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NEW WARGAME INCOMING! -> Steel Division Normandy '44

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Hi mates,
just to bring this to your attention, in case you haven't heard about it yet. :2charge: :cool:

 
Are the maps free turnable and can You zoom in and out without restriction? Are there terrain levels and is it turn based?

Greetings
 
It is RTS, this game is by Eugen, same people that do the Wargame RTS games, Red Dragon, Airland Battle and European Escalation
 
Eugen Systems are an amazing talented and innovative gaming company definitely in touch with what makes modern wargamers tick and are well equipped with the technical talent to deliver high quality games. Not only has their RUSE/Wargame series of games incorporated a surprisingly high level of historical based detail/research in it's gameplay mechanics but they have single-handedly developed their own amazing 3D game engine called Iriszoom. Their Iriszoom engine I think has allowed them to develop RTS games like the RUSE/Wargame series that play out unlike any other RTS that has come before. The fidelity that it an bring to combat controls, tactics and visuals and the silky smooth scalability of this engine is amazing.

From what I have seen, Steel Divisions 44 looks like it will be an awesome evolution of what they can do with their constantly improving Iriszoom engine, following in the footsteps of the Wargame series, once again introducing innovative game play mechanics and concepts that will once again set the game apart from others. For example, they will be introducing a concept of "battle phases". Rather than have all and any units available for use and be deployed in the battle right from the start, the battle phases mechanic will require players to "stagger" the deployment of units out across three successive phases (A Combat Recon, B Skirmish and C Battle), simulating the somewhat more "natural"/realistic ways different units were deployed sucessively throughout the course of a typical battle/engagement.

Players will design/select their own custom "divisions" offline prior to battles. Each division will be made up of three groups of units that match the three battle phases, and which can only be deployed to battle once that phase has been reached. Only certain types of units will be available for selection within each of the three groups of units. eg. Heavy tanks won't be available to be part of the A Combat Recon group that will typically form the group of units that commence the battle.

From screenshots, I saw able to determine that for a 60min battle (have played many of these in 10v10 multiplayer Wargame), the first 10min of the battle will be the A Combat Recon phase, followed by 10min of B Skirmish Phase, after which it appears the C Battle phase commences allowing all units to now be deployed and participate.

Having played Wargame quite a lot, I know how critical the first few minutes of a battle can be as players rush to take tactical/strategic terrain. These engagements in this early stage of the battles do naturally end up featuring "recon/light" kind of units anyway as a consequence of their speed getting to the battle first, until the typically slower heavy units reach the fight. However, I can see that players being forced to fight with just A Combat Recon phase units for the first 10min supported by B Skirmish phase units for another 10min after that will definitely require players to be competent at utilising all the units at their disposal, rather than rely on the more "uber' units that would be found in the C Battle group.

Here is some decent commentary on the latest screenshots:

 
Bullman said it all. ;) I wasn't around for a while. I'm following this game on Steam and all I know about the game is what you can find on their website and
on YouTube. It looks very promising. It is RTS but the gamespeed can be slowed down.
 
Bullman said:
Eugen Systems are an amazing talented and innovative gaming company (...)
Click to expand...
Don't throw any more ... :)
I'm actually working at Eugen Systems, and on SD44, so your praises touch me deeply. Thanks.
If there are questions about the game I can answer (without revealing still undisclosed secret), I'll do.
 
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rocketman said:
I have never touched RTS games
Click to expand...
When people say RTS, one usually think of base-building and resources gathering.
Which is not the case in our historical games (Wargame or Steel Division). In that aspect, we are closer from Real Time Tactic, such as Close Combat (my l personal all-time favorite game) & Combat Mission.

rocketman said:
@MadMat what feature about SD44 is most likely to convert me?
Click to expand...
Well, I don't know your taste in games, so I can't really say.
Instead of placing you in the boots of the "whole German Army", we are giving you a division to command, with its actual, historical TO&E. This means that you can forget the combo Fallschirmjäger + Königstiger: either you fight with an armored division (and very few had Tiger or KT attached), either with paratroopers. Each has its own choices of units, its pros and its cons.

One of the new (compare to Wargame) and original feature in the game is the fact that the battle is divided into three phases: Combat Recon (A), Skirmish (B) & Battle (C).
For the first 10mn, you only fight with recon troops, a few regular infantry as support, and mostly light tanks & armored cars (although some specific division may have a rare asset in their sleeve). This way, light units which usually (as it was in Wargame) only are worth in numbers find a real use, since they mostly fight among themselves in early game.
Once the 10mn countdown is over, heavier units (medium tanks, SPG, armored infantry, ...) become available to exploit the vanguard's advance or plug gaps in the frontline.
And again, later, the heaviest assets, or bigger amount of medium ones, become available for a full-scale battle.

Each division has its own pace, with a focus on one or the other phase.
i.e. the Free French 2e Division Blindée, underequipped but eager to be first in Paris, have a strong focus on aggressive recon, light tanks & armored car. They are at their best in phase (A), but tends to wind up with the next phase.
On the other hand, Panzer-Lehr is more like a steamroller, slowly building up its strength, then bracing itself in (A), starting to get better in (B) and unleashing all its might in (C).
The 16 other divisions fall somewhere between those two extremes.

