Steel Division 2 News

The “1st Steel Division 2 Championship” will be a 1v1 tournament that starts on the 11th of January at 15 CET(Central European Time) and it will be played until the Semi-Finals. Semi-Finals and Finals shall be played on the 12th of January 2020 (The Bronze Match and the Finals can be delayed if needed)

To Participate you have to join the Official Steel Division Discord
Invite: https://discord.gg/UxF3j88



Format:
The tournament will be a Single Elimination BO1 event until the Semi-Finals. Once the Semi-Finals phase is reached all games will be a BO3(Best of 3 games).

The players defeated in the Semi-Finals will play a Bronze Match to decide who is the 3rd and 4th place.

Prizes are yet to be announced(but there will be prizes.)
The winner of the Tournament will gain a prize for him as well as the discord he comes from. (If someone from the Official Discord wins we will giveaway the extra prize.) See: Sign up link for more informations on what that means

Rules:

To decide a map the allies player bans 3 map using the $banmap (map name) command, if you are unsure what a map is called use the $maps command to have the exact name list of all maps available.
Once the map bans from the allied side is done the axis player bans another 3 maps and then the command $rmap 1v1 is used to decide the map played.
Each players has a total of THREE division bans. Allies ban 3 divisions first and then the axis bans 3.

Each match UNTIL THE SEMI-FINALS consists of 1 game. After the

Semi-Finals each match is a Best of 3 (whoever wins 2 games wins the match)

Mirrors aren't allowed.

To decide the sides players should flip a coin using the $flip command in the #SODROOM-Championship room(You will have access to this room when you sign up.)

Games will be played with:
750 Start Points
Medium income
Medium game speed
Eastern front mode (conquest)

Any exploits and cheats are forbidden, if we find out any kind of advantage was gained due to an exploit or cheat the player accused will be banned from any future tournaments organized in the Discord.

Offending another player is also not accepted and will be met with similar consequences.

Reporting results:
To post a result make sure you are registered by using the command $register
Results will be posted using the #SODBOT-Results channel in the Steel Division Discord(Access will be given to this room when you sign up.), you will need to drop the replay file into this channel and the bot shall do the rest.

If anything is unclear feel free to ask a moderator.

Have fun !

Happy New Year, commander!

The whole Eugen team wishes you all the best for 2020. May you win many battles and be ever-victorious in Steel Division 2!

We wanted to kick off the new year with a bit of a recap of 2019, which was quite momentous for us as we released Steel Division 2.

Let’s take a moment to celebrate what has come to pass, so we can focus fully on all the exciting new things that are just around the corner.

New players and veterans alike: gather around. Let’s see what 2019 meant for Eugen, Steel Division 2, and you, the community.

New Steel Division 2 Features - January to March

Around this time last year, we were knee-deep building up Steel Division 2 to the version you would see at release. This means that the Eugen team was hard at work getting all the new bits in - functional in the beginning, fun at the end. Compared to Steel Division: Normandy 44 we had a slew of new features we were aching to use, most of which we revealed in our dev diaries in the early months of 2019.



Army General
The biggest new feature of Steel Division 2: our dynamic strategic campaigns, the turn-based Army General mode. Making all the individual parts of the Army General to work took its time, from the way the information was displayed, the art style of the map, to the intricate interplay between different types of battalions, and much, much more.

Between January and the launch of Steel Division 2 in June, quite a bit changed within Army General.

In this dev diary, you can read how we envisaged combat to work in Army General. Can you spot the differences?

One thing left behind on the cutting room floor was full multiplayer integration. It wasn’t easy to exclude player-vs-player action, but in the end we made a choice to spend more time to give this functionality all the love and attention it required. And, lo and behold, in the very near future, you should be able to play an Army General campaign with or against your friend.



Defensive Structures
The new defenses (barbed wire, trenches, the bunkers ready-equipped with machine guns or AT pieces) are another new feature in Steel Division 2. We had been toying with the idea for a long time, and with our new game, we made an effort to implement defensive structures in a smart and fun way. We settled on creating a new game mode (Breakthrough) to accommodate the defensive structures, and to not allow them in a Conquest game. Also, we wanted to give our in-game divisions some additional power, especially if they lacked the latest tank models or elite infantry. That’s why Rating C Divisions (184th Rifle Division, Armia Krajowa, Korück 559, and 12. Tartalék) have eight open defensive slots and have access to the best bunker with a 75mm AT gun.

Read more about the Defensive Structures in this dev diary right here.



Deck Builder
A couple of neat things can be found in another new feature we brought to Steel Division 2: the revamped Deck Builder. While recognizable for any Steel Division: Normandy 44 player, the version seen in our new game carried some improvements. One of the biggest was the flexible economy rate you could set for each of your battlegroups. Another was giving the player the option to set the veterancy and allowing them to decide how many copies of a particular unit they wanted to bring.

