Steel Division 2 News

Hello there!

As promised in the blog post last week, today we are going to take a closer look at the planned urban maps for Steel Division 2. Hoorah!



We have been toying with the idea to include a different style of urban maps in Steel Division 2 for some time now. Implementing new maps is not nearly as easy as it looks, though. There are a lot of things to consider, from the buildings to add, their destruction levels and the cover they provide, to recreating a built-up layout that is not only logical but also fun to play.



There are a couple of other considerations. As Steel Division 2 takes place on the Eastern Front, towns and cities have a different make-up from those urban counterparts in Western Europe. They were smaller, with fewer inhabitants, and less densely built.



We get our inspiration by looking at maps and photos from World War II to get an idea of how towns were structured. Of course, most cities have a more or less defined center, but we are particularly interested in the whole picture: the road network, the type and size of buildings, how far does a city stretch out for, and more. For instance, we did some research into Wolomin, located close to Warsaw. A substantial battle was fought between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army in the Soviet advance on the Polish capital during the later stages of Operation Bagration.



What’s the aim of making urban maps? We wanted an urban environment where the foot soldier truly shines: they can vault from one point to the next, moving through and across difficult terrain with relative ease. The buildings provide cover. Even when blown up and lying in the rubble, squads are still protected to a certain extent. The short sightlines allow for ambushes, and especially vehicles and tanks, with their limited visibility, are vulnerable in the close confines of a city.



From a design point of view, this is great, but with Steel Division 2 we still want to allow for certain types of long-distance combat, specifically on the flanks. That’s why we made sure that there are open spaces to conquer and control.

Our idea was to create a mix of urban terrain, not only featuring “big city” type of closely spaced structures but also a “semi-urban” environment, where there will be more space between buildings and homes. Currently, in Steel Division 2 we have so-called neutral combat zones, forest areas, and maps containing spots of dense urban areas (Minsk, Orsha). We want to add this new type of semi-urban map to the mix. Not only in the Skirmish mode (online or single player) but also in our Army General campaigns.





We can tell you that we are working on several maps where cities or towns take center place. Furthermore, we are thinking very hard about the feasibility to make an urban map for the Steel Division 2 online 10v10 mode! More details about this later.

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

If you haven’t, get the History Pass now! It gives owners access to all the three history DLC planned for Steel Division 2. The History Pass includes today’s The Fate of Finland expansion and The Death on the Vistula expansion. And the third expansion? Well, we hope to lift a tip of the veil of what’s coming next for Steel Division 2 soon!

Don’t hesitate to check out our Steam forums and Eugen forums, or our social channels (Facebook and Twitter). You can also join us on our [https://discord.gg/TEeBArm]Discord server or Reddit page. Discord especially is a great place to find other Steel Division 2 players to kick off an online or coop match!

See you on the battlefield, commander!

[h2]Thank you for playing the new Destruction Mode - and a small tease of what’s coming to Steel Division 2!
[/h2]
Good day to you, commander!

Today’s post will be a bit shorter, as we are coming hot off the press after the successful release of the
new Destruction mode.

We wanted to give you a quick update to let you know we are working on several hotfixes for Steel Division 2, which we hope to roll out in the not-too-distant future.

The new Destruction Mode is downloadable as a Free Reinforcement Pack, available to all Steel Division 2 owners.



Before we continue: thanks for trying out the new mode and blowing up units in the name of fun! That’s how we like it. We find that the Destruction mode is popular and doing well.



Of course, there is always room for improvement, and we are using these days to collect all your feedback and suggestions. One of the things you are asking for is the ability to play the new mode on a 10v10 map. We love the idea, and we have made it a high priority on our to-do list.

Keep sending us your notes, thoughts, and recommendations. We wouldn’t be halfway where we are right now if it wasn’t for you, the players, and your significant help.



We don’t want to leave you unsatisfied. To lift a tip on what we are working on...drumroll maestro… dedicated urban maps!



