Hello commanders,
Apologies for the radio silence! We know it’s been a while since our last DevBlog, but we have run into some last-minute blocking issues regarding Steel Division 2’s new expansion Steel Division 2: Battle of Dukla Pass.
Read on!
Battle of Dukla Pass’ Slight Delay
We have detected a problem with the Slovak acknowledgment and dialogue lines, which forced us to postpone the release to a later date. We are working our darndest to get this fixed as soon as possible. When we do, we’ll return with a new release date.
What we can share with you in today’s DevBlog is some of the major balance changes coming to Steel Division 2 at the expansion’s launch. A patch, available to all owners of Steel Division 2, will be made available at release.
What are some of the things you can expect?
- New New Valentine X, BT-5 and Yak-9K models for a series of existing Allied Soviet divisions, free of charge thanks to the Reinforcement Pack #17 War Reserves.
- As we had a bit more time, we modeled a new unit for the expansion’s 208. Infanterie-Division: the late war (and quite rare in our timeframe) IG 37 infantry gun. This is a combination of the PaK 36’s anti-tank gun’s towed carriage and the IG 42’s infantry gun’s barrel, with a muzzle break. Equipped with a more efficient HEAT round compared to its IG 17 predecessor, the IG 37 is an infantry gun more capable in an AT role. For the same division, we also created the new FUSILIER (MP-44) squad, which, unlike the SKI. STURMFÜSILIER, exchanged only the Kar. 98 rifles for MP-44, retaining the original SMG and LMG loadout.
- While we are mentioning this iconic weapon, the MP-44 has been reworked to deal more suppression, but less damage. All concerned squads equipped with this weapon, across the board, will have been updated with price and availability adjustments.
Additional, more specific changes:
- The P-51 and APACHE fighter-bomber roles have received a price buff.
- The CHURCHILL IV (the one with a 57mm tank gun) has received a hefty armor buff (plus price adjustment).
- We have introduced some existing Soviet equipment to more divisions: ZiS-2 towed guns for the 7-y Mechanizi. Korpus (Steel Division 2: Black Sunday plus the SU-57 to the 3-ya Gvard. Tankovy Korpus and the 19-y Tank Korpus (Steel Division 2: Burning Baltics).
- The German PIONIER squad got a price bump across the board, while the STURMPIONIER receiving an update on its availability.
- STUG and PANZER IV received a price buff, while the MARDER (all types) and the PaK 43 got an availability update.
- Lastly, the Finnish Rhymä Raappana's divisional AT capabilities have been reinforced.
With regards to the above updates, especially the Axis buffs, we wanted to make underperforming infantry divisions a little bit more viable on the Steel Division 2 battlefield.
Battle of Dukla Pass Expansion
If you want to do some background reading, check out the Steel Division 2: Battle of Dukla Pass expansion previews.
- The expansion features 1 massive Army General campaign centered on the Battle of Dukla Pass. Read more about the historical context and in-game battlefield here.
- Plus 6 new Divisions, playable in both single-player and multiplayer. These include the Allied 1. Československý Armádní Sbor, the Soviet 242-ya Gornostrelkovaya, and Slovak National Uprising, while the Axis deploy the 208. Infanterie-Division, the Hungarian 13. Gyaloghadosztály, and the 18. SS-Fr.-Panzergrenadier "Horst Wessel".
See you on the battlefield
That’s it for this DevBlog. We hope to be back very shortly!
Make sure to join the Steel Division 2 community on our Steam forums. The latest Steel Division 2 news can also be encountered on our Instagram.
Looking for an online game? Visit the Discord server or Reddit page and get involved with the lively Steel Division 2 community!
See you on the battlefield.