Read more about the new Deck Builder in this dev diary.



Steel Division 2 Beta - March 27th

At the end of March, players who pre-order Steel Division 2 could play the game for the very first time in an exclusive time-limited closed beta. At this point, we already had to push back the launch of the game a number of times, but we really wanted our fans to sample the game ahead of the full launch. It would not only give us critical feedback but also see how the backend and all of our support infrastructure and machinery would hold up.

Luckily, it was a great success! We ran a number of additional betas, with the last phase running uninterrupted before the full launch of Steel Division 2.



Launch - 20 June

This was a big day for us: the launch of Steel Division 2. By this time, we had been working on the game for many months, and we were finally able to release it into the wild. Steel Division 2 came with a solid foundation (the first Steel Division) but was plenty different, not only thanks to the awesome feedback from you, the community. We also took the chance to introduce some features we always wanted while exploring a setting and timeline (Operation Bagration) we felt was frequently overlooked in the history books.

Steel Division 2 had arrived, and everything, from the initial positive reception to later reviews and healthy player numbers, was much more than we could have asked for!



Death on the Vistula DLC Launch - 17 Oct

Our first History DLC, “The Death on the Vistula”, launched on the 17th of October. As part of our efforts to widen the scope of the military history we try to depict in Steel Division 2, shifting the battlefield further west, but still within the historical context of the game’s Operation Bagration, made a lot of sense. Not only that, it allowed us to play with cool new units such as the Sturmtiger or, for instance, the heroic soldiers of the Polish Home Army.

We are planning to release two more History DLC’s. If you want to get access to all three expansions, don’t hesitate to get the History Pass by following the link below!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/988171/Steel_Division_2__History_Pass/

In case you have forgotten, the reveal of the next History DLC is almost upon us. Keep a close eye out on our Steam and Eugen forums, or social channels (Facebook and Twitter). You can also join us on our [https://discord.gg/TEeBArm]Discord channel or Reddit page.



Smart Orders - 17 Oct

The Smart Orders was one of the first Reinforcement Pack updates we pushed out for Steel Division 2. These are free updates available to all our players! We know that our games can be a challenge to get into, with a steep learning curve and lots of things happening at the same time during a tactical battle. To lessen the micromanagement load, we opted to develop a new feature: Smart Orders. This new information panel and unit order mechanic was released at the same time as our first History DLC, and made commanding your troops and vehicles on the battlefield much easier by automating some of their behaviour!

We will continue down the line to make Steel Division 2 more accessible by the upcoming Rules of Engagement mechanic. Read more about this upcoming feature in this blog post here.



Modding Tools - 15 Nov

The last date we want to look at was when we released the Modding Tools at the tail-end of 2019. The modding tools are something that we have wanted to release to our community for a long time, but it takes effort, manpower, and resources to get it done properly. In the end, we managed, and we have already started seeing the first player-created mods hit the game. We can’t wait for more!

Conclusion

That’s it for today’s post. You’ll hear from us soon.

See you on the battlefield, commander!

Hello!

In our recent Road Map 2020 blog post we talked about an exciting new feature coming to Steel Division 2: Rules of Engagement.

Today, we’ll be taking a closer look at what this new mechanic actually entails.

Rules of Engagement will be made available to all Steel Division 2 players in the form of a free Reinforcement Pack. When? We don’t have an exact date yet but in the not too distant future!

What is it?

Rules of Engagement will make your commanding life much easier by giving your units more initiative on the battlefield, reducing the amount of micromanagement needed to control them.

Like the Smart Orders mechanic (detailed in this blog post), Rules of Engagement will have its own options panel which becomes active during a tactical battle. In this screen, you’ll be able to set the various behaviors all your units should follow on the battlefield.

Rules of Engagement will allow your units to do more on their own and adapt to changing conditions much more intelligently.



A bit of background

As you might know, we have been in creating RTS games for a long time, not only with our popular Wargame titles but also with R.U.S.E. (among other games). In the latter example, we set out to provide the units with more adaptive behavior beyond the default orders commonly found in the genre (move, fight, etc.). For example, in R.U.S.E., the standard travel order was a road travel order and the unit would automatically stop when spotting an enemy and then engage them.

In Steel Division and Wargame, the default orders are just that - very straight forward. If you click Move, and a unit spots an enemy while moving either off-road or on a paved track, it will not stop to engage. This gives players more control but is also more challenging because the level of micromanagement increases significantly.