That’s right, we are busy creating several levels featuring built-up areas. Now, this is easier said than done; making new maps is a complex undertaking, especially when implementing a new environment with houses and buildings in close proximity.

Also, we are not going to recreate something like the inner city of devastated Berlin, with large avenues and big, destroyed structures. Instead, our new maps will reflect the cities and towns found in Poland and Belorussia during World War II: more spread-out, less densely built-up than comparable places in Western Europe.

We hope to share some more exciting details in next week’s post!



That’s it for this week. We are going to let you get back to playing Steel Division 2.

Don’t hesitate to check out our Steam forums and Eugen forums, or our social channels (Facebook and Twitter). You can also join us on our Discord server or Reddit page. Discord especially is a great place to find other Steel Division 2 players to kick off an online or coop match!

See you on the battlefield, commander!

Hello commander,

We are happy to share with you the news that the new Destruction Mode for Steel Division 2 is available now!

For those of you who don’t know, the new Destruction mode brings a completely new battlefield experience, awarding points for destroying enemy units. We have updated 10 maps to use the Destruction mode, including new side-reinforcement paths, a new layout of objectives that provide income, and more!



That’s not all: together with today’s roll-out of the Destruction mode, we have also launched a new update for Steel Division 2 bringing a host of improvements and fixes to our game.

We have listened to a lot of your feedback, especially with regard to the new Fate of Finland History DLC. For instance, the new patch has increased the aggressiveness of the Soviet AI in the strategic Army General campaign significantly. Be prepared for a tough fight!



Destruction mode has been with us for quite some time now, making its first, glorious appearance in our golden oldie RTS R.U.S.E. The idea behind the mode is simple: blow up things, get points for it. The player with the most points after a set amount of time wins! We have tweaked Destruction mode over time, and the latest incarnation, the Steel Division 2 version, you can play now by downloading the free Reinforcement Pack.

Destruction mode plays a bit different compared to a standard Conquest or Breakthrough game in Steel Division 2.

• Destroy enemy units and get Victory Points for the destroyed unit’s purchase value. Reach the Victory Point limit set in the lobby to win a game!
  
• Objectives on the maps now provide your income. All battlegroups feature the same default income rate. Control all objectives for a Sudden Death win!
  
• Ten updated Steel Division 2 maps featuring not only a new layout of objectives but also side-entry reinforcement points. Each side controls half of the map at the start of a Destruction game.
  
• Each Destruction mode map can also be played in Meeting Engagement and Closer Combat variant.
  

If you want to get to know a bit more about Destruction mode, don’t hesitate to check out this blog postdetailing some of the mode’s new features and mechanics.



Don’t hesitate to check out our Steam forums and Eugen forums, or our social channels (Facebook and Twitter). You can also join us on our Discord server or Reddit page. Discord especially is a great place to find other Steel Division 2 players to kick off an online or coop match!

See you on the battlefield, commander!

Hey there!

We hope you are doing well. Today’s post will be a bit shorter as we are very busy manhandling a hot-hot-heat update for Steel Division 2 out of the door. That’s right: it’s the new (and updated) Destruction Mode!

We are launching the mode as a free Reinforcement Pack. Due to the last-minute testing and bug hunting (go get ‘em, boys!), we hope to deliver the pack to you as soon as possible, either before the end of this week or at the very beginning of next week.





We have talked about the glorious return of the Destruction mode not once, but twice already. The first post can be viewed here. If you want to read about the updated mode in great detail, scoot on over to a more recent blog post here.

You will read what makes the new Destruction game mode tick, understand that all battlegroups will feature the same income rate, find out we have upgraded ten maps, and that, for instance, side-entry reinforcement paths now play a significant role. Not only that, but the cherry on the cake is a great tactical view of the Destruction-updated Orsha North map.





Of course, the imminent deployment of the Destruction mode is not the only thing we are currently working on. As a matter of fact, the Eugen magicians are waving their magic wands furiously to put the finishing touches on some very exciting new stuff. We can’t lift the veil just yet, but when we do - and this should not be in the too-distant-future - we have no doubt you’ll like it!



