Steel Division 2 News

Hello there!

We hope you are well! As you know, we are getting closer to the release of the next expansion, the Mediterranean-themed Tribute to the Liberation of Italy. The launch is on February 3rd!!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1640470/Steel_Division_2__Tribute_to_the_Liberation_of_Italy/

We will also push some general improvements and changes to Steel Division 2 with the new expansion. This update will be available to all.

Let’s check what you can expect.

[h2]A Set of Updates[/h2]
The following items are just a selection of the changes we intend to ship with the Tribute to the Liberation of Italy expansion.

Vehicle Flamethrower Buff
Flamethrower vehicles in Steel Division 2 have a very short aim time, letting them shoot first but subsequently suffer from a wait in between shots. This leads to the second shot coming quite late; an enemy unit will likely have been able to shoot back once or twice in the intervening period. We have improved the rate of fire for flamethrower vehicles, allowing them to fire multiple shots in rapid succession.

Map Changes
We have replaced several flag objectives to balance the Ostrowno map. And, we have added the Destruction mode to our new Kostritza map, which came as part of the free Reinforcement Pack #12.




Tank MG Surpress Buff
Tank-mounted machine guns (except for larger caliber 12.7mm and 13.2mm) are not considered effective enough against infantry. We have slightly increased their suppression.

Obsolete and Light Tank Price Improvement
We have checked the prices of light tanks (such as the T-70, Toldi, BT-7, and so on) and other obsolete armored vehicles (French Beute tanks, Valentine 2-pdr, 7TP, etc.) to make them more appealing. Depending on the model, we have decreased the prices by 5 or 10 points.



Panzerfaust-armed Squads Availability Buff
The availability of Panzerfaust-armed infantry squads (Grenadier, Panzergrenadier, etc.) was deemed too low. To make them more appealing, these squads have been buffed from 6/12/18 to a 8/16/24 availability rate (or 8/16/- depending on Combat Phase). They are still less available compared to their counterparts not equipped with Panzerfausts.

Commonwealth Rifle Squads Availability Increase
British, Canadian, New Zealand, Polish (and soon, South African) infantry Rifle Squads have been hit too hard with the recent availability nerf. While previously they were too numerous per card - compared to other infantry - now they are too rare. We have increased their availability a bit from 6/12/18 to 8/16/24 (or 8/16/- depending on the Combat Phase).

AA Unit Change in Soviet Divisions
We will replace 1x card of 37mm AA units with 1x 25 mm AA units in various Allied Soviet divisions. This was teased with the 358 Strelki battlegroup, in which we replaced some 37mm AA guns with the less widespread (but still present within Steel Division 2’s timeframe) new 72-K 25mm AA gun.



17. SS and 352. Infanterie Change
Thanks to feedback from the community, we understand that the Volksdeutsche units of the 17. SS-Panzergrenadier “Götz von Berlichingen” (featured in the Tribute to D-Day DLC) should be equipped similarly to other Panzergrenadier squads of this division. This means they will feature two light machine guns while being Disheartened. This change would also affect the same type of Volksdeutsche unit of the 352. Infanterie (from the Back to War DLC). However, as there weren’t supposed to be any Volksdeutsche in this division, we changed them to Osttruppen to reflect the historical disposition of the formation’s forces.

Panzer Lehr Batlegroup Changes
The historical elite Panzer-Lehr division had a special feature that saw all of its Panzergrenadier battalions equipped with half-tracks, compared to the one out of four battalions in regular Panzerdivisions. These soldiers also carried a lot more Panzerschreck anti-tank weapons into battle.

We have decided to make the Panzer-Lehr more unique in-game by creating a new Panzergrenadier squad armed with Panzerschreck instead of Panzerfausts. This squad can only be deployed in half-tracks and will replace all existing cards of Panzergrenadier (Faust), as well as non-Faust squads in this division only. These changes are still being tested and are not confirmed yet.



Panther buff
We will change the number of Axis Panther tanks available in Combat Phase A from 1 to 2. This makes them more appealing to deploy at the beginning of a game. These changes are still being tested and are not confirmed yet.

[h2]Au revoir and until next week![/h2]
That’s all for this one. We’ll be back next week with more news on the Tribute to the Liberation of Italy expansion.

Keep a close watch on our Steam forums to keep up to date with the latest Steel Division 2 talk. Looking for an online game? Visit the kick-ass Discord server or Reddit page.

