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

[acctingman]

Just bought the game and played my first game. Didn't have a clue what I was doing, got my ass handed to me on a platter and loved every minute of it  :bd:

[Destraex]

As long as you are loving it, that's the main thing.

[acctingman]

Bullet mode is VERY slow. I was worried that it might be even too fast for me. My reaction time is sloooooow. 

The slower speeds are very manageable.

[CptHowdy]

downloading now. sounds like you fellas are having a good time with this one. dont want to miss the party  <:-)

[DennisS]

Bullet mode is VERY slow. I was worried that it might be even too fast for me. My reaction time is sloooooow. 

The slower speeds are very manageable.

30:1 ratio for time...in bullet mode, ONE second of game time takes 30 seconds of real time. It really is bullet time!!

[acctingman]

Yea, even I'm finding bullet mode too slow, but once things get nasty, bullet time is kind of nice for slower folks like myself  O0

[Cyrano]

Presuming mutual agreement, can the RT be slowed down in MP?

[JasonPratt]

After my lone win earlier I was unable to replicate the win in my sporadic further attempts this weekend (between taxes, allergies, and Easter. Went to bed 7pm Sunday night.  )

I did come close, having marched up the railyard map in 1v1 (for those who don't know, the maps can change and expand rather significantly as you bump up to 2v2/3v3 and 4v4 sizes. I thought I heard that eventually things could be 10v10 but I don't see how that's possible yet.)

But having come to dominate the map, I neglected to push ahead and close off all the lines of ingress, so I sat there shooting at occasional things the AI would pull out of its butt. And when I realized that somehow the AI was whittling me away despite its losses and that soon it would probably push through and collapse my line of defense, I ragequit. This game is very much NOT Company of Heroes for setting up a defensive line.

My choice of playing a slow buildup skirmish, with only 250 points available for deployment at the beginning, made some subtle but crucial tactical problems, too. Even though the Luftlanders get a hefty 80/min budget of income, their elite A-phase troops cost a lot, too, so unless you plan a cheap penal battalion infantry build you can't effectively control the map by yourself at the start: Allies have a lot more armed vehicles available at the beginning for running around taking territory, as my two little pockets of elite infantry try to eke out a couple of forward positions.

Last night I decided, though I haven't tested it yet, that I either need to go for cheap early tanks (the Luftlanders can get quite a few) to contest early Allied APC/Jeep rushes, or I should plan to just cede the map early and build up a much smaller defensive perimeter around one ingress point from which to expand with concentrated force, the idea being that if I can kill off enough of the other player's troops in detail with concentrated pushes and their attempts to breach my defenses, then eventually they'll be unable to collect up enough points or troops for effective task forces. And then I have to remember to keep pushing to close off their ingresses!

Which led me to a further realization about how the gameplay is structured. On one hand, income per minute is fixed (but arrives in batches) and can never be messed with which means attacking the enemy's ability to put out troops is impossible (other than shutting down ingresses -- which may itself be impossible...?) On the other hand, the only way to effectively create task forces all at once is to either start the mission with a large point budget (enough to put all or most of your A-phase troops out at once) or to spend long minutes adding no new troops (which seems fatal) so that you can buy a set at once.

I would put out some initial groups of, let's say, airborne infantry, a leader, and a tank; or maybe two infants and a leader; or some short company mix, and then spend the rest of the A-phase trying to put a third group out plus sporadically trucking in the rest of a mixed force company for the two or three groups. And then B- and C-phases are actually WORSE! -- you can't get a tank platoon together to save your life, you need to send your forces in bits and pieces asap to spackle whatever's happening on the map. (It doesn't help that the Luftlander's best tank is actually a stug.  ::) :P )

Essentially to have time to build up a task force, you need to have already built up good defensive task forces for map control, and then feed them enough regular reinforcements to keep the from wearing out and collapsing. This pretty much requires that you either start with a huge enough point budget to build good task forces from the outset (so that you can secure areas long enough successfully enough to build up more task forces), or that you camp on an ingress lane (presumably left or right in order to keep one flank map-protected and concentrate your defenses better) so that your few starting troops reinforce each other's defenses most effectively while protecting their build-up corridor most effectively and receiving replacements as needed more quickly for prevention of overruns. Then as you gather up a strong task force, expand out to increase your perimeter.

I shall experiment along this line against the AI 1v1, and report back.

[Barthheart]

Presuming mutual agreement, can the RT be slowed down in MP?

I would hope so. I'd also like to know if we can pick players for a MP game? I only like playing MP games with those I already know... would be fun to get a Grogs MP game going some night...  :bd:

[DennisS]

After my lone win earlier I was unable to replicate the win in my sporadic further attempts this weekend (between taxes, allergies, and Easter. Went to bed 7pm Sunday night.  )

I did come close, having marched up the railyard map in 1v1 (for those who don't know, the maps can change and expand rather significantly as you bump up to 2v2/3v3 and 4v4 sizes. I thought I heard that eventually things could be 10v10 but I don't see how that's possible yet.)

