Jul 28, 2023

Steel Division 2 - [EUG] Gal Marcel Bigeard

Hello commanders,

We have come to the final DevBlog before the Eugen team retires for the summer. Don’t worry, we’ll be back by the first week of September!

Not wanting to leave you empty-handed, in today’s post, we’ll give you a heads-up on the upcoming changes heading towards Steel Division 2. These will come together with the future release of the next major expansion, Steel Division 2: Men of Steel.

Keep reading to find out more!

New Units and Unit Traits

Regardless of if you get Steel Division 2: Men of Steel or not, we will implement the new Traits with existing Steel Division 2 units. There are too many to list, but you can consider it a major overhaul of the game’s entire infantry class. In case of doubt, best to check your regular infantry forces after Steel Division 2: Men of Steel has hit.

Here is a general rundown of what you can expect in terms of Traits:

COMMANDO. ”Real” special forces (RANGERS, OSNAZ, BRANDENBURGER, OSS, COMMANDO D’AFRIQUE, etc.) will receive the new Commando trait. Mountain or light troops get the existing Raider trait. Making this change presented a bit of an issue as we characterized the latter as “Commando squads.” The solution was to introduce a new “Light infantry squad” and apply it to mountain and light infantry instead, making a new distinction in type.
ARTILLERY LEADER. This trait has been given to all existing artillery leader units. No surprises here.
TANK RIDER. This new trait is a bit more restrained. The list is not “too” long. All Soviet (and Eastern allies) TANKO. squads (these include regular troops and leaders) will receive the new Tank Rider trait. Likewise, all German Axis BEGLEIT. squads. A new Allied unit, the Canadian KANGAROO RIFLES. is also the recipient of this trait. Note that the Tank Rider trait is useless if not matched by an armored unit (say, tank or assault gun) featuring the exact same trait. This means that Germans will be restricted to STUG III and IV and the Western Allies to the KANGAROO APC. The Soviets have it easier; all manners of Soviet tanks, from light to heavy, will feature the Tank Rider trait.
- A side note: the Fs-Panzerdivision “Hermann Göring” had special HG BEGLEIT- troops which were actually wrongly named, as they had no StuG to ride on! As a result, they were all renamed HG STURM- and aren’t not affected by the above Tank Rider trait.
SECURITY. This trait will mostly affect Axis troops, but rear-area “police” or second-line forces from other nations will also receive it. The German SCHUPO, SCHUMA, SICHERUNGS, and HIFLSPOLIZEI will get the Security trait, as well as Soviet SMERSH and NKVD. The fascist Italian RSI sees the GNR (standard troops and leaders) receiving this trait. A sprinkling of Allied units will also get it, including the U.S CONV. GUNNERS (from Task Force 45 as they had to prevent Axis infiltration attempts) and CONVERTED RAF (whose job was to secure airfields).

Red Devils New Look

With the British airborne forces making a reappearance in both the 1st Special Services Brigade (from Combat Phase C onwards) and the 1st Airborne Task Force, we used the opportunity to revamp their look. Some of these changes will also make their way to the 6th Airborne Division.

The AB PARAS’ weapon load-out has been reworked to match their latest
Table of Operations & Equipment as it was historically. This means one fewer Sten SMG but adding one scoped Lee Enfield (T) per squad. They lose the Gamon Bomb in the process.
The above change only affects the standard variant, not the AB PARAS (PIAT) or the AB CAN. PARAS.

Continuing, we split two cards of the M1A1 PACK 75mm howitzer into two different versions. One remains in the ART category with indirect HE fire, smoke, and radio control; the second one is moved to the SUPP category, where it is cheaper to deploy but only fires HE and HEAT rounds.
The 6th Airborne Division was missing AB ART. COMMANDERS and AB SPOTTERS in the ART tab. We have rectified this omission.
This was already mentioned with the 1st Special Service Brigade, but the RM CENTAUR IV was revised to be an indirect fire self-propelled gun (with Radio trait) and moved from the SUPP to the ART tab. Since the ones featured in the 6th Airborne Division were the same units in real-life, we applied the same update to this battlegroup.

