Heat of Battle

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Heat of Battle (HoB) for Call of Duty is the first total conversion modification released^[1] for Call of Duty. It was at one time one of the most popular^[2] multi-player mods for the original Call of Duty and is available free of charge. Macologist named Heat of Battle an honorable mention for their Mod of the Year for 2005^[3].

Based on the same World War II themes as the original game, Heat of Battle added a capture-and-hold style of gameplay, along with a number of new weapons, models, and maps. All of the original Call of Duty Search and Destroy maps are also usable with the HoB game type.

Two of the features implemented by the Heat of Battle Development team were later provided in the Call of Duty: United Offensive expansion pack released by Gray Matter Interactive. These include deployable weapons and the capture-and-hold gameplay style (called 'Domination' in CoD:UO).

The mod development team's goals include making the game more challenging by increasing the realism of the game, introducing gameplay elements that require effective teamwork to be successful, and being fun to play.

Heat of Battle is no longer in active development for Call of Duty. A new version of the mod with the same goals and many of the same features is planned for the Valve Corporation Source engine (as used by Half-Life 2 and Day of Defeat: Source).

1 Elements tuned
2 Features Added
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Elements tuned

A number of items that exist in Call of Duty were tuned for historic accuracy. These items include:

There is no weapons crosshairs displayed on the screen to promote additional realism.
Ammunition loadouts are more historically accurate with fewer rounds available for most weapons.
Weapons are less accurate when not using the iron sights and the overall accuracy of weapons has been adjusted (some increased, others decreased).
Weapon damage has been adjusted to be more historically accurate (rifle damage increased, sub-machine gun damage reduced).
The MG42 has had its muzzle flash greatly reduced (it has nearly none in reality).

[edit] Features Added

Being hit in the hands can cause you to drop your weapon, being hit in the feet can cause you to be fall down.
Being near a grenade that detonates will cause shellshock in proportion to the amount of damage taken.
Being hit with a bullet will cause a very limited shellshock in proportion to the amount of damage taken.
Each team can be limited to a particular percentage of sub-machine guns, support weapons, and sniper rifles that can be carried at a given time.
Servers can allow only the ammunition left in the weapon when a player is killed is available to be retrieved by other players.
Allowing only two grenades to be carried at a time.
Allowing only one primary weapon (such as a rifle or submachine gun) at a time, and up to two handguns to be carried at a time, rather than Call of Duty's standard two primary and one handgun limit.
The damage radius of grenades is larger to be more historically accurate.
Grenades can be 'cooked' such that their timer starts before they are thrown.
Sniper rifles are more shaky when standing and crouching.
Three new weapons added: Russian SVT40 rifle (with Bayonette), American M3A1 Grease gun, and British Sten Mk.V
The Browning Automatic Rifle has a deployable bipod that can be use on any surface of an appropriate height for the player's stance (standing, crouching, or prone). When the bipod is deployed, the recoil and rate of fire are improved.
The sounds for many weapons have been replaced.