Steel Division 1944 (by wargame red dragon devs) in game trailer and unit stream

[MengJiao]

MengJiao I disagree.
In fact Eugen are going to some lengths to ensure that what they have in their divisions is pretty close to what is actually in the real divisions OOB.
They make a few exceptions, like having one German divisions with captured French kit when in fact they were hastily outfitted with German kit to replace the French kit as Normandy happened... but in wargame, they are kept as they were a short time before the landings. That is for flavour but it is close enough and as FAR as Eugen stray from reality in terms of units that turn up as options in divisional decks.

BUT if they did find that some units used captured equipment then they would give it to them. I was fairly common in Russia for Germans to prefer the Russian sub machine gun and not the MP40 for instance. Since the games time frame extends to the capture of Paris ??? perhaps we will see things like captured panthers.

  Sticking to some kind of Divisional-level OOB seems like a good design decision and the graphics are wonderful.  The sorts of intricate possibilities I often consider in games and scenarios would probably be more irritating and confusing than the relative cleanness the design tends to generate.

[MikeGER]

wow - another game I suck at  ;D

na, its only your first playtest

in my first 1:1 vs easy AI playing as the Germans i lost badly cause i didn't know how to get anything then recon guys in phase A (i didn't realised that the other tabs where active too and thought all had to be under recon tab :hide: ) and through some more UI nesciences  :-[

in the meantime i am up to my fourth 1:1 vs AI (easy) and match is on par with the outcome
i play on slow, very slow, and occasional bullettime-stops and up to normal speedups   ....and i like it!  :)
I didn't had have even fiddled with the deck building yet and used the given once

I like the preplaning phase, analysing the map and planing my assault, placeng the units  and orders at startup and  see how it unfolds when Launch-button get pressed
Moltke is right: "No plan survives the contact with the enemy"  ...as usual!  O0

The AI doesn't seems to cheat and surprised me in the 3 battles on the same map with slightly different approaches and seems to react to my (known to the AI) assets on the map  (and it didn't react to my invisible assets ! so i am sure AI has fog of war too)

the replays are -as mentioned somewhere above-  stored under profile and so i can marble at the battle zoomed-in later from all angles and can casten the temptation to follow often unfolding Hollywood warmovie scenes close by when live, when attention is better shifted to other parts of the battlefield and the general picture.... nothing is lost, its all on the HDD :D
 
worth to mention about recording (in the beta build version i was using then) 
if you save a game the recording stops for good. when you pick up the saved game later the recording will not get continued at that point nor a second recording of that part will get stored
so if you want to record the full battle better don't let get RL-interdictions into your way ;) 

[JudgeDredd]

^ yeah - of course. First outing on Normal AI difficulty.

I just didn't know what I was doing. I think the AI was 3/4s of the way across the map before I realised how I deploy my units! That's after watching Quill's play through  :DD

Adjusted AI, dropped speed (very slow is only just comfortable for me) and started another game. Much better and getting used to creating decks...not something I've ever really done or been into.

Great wee game.

Bullet time is slooooow. But I do still wish for a pause (couldn't find it if it's there). Just to take stock.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Took me a few attempts at learning the system as well but I think I've got it dialed in now.  I just played a 1v1 game with me as the 15th Scottish vs the 12th SS on hard.  I was able to get the 2000 point victory condition before phase C even kicked in.  Recon is vital.  The AI seems to really like rushing AT guns forward and if you're aggressive in phase A, you can easily catch them out and shoot them up as they try to deploy.  That should give you some breathing room to get your own AT guns and medium armour into position to knock out whatever they try to bring up. 

Not as in depth at GT Mius but still a lot of fun.  I was going to give this a miss based on my experience with AirLand Battle but thankfully posters here let me know about bullet time (I spend 90%+ of my time in very slow or bullet time) and now I'm really enjoying this game.

[MikeGER]

...its called bullet time for a reason  ^-^


to late


checking on things with the recorder....
btw the explosion special effect has a concussion wave front spreading whose light refraction distorts the picture seen  through the compressed air, nice effect

those Beute Fireflies are deadly  >:D

[JudgeDredd]

I accidentally played a medium AI in my next game. Everything was going horribly wrong until the 3rd section.