Justice for Finland

Following Fulmen’s relentless lobbying for more justice for his fellow Finns, we’ve corrected some generic mistakes regarding that nation.

KIVÄÄRI, SEXTIETTAN, and RANGAISTUS “rifle” squads will all receive the prescribed minimum of 3x SUOMI, as per their TO&E, but at the expense of rifles in their current load-out.
Just like the RM CENTAUR IV being updated as an indirect fire SPG, so too is the BT-42. Although this unit will remain in the SUPP tab, as a fire support vehicle, it was given the option for indirect HE fire (but lacking Radio). This will affect both the 17. Divisioona and the Panssaridivisioona.
Finland was unfairly missing a heavy supply tractor. To solve this issue, it receives the RSO. This unit will be found in the expansion’s new 17. Divisioona, but also the Panssaridivisioona.

Some HMG love

On to some ratatatata machine guns.

We found that 12,7mm & 13mm AA machine guns, especially multibarrel ones, were underperforming. We’ve improved their performance, making a quad 12,7mm roughly equivalent to the existing triple 15mm AA.
Single and double 12,7mm and 13mm AA machine guns were also improved.
British Besa 15mm were also underperforming, though in ground combat this time. We upped its performance to make it a (slightly) lesser version of a 20mm.

Hail Canada

Let’s spotlight some changes coming to Allied Canada.

With the new Tank Riders trait and Canada being the sole Western Allied owner of a relevant APC, we made some changes to the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division.
As mentioned previously, a new squad has been created, which is the very large KANGAROO RIFLES, brimming with small arms.
As a consequence, the KANGAROO was removed as a transport option for all infantry that had access to it. It is now restricted to the sole KANGAROO RIFLES, which will be available from Combat Phase B.
Another new Canadian unit has been added to the game: the missing SHERMAN IB (which is a Sherman 105) from the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade supporting the 8th (Indian) Infantry Division. This new vehicle was added to this division with the brigade’s camouflage job and markings.

Steel Division 2: Men of Steel Showcases

The latest gameplay and unit insights of Steel Division 2: Men of Steel can be found below.

In Showcase #1 we highlighted the arsenals of the 1st Special Force Brigade and Kampfgruppe von Tettau.
In Showcase #2 it was time to put the spotlight on the 1st Airborne Task Force and 715. Infanterie-Division.
In the third one, aptly named Showcase #3, the units of the Groupement Dody and the 17. Divisioona were detailed.
And finally, in Showcase #4, we shared how the Bronirana Brigada and 1. Páncélos Hadosztály would look like in our new expansion.

Steel Division 2: Men of Steel Versus

That’s not all. For more detailed historical backgrounds, read all about the new divisions (in pairs) in our Versus DevBlogs.

Versus

The Wehrmacht reservist of the 715. Infanterie-Division and the paratroopers of the Allied 1st Airborne Task Force receive their highlight in our Versus #1DevBlog.
The Allied commandos of the 1st Special Force Brigade against the Market Garden-active Axis Kampfgruppe von Tettau in Versus #2 DevBlog.
The Finish-Swedish Axis 17. Divisioona and the partisan-infused and mixed Allied Groupement Dody in the Versus #3 DevBlog.
The Axis-Hungarian armored 1. Páncélos Hadosztály and the Soviet-allied Bulgarian Bronirana Brigada get their spotlight in Versus #4 DevBlog.

Aces
And if you want to read more about the two new Aces - Allied Sergeant Tommy Prince and Hungarian tank commander Barnabás Kőszeghy - you’ll encounter in Steel Division 2: Men of Steel, look no further and check out this dedicated DevBlog here.

It’s all in a name

Don’t forget to leave your (Bulgarian) name in the game. We continue the Eugen’s tradition of leaving your name in the game with the upcoming Steel Division 2: Men of Steel expansion.

Check out the link, read the rules, and get your Bulgarian name on the list.

See you on the battlefield

Off we go. The Eugen team will retire for the summer months, including the writer of these DevBlogs. We’ll be back in the first week of September!

Be sure to join the Steel Division 2 community on our Steam forums. The latest Steel Division 2 news can also be encountered 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.