Steel Division 2 News

Hello commanders,

We hope this message finds you well. Once again, apologies for the radio silence, but not to worry, we are hard at work on Steel Division 2. As much as possible, we will try to give you semi-regular updates, like today’s DevBlog. Some tidbits of things cooking in Eugen’s kitchen.

[h2]What’s that smell?[/h2]
So, first things first: the next major expansion, Steel Division 2: Blood Feud in Transylvania, is coming along nicely. The new map, Oarba, a 2vs2 battlefield, has passed QA testing and scenario settings tweaking. What is left to do for the team is to design the AI for each scenario. When this is done, we move to the last step, which is to invite the Strike Team to come in and give their verdict on a final balance pass.



[h2]What else?[/h2]
The main Turda Army General strategic campaign is also being tested, from start to finish, by our ever-hard-working QA department.

In other news, the 3D designers are still busy producing the new models for the upcoming Nemesis: Siege of Dunkirk mini-expansion. This includes new and reworked Cromwell tanks, new artillery guns, and more.





[h2]Until soon![/h2]
A short and brief DevBlog this time. We promise to have more substantial updates on Steel Division 2 in the not-too-distant future!

As always, join the Steel Division 2 community on our Steam forums. The latest Steel Division 2 news can also be found on our Instagram.

Looking for an online game? Visit the Discord server or Reddit page and get involved with the lively Steel Division 2 community!

See you on the battlefield, commander!

Hello all!

We hope you are well. As you noticed, last week we didn’t publish a DevBlog. This might happen more often in the future, but make no mistake, the Eugen team is very hard at work on all things related to Steel Division 2.

As we are deep in the designing and developing phase on various projects, it is at times better to keep a lid on work-in-progress and wait until we actually have something to show. Like today!

Let’s give a brief update on what’s cooking in the Steel Division 2 kitchen.

[h2]Nemesis: Siege of Dunkirk[/h2]
Our next Nemesis DLC, the Siege of Dunkirk mini-expansion, is ever advancing. We are currently working on the 3D models to be featured, specifically the Allied French infantry deployable as FFO troops. This stands for Forces Françaises de l’Ouest (Western French Forces) which were attached to the Czechoslovakian CIABG battlegroup.

These French squads were almost entirely made up of former FFI maquisards (French partisans) only recently turned into regular soldiers. Nevertheless, these French combatants provided the Allies with almost 65.000 men in September and October 1944, rising to 85.000 soldiers in early 1945.



This influx of manpower was used to block or besiege the various German “fortresses” remaining on the French Atlantic Coast. While the Axis aimed to prevent the use of important harbors, they failed to fix thousands of regular Allied troops with these holdouts. Instead, the Allies deployed reserves, second-line, or improvised forces such as the FFO to great effect, while the veteran armies kept on their drive to Berlin.

The FFO, under French control, were at the complete back of the queue in terms of equipment and supplies. A dire situation compounded by a devastated and still partially occupied country with a provisional government just starting to function. Within this context, the FFO were left in a state of neglect for most of the war. Only through Système D (the soldiers’ own resourcefulness) or with the support of local British, Commonwealth, or American units, could the French stay in the fight. The common joke was that the FFO actually meant Forces Françaises Oubliées with “oubliées” meaning “forgotten.”



[h2]Steel Division 2 League’s Season 9[/h2]
In other news, Steel Division 2 League is back! Our valued community member Protosszocker is at it again, with the League’s 9th Season to kick off on Sunday the 31st of October. Sign-up will close on Tuesday the 25th of October.



No matter the skill level or experience, the Steel Division 2 League is the perfect place for players to enter online competitive Steel Division 2. Higher up the rank ladder, the question remains if our reigning champion Gonz can grab his 6th League title or if someone will step up and finally claim the crown themselves. Regardless of the outcome, either join as a competitor or tune in to watch the League unfold.

More info about Steel Division 2 League can be found here.

Please note that the tournament is not organized by Eugen. We support it by sharing the message and putting Eugen’s stamp of approval for guaranteed fun - but that’s it!

[h2]Bidding you au revoir![/h2]
Before we leave you, a small update on the upcoming major expansion Steel Division 2: Blood Feud in Transylvania. The new Oarba map, a 2vs2 battlefield, is nearing completion. All victory conditions (Capture the Flag and Destruction) and deployment modes (Meeting Engagement, Closer Combat, and Breakthrough) have been completed. The AI behavior on these maps still needs to be set and tweaked, but we are getting closer!