See you on the battlefield, commander!

Happy New Year, commander,

It’s good to be back! We’ve got a feeling 2022 is going to be a kick-ass year! We hope the holidays were delightful (or are still delivering the goods, lucky you) and that you had your batteries recharged, plenty of food in your stomach, and managed to get some good ‘ole fun time on the Steel Division 2 battlefields!

We will start the new year with a recap of the one that came to pass. And as promised, we can finally reveal the release date for our latest expansion, Tribute to the Liberation of Italy. Keep reading to find out more!

[h2]January 2021 - Nemesis #3[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1477780/Steel_Division_2__Nemesis_3__Battle_of_Rimini/

First up, and close to a year ago, we released our Nemesis: Battle of Rimini DLC. Our premier Italian influenced mini-expansion, we brought you two new Divisions from Operation Olive. This Allied offensive tried to break through the Gothic defensive line on the Adriatic coast in September 1944. It pitted the hybrid-combined arms 2nd New Zealand Division against the veteran paratroopers of the 1. Fallschirmjäger.

New toys included the British Bristol Beaufighter heavy fighter, Greek Martin Baltimore bomber, German (captured) Re.2005 fighter, as well as various new infantry units such as Greek Oplites mountain infantry, and New Zealander Maori.



[h2]April 2021 - Burning Baltics[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1418231/Steel_Division_2__Burning_Baltics/

Ah, our fourth major History Expansion! Burning Baltics released at the end of April. By the summer of 1944, the war had come to the Baltics. This expansion featured a variety of unique new Divisions, tons of new units, new nations, and a new Army General campaign focused on one of the last (successful) Axis counter-offensives on the Eastern Front, Operation Doppelkopf.

With Burning Baltics you got to play with eight new Divisions, from the famous Axis "Grossdeutschland" and "Nordland", to the ad-hoc Panzerverband Strachwitz and the 52. Sicherungs-Division z.b.V.. The Allies received the veteran Soviet 19th Tank Corps, the Mobile Group Fedyunkin, the Estonian 7th Rifle Division and the 43rd Army's Reserve battlegroups.



[h2]July 2021 - Nemesis #4[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1571590/Steel_Division_2__Nemesis_4__Storming_Toulon/

We hit our stride with our Nemesis DLCs number four, taking inspiration from the Allied invasion of the swooning and sweltry French Riviera (it is home, after all) in the summer of 1944. Two new interesting divisions, the Axis garrison troops of Verteidigungsbereich Toulon and the Allied French 1e Division Française Libre found their way into Steel Division 2.

We featured a bunch of new units, including Kriegsmarine Marineinfanterie, Commandos d'Afrique special forces, heavy Flak 38 105mm guns, Flakzwilling 37mm, M6 Fargo, and M3 Gun 37mm.



[h2]November 2021 - Reinforcement Pack 12[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1810030/Steel_Division_2__Reinforcement_Pack_12__Kostritza/

Things quieted down in the latter part of the year. One of the main reasons was that we were working on several projects simultaneously, including Tribute to the Liberation of Italy, the new Nemesis: Raid on Drvar and a new Nation Pack: South Africa for Wargame Red Dragon. Behind the scenes, we were also preparing ourselves for the upcoming reveal of our new World War III battle simulator, WARNO.

We launched a new map as part of a free Reinforcement Pack. Kostritza was previously featured as a “showcase” map, but never intended for gameplay use. We dusted it off, gave it a lick of paint, and released it to our fans to make up for some of the developmental delays.



[h2]December 2021 - Reinforcement Pack 13[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1810031/Steel_Division_2__Reinforcement_Pack_13__Lucky_13/

We weren’t done quite yet! In the last month of the year, we dropped another free Reinforcement Pack, aptly named Lucky 13 DLC. This featured two new Divisions: the Axis Panzerdivision Tatra and the fast-moving Allied Task Force Butler. A bunch of interesting new units were deployed as well, such as the Panzer 38(t) light tank, Volksturm squads, M3A1 Cavalry recon half-track, and OSS elite special forces.



[h2]What’s coming next?[/h2]
We have our next major expansion on the near horizon: Tribute to the Liberation of Italy. You have been itching for a release date. We are happy to tell you that February 3rd will be the launch day!

We’ve already transitioned to the next project, Nemesis: Raid on Drvar DLC. No concrete details yet on when to expect it, but it will come in the not-too-distant future!



