Steel Division: Normandy 44

[Janez 531]

Quote

 

STOCKHOLM – March 1st, 2017 — Paradox Interactive, a publisher on the front line of gaming, today announced that it has partnered with Eugen Systems, a renowned developer of games such as the Wargame-series and R.U.S.E., to release Steel Division: Normandy 44, a new tactical real-time strategy game for Windows PCs. Steel Division: Normandy 44 is a game that puts players in command of historically accurate tanks, troops, and vehicles at the height of World War II, and will feature a single-player campaign alongside online multiplayer modes, up to and including 10-versus-10 battles. The game will be available later this year.
 

Steel Division: Normandy 44 features thorough attention to historical detail, from the carefully rendered tanks to the in-game maps – based on actual aerial reconnaissance photos of Normandy in 1944. The game runs on the latest version Eugen’s IRISZOOM engine, allowing players to zoom from an aerial, battle-wide perspective all the way down to a single unit, and keep track of the dynamic front line as they plan and execute maneuvers, ambushes, and more. From creating a battlegroup of historically accurate infantry, tanks, and vehicles, to troop positioning and real-time engagement with the enemy, players will need to be clever and cunning in order to win; raw firepower alone will not be enough.

“Few developers appreciate strategy and history as much as Eugen Systems, and that’s what makes this partnership so ideal,” said Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive. “The level of detail they’ve included in Steel Division is impressive, and I know it will meet the high standards that Paradox fans have when it comes to their historical games.”

Steel Division: Normandy 44 will feature:

Command Over 400 Historically Accurate Units: Whether fighting for control in intense multiplayer battles with up to 10-vs-10 players going head-to-head, playing alone or working with friends in ranked matches, players will need to coordinate their selection of historically accurate infantry, tanks, aircraft, and support vehicles to counter enemy units in this Tactical RTS game.

Real-world Tactics: Battles rage over three distinct phases, where different units unlock over time, mimicking the movements of real-world armies and adding variety to the ever-changing theatre of war. A dynamic front line illustrates the ebb and flow of the conflict. Pin down your opponent's infantry to gain the advantage and force a retreat, or push through with a perfectly executed plan.

Real-world Setting: Using the latest version of Eugen’s IRISZOOM engine, players can smoothly zoom from a tactical aerial view all the way down to a single unit, and see 400 different real-world vehicles and units designed with careful historical detail and accuracy. Maps are designed based on actual aerial reconnaissance photos of Normandy in 1944, requiring real-world tactics and strategies to cover and control.
Outplan, Outsmart, Outgun: From battlegroup customization to troop positioning and maneuvering, winning battles requires cunning and strategy, not just raw firepower. Each unit lost presents a growing tactical disadvantage, and players will need to fight to gain -- and keep -- the upper hand.

DON'T FORGET TO SIGNUP FOR A UNIQUE FORUM ICON AND AVATAR (design not yet completed!) BY GOING TO steeldivisiongame.com!
The signup rewards will be distributed following the release of the game.

 

 

[Tonci87 163]

So this is basically wargame with a WW2 setting.

I´m not interested until I see if Eugen has fixed the glaring issues that Wargame suffered from. 

 

Graviteam games are actually better, they just do not have multiplayer (yet)

[JdB 151]

Was Normandy the only theatre of war in WW2?

 

Judging by what the gaming industry puts out it's pretty much all there is.

[ProfTournesol 956]

Eugen studio is a French studio, that may explain this.

[Pan Samogon 197]

2 hours ago, Tonci87 said:

So this is basically wargame with a WW2 setting.

I´m not interested until I see if Eugen has fixed the glaring issues that Wargame suffered from. 

 

Issues like what?

Lack of balance isn't a issue.

 

17 minutes ago, ProfTournesol said:

Eugen studio is a French studio, that may explain this.

 

As well as French advantages over Germans :P

But according Wargame,they much like mostly REDFOR.

 

Actually I don't know whats it's gonna be like,so Im neutral about it.

 

P.S. OP,cut your own avatar.This for example.

Senke binded for me... :P

[ProfTournesol 956]

Was speaking about Normandy's choice.

[Tonci87 163]

1 hour ago, Pan Samogon said:

 

Issues like what?

