Thinking of buying

[Ashleighs]

Hi guys.

So I had no idea what this game was and just saw Steel Divisions mentioned in the recent Paradox price rollback update, funny way to advertise but ok it worked

Anyway after youtubing some ranked/custom games before I knew it i'd watched about 10 games over the week. And it gives me such a strong Close Combat vibe, and a little CoH too. I'm no wargaming expert or anything but I did really really enjoy those two games in their prime. And I've been getting the feeling I wanted a new CoH recently, but something a bit more real and slightly less acradey.

SD looks perfect for me. Which is surprising to me because I couldnt get into Wargame. I think it's partly the scale and partly the frontline mechanic that is drawing me to SD. And I guess that I have a chance of understanding what the units do! I know nothing about modern warfare but I know which way to point a pak38, if that makes sense

So anyway I'm a bit dissapointed I missed this on the Steam sale. The game looks fantastic. It's unfortunate that the player base is low right now but sometimes these things grow over time with a little work from publishers and the devs and community.

My question is, do you guys think the playerbase will be on the small side but healthy? Or will it grow over time as people like me find it? Or will it be dropped by the devs and players in favour of the next big thing?

I'm very close to hitting the checkout button and I want to help support this. If I knew future plans it might give me a little more incentive to take the plunge.

Oh and as a final P.S I see a lot of people complaining about matchmaking, but you do realise that with a small playerbase it is actually impossible to do MM accurately. Complaining about it will only make people less eager to try which means the problem only ever gets worse. So as much as I sympathise that it's tough to go up against skilled players, or sleepwalk over a new play, its better than pressing the queue button and waiting 3 hours to get that perfect player. All you guys can hope for is that you welcome new players. And the community is a huge part of that. More so than the devs at this point.

Anyway thanks for reading I wrote more than I meant to sorry about that!

Ashleigh

 

[Lomak]

You can enjoy matches against the AI for a long time as you are on a entry level where the AI is still interesting until you become good enough to be bored by AI, so no worry in terms of player base number, matchmaking etc. as you get enough fun out of AI matches. I've clocked around 330h mostly against AI, 30 multiplayer matches and still enjoy AI matches even if they are no challenge. There is so much to adjust and play around with as there are a lot of division in the game.

In short, you get enough value out of your money, even if not bought in summer sale, at least this way when you pay more the developer can afford another breakfast with Croissants

If they make another scenario out of it (like Africa, or Russia) I will buy it

 

[Rojan]

It'll probably have a small playerbase and spike a bit after the next big content update. I don't think the game will die. I have put a significant amount of time into this game and it is really good. It is my favorite Eugen game by far and it really does have the potential to grow the base.

To your counterpoint regarding the matchmaking: people are complaining because this has been an issue through three Eugen releases now. We don't sit here and complain for fun or because we hate the game, we complain and provide potential fixes. We want the game to be better in some aspects and this is one of them. We care about the game.

If you ever need anyone to help you out I take a handful of noobs under my wing occasionally and help them out. My steam ID is just Rojan. My friend and I play games and both are pretty helpful in teaching people the do's and don't's.

 

[Ashleighs]

Thanks guys that does help. I certainly could spend a long time on the AI and then move to online after I get over the initial learning curve. I'll be rusty so it might take me a while but i'd also feel like jumping in to add myself to the numbers. I get few games these days where I actually want to support them and I feel like this is one of them for whatever reason. Happy to help with the croissants if it's been earned and I think they deserve it for this

Ok I understand what you mean Rojan, it makes more sense I was forgetting about the previous titles. And customers absolutely have to be vocal about what they want, I just hope that everyone keeps it in perspective. The devs want the game to do well more than anyone else here I'm sure. If they could do anything to make new players only go up against new players, and high level players only going up against high level players, then they would. But there just isnt the player base yet. I don't know anything about the previous titles but I'm guessing it was a similar story. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong

I do have one more general question that I cant find an answer to. Does the physical version activate on Steam? Or can it be resold?

