Hello commander!
We hope that you are doing well. In today’s post, we’ll be taking a closer look at a series of minor, but very interesting improvements that are making their way to Steel Division 2’s Army General mode.
These updates are still work in progress. They will be rolled out in the near future! Let’s take a sneak peek.
Increasing Army General’s accessibility
Playing a strategic Army General campaign is not for the fainthearted. Much like the rest of Steel Division 2, it is a game mode that is deep, supported by complex gameplay systems with a ton of information being presented to the player in various panels and sub-menus.
Over the last couple of months, we have tried to make all the figures and facts easier to find and read, but we know we can still improve in this area.
We are working on revamping some of the user interface panels. You will find it easier to check a unit’s combat power, see how much strength they will have per phase, if they are going to win or lose a fight, and more!
Showing a unit’s combat value
One wrinkle we wanted to iron out is a player’s understanding of the battalions under their command, specifically with regard to how well they would hold up during a battle. As you can see in the screenshot: when you select a battalion, its revamped information panel will come up. The updated menu shows the unit’s combat value (its fighting strength) as a numerical value divided across the three combat phases. The new menu will also show the unit’s reserves in a separate column.
There will also be an option to display the combat values in different ways: either in a more graphical form with squares or as a number. Or even simpler: as a single value. The way to display a unit’s label on the strategic map can also be changed.
Updating the Autoresolve mechanic
We have spent a fair bit of time on improving the Autoresolve panel. In the screenshot, you can see a typical match-up on the battlefield, one that in the current and past versions of Army General might have been too confusing.
What we have done in the updated version is to make the Autoresolve mechanic easier to be understood. For instance, we are displaying the combat values for each unit, showing a battalion’s losses after a phase, as well as total losses. What’s more, we want to be clearer in presenting an enemy’s losses in a succinct and easy way. The revamped Autoresolve menu should do this.
Combat Prediction Feature
The Eugen team is also working on developing a robust Army General combat prediction tool. This new feature should give you a good indication of how a potential battle might unfold - or at least the level of losses you and the opponent could incur.
This new feature will also give the player a heads-up about the strongest possible combination of battalions at your disposal - the ones you should bring into a fight to give yourself the best chances for success!
As you can see in the screenshot, the new mechanic works directly on the map, highlighting the formations you should bring once you have selected a combat-ready battalion.
Some other improvements
That’s not all. We are also updating a battalion’s movement after winning a battle. Now, all formations move (if they aren’t destroyed), which means that some of your units might end up in a disadvantageous situation, or relocate themselves into a vulnerable position. From now on, only the first battalion selected will move. This should, hopefully, clear up most of the confusion after you have won a hard-fought battle!
Players will also gain the ability to increase (or decrease) the game speed in the strategic campaign mode. This should allow you to increase how quick your troops move or slow things down if you want to spy on what the enemy is exactly up to during its turn.
The bombardment ability will now have a longer-lasting effect. When a unit is bombarded, it will not only lose all of its action points for the current turn but also for the turn after that. Being shelled means you are now unable to perform any special actions for not one turn but two turns in total.
Lastly, we are also improving the unit movement algorithms used by the AI. The computer will be more careful about how they place their battalions on the frontline, which should decrease the chance that they get encircled during an offensive.
Until next week!
That’s it for today’s post. Be sure to tune in next week! In the mean-time, don’t hesitate to check out our Steam forums and Eugen forums, or our social channels (Facebook and Twitter).
You can also join us on our [https://discord.gg/TEeBArm]Discord server[/url] or Reddit page. Discord especially is a great place to find other Steel Division 2 players to kick off an online or coop match!
See you on the battlefield, commander!