When you think of it, these basic orders and commands don’t fit the high degree of realism we are trying to accomplish with Steel Division 2 - an authentic World War 2 game. We have also come to the conclusion that it didn’t make much sense to have a default move order that most of the experienced players ignored, as the far more efficient option would be to use Hunt instead.

Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that we want to allow for very high levels of micromanagement for our veteran Steel Division 2 players, but at the same time open up to first-comers and new players so that they can enjoy the game in a more relaxed manner.




How does it work?

In designing Rules of Engagement, we wanted to make sure it would work well in concert with the Smart Orders. You can see both mechanics as being partner-in-crime features, giving the player the flexibility to set their unit’s automatic behavior on the battlefield while decreasing the burden of complex micromanagement.

Please note that the feature is still in development, so some of the naming and orders might change.



Rules of Engagement orders

Advance: Hunt or normal Move. Makes sense, right?
Motorised Pathfind: Fast or Short. In this case, the road is to be used if it is calculated to be faster. Watch out, though. Fast can be dangerous because the algorithm that calculates the optimal route can sometimes make the units pass through contested places. Short makes the unit follow the shortest, straightest way: we don’t allow units to travel on any road.
On Foot Pathfind: Also known as walking. Cover or Short. Set the unit to either take cover whenever possible (while taking into account not to deviate too far from the original route). Or simply move straight ahead.
Idle: Sets the behavior when a unit is doing nothing. Either Nothing, Cover or Hold Position. The first speaks for itself. The second option allows a unit to find cover in a small radius of its current position. The third position will switch a unit’s stance to Smart Orders.
Shot on Target: In Steel Division 2, units automatically shoot at the maximum range (2 kilometers). This creates two “issues”: the unit is revealed, and the maximum range is a far cry from effective range, the point where you can actually do damage. This order toggles between Efficient (only shoot when a gun can penetrate an enemy unit’s armor) or Max Range, which is the default stance.

If you are a veteran Steel Division 2 player, the Rules of Engagement will be initially configured as a blank slate - you should not notice any difference. You can set your own unit’s behavior as you see fit.

If you are new to Steel Division 2 after the Rules of Engagement feature rolls out, it will be configured in a way that we feel is most appropriate to new players.

To make clear each unit’s action, we have added the option - as a small button in the new panel - to display all the current orders of each unit. Each order is represented by an arrow of a different color.

Conclusion

We want to know what you think about the Rules of Engagement. If there are any other orders or behaviors that would be of interest, we are more than happy to take it into consideration!

We actively listen to your feedback, be it in the Steam and Eugen forums and social channels (Facebook and Twitter). Don’t hesitate to leave us your thoughts.

See you on the battlefield, commander!

Hello, commander. Guess who’s back!

You might be wondering what the Eugen team has been up to these last couple of weeks, and we can tell you - quite a lot! In today’s post, we want to take some time to talk about the near future and all the cool things you can expect for Steel Division 2.

Trust us, there is some exciting news for you today. Read on!

What’s coming up

As you might know, behind the scenes, we are always hard at work at making Steel Division 2 a more kick-ass experience for all of you. Not only that, there is a ton of new features and content being created as we speak, not in the least our next History DLC.

But that’s not all. We can lift a veil on the Reinforcement Packs that are coming your way as well. Previous Packs contained new maps, or for instance, the Smart Order mechanic. The new ones will deliver even more goodies and enhanced gameplay. Like what?

Rules of Engagement

First off is the Rules of Engagement Reinforcement Pack. We’ll dive deeper into the finer details in a later blog post, but very much in the same vein as its partner mechanic, the Smart Orders, this new feature will enhance the way you can control your units while decreasing the amount of micromanagement.

Rules of Engagement work twofold: on the one hand, it allows you to set unit behavior, on the other, it introduces enhanced unit intelligence, allowing troops and vehicles to be more adaptive to threats and the environment.

Much like the Smart Orders, the Rules of Engagement will make it easier for new players and hardened veterans alike to control their units. Players will be able to interact with the Rules of Engagement through a new, dedicated screen in the tactical user interface.



Destruction Mode

Blowing things up and getting points for it has never been as much fun as it was with the Destruction mode found in our Wargame titles and Steel Division: Normandy. And yes, this fan-requested mode will make its glorious comeback in Steel Division 2 in one of our upcoming Reinforcement Packs.

Much like the version found in the original Wargame titles, Destruction mode grants a player points for - you guessed it - the destruction of enemy units, troops, planes, and vehicles. Every kill nets you points, while the number of flags you control determines the requisition points earned per minute.



When the points total runs out, you win (or lose) the game! Destroying a King Tiger 2 will really get to hurt your opponents right in their meow-meow!

