (default is right mouse button) to see if there's any crates around you.
In short, having map awareness and a capture-oriented load-out allows you to advance along capture lines much more efficiently, hopefully leading to a victory. For more information about maps look here. |
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General strategy for infantryman
There are different ways to play this game as infantry. As we know, infantry is the main core of an army and without it it's impossible to win whether you attack or defend.
Condition - Capture: You can help your team by pushing with them or defending the last conquered point. Both actions are equally important because you can't capture the next point if you lose the previous one!
If your teammates are moving forward and you stay behind camping, trying to find someone to kill, "You are not helping your team", "You are not going to get much experience, credits or points to unlock ribbons". Sometimes killing enemy soldiers is a little useful towards victory as it drains the enemy spawn tickets/lives (lives from the assault team). You do not get a lot of experience for killing soldiers (outside of a capture zone) but it does help you leveling up your gun and unlocking new guns.
Situation and Instruction: You spawn at C1 with your teammates and you have C2, C3 and C4 ahead. One guy to capture C2, the others move straight to C3. Half will guard it and the other half will fight their way to C4. This can be changed by planes and tanks, maybe easy or maybe harder.
It's hard to see good team play. If you spot good players or squads, try to work with them.
You spawned at random spawn point and you see the road to the next capture point is blocked by heavy defense. Use any mean of transport to go around that defense to either get to the next capture point from behind or weaken their defense by taking out soldiers and vehicles (tanks, etc.).
Tanks, Mines and Planes
How to deal with Tanks
What do tanks do?
- Tanks provides very safe protection to crews from gun fires. They often have very powerful cannons, which can be loaded with high-explosive shells, along with machine guns too. They can suppress infantry from distance, defend bridges, access points and eliminate vehicles but also combat enemy armors. However, a tanker's view is extremely limited due to the crew only being able to observe the surrounding environment through its scope and view port. So it is extremely easy to get flanked up close by infantry. That is why it is often advised to cover your teammate's tanks, to avoid enemies from using anti-tank equipment to destroy them.
How do I destroy a tank?
- You need anti-tank weaponry to destroy weapons. There are hand held anti-tank rocket launchers (Panzerfaust 60) scattered across all maps. There are also rocket launchers, anti-tank mines and anti-tank grenades which you can unlock and purchase to use on your soldiers. The hand greanades do NOT deal any damage to tanks and armored vehicles, including Armored Personel Carriers (APC). So if there's an enemy tank in sight and you don't have any anti-tank weaponry at the time, do not waste your time and credits throwing hand grenades at them. Just simply mark its location by aiming at it for few seconds and let your other teamates know and deal with him or try to find anti-tank crates on the map (note: it takes around 3 shots from picked up anti-tank rocket launcher (Panzerfaust 60) to destroy a tank).
Anti-tank mines are best being used for defensive purpose. It only takes one single mine to kill any type of vehicle (from Cars to Heavy Tanks), as long as they drive right over it.
Note: if an Anti-tank mine explodes next to a vehicle instead of below, it only deals about a third of its damage.
- Tanks rear and side armor tend to be weaker than the front armor. Weapons like Anti-Tank rocket launchers and certain Anti-Tank grenades can only penetrate certain milimeters thick armor. So it is always a good idea to approach a tank from the side or rear.
- Each tank has its own weakspots, try to get to know them and shot at their weakspots. It will guarantee a higher chance of penetration and let you destroy enemy armor more efficently.
Tank View Port | Tank Sight |
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How to place Anti-tank Mines
It is always a good idea to place some AT mines to prevent enemies from using vehicles to transport troops to the capture points. Especially between Number 3 and Number 4 points, where distances tend to be long. AT mines can be set up at flanking points to prevent enemies from showing up at your side or rear. For example, it is always a good idea to lay down some mines at the water crossing of B line when the enemies are attacking on C line (on the Town map).