That’s it. Join the Steel Division 2 community on our Steam forums. The latest Steel Division 2 news can also be found on our Instagram.

Looking for an online game? Visit the Discord server or Reddit page and get involved with the lively Steel Division 2 community!

See you on the battlefield, commander!

Hello commander,

We hope you are well! First of all, we wanted to apologize for the lack of a DevBlog last week. The Eugen team has been hard at work on the World War III cousin of Steel Division 2, preparing for the latest major milestone for WARNO.

With that out of the way, we do have some interesting Steel Division 2 tidbits to share with you today.

[h2]Blood Feud in Transylvania[/h2]
We are steadily advancing ever forwards with the next Steel Division 2 expansion, Blood Feud in Transylvania. As mentioned, we have been busy with WARNO, which influences our work on other projects. See the packaging of our new expansion as a Russian doll: we need to complete one step before being able to continue to the next one. This, at times, creates bottlenecks.

Such as?

• We are working on the Army General campaign map. This needs to be finalized before we are able to record each faction’s briefing video. Likewise, the voice acting needs to be completed in order to align the sound and video briefings; and we need these briefings to be finished before we can integrate it into the game. One puzzle piece after another.
  
• Once done, the Army General campaign needs to be thoroughly checked from start to finish, fixing issues and typos, see how each turn pans out, restarts, etc. All of this takes time.
  

But, we do have one piece of art to show off: the introduction video of Blood Feud in Transylvania is ready. Let us know what you think!

https://youtu.be/cD6jfeL_J40

[h2]Siege of Dunkirk[/h2] Nemesis: Siege of Dunkirk DLC is also coming up. The 3D models to be featured in this mini-expansion are being worked on as we speak. The Czechoslovakian infantry has been finalized, and the French FFO (Forces Françaises de l’Ouest) are being mustered and are almost ready to be deployed.



[h2]Until next week![/h2]
That’s it for this DevBlog. One other thing before we leave: our talented Strike Team members will stream the first Blood Feud in Transylvania divisions later this week. Keep an eye out on our Discord if you want to check it!

Join the Steel Division 2 community on our Steam forums. The latest Steel Division 2 news can also be found on our Instagram.

Looking for an online game? Visit the Discord server or Reddit page and get involved with the lively Steel Division 2 community!

See you on the battlefield, commander!

Hello commander,

Today is Patch Day! We teased it here, it is now live ...
It features a long awaited exploit fix, whole unit type's buff, and some love given to underperforming divisions.

[h2]Patchlog[/h2]

The patchlog can be found here.

Why those changes? Here are some of the reasons:

[h2]ATR ambush[/h2]
One exploit which was brought to our attention recently was the use of 2-man ATR teams, with fast transports, to lay ambush along the enemy's lines of communication in order to intercept its infantry reinforcements. A very legit strategy, yet with the current settings, a single ATR bullet would blow up a transport truck and kill an entire squad with it.
With the change brought today, a destroyed transport will only kill 4 of its passengers (meaning an entire half-squad in the case of a jeep), leaving the others suppressed but not all dead. Therefore, one can still lay an ATR ambush, but he better bring HMG or flamethrower to finish suppressing and routing the surviving enemy reinforcements!



[h2]Miscellaneous changes[/h2]

• Assault engineers with one (not two!) flamethrower weren't deemed appealing enough in comparison with their brethen with TNT. Their price has been buffed over the board.
  
• Since Nemesis: Raid on Drvar was released, we have been listening to feedbacks regarding the two new divisions, NOV & Unternehmen Rösselsprungs. Being regarded as too weak, we have buffed their slot prices.
  
• Other divisions needed some love too, though. Especially Soviet ones, and in particular 3GvTK & Tyurina. The latter clearly lacks AA, it is actually one of its "trademark", yet we've added a limited 25mm AA gun card, while the former is given two cards of ISU-152 which he was due from the beginning, having a regiment attached during Bagration, as depicted in the Army General campaign.
  
• The 15th Scots (and by extension one Soviet division) also got some improvement through cheaper Churchill tanks.
  
• ... and more.