Lack of balance isn't a issue.

 

 

 

In a competitive MP game it definitely is and I think we all can agree that the balancing in Red Dragon is quite bad.

Then consider that Red Dragon is still an unfinished game. (Naval says hi)

Consider that Wargame does not have a much needed matchmaking system.

Also consider that they did promise they would never introduce paid DLC into Red Dragon, a promise they broke.

Not to mention that the nations from the paid DLCs are absurdly strong compared to the normal ones. Oh why might that be?

Red Dragon is basically unplayable in Single player or Coop because they did not care to program an AI that can do anything else than rush you. Yes it literally attack moves all its units into your direction. To remedy that the AI starts with a huge point advantage. So you spend the first minutes desperately defending because you are outnumbered, and then you steamroll through anything that remains. Mostly ammo trucks and artillery. That is literally how every game vs the AI looks.

Add to that numerous dubious design decisions.

And then add numerous abhorrently stupid business decisions.

They stopped all post release support (apart from minor patches) for Red Dragon to concentrate all their resources on Act of Aggression. Only after that game bombed catastrophically did they start to care about Red Dragon again.

 

I simply do not trust them to make a game that is worth my time, and I will stick to that opinion until the game is released and I see some much needed improvements.

 

Red Dragon is a truly awesome game when you get a good MP game going. But for every good game you get 10 shit ones, not to mention the time you have to spend to search for proper games.

Either you get constantly kicked from Lobbies because of your stats, or you only find Lobbies with a team that is on TS waiting to roflstomp a few randoms. And then there are the ragequitters, the spammers and other kinds of people....

 

I can not trust Eugen to release the game in a good state, I can not trust them on their post release plan, and if they do not introduce a proper matchmaker, or some decent AI in this game, then it is simply not worth my time anyway.

[Rydygier 1317]

Quote

Was Normandy the only theatre of war in WW2?

 

My first thought exactly. How many times. Of course, there are certain, mainly market reasons, why this is usually about the same WW2 period and same theatres, but nevertheless. For me topic of Normandy '44 is chewed to death and back - tasteless. 

 

Also, I'm kinda sceptical about Wargame series, I wonder, what impact Paradox involvement will have. Anyway, as for me in this kind of production critical impact will have authenticity of combat simulation and AI complexicity/quality. As for me, no serious singleplayer - no game. 

[Pan Samogon 197]

8 hours ago, Tonci87 said:

In a competitive MP game it definitely is and I think we all can agree that the balancing in Red Dragon is quite bad.

 

Now... better than before.Seriously.Even with with all DLCs.

 

8 hours ago, Tonci87 said:

Consider that Wargame does not have a much needed matchmaking system.

 

Ranked still works.At least 1vs1.

 

8 hours ago, Tonci87 said:

Also consider that they did promise they would never introduce paid DLC into Red Dragon, a promise they broke.

Not to mention that the nations from the paid DLCs are absurdly strong compared to the normal ones. Oh why might that be?

 

Well,price of all of these DLCs are smaller than my daily dinner.

Fins and Yugoslavia are strong,but still... not that absurdly than you think.It can be countered by NORAD or Eurocorp easily.

 

The problem is - majority of this players are... noobs I think.They create decks like Motorized Canada,gets rekt,leave... and call things OP.

 

8 hours ago, Tonci87 said:

Red Dragon is basically unplayable in Single player or Coop because they did not care to program an AI that can do anything else than rush you. Yes it literally attack moves all its units into your direction. To remedy that the AI starts with a huge point advantage. So you spend the first minutes desperately defending because you are outnumbered, and then you steamroll through anything that remains. Mostly ammo trucks and artillery. That is literally how every game vs the AI looks.

 

As far as I remember... BF2 also had Singleplayer tab.Still it was MP with bots.Same situation is here.Expect SDN44 will have the same 'Singleplayer'

 

8 hours ago, Tonci87 said:

Red Dragon is a truly awesome game when you get a good MP game going. But for every good game you get 10 shit ones, not to mention the time you have to spend to search for proper games.

Either you get constantly kicked from Lobbies because of your stats, or you only find Lobbies with a team that is on TS waiting to roflstomp a few randoms. And then there are the ragequitters, the spammers and other kinds of people....