Ended up winning convincingly - but I was pretty stressed.

Easy will be my go to for a tough time...very easy if I just want some shooting fun

[fabius]

I was sceptical about 2v2 AI partner.

Just playing my first now. Have to say wow, another significantly new experience.

Pont de Hoc Map larger and turned 90 degrees from 1v1 version. Some very dense terrain areas deadly for vehicles.

AI partner was doing ok, but now I worry about my flank  :hide:

I gave the both AI enemy Scots Infantry. They seem to use the extra point better than 1v1 by getting more combined arms out early. This is first time I have seen them use Arty in phase B.

Overall, there's elements of my old love of CM, with intense memorable firefights. Like several memories of having to retreat from platoon+ attack, to retake by counter attack, to then hold off another attack. The double enclosed orchards middle left of Point de Hoc (facing the sea) if anybody else has spilled blood there...

[mirth]

^nice post

[Rayfer]

Am I correct there is no manual or tutorial yet? Kind of just have to play around and figure out what's what and how things work?

[RyanE]

I really wish you guys would stop making me read these posts.  I had convinced myself that because I didn't play Red Dragon enough, I wouldn't get suckered in.

[jomni]

I really wish you guys would stop making me read these posts.  I had convinced myself that because I didn't play Red Dragon enough, I wouldn't get suckered in.

False assumption. 

I believe its a totally different game now compared to Red Dragon.  Only similar thing is deck building.  Game is slower and the units are more survivable (especially infantry).  Ammo runs out less.   And there's that ABC phase.   Capturing a % of the map is simpler and more fluid than capturing sectors. 

[DennisS]

I was sceptical about 2v2 AI partner.

Just playing my first now. Have to say wow, another significantly new experience.

Pont de Hoc Map larger and turned 90 degrees from 1v1 version. Some very dense terrain areas deadly for vehicles.

AI partner was doing ok, but now I worry about my flank  :hide:

I gave the both AI enemy Scots Infantry. They seem to use the extra point better than 1v1 by getting more combined arms out early. This is first time I have seen them use Arty in phase B.

Overall, there's elements of my old love of CM, with intense memorable firefights. Like several memories of having to retreat from platoon+ attack, to retake by counter attack, to then hold off another attack. The double enclosed orchards middle left of Point de Hoc (facing the sea) if anybody else has spilled blood there...

My first 2 vs. 2 game, with an AI partner? My AI buddy sent over some ammo for my guys! Ummm...thanks? Heh heh...I had completely neglected that part of the game, and my buddy hooooked me up.

So far, so good. I play on easy, and slow/very slow. I never could get the hang of the other two wargames by Eugen Systems...they were just too hard for me. This is very accessible, with bullet time, and my greater knowledge of the individual units.

It would be nice to be able to airdrop paratroopers though...

[DennisS]

I really wish you guys would stop making me read these posts.  I had convinced myself that because I didn't play Red Dragon enough, I wouldn't get suckered in.

False assumption. 

I believe its a totally different game now compared to Red Dragon.  Only similar thing is deck building.  Game is slower and the units are more survivable (especially infantry).  Ammo runs out less.   And there's that ABC phase.   Capturing a % of the map is simpler and more fluid than capturing sectors.

Don't forget no fuel requirements for vehicles. BIG change there.

[DennisS]

I really wish you guys would stop making me read these posts.  I had convinced myself that because I didn't play Red Dragon enough, I wouldn't get suckered in.

False assumption. 

I believe its a totally different game now compared to Red Dragon.  Only similar thing is deck building.  Game is slower and the units are more survivable (especially infantry).  Ammo runs out less.   And there's that ABC phase.   Capturing a % of the map is simpler and more fluid than capturing sectors.

Agreed. I do not like the other game type. Sitting back in the defense and pick off the AI as it comes in isn't very challenging.

[Destraex]

Dennis I take it you did not play against humans in the "other game type".