I've played a few games now to where I feel like I have a feel for how Steel Division plays compared to Red Dragon. There's things I like or have at least gotten the hang of; I think tank combat is significantly improved over Red Dragon and it's pretty satisfying for the most part (a few balance issues aside), I 'get' the AA and air combat play and find it pretty fun, and the game as a whole is really cool and is almost exactly what I wanted from a Eugen WW2 Wargame.
One aspect is really starting to bug me, however: Infantry combat and how it's balanced with the rest of the game. While it's hugely improved over Red Dragon (where infantry were utterly useless outside town blocks or forests), I feel like there's a lot still to be desired. Luckily, I think a few small tweaks would probably improve things a lot further.
However, this problem gets compounded twice. The first problem is the halftracks' machine guns. They are way too effective right now, and it absolutely crushes even elite infantry squads, especially when the halftrack's own infantry squad is also attacking. While the game liberally hands out infantry AT to most line infantry teams and even some recon and specialist AT teams, infantry AT is (understandably) of pretty anemic range and often limited effectiveness. It's great for knocking out tanks which are stupid enough to get close to buildings/green cover, but both ammo and range are extremely limited and it's just not practical to engage attacking halftracks with them unless the halftracks also stupidly blunder into point-blank range.
Suggested fix: Tone down halftrack MGs. This is the main, critical point of the problem that is also easily remedied.
The second problem is that by their very nature, mechanized infantry teams are virtually always supported with light armor from the same deck, whereas non-mechanized decks have little to no armored support in Phase A and are entirely reliant on vulnerable truck-borne crew-served heavy weapons. While they seem to have decent if unimpressive Phase A options (such as Luftlande's PaK38 and schwere-MG teams), they have limited availability and these teams are extremely vulnerable. They come in soft transports which are easy to interdict and have terrible off-road, making just getting their units in position a pain, and the units themselves are easily erased and vulnerable to just being crew-killed down from attrition and any bullet or explosion that looks at them funny. However, these units are critical for supporting the similarly-vulnerable infantry against opposing Phase A light armor and halftracks. Once they're gone, Phase A is basically lost for the non-mechanized player.
Suggested fixes: Allow reinforcing of crew-served weapons? I mean, if a platoon of infantry is getting pinned down by enemy armored vehicles at long range, and the AT gun next to them is sitting idle because all of its original crew got knocked out... they're just gonna sit there and wait to die instead of keeping that gun firing? Allowing supply vehicles (or even infantry squads, if that's possible) to reinforce crew-served infantry weapons would mitigate the problem of losing critical support weapons to raw attrition from extended fighting -- extended, drawn-out fighting is something infantry divisions should be better at, not worse!
I think the best way to improve the infantry combat would have been to model foxholes, digging in, and the ability for infantry to take cover almost anywhere, but that may be beyond the scope of what changes are possible at this point. So, I'll try to suggest some more practical solutions.
Suggested improvements: Significantly reduce effectiveness of long-range fire at infantry teams, especially damage, but also stress. This better emphasizes the surrendering mechanic and the need to pin down enemy infantry and assault their positions with infantry of your own, rather than just erasing them with impunity from range. Smoke, mortars, suppressive fire, and fire & maneuver tactics thus surround the core fighting between infantry squads, enhancing the infantry game.
Additionally, I'd also suggest the ability for infantry teams (but probably not crew-served weapon teams) to gain yellow cover if they stop moving, even in the open. This represents the fact that infantry lying prone amidst terrain are not exactly easy to shoot (or even see) at long range, and it gives infantry much-need viability (albeit still subpar) outside of green cover/buildings.
One aspect is really starting to bug me, however: Infantry combat and how it's balanced with the rest of the game. While it's hugely improved over Red Dragon (where infantry were utterly useless outside town blocks or forests), I feel like there's a lot still to be desired. Luckily, I think a few small tweaks would probably improve things a lot further.
- Non-mechanized units are at a massive disadvantage
However, this problem gets compounded twice. The first problem is the halftracks' machine guns. They are way too effective right now, and it absolutely crushes even elite infantry squads, especially when the halftrack's own infantry squad is also attacking. While the game liberally hands out infantry AT to most line infantry teams and even some recon and specialist AT teams, infantry AT is (understandably) of pretty anemic range and often limited effectiveness. It's great for knocking out tanks which are stupid enough to get close to buildings/green cover, but both ammo and range are extremely limited and it's just not practical to engage attacking halftracks with them unless the halftracks also stupidly blunder into point-blank range.
Suggested fix: Tone down halftrack MGs. This is the main, critical point of the problem that is also easily remedied.
The second problem is that by their very nature, mechanized infantry teams are virtually always supported with light armor from the same deck, whereas non-mechanized decks have little to no armored support in Phase A and are entirely reliant on vulnerable truck-borne crew-served heavy weapons. While they seem to have decent if unimpressive Phase A options (such as Luftlande's PaK38 and schwere-MG teams), they have limited availability and these teams are extremely vulnerable. They come in soft transports which are easy to interdict and have terrible off-road, making just getting their units in position a pain, and the units themselves are easily erased and vulnerable to just being crew-killed down from attrition and any bullet or explosion that looks at them funny. However, these units are critical for supporting the similarly-vulnerable infantry against opposing Phase A light armor and halftracks. Once they're gone, Phase A is basically lost for the non-mechanized player.
Suggested fixes: Allow reinforcing of crew-served weapons? I mean, if a platoon of infantry is getting pinned down by enemy armored vehicles at long range, and the AT gun next to them is sitting idle because all of its original crew got knocked out... they're just gonna sit there and wait to die instead of keeping that gun firing? Allowing supply vehicles (or even infantry squads, if that's possible) to reinforce crew-served infantry weapons would mitigate the problem of losing critical support weapons to raw attrition from extended fighting -- extended, drawn-out fighting is something infantry divisions should be better at, not worse!
- Infantry combat is still too lethal
I think the best way to improve the infantry combat would have been to model foxholes, digging in, and the ability for infantry to take cover almost anywhere, but that may be beyond the scope of what changes are possible at this point. So, I'll try to suggest some more practical solutions.
Suggested improvements: Significantly reduce effectiveness of long-range fire at infantry teams, especially damage, but also stress. This better emphasizes the surrendering mechanic and the need to pin down enemy infantry and assault their positions with infantry of your own, rather than just erasing them with impunity from range. Smoke, mortars, suppressive fire, and fire & maneuver tactics thus surround the core fighting between infantry squads, enhancing the infantry game.
Additionally, I'd also suggest the ability for infantry teams (but probably not crew-served weapon teams) to gain yellow cover if they stop moving, even in the open. This represents the fact that infantry lying prone amidst terrain are not exactly easy to shoot (or even see) at long range, and it gives infantry much-need viability (albeit still subpar) outside of green cover/buildings.
- Conclusion
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