 

Stats are cancer.But actually not many people can read it properly.As for stacks... well, it's so much fun to get rekt them. :P

And actually - only by loosing against strong enemies you may learn how to play.Watch replays,analyze units,tactics,your mistakes etc etc. It's moslty not the game issue,but yours.When you understand this - you will play better.

[froggyluv 2136]

13 hours ago, Rydygier said:

 

As for me, no serious singleplayer - no game. 

 

 Right on.

13 hours ago, Pan Samogon said:

 

As far as I remember... BF2 also had Singleplayer tab.Still it was MP with bots.Same situation is here.Expect SDN44 will have the same 'Singleplayer'

 

 

 BF2 was a 1st person shooter -notoriously hard for making bots acts like humans. Strategy game on the other hand MUST have decent AI or its a no sale for me as well. Shame, I was really interested in this series.

[Tonci87 163]

And I feel the same. I don´t want to play MP all the time, sometimes you really do not have the nerve to search for a good MP Lobby and just want to play a quick skirmish against the AI. Or you want to play COOP with a friend, and maybe show him how the game works, and this simply has not been possible so far. The AI in wargame has always been basically brain dead. Literally the only thing it can do is to attack move towards you. That is it. There is nothing else. And I feel this game will be the same. You can not compare BF2 to this. I remember playing BF1942 SP back in the days. That was also SP vs. Bots, but it was decent fun because the AI was challenging.

 

If it doesn´t have at least a decent matchmaking system, then it is a no buy for me.

 

I understand that you Pan are looking forward to it, good for you. I hope you can enjoy it. I seem to have different requirements that a game has to meet before I buy it, but that should not lower your enjoyment of it.

[negah 26]

So Normandy again eh? If they want Americans as a selling point so bad then why dont they go for the Battle of the Bulge or Invasion of Italy? Still pretty sure we will see those as DLCs.

 

As for me, I would prefer an eastern front setting with different seasons, different time periods with corresponding units and day/night/weather effects.

E.g. Barbarossa Campaign having all the early Panzers in their Panzergrau versus T26s with some rare T34s and KVs here and there. Same goes for infantry, aircraft, arty and so on.

Then we would have a Kursk or Bagration Campaign with yellow PzIVs, Panthers and Tigers vs late soviet stuff.

Could also include a Black Sea campaign with some naval stuff. The more I think about it, WW2 naval stuff would work much better in a Wargame like game than modern stuff did in Rad Dragon.

 

Oh and Id like to unleash some Katyushas on german positions before rushing in with infantry.

[Tonci87 163]

45 minutes ago, negah said:

So Normandy again eh? If they want Americans as a selling point so bad then why dont they go for the Battle of the Bulge or Invasion of Italy? Still pretty sure we will see those as DLCs.

 

As for me, I would prefer an eastern front setting with different seasons, different time periods with corresponding units and day/night/weather effects.

E.g. Barbarossa Campaign having all the early Panzers in their Panzergrau versus T26s with some rare T34s and KVs here and there. Same goes for infantry, aircraft, arty and so on.

Then we would have a Kursk or Bagration Campaign with yellow PzIVs, Panthers and Tigers vs late soviet stuff.

Could also include a Black Sea campaign with some naval stuff. The more I think about it, WW2 naval stuff would work much better in a Wargame like game than modern stuff did in Rad Dragon.

 

Oh and Id like to unleash some Katyushas on german positions before rushing in with infantry.

 

If you have not had a look at Graviteam Operation Star and Mius Front, you definitely should. I think you might like it very much :D

[JdB 151]

1 hour ago, negah said:

The more I think about it, WW2 naval stuff would work much better in a Wargame like game than modern stuff did in Rad Dragon.

 

I got the same idea but for land combat when playing Close Combat: Modern Tactics years ago. ATGMs made tanks so much more vulnerable that it really took away from the gameplay experience imo.

[Zhivets 2392]

Meh. I'm kind of sick of D-Day/France setting.

[sic-disaster 311]

 

[sic-disaster 311]

Second video on the other map, Pointe du Hoc:

 

 

[negah 26]

Couldnt wait any longer so I purchased it yesterday and played a couple of rounds vs AI.