Thanks,

Ashleigh

 

[Kampfkekskrieger]

Hi guys.

So I had no idea what this game was and just saw Steel Divisions mentioned in the recent Paradox price rollback update, funny way to advertise but ok it worked

Anyway after youtubing some ranked/custom games before I knew it i'd watched about 10 games over the week. And it gives me such a strong Close Combat vibe, and a little CoH too. I'm no wargaming expert or anything but I did really really enjoy those two games in their prime. And I've been getting the feeling I wanted a new CoH recently, but something a bit more real and slightly less acradey.

SD looks perfect for me. Which is surprising to me because I couldnt get into Wargame. I think it's partly the scale and partly the frontline mechanic that is drawing me to SD. And I guess that I have a chance of understanding what the units do! I know nothing about modern warfare but I know which way to point a pak38, if that makes sense

So anyway I'm a bit dissapointed I missed this on the Steam sale. The game looks fantastic. It's unfortunate that the player base is low right now but sometimes these things grow over time with a little work from publishers and the devs and community.

My question is, do you guys think the playerbase will be on the small side but healthy? Or will it grow over time as people like me find it? Or will it be dropped by the devs and players in favour of the next big thing?

I try to tell you the situation as true as I can. With Steel division, we have a major payed update to their previous games, taking both R.u.s.e and Wargame together, and the devs also mentioned taking Close combat (and probably other games) for advice, and so its a new franchise, mixed up out of the former games, and its very probable that the people will join into this game, although the current players are not too many, we just discuss about how to help it out hot since the release, and the reason why they complain about this game is besides the matchmaker and some difficulties to shot down aircrafts mainly, that they want more players!

And this is a self-fulfilling cow, and thus I made quite a step of community work the last month to make it impossible, that the game runs out of players totally.

You will get some updates with the game, it will develop a step, and you are in a soft way a test candidate for a game that is not the same every month, but quite a matter of changing, and in the next year, this game will be a different game, because with wargame, we had a lot of free Updates and after that I had to learn the game from scratch again, because the balance was changed, and I had to throw my strategies over and invent new.

But also be confident, that the devs will have, in order to exist, a new game in 1, maximum 2 years ready at start, and I closed the old Wargame European escalation into my heart, had a lot of pain inbetween when it changed but I also couldn't just play it on when all my friends from there went over to the new game, and despite the first wargame was better, it was less fun without the most players, and so I swapped over to the new game either, mainly to have players to play with, because this is the more important factor than some game mechanics that you dont want to miss or get changed.

I'm very close to hitting the checkout button and I want to help support this. If I knew future plans it might give me a little more incentive to take the plunge.

So be sure, that this environment changes! I also support this game now with all my power, because I want it to change into MY direction
Your voice is not only (not ) welcome, but urgently needed!

The playerbase was at 3-4k players in the first days, and the reasons why they dropped were fixed in the last weeks, and honestly, they were very important, but also very small problems that dip away the players very fast, but can also be repaired same as fast.

Oh and as a final P.S I see a lot of people complaining about matchmaking, but you do realise that with a small playerbase it is actually impossible to do MM accurately. Complaining about it will only make people less eager to try which means the problem only ever gets worse. So as much as I sympathise that it's tough to go up against skilled players, or sleepwalk over a new play, its better than pressing the queue button and waiting 3 hours to get that perfect player. All you guys can hope for is that you welcome new players. And the community is a huge part of that. More so than the devs at this point.

Anyway thanks for reading I wrote more than I meant to sorry about that!

Ashleigh

In my Opinion this is the perfect game, and the problems the people complain about can be solved better with work on the players instead of the game.
Yes the matchmaker was a resulting ask, for years, because many players in Wargame did trick out other people in the lobby, there was a lot of bullying along the life time of the games, lately Red Dragon, and hence we needed and asked for some 'security system' to get proper matchups without all the rope dancing in the lobby to have interesting matches afterwards.
So the ask for the matchmaker is well profound, but not the solution for all sides of the problem.
The other side are WE!