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Anti-Tank Mines Being Placed on Bridge
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How to deal with Anti-tank Mines
If you're within a 25 m radius to a friendly mine, you will see it marked as such with a red skull (see image). So do not destroy them unless they leave you no other possible way to advance (You can destroy them by shooting them). When you see friendly mines, be careful not to walk/drive over them because they will detonate and kill you. Usually, most people will lay mines in a pattern so that you can navigate around them safely.
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How to deal with anti-personel mines
How to deal with Planes
Why am I blown to smithereens by planes all the time?
- Planes often have the altitude advantage, so they tend to have a great overview of the battlefield. They can easily pick out the targets to destroy. However, they do have their own limitation too - weather, trees, houses and also very loud engine noises. So, it is not difficult guess a plane's action.
Use Anti-Air Guns on map to counter planes. You may not be able to take down planes all the time but by using AA guns (which can be found near most of the main objectives and some capture points) you can put more pressures on enemy pilots, force them to change there tactics and also make them be more cautious about their strikes. Forcing them to repair can be better than destroying an aircraft as it takes more time before they can get back up in the air.
- Use trees to cover your advances. Roads are easier for vehicles but good pilots will always spot you on a road
- Get into cover when you hear the plane's engine sound getting closer
- Use flanking manuvour to avoid being seen
A successful career
Different Soldiers
The game has a variety of classes, which you can see in the picture below. This section covers the main roles of each class and some player-made variations that are common.
Player level
With the new Player level system you can earn quite a bit of Gold, Credits and Warfunds. For more Information: Player Level
Money Making There are a lot of ways to earn credits in the game but the best class is usually infantry due to their flexible approach to capturing objectives and destroying vehicles. Credits
If you decide to equip scopes on any of your guns keep in mind they are fairly expensive to maintain, so make each shot count Warfunds
You can read more information about ranks and salary here. InfantryInfantry is the backbone of any army and is always used in larger quantities than any other class in the game. Infantry has access to a very big variety of weapons and vehicles, so you always have different choices in terms of how you want to make that particular infantry character as you should make many of them for different roles (anti-tank, infantry sniper). You have a lot of possibilities with loadouts as well. Essentially, infantry does pretty much everything from defending objectives to attacking them, though always infantry will win the matches not any other class.
Tank crewmanTank crewman's task is to support the infantry's advance, but a tanker's main objective always is to destroy other tanks in the battlefield and then support his team's infantry. As a tank crewman, you should always consider having a wrench with you to repair your tank and a pistol, later, on, to defend yourself from those people who want to destroy your tanks. Try to learn different tanks exports while you are in battles.
Fighter PilotFighter pilots essentially have the same job as a tank crewman would have. Their main objective is to destroy enemy planes first, then provide air support for the advancing infantry. It is recommended as well to carry a wrench on your pilot. Do not be discouraged by how hard it is to learn to fly at first you really have to give it time.
Your plane has a choice of using High Explosive rounds or the Armour-piercing, composite rigid ammunition. Now, the high explosive rounds are best used for ground targets and supporting infantry, but the armour piercing are more effective against the planes and the tanks on the ground. But, don't worry, you will always have your normal Machine gun on your plane with 1000 rounds to shoot down other planes.
ParatrooperParatroopers are light infantry that jumps from the transport planes to objectives to capture them and then essentially defend and move to the next objectives. Paratroopers have some special equipment depending on what faction you're playing in the game.
ReconRecon's job in the game is to try and spot enemies for his team and hold down areas if possible with his sniper rifle and the 8x Unertl scope. As recon, remember to relocate often after killing enemies because they will try to hunt you down.
TipsOverall Tips
Gameplay Tips
Frequently Asked Questions and Other Helpful InformationFor the full list of Frequently Asked Questions and other helpful information, please visit the official Heroes and Generals subforum linked here. Heads-Up DisplayHere is a link to a news post detailing the GUI/HUD |