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

[HoodedHorseJoe]

Managed to get onto a 10 v 10 match earlier. Was great until I was kicked for being "too slow" (which is kinda BS as I'm in the office and they have great net here + my computer is good here), but I had fun while I was in it.

Such a long, thin map!

[DennisS]

Bug free for me. Great first match, won easily, at all the easiest settings.

One quick question. Can I build a deck, and have the AI play it, or all their decks randoms, from the four forces?

[JasonPratt]

The AI can indeed play your decks; although I'm not sure if you can specifically assign a deck, they're included as part of the random custom pool (not to be confused with the pool of pre-made decks that come with the game).

[Destraex]

You can specifically assign a deck.

[JasonPratt]

Played my first skirmish tonight against the medium AI which was running what looked like an mechanized infantry build. They utterly pwnd me. It wasn't even close. It wasn't even distant! I think I maybe scored 44 points out of 5000.

I took a quality build for my Luftlande division, but that mainly meant I couldn't put as many troops downfield as fast as they could. I didn't do as badly on casualties -- still would have lost a destruction fight (or whatever it's called) but not as badly; the conquest fight they simply surrounded me from all sides despite my early attempts at pushing to take positions and control lines of approach. I was playing the rail yard map (there are only two maps in beta of course), and thought my airborne rangers would have done well in taking the buildings in the middle -- which they did for a while, but I couldn't keep them from being surrounded and picked off eventually.

I need to rethink my "company" composition: I need lots more long range punch, whether against soft or hard targets, which isn't something a Luftlande division comes much equipped with. I can at least get rid or shuffle around some units that didn't seem very useful.

Of course, playing 1v1 I'm expected to try to be good in any role against any role, whereas on a team fight I could have focused more on being elite infantry close range kickers (for example) or being more air support (for example).

[HoodedHorseJoe]

1 V 1 is the most brutal mode to play I've found. The AI is just so much better than you.

I've heard some online people say the best mode to play is actually 3 v 3 all AI. You've got two AI partners who can take more of the slack while you experiment and learn the rope.

I'm leaning bits and bobs of Company "builds" as a I go along. For example, In Wargame the infantry AT units were so much more lethal, where-as in this I'm finding them very lack-lustre except in ambush scenarios where they get the drop on something up close.

[jomni]

Got a question. Why is the AI brutal? Is it cheating?

[HoodedHorseJoe]

"cheating" is a complicated term when it comes to AI in strategy games I find. The Total War games historically used to just buff the AI to make it 'harder' for players. So they'd take less damage, do more damage, etc... AI would get free resources or w/e. Is that "cheating"?

I think the main thing with with regards to Steel Divisions and the Wargame games is that you're required to split your attention over a wide area and issue orders to alot of units at the same time. As a human, you can obviously only do one, or a single select group, at any one time but the AI is theoretically capable of issues precise orders to all units at once.

Not 100% sure on the details myself but playing it just feels the computer has an advantage just for being a computer. The "input lag" doesn't exist for the AI.

Just my thoughts, anyway.

[jomni]

So you notice no buffs in HP and resources?
I do have a feeling of having more limited resources in Wargame. But that's just me.

[HoodedHorseJoe]

So you notice no buffs in HP and resources?
I do have a feeling of having more limited resources in Wargame. But that's just me.

I don't have any visibility on the AI's points. I've never felt the AI has had more units on the board than they should have though.

Definitely no HP buffs so far that I've noticed - things seem to die when they're supposed to.

[undercovergeek]

Watch a battle replay of a skirmish with fog of war off - you'll see the ai place troops, all the starting pieces he uses and then his moves

[jomni]

I have it by the way so I can form my own opinion eventually.

[Barthheart]

Watch a battle replay of a skirmish with fog of war off - you'll see the ai place troops, all the starting pieces he uses and then his moves

How do you view a replay of a battle? I've missed that completely.  ???

[JasonPratt]

^Same!

Not that I think the AI was cheating at all. They came with better control (as noted, the AI can make nanosecond choices and adjustments across the board all the time), and with a deck that worked very well against what I was bringing.

1 V 1 is the most brutal mode to play I've found. The AI is just so much better than you.

This is exactly why I'm practicing on 1v1 out of the gate.  O0

[undercovergeek]

I say this as an owner of alb and rd - haven't got this yet

Go back out to main menu and there's a saved battles tab - every skirmish you've ever played is saved in there