But tell this some of the 'friends' around here

 

[DuroSVK]

This game is not even close to be dying. You seems to be reasonable and I suggest you to buy it.

 

[Ashleighs]

You will get some updates with the game, it will develop a step, and you are in a soft way a test candidate for a game that is not the same every month, but quite a matter of changing, and in the next year, this game will be a different game, because with wargame, we had a lot of free Updates and after that I had to learn the game from scratch again, because the balance was changed, and I had to throw my strategies over and invent new.

So be sure, that this environment changes! I also support this game now with all my power, because I want it to change into MY direction
Your voice is not only (not ) welcome, but urgently needed!

That's great I like seeing changes come in over time to balance things up as much as possible. If the game is fun and the realism is close enough then I am happy!

Thanks for all your help guys. I'm downloading on Steam now. Give me a few weeks to get the hang of singleplayer and skirmishes and then you can totally ruin me online I'll keep watching youtube vids to pick up some tips in the meantime. Looking forward to panicking because I forgot about that puma

 

[Valdus]

That's great I like seeing changes come in over time to balance things up as much as possible. If the game is fun and the realism is close enough then I am happy!

Thanks for all your help guys. I'm downloading on Steam now. Give me a few weeks to get the hang of singleplayer and skirmishes and then you can totally ruin me online I'll keep watching youtube vids to pick up some tips in the meantime. Looking forward to panicking because I forgot about that puma

The AI plays much differently than a real player so don't assume your performance vs the AI will reflect how you will do against humans. Play some skirmishes to get used to moving your units around, the UI and basic mechanics but don't think there is some magic "I have to easily beat a Hard AI before I play online!" threshold. The AI tends to be very aggressive and pushes a wide front, players are a lot more cautious in most cases and can only focus on so many areas at a time so you can sneak around easier.

 

[Vyllis]

I do not think the game will be dropped from the devs. It's unlikely.
However, 'active' playerbase did sink really bad.

It is not dead, but not glorious neither.

 

[Ashleighs]

Thats a good point to remember Valdus. I always think i need to beat the hardest AI before I have a hope online, but in practice that's never true. By the time i've tackled SP and a few skirmish games I'll give online a go. Looking forward to it

And I'm happy to see support is expected to be there. I think this could be a sleeper hit among wargaming fans, and it could go outside of that area too.

 

[Kampfkekskrieger]

The AI plays much differently than a real player so don't assume your performance vs the AI will reflect how you will do against humans. Play some skirmishes to get used to moving your units around, the UI and basic mechanics but don't think there is some magic "I have to easily beat a Hard AI before I play online!" threshold. The AI tends to be very aggressive and pushes a wide front, players are a lot more cautious in most cases and can only focus on so many areas at a time so you can sneak around easier.

The AI is, because it beats the one or other player, quite a good example to copy its playstyle and then play the wide playstyle against humans

Unlike in Wargame, playing the AI is not a bad way to invent a new strategy with a division, and then give it a 'live example' online. But also in Wargame, I have noticed, that the people who have played a lot of singleplayer had some general very thick resistance capabilities, even though they had a low player rank or could not figure out a very aggressive win nature.

But I found their defense game very remarkable. If you only or mostly play online, you ONLY focus on exactly the golden path to exile, but you loose your individuality if you follow the other players too much. You have then very good skills, but its becoming more streamlined to the so-far most succesful strategies, that was a surprising lesson for me, and I started to become more individual and win with only my own playstyle, which is more difficult at first, but also more unexpected for other players and can turn out more succesful even though statistically weaker, because your combined-arms factor maybe solves the situation better...

 

[Katsuki126]

I do not think the game will be dropped from the devs. It's unlikely.
However, playerbase did sink really bad.

It is not dead, but not glorious neither.