 

So far Im not disappointed. The scale is a bit smaller than RUSE and Wargame but it still feels quite big.
The Divisions system is great, you can no longer create an all rounder deck which forces you to try every unit and experiment more.

Also it seems they went away from hitpoints and the damage system is now more realistic.

The dynamic frontline system is also a great idea.

 

Now Im even more thrilled to see what kind of expansions and DLCs will follow,

knowing its coming from Eugen and Paradox there will be tons of them. 

Ardennes or Hürtgenwald scenarios would be great as DLCs with some winter skins.

 

Also hoping for some Eastern Front expansion featuring Bagration, Kursk or Stalingrad (yay for winter and lots of cqb) but I'll be happy with any kind of scenario.
 

[Tonci87 163]

On 25.4.2017 at 9:35 AM, negah said:

Couldnt wait any longer so I purchased it yesterday and played a couple of rounds vs AI.

 

So far Im not disappointed. The scale is a bit smaller than RUSE and Wargame but it still feels quite big.
The Divisions system is great, you can no longer create an all rounder deck which forces you to try every unit and experiment more.

Also it seems they went away from hitpoints and the damage system is now more realistic.

The dynamic frontline system is also a great idea.

 

Now Im even more thrilled to see what kind of expansions and DLCs will follow,

knowing its coming from Eugen and Paradox there will be tons of them. 

Ardennes or Hürtgenwald scenarios would be great as DLCs with some winter skins.

 

Also hoping for some Eastern Front expansion featuring Bagration, Kursk or Stalingrad (yay for winter and lots of cqb) but I'll be happy with any kind of scenario.
 

 

 

Can you  please tell us how good the AI is? Is there any improvement from Wargame? Does it still cheat like crazy?

 

I think I already mentioned it, but have a look at Graviteam tactics for some sweet eastern front action, both summer and winter :)

[negah 26]

The AI is still cheating, yesterday an enemy artillery piece was hammering my soft units behind the frontline. No way they could be seen by a scout.

As for Points, it seems the AI gets bonus points on difficulties above medium.

 

Still I havent seen non stop braindead rushes along the main road like in Wargame RD so far, although I havent played much yet.

Then again I havent seen any attemts to encircle made by AI although there were some opportunities.

 

Graviteam Tactics looks great and I have played Achtung Panzer but I kinda lack the time those game need atm.

[negah 26]

So the latest update has brought two maps and two division to the game.

 

So Ive played a 1v1 conquest round on Mt Ormel as 21 Panzer Division.against an AI armored divison.

The map itself is great, first of all it brings elevation to the game.

You have great overwatch positions on the slopes of the mountain covering the valley.

Furthermore the road across the mountain is surrounded by woods, so plenty of opportunities for infantry ambushes.

 

The valley and the top of the mountain has some open terrain for tank engagements, lost lots of PzIV tanks to 3 m5 at guns trying to advance without smoke cover on top of the mountain :(

Was more successful in the valley once Kingtigers have arrived, they are godawfully slow, especially cross country but once in position, i was able to defeat anything the enemy threw at me.

Just dont forget to cover flanks, lost one Kingtiger to a sherman which surprised me from a flank.

[Janez 531]

Steel Division II announced.

 

 

[Tonci87 163]

I´m somewhat glad that I didn´t buy Steel division. It looks like a very interesting game, but Eugen has proven AGAIN that they seem to be incapable of balancing their games properly. Also DLC divisions seem to be more powerful than the ones that were included in the game. 

AI is also still poor, so that you can´t even have decent fun in SP.

I think I´ll skip Steel division 2 as well.

[negah 26]

One big YAY for the eastern front.

One more for a dynamic campaign. Lets hope they wont do 20 minutes long battles again, especially with the slow Steel Division gameplay.

 

Sadly still no mention of any weather system. Would be great for some dynamic rain preventing use of aircraft or causing tanks to get stuck in mud.

Also hope there will be more map diversity. SDN44 maps felt mostly like copies of each other. Especially I hope for some town or city maps.

 

All in all I liked SDN44, but haven't spent by far as many hours as in the wargame series.