And as already hinted, we’re also already at work on our next Army General DLC. But we’ll tell you more about this soon …

[h2]Bidding you goodbye![/h2]
Happy to have been able to start the new year together, commander!

Don’t forget to keep a close watch on our Steam forums to keep up to date with the latest discussions. Looking for an online game? Visit the kick-ass Discord server or Reddit page.

See you soon!

Hello commander!

We hope you are doing well. It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the entire team, but it proved to be a fitting end to an already busy and productive year!

As is our Steel Division 2 custom (the third one in a row already!), we are going to leave you for a (short) break before returning in full force in 2022. We’ll recharge the batteries over Christmas and be back before you know it in the first week of the new year.

[h2]A New Game[/h2]
It’s been a heck of a ride, but we pulled it off! We revealed our brand-new game, the World War III battle simulator WARNO (which stands for Warning Order), last Friday. The unveiling didn’t go down without a hitch, of course, which is always the case. For instance, the Steam page was unable to be published for some hours, but we got everything sorted in the end. If you have missed it, be sure to wishlist WARNO and get ready for the Early Access launch on January 20th.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1611600/WARNO/

We know quite a few of you have been clamoring to know what this means for Steel Division 2. We said it before, and we’ll say it again, but we will continue to work on our World War II game in the same way we have done in the last two-and-a-half years. There is no change in plans, no radical departure from our schedule; you will still have your weekly blog post, and we are still planning, developing, and creating exciting new content for Steel Divison 2. Yes, this means new Nemesis DLCs, new units, new divisions, a new Army General campaign, new expansions, and much more.

Do not worry: Steel Division 2 is a game that thrives, and we are 100% committed to keeping it that way for the foreseeable future.

[h2]Tribute to the Liberation of Italy[/h2]
You will have to wait a bit longer to get to play with our latest expansion, the Tribute to the Liberation of Italy. It won’t be until the new year that we’ll be able to launch it. Expect a release date when we are back! In the meantime, look at those mosaics of some new infantry & vehicles.





The Strike Team is currently busy play testing and checking new units and divisions. They are all in a good place now. In the next couple of days, they should receive the greenlight to stream freely the Tribute to the Liberation of Italy expansion. And you know what that means: a release will shortly be upon us.

We have also moved most of our attention on the Nemesis: Raid on Drvar DLC. Once again, more information will come in the future. Expect the launch soon after the Tribute to the Liberation of Italy expansion.



[h2]We bid you adieu![/h2]
That is everything for this week and year! We will see you on the other side, commander. It’s been a pleasure, and let’s try to make 2022 a better year than the ones that came before (hopefully shouldn’t be too difficult).

From the whole Eugen Systems team: we wish you happy holidays and all the best for 2022. We will be back in the first week of January.

Don’t forget to keep a close watch on our Steam forums to keep up to date with the latest discussions. Looking for an online game? Visit the kick-ass Discord server or Reddit page.

As always: see you on the battlefield, commander!

Hello commander,

There it is! We have revealed today what we have been working on for quite some time: WARNO, our next-gen World War III battle simulator.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1611600/WARNO/

Some of you dedicated readers of this blog were right (others, not so much) in that we were developing a new Cold War-era game.

In case you missed it, be sure to check out WARNO’s reveal trailer.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

What does this mean for Steel Division 2? As a matter of fact, not much. Of course, we hope to entice you to go over and play WARNO when it launches into Steam Early Access on January 20, but we still have plenty of content planned for our World War II game. We don’t only have the Tribute to the Liberation of Italy expansion coming soon, but also the Nemesis: Raid on Drvar DLC and more. Don’t expect us to stop developing for Steel Division 2 any time shortly!

We have learned a lot, and improving and updating Steel Division 2 has been a genuine joy for the team at Eugen Systems. With WARNO, we implemented some of these lessons learned. For instance, our new game will feature elements such as the Army General strategic campaigns, division-based battlegroup builder, Rules of Engagements and Smart Orders, and more.

We hope you will join us on our new journey. Be sure to wishlist WARNO (if you haven’t done so) as you get ready for action on the 20th of January! If you want to keep up to date, don’t forget to check out our dedicated Discord server or WARNO’s own Steam forums.

Until next week’s blog post. Adieu, commander!

Are you ready, commander?

The wait is almost over. Yes, that’s right, Christmas will come early as tomorrow (Friday the 17th of December) we will be officially unveiling what we have been working on so hard (and in secret) the last couple of months and years!