The game also models a dynamic frontline. No need to secure fixed objectives, or to destroy X units to win: victory points are calculated by how much ground you control, dynamically.

But all this is explained in much more details in our gameplay blog here:
http://www.eugensystems.com/blog/
 
great news... nice to have someone in this project... i played all wargame titles... it looks familiar ( the panel and the interface) but is the gameplay and the control also like in the another wargames titles ?! The gameplay video on youtube looks awesome ... very nice that you are working on a new "wargame" title
 
MadMat said:
When people say RTS, one usually think of base-building and resources gathering.
Which is not the case in our historical games (Wargame or Steel Division). In that aspect, we are closer from Real Time Tactic, such as Close Combat (my l personal all-time favorite game) & Combat Mission.


Well, I don't know your taste in games, so I can't really say.
Instead of placing you in the boots of the "whole German Army", we are giving you a division to command, with its actual, historical TO&E. This means that you can forget the combo Fallschirmjäger + Königstiger: either you fight with an armored division (and very few had Tiger or KT attached), either with paratroopers. Each has its own choices of units, its pros and its cons.

One of the new (compare to Wargame) and original feature in the game is the fact that the battle is divided into three phases: Combat Recon (A), Skirmish (B) & Battle (C).
For the first 10mn, you only fight with recon troops, a few regular infantry as support, and mostly light tanks & armored cars (although some specific division may have a rare asset in their sleeve). This way, light units which usually (as it was in Wargame) only are worth in numbers find a real use, since they mostly fight among themselves in early game.
Once the 10mn countdown is over, heavier units (medium tanks, SPG, armored infantry, ...) become available to exploit the vanguard's advance or plug gaps in the frontline.
And again, later, the heaviest assets, or bigger amount of medium ones, become available for a full-scale battle.

Each division has its own pace, with a focus on one or the other phase.
i.e. the Free French 2e Division Blindée, underequipped but eager to be first in Paris, have a strong focus on aggressive recon, light tanks & armored car. They are at their best in phase (A), but tends to wind up with the next phase.
On the other hand, Panzer-Lehr is more like a steamroller, slowly building up its strength, then bracing itself in (A), starting to get better in (B) and unleashing all its might in (C).
The 16 other divisions fall somewhere between those two extremes.

The game also models a dynamic frontline. No need to secure fixed objectives, or to destroy X units to win: victory points are calculated by how much ground you control, dynamically.

But all this is explained in much more details in our gameplay blog here:
http://www.eugensystems.com/blog/
Click to expand...
Thanks for the input, sounds like the game has a lot going for it. I had a brief look at the Twitch broadcast and really like the dynamic front feature. What reminded me of RTS, and I might be wrong here, is that you get to "purchase" units on the fly and "beam them" onto the battlefield, rather than set forces/reinforcements to deploy accordingly. Hope there will be a demo at some stage, I will try it for sure. Now off to check on the blog.
 
rocketman said:
is that you get to "purchase" units on the fly and "beam them" onto the battlefield, rather than set forces/reinforcements to deploy accordingly.
Click to expand...
Yes and no.
You do "purchase" unit, but it is not dependent on resources gathering like regular RTS. Both sides earn "Requisition Points" every 60s, an amount depending on the division and the phase.
Yet, there is no "beaming". Once you've purchased a unit, you place its "ghost" anywhere on the map ... and then the unit will arrive from your edge of the map, and proceed to reach the position you've selected. So, that's more like the "deployment procedure" your are asking for. Therefore, you have to plan your move in advance, for units will take some times to reach their assigned position.

TerribleOne said:
great news... nice to have someone in this project... i played all wargame titles... it looks familiar ( the panel and the interface) but is the gameplay and the control also like in the another wargames titles ?! The gameplay video on youtube looks awesome ... very nice that you are working on a new "wargame" title
Click to expand...
If you are a Wargame veteran, you shouldn't have much trouble getting into SD44. Of course, there are new features (three-phase system, frontline, surrender, ...), but the deck system, unit categories, purchase system, ... should ring a bell to you. :)
 
I agree it is cool that we have a member on the team for a new game. I wonder if some kind of turn based mode will be possible. I realize lots of people like the fast pace of "real time" but I really don't and my play time is fragmented and short usually so I really like the WEGO system in CM and would love to see that in more games. Any chance of something like that?
 
A Canadian Cat said:
I agree it is cool that we have a member on the team for a new game. I wonder if some kind of turn based mode will be possible. I realize lots of people like the fast pace of "real time" but I really don't and my play time is fragmented and short usually so I really like the WEGO system in CM and would love to see that in more games. Any chance of something like that?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, I don't foresee that happening soon. We are a RTS (or RTT) studio ... although I tend to lend more toward turn-based (TB) myself.
Yet, we do play TB wargames and are trying to integrate some of its spirit in our game. The frontline, the three-phase system, ... are all inspired by TB boardgames or miniature wargaming.
 
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