Army General Multiplayer

Now, this is a big one and has been high on our list ever since we started working on the Army General campaigns: multiplayer integration. In one of our future Reinforcement Packs, we’ll introduce the option to play an Army General campaign with or against other human players. This will open up a completely new experience and make each of these dynamic strategic campaigns truly challenging and unique.



The new History DLC

We can’t say much about the upcoming DLC yet, apart from the fact that it will contain three new divisions each for the Axis and Allies, feature a massive new Army General campaign, and will bring new Historical Battles as well.

What, where, how long? Hold on to your seats, ready your keyboards, because before the year’s done, you’ll get to know all the juicy details of our new History DLC.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/988171/Steel_Division_2__History_Pass/

If you didn’t have it yet, be sure to grab yourself the History Pass for Steel Division 2. With it, you’ll get access to all the three History DLC’s planned for our game. All the DLC’s will be released in the 12 months after the official launch of Steel Division 2, and the first one, highlighting the battles in Poland during Operation Bagration, the very aptly named “Death on the Vistula”, is available now.

Conclusion

We care deeply about Steel Division 2 and you, the player. We couldn’t have made it so far without your fantastic support and feedback, and we’d like to keep it this way going forward.

One other thing we want to do is to communicate more often with our community - either through these posts or through our social media channels.

So, keep an eye out on our Steam and Eugen forums and social channels (Facebook and Twitter). You’ll hear from us soon!

Hello commander!

We have some exciting news to share with our players. Much requested by you, the community, we will be releasing a full set of modding tools for Steel Division 2 today! With these new tools, you’ll be able to modify, add or otherwise alter a host of different core features of our game: from vehicles to infantry weapons, divisions, sounds, skins and 3D models, and much more.

Let’s take a look at what to expect!

The new modding tools

The modding tools is a feature set asked for by you, the Steel Division 2 community, for some time. After releasing our game, our first goal was to improve the core experience of Steel Division 2, to make sure that both newcomers and veterans alike would love it from the moment they jumped in. As you know, it included new features such as the Smart Orders, the tutorials, new maps, new divisions and a whole slew of other interesting new mechanics. The results you have been able to play with since the release of our Death on the Vistula History DLC.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/988171/Steel_Division_2__History_Pass/

Modding tools have always been on our to-do list, and in the recent weeks and months, we have finally been able to devote the necessary attention and energy to make this extensive new feature set a reality.

What can you do?

A better question is: what can’t you do with these new tools? We have opened up the inner vaults of Steel Division 2 for you to play with. Together with the modding tools, we have also released an in-depth manual for you to use as a guide in creating new models and skins, files, tweaks, total conversions, you name it.

You can find the Modding Manual here.

The things you can change, upgrade, alter and modify in Steel Division 2:

• Skins and Models. You can change existing skins and create new textures for your models. You can also alter existing Steel Division 2 3D models and their meshes. The famous Pink Panther is finally within reach!
  
• User Interface. You can change and move around parts of the user interface, including the menus, loading screens, the tactical interface, the pre- and post-match screens.
  
• Weapons and Units. You can modify all the existing statistical properties for all the weapons and units in the game, from nitty-gritty details such as the ROF of machine guns to the armor distribution of vehicles, the rotation speed of turrets, and more.
  
• Divisions. Of course, you can also modify existing divisions and battlegroups, and add your own! Among other things, Activation Points for each category can be changed, as well as the individual costs for units.
  
• Gameplay. Do you want Phase A to last 2 minutes? Or instead 30 minutes? You can change that! All the variables and settings involving a Steel Division 2 game can be tweaked.
  
• AI. You can modify the AI settings and strategies. Updating existing profiles across various modes is possible, allowing you to create the most cunning of foes, for instance, in single-player Skirmish, online or Historical Battles.
  
• Sounds. You can add your own sounds and music to Steel Division 2. You can also modify existing sounds. Get ready to hear some more oomph in your Flak 36 88 mm boom!
  

As you know, Eugen Systems is based in France. Our baguette language interpretation of English can be seen in the internal labels used in the modding tools. Don’t let our Frenglish discourage you from using them. We are always around to help (and explain what might have been lost in translation).



Conclusion

Steel Division 2 is a complex game with many different interconnected parts; it is something that we are very proud of having created. We know Steel Division 2 can be a hardcore game that is a challenge to master. We hope that with our new modding tools there will be an even wider breadth of complexity, of historical accuracy, of interesting new experimental game concepts - created by our players, for our players.

We can’t wait to see what our community will come up with.

Now, we need to get back in making Steel Division 2 an even better game. We can’t tell you exactly what, but lots of tasty, good things are cooking in Eugen’s kitchen. Keep an eye out on our Steam and Eugen forums and social channels (Facebook and Twitter).

See you on the battlefield, commander!