It is so close, you can almost touch it! Undoubtedly, you sleuths will have the answer soon, but be sure to tune in and check our channels, including this space and our Discord server for the big reveal.

You will not be disappointed…

But onwards to other exciting things, as we go back to good ‘ol Steel Division 2. More specifically, let’s look at some new Allied units for our upcoming expansion, Tribute to the Liberation of Italy.

[h2]The Italian Meatgrinder[/h2]
Italy during World War II was not particularly known as a tank country thanks to the local topography, with its mountains and hilly countryside. The Italian campaign was an infantry’s war; but whoever says infantry, has to say artillery.

With the pace of operations and offensives on the Italian peninsula being much slower than other theaters of war, massive amounts of artillery guns and ordnance of all types were used by the Allies. This includes the U.S. M1 155mm (predecessor to the infamous Long Tom) and the M1 8-inch 203mm, as well as the British BL 4,5-inch 114mm guns (also featured in the South African divisions in-game).



Another key feature of the more static Italian battlefields was the use of heavy AA guns on the frontline. These were usually kept in the rear by the Allies, but as Axis air forces posed less threat, more of these formidable guns were used in a direct fire role. The Allies could count on the U.S. M2 90mm and British (manned by South African crews) QF 3,7-inch 94mm dual-purpose AA guns. The American unit is slightly superior to the famous German 88mm in an AT role; the British gun (which we presented earlier as somewhat worse) was actually better than the previous two examples. Its downside was that it carried only a handful of AT shells (in real-life, often none) and was hampered by inferior targeting optics.



[h2]Going Sky High[/h2]
Aside from new Allied Co-Belligerent Italian plane models, which we showcased in the blog post here, the Allies most original plane in the Italian campaign was the tank-busting RAF Hurricane Mk IV. This close air support aircraft sported two Vickers 40mm S guns. With a deadly pedigree as a tank killer in the North African deserts, by 1944 it was replaced by rocket-firing Typhoons, with only a few Hurricane Mk IVs remaining over the Adriatic and Balkans. Consider this tank buster a formidable counterpart to the German “Panzervögel” Stuka G-2 or Soviet IL-2-37.

In-game, this particular unit (as well as its bomb-fielding variant) will be featured as a close air support aircraft with the 8th Indian (Infantry) Division. It will also be deployable in our upcoming Nemesis: Raid on Drvar DLC.



Another new major plane variant includes the Boston Mk IV (British designation) / A-20J-5-DO Havoc (US designation). This aircraft carries a substantial increase in the number of close-defense MG compared to the existing Mk III. It will also be featured with both the 8th Indian (Infantry) Division (as a bomber) and Task Force 45 (as heavy recon).

There is also a new napalm P-47 variant, the P-47D-22-RE which flies with a new paint job and camo.

We have also taken the opportunity to improve various in-game models which were noted (either by the Strike Team or our community) as being incorrect, including the Mosquito PR Mk XVI and the Wildcat Mk V.



[h2]Back to Earth[/h2]
Not being tank country doesn’t mean tanks didn’t serve with distinction in Italy. The Allied forces could count on the usual combination of Shermans, Stuarts, M3 and M5 half-tracks, and some indigenous variants here and there. Like the artillery-fire capable South African M10.

Lighter vehicles also made their way to the Mediterranean front. This includes the Indian recon ACV-IP (Armoured Carrier, Wheeled - Indian Pattern), as well as the 6-pdr Portee 57mm light tank destroyer. This is a South African battlefield conversion, say a scratch-built technical, merging a 6-pdr AT gun onto a Bedford lorry. The gun was mounted so it could fire to the front, over the driver’s cabin.



[h2]Some New Map Variants[/h2]
We are also working on a new “tactical” variant of the recently released Kostritsa map. This one will be slightly reduced in size, to be played with a lower income. This map version also allows you to micro smaller numbers of units to get a more intense “company-level” feel to the battle.

Also, thanks to feedback from the community and our Strike Team, we are improving the Ostrowno map by reworking the positioning of some of the objectives.

[h2]Until next time[/h2]
That is everything for this week. We hope to see you soon (say… tomorrow?)!

Don’t forget to keep a close watch on our ourSteam forums, or check our Facebook and Twitter channels. Looking for an online game in the meantime? Visit the kick-ass Discord server or Reddit page.

See you soon, commander!