I do not know from where this rumor came, but it is not true, the devs even released chart proving the opposite.

 

[Nebelwerfer 42]

Buy it, it's an excellent game, and we need more players

 

[jammiebadger]

Good game, shame about the Stalinboos

 

[roirraw]

Buy the game, tell your friends and get them into it too!

 

[Tank Girl]

Hi guys.

So I had no idea what this game was and just saw Steel Divisions mentioned in the recent Paradox price rollback update, funny way to advertise but ok it worked

Anyway after youtubing some ranked/custom games before I knew it i'd watched about 10 games over the week. And it gives me such a strong Close Combat vibe, and a little CoH too. I'm no wargaming expert or anything but I did really really enjoy those two games in their prime. And I've been getting the feeling I wanted a new CoH recently, but something a bit more real and slightly less acradey.

SD looks perfect for me. Which is surprising to me because I couldnt get into Wargame. I think it's partly the scale and partly the frontline mechanic that is drawing me to SD. And I guess that I have a chance of understanding what the units do! I know nothing about modern warfare but I know which way to point a pak38, if that makes sense

So anyway I'm a bit dissapointed I missed this on the Steam sale. The game looks fantastic. It's unfortunate that the player base is low right now but sometimes these things grow over time with a little work from publishers and the devs and community.

My question is, do you guys think the playerbase will be on the small side but healthy? Or will it grow over time as people like me find it? Or will it be dropped by the devs and players in favour of the next big thing?

I'm very close to hitting the checkout button and I want to help support this. If I knew future plans it might give me a little more incentive to take the plunge.

Oh and as a final P.S I see a lot of people complaining about matchmaking, but you do realise that with a small playerbase it is actually impossible to do MM accurately. Complaining about it will only make people less eager to try which means the problem only ever gets worse. So as much as I sympathise that it's tough to go up against skilled players, or sleepwalk over a new play, its better than pressing the queue button and waiting 3 hours to get that perfect player. All you guys can hope for is that you welcome new players. And the community is a huge part of that. More so than the devs at this point.

Anyway thanks for reading I wrote more than I meant to sorry about that!

Ashleigh

Don't buy the game. Sad, but I cannot suggest anything else

 

[Protosszocker]

Buy the game, tell your friends and get them into it too!

Thats the spirit we need here! If you bring some friends this game is really nice to play. And if we get more people with more friends we will have it at a point were it isnt just a good but an awesome game. I think it still can reach this point.

 

[Hidden Gunman]

It's a good game, and fun. But it can be frustrating depending on the modes you play. MM experience will be very dependant on the time you play...the Australasian time zones are currently troughing at around 250+ players during the evenings.

 

[[Ion]]

My question is, do you guys think the playerbase will be on the small side but healthy? Or will it grow over time as people like me find it? Or will it be dropped by the devs and players in favour of the next big thing?

I played somethere around 200 games and mostly custom games 2v2/3v3/4v4 and some 1v1 and I play <10 games a week. And so far I could find enjoyable set up (the map I like the side I like) every time I went online. mp expirience for me atm is pleasant and nothing to say more.
Basicly I just enjoy playing the game and can't really agree with most of complaints on this forum. (But there's always but! there are reasons for such attitude. And basicly the more frustrating gameplay is the more complaints there are. And I have two examples LoL and hots both games had terrible communities with all sorts of absurd/stupid/toxic topics it was just painful to see. The time went the games improved and communities improved... Yeah basicly you know what I mean.)
Playerbase shrunk because SD is a game both hard to learn and hard to master and that's frustrating literally for everyone and that's what called questionable gamedesign. So it's no surprise many players left some stayed some come. Today I played a game with someone who recently bought the game and had <10games this was a 2v2 and we won =)

 

[Protosszocker]

He already bought it (you can see it on his Forum profile) so we dont have to convince him anymore. @Ashleighs welcome in the community, hope to see you on the battlefield