[h2]What about Turda?[/h2]
As announced last week, we are still working hard on polishing Turda's campaign, which we hope we'll disclose more soon.
In the meantime, the Strike Team will soon be allowed to stream about the new upcoming divisions & units.

• fixing the KM PIONIER's wrong number of rifle
  
• fixing the Chetnik insignia on the USTASE's cap
  
• fixing the speed discrepancy between some tank variant and their recon version, by standardizing it on the "vanilla" one: PANTHER D AUFLK., PANZER IV J AUFK., T4 CERCETARE, BEUTE FIREFLY, T-34/85 RAZV., T-34/76 RAZV., M4A3(75) SPAHIS
  
• ditto with BEUTE FIREFLY's speed being brought on FIREFLY Vc's speed
  

• transported squads only get 4 casulaties but get high stress when its transport is destroyed
  

• all CROMWELL (but VII)'s speed brought back to 63 km/h
  
• added STRELKI (DT) one extra man with DT + increased price from 20 to 25
  
• increased CRUSADER AA Mk.1's availability per card from 1/2/4 to 2/4/6
  
• increased DZHIP KAO (152mm)'s price from 120 to 170
  
• decreased CHURCHILL IV's price from 60 to 50
  
• decreased CHURCHILL V's price from 65 to 50
  
• increased CHURCHILL IV & VI's availability per card from 5/10/15 to 6/12/18
  
• increased (US) ENGINEERS' price from 20 to 25
  
• decreased (US) HVAP rounds per unit (76mm AT gun, M10 TD & Hellcat) from 3 to 2
  
• increased all mortar units with the RADIO trait's price by +5
  
• decreased SHTRAFNIKI OFF.'s price from 40 to 35
  
• increased SHTRAFNIKI AVTO.'s availability per card from 3/6/9 to 6/9/-
  
• decreased RANGERS' price from 25 to 20
  
• decreased PIONNIERS' price from 25 to 20
  
• decreased ISU-152' price from 130 to 115
  
• increased SU-152' price from 60 to 70
  
• decreased ISU-122' price from 95 to 80
  
• increased TU-2S' price from 95 to 110
  
• (NOV) changed AT slots from 1/2/2/3/3/4 to 1/1/2/2/3/3
  
• (Pancerna) SAPERZY with TNT increased to 12 men with Bren, but no Sten
  
• (Pancerna) SAPERZY with flamers increased to 12 men with Bren
  
• (Pancerna) SAPERZY with flamers renamed INŻYNIERZY to differentiate them from the TNT ones
  
• (Tyurin) add one 6// card of 72-K 25mm AA gun
  
• (3GvTK) added 2 cards of ISU-152
  

• increased TURAN II's short 75mm main gun's HE damage on par with those of German Stummel (short 75mm)
  
• increased ÁRKÁSZOK's availability per card from 5/10/15 to 6/12/18
  
• added REITENDE JÄGER (MP-44) some Molotov cocktails
  
• decreased GD STURMGRUPPE's price from 25 to 20
  
• decreased GD STURMGRUPPE MG's price from 30 to 25
  
• increased BEO. FI 156C (172,5mm)'s price to 110
  
• decreased ROHAMÁRKÁSZOK's price from 25 to 20
  
• decreased VM PIONIERI ASALT's price from 25 to 20
  
• decreased Fs-STURMPIONIER's price from 30 to 20
  
• decreased GEB. STURMPIONIER's price from 25 to 20
  
• decreased GD STURMPIONIER's price from 25 to 20
  
• decreased STURMPIONIER's price from 25 to 20
  
• decreased STURMPIONIER (SVT)'s price from 25 to 20
  
• decreased HG STURMPIONIER's price from 25 to 20
  
• decreased STURMPIONIER HJ's price from 25 to 20
  
• decreased STURMPIONIER's price from 25 to 20
  
• increased SDKFZ 7/1's availability per card from 1/2/4 to 2/(4)/(6), number of cards changed accordingly
  
• increased OPEL BLIZT FLAKVIERLING's availability per card from 1/2/4 to 2/(4)/(6), number of cards changed accordingly
  
• increased off-map KARL GERÄT (600mm)'s damage and blast by x2
  
• increased SS-LEGIONARI's price from 20 to 25
  
• (Rossel.) add one 1-pt INF slot