That’s it for this week. Don’t hesitate to check out our Steam forums and Eugen forums, or our social channels (Facebook and Twitter). You can also join us on our [https://discord.gg/TEeBArm]Discord server or Reddit page. Discord especially is a great place to find other Steel Division 2 players to kick off an online or coop match!

See you on the battlefield, commander!

Hello commander!

We hope that you are doing well. In today’s post, we’ll be taking a closer look at a series of minor, but very interesting improvements that are making their way to Steel Division 2’s Army General mode.

These updates are still work in progress. They will be rolled out in the near future! Let’s take a sneak peek.



Playing a strategic Army General campaign is not for the fainthearted. Much like the rest of Steel Division 2, it is a game mode that is deep, supported by complex gameplay systems with a ton of information being presented to the player in various panels and sub-menus.

Over the last couple of months, we have tried to make all the figures and facts easier to find and read, but we know we can still improve in this area.

We are working on revamping some of the user interface panels. You will find it easier to check a unit’s combat power, see how much strength they will have per phase, if they are going to win or lose a fight, and more!





One wrinkle we wanted to iron out is a player’s understanding of the battalions under their command, specifically with regard to how well they would hold up during a battle. As you can see in the screenshot: when you select a battalion, its revamped information panel will come up. The updated menu shows the unit’s combat value (its fighting strength) as a numerical value divided across the three combat phases. The new menu will also show the unit’s reserves in a separate column.



There will also be an option to display the combat values in different ways: either in a more graphical form with squares or as a number. Or even simpler: as a single value. The way to display a unit’s label on the strategic map can also be changed.





We have spent a fair bit of time on improving the Autoresolve panel. In the screenshot, you can see a typical match-up on the battlefield, one that in the current and past versions of Army General might have been too confusing.

What we have done in the updated version is to make the Autoresolve mechanic easier to be understood. For instance, we are displaying the combat values for each unit, showing a battalion’s losses after a phase, as well as total losses. What’s more, we want to be clearer in presenting an enemy’s losses in a succinct and easy way. The revamped Autoresolve menu should do this.





The Eugen team is also working on developing a robust Army General combat prediction tool. This new feature should give you a good indication of how a potential battle might unfold - or at least the level of losses you and the opponent could incur.

This new feature will also give the player a heads-up about the strongest possible combination of battalions at your disposal - the ones you should bring into a fight to give yourself the best chances for success!

As you can see in the screenshot, the new mechanic works directly on the map, highlighting the formations you should bring once you have selected a combat-ready battalion.





That’s not all. We are also updating a battalion’s movement after winning a battle. Now, all formations move (if they aren’t destroyed), which means that some of your units might end up in a disadvantageous situation, or relocate themselves into a vulnerable position. From now on, only the first battalion selected will move. This should, hopefully, clear up most of the confusion after you have won a hard-fought battle!

Players will also gain the ability to increase (or decrease) the game speed in the strategic campaign mode. This should allow you to increase how quick your troops move or slow things down if you want to spy on what the enemy is exactly up to during its turn.

The bombardment ability will now have a longer-lasting effect. When a unit is bombarded, it will not only lose all of its action points for the current turn but also for the turn after that. Being shelled means you are now unable to perform any special actions for not one turn but two turns in total.

Lastly, we are also improving the unit movement algorithms used by the AI. The computer will be more careful about how they place their battalions on the frontline, which should decrease the chance that they get encircled during an offensive.



That’s it for today’s post. Be sure to tune in next week! In the mean-time, don’t hesitate to check out our Steam forums and Eugen forums, or our social channels (Facebook and Twitter).

You can also join us on our [https://discord.gg/TEeBArm]Discord server or Reddit page. Discord especially is a great place to find other Steel Division 2 players to kick off an online or coop match!

See you on the battlefield, commander!