Hello commanders,
We hope you are well! In today’s post, we’ll return to one of Steel Division 2’s upcoming expansions, Steel Division 2: Tribute to Normandy 44. This DevBlog shows off some more tidbits about two new Aces to be featured, as well as some upcoming balance changes.
Some new insights
We already announced six Aces coming with Steel Division 2: Tribute to Normandy 44, as detailed in this DevBlog. As some of you shrewdly noticed, we missed one Ace from the original Steel Division: Normandy ‘44, belonging to a formation announced to ship with our new expansion. We are talking about the Axis tank commander Kurt Knispel. He served in the schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503, which will be attached to the 16. Luftwaffe-Feld-Division.
The reason we didn’t mention Knispel before was that we had an uneven number of Aces. We wanted to keep one in “reserve” before we had found a suitable Allied counterpart. A mission that has been accomplished!
So, let’s welcome 2 new Aces to the stage at Steel Division 2: Tribute to Normandy ‘44. This brings the total to 8 Aces!
Kurt Knispel
Though much less famous than Michael Wittmann or other Nazi propaganda darlings, Knispel is probably the greatest Panzer ace in military history. With 168 confirmed kills, which could rise to 195 if considering unconfirmed ones, he was quite unusual for a German tank commander. Not even a “true” German, but rather a Volksdeutsche born in Czechoslovakia in 1921 in Sudetenland before the Third Reich annexed it.
Unlike other commanders, he paid little attention to his kill tally, competition, or fame, in certain cases willingly leaving comrades to take credit. Neither did he care much for discipline, grooming standards, or dress codes (which can be noticed in some of his World War II photos). He sported long hair, a goatee, and wore custom-made re-trimmed uniforms, and was known to have assaulted a fellow German officer for mistreating Russian POWs.
Knispel was definitely not a Nazi poster boy, and despite his kill ratio, he never became an officer, remaining a sergeant up to the end of World War II. He died in the last days of the war, on the Eastern Front, when hit in the head by shrapnel standing in the commander’s cupola of his tank.
In Steel Division 2: Tribute to Normandy ‘44, he will be featured with his Zimmerit-covered "101" KÖNIGSTIGER (P) available with the 16. Luftwaffe-Feld-Division.
David Vivian Currie
This new Allied Ace was not featured in the original Steel Division, thus exclusive to Steel Division 2: Tribute to Normandy ‘44. Currie ships as part of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division. Having joined the regular Canadian Army in 1940 as an officer, he won’t see combat until 1944. In the meantime, he managed to rise in the ranks to major. Currie commanded a squadron in the division’s reconnaissance regiment: the South Alberta Regiment.
Our Ace landed in Normandy in late August 1944, taking part in the last battles of the campaign. On August 18th, with only ten days of actual combat experience, Currie was given the military order that would ultimately secure his place in Canadian military history. He took command of a mixed force of infantry and tanks and led them in the path of the remaining Axis forces desperately trying to escape the Falaise pocket. Blocking the last exit for the Germans - and holding it until American troops from either side could link up - resulted in furious combat. Successful, Currie became "the man who closed the Falaise pocket.”
In Steel Division 2: Tribute to Normandy ‘44 Currie will be featured as a COMMANDER with the 4th Canadian Armoured Division.
Upcoming Balance Changes
You might be happy to know that Steel Division 2: Tribute to Normandy ‘44 is almost done. We are now looking for a suitable release date, which we will announce shortly. In the meantime, the dedicated Strike Team will soon have the green light to stream the expansion’s content!
With the launch of the expansion, as always, we’ll also feature some changes (for all owners of Steel Division 2). The following are just a couple of examples:
- We will tone down the effectiveness of Commando infantry, especially those in the 1st Allied Task Force, Groupement Dody, and SSB, including tweaking the latter’s division off-map support.
- We are reducing the infantry’s Fall Back mechanic’s damage reduction. This means retreating soldiers will be more prone to take damage, especially from tanks.
- We are reducing sniper rifles DPS by decreasing their aim time and rate of fire.
- We are standardizing the 7.62mm HMGs stats: while some remain better than others, we want to fix the abysmal performance of some older models.
- We will check and give some balancing “love” to older divisions that haven’t been touched in a while.
More changes will come. The above is just a short preview.
See you on the battlefield
That’s all for this DevBlog. We will be back in two weeks!
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See you on the battlefield, commanders!