But having come to dominate the map, I neglected to push ahead and close off all the lines of ingress, so I sat there shooting at occasional things the AI would pull out of its butt. And when I realized that somehow the AI was whittling me away despite its losses and that soon it would probably push through and collapse my line of defense, I ragequit. This game is very much NOT Company of Heroes for setting up a defensive line.

My choice of playing a slow buildup skirmish, with only 250 points available for deployment at the beginning, made some subtle but crucial tactical problems, too. Even though the Luftlanders get a hefty 80/min budget of income, their elite A-phase troops cost a lot, too, so unless you plan a cheap penal battalion infantry build you can't effectively control the map by yourself at the start: Allies have a lot more armed vehicles available at the beginning for running around taking territory, as my two little pockets of elite infantry try to eke out a couple of forward positions.

Last night I decided, though I haven't tested it yet, that I either need to go for cheap early tanks (the Luftlanders can get quite a few) to contest early Allied APC/Jeep rushes, or I should plan to just cede the map early and build up a much smaller defensive perimeter around one ingress point from which to expand with concentrated force, the idea being that if I can kill off enough of the other player's troops in detail with concentrated pushes and their attempts to breach my defenses, then eventually they'll be unable to collect up enough points or troops for effective task forces. And then I have to remember to keep pushing to close off their ingresses!

Which led me to a further realization about how the gameplay is structured. On one hand, income per minute is fixed (but arrives in batches) and can never be messed with which means attacking the enemy's ability to put out troops is impossible (other than shutting down ingresses -- which may itself be impossible...?) On the other hand, the only way to effectively create task forces all at once is to either start the mission with a large point budget (enough to put all or most of your A-phase troops out at once) or to spend long minutes adding no new troops (which seems fatal) so that you can buy a set at once.

I would put out some initial groups of, let's say, airborne infantry, a leader, and a tank; or maybe two infants and a leader; or some short company mix, and then spend the rest of the A-phase trying to put a third group out plus sporadically trucking in the rest of a mixed force company for the two or three groups. And then B- and C-phases are actually WORSE! -- you can't get a tank platoon together to save your life, you need to send your forces in bits and pieces asap to spackle whatever's happening on the map. (It doesn't help that the Luftlander's best tank is actually a stug.  ::) :P )

Essentially to have time to build up a task force, you need to have already built up good defensive task forces for map control, and then feed them enough regular reinforcements to keep the from wearing out and collapsing. This pretty much requires that you either start with a huge enough point budget to build good task forces from the outset (so that you can secure areas long enough successfully enough to build up more task forces), or that you camp on an ingress lane (presumably left or right in order to keep one flank map-protected and concentrate your defenses better) so that your few starting troops reinforce each other's defenses most effectively while protecting their build-up corridor most effectively and receiving replacements as needed more quickly for prevention of overruns. Then as you gather up a strong task force, expand out to increase your perimeter.

I shall experiment along this line against the AI 1v1, and report back.

OK. I tried the same general technique you did..low number of starting points.

For three main axis of attacks, I had three cheap recon units, and a ton of cheap infantry. One of the infantry units on each axis was a PIAT...essentially, anti-tank.

I got ten units for 250 points, and RACED (used "F") to as far forward as I could go. Rule number one...don't dismount until you're getting shot at, and then dismount in heavy trees. If you're fortunate, you can get that magic 51%, and start getting victory points, until you can re-inforce. I usually go for an arty for the area which has the hottest enemy action. I use it for counter-battery fire, or smoke to hide YOUR forward units, or to blind the AI's.

The rest is all re-inforcing, and marshalling forces for an attack. Get there firstest with the mostest.

[Destraex]

Presuming mutual agreement, can the RT be slowed down in MP?

I would hope so. I'd also like to know if we can pick players for a MP game? I only like playing MP games with those I already know... would be fun to get a Grogs MP game going some night...  :bd:

At the moment in the BETA you can pick your own friends and opponents by creating a game and selecting private (public is the other option), then inviting your friends. However their is a matchmaker coming and this has not been implimented yet. So I have no idea if this will change. I think they would be insane to get rid of the lobby system entirely though, especially since it is already there.

[jomni]

Your comments confirm my suspicion that cheap is best for conquest gameplay.

[Barthheart]

Presuming mutual agreement, can the RT be slowed down in MP?

I would hope so. I'd also like to know if we can pick players for a MP game? I only like playing MP games with those I already know... would be fun to get a Grogs MP game going some night...  :bd:

At the moment in the BETA you can pick your own friends and opponents by creating a game and selecting private (public is the other option), then inviting your friends. However their is a matchmaker coming and this has not been implimented yet. So I have no idea if this will change. I think they would be insane to get rid of the lobby system entirely though, especially since it is already there.

Thanks!  O0

[Rayfer]

I found myself wishing the maps would flip only 90 degrees from game to game rather than 180, as they do.  Am I making sense?

[Destraex]

Not really? You mean camera view?