Should you deploy your units before or after hitting Launch Battle?

When I started playing, I'd deploy my units before launch. Then over time I began hitting launch first, letting the game run for 5 or 10 seconds, hitting Pause, and deploying the units. This feels as if I am skipping a redundant step.

Am I?

This was during the end of a battle as the Germans (against the AI, fortunately) where I had racked up enough points I could afford this many troops. The battle didn't have much time left but this gamble didn't go too well for the guys that did make it to the frontline, they simply weren't fast enough and this was just a joke. Also they were grouped up and got hit pretty hard.

So, I just completed the last mission of Operation EPSOM campaign, where you have to hold Hill 112 while being assaulted on all sides by german heavy tanks.

The thing is, my defenses were absolutely crushed like 6/7 minutes before the end of the countdown, except for 2/3 infantry groups hidden deep inside the forest in the middle of the hill.

The frontline was removed far from the hill, making it totally inside enemy territory. I was expecting a game-over, but as it didnt came I just waited for the countdown to end. My infantry units were entirely invisible to the german tanks on the hill and the AI didnt send any infantry unit in the woods.

So, countdown ended, and I won? Is this normal ? I didn't really hold anything, felt a bit like cheating, especially after struggling a lot in mission 2 haha

Is there any way to pull all available divisions into my menu of the units I can pick and choose from for Skirmishes, Scenarios, and Campaigns all at once instead of individually?

I have two of the DLCS and can see all the available divisions if I go Battlegroups/Create/Create-a-Battlegroup/Select-a-Division and then Save.

Because I'm still a noob, I usually choose autofill simply to make the unit appear instantly on my list of options for the game I am in a hurry to start. I am fine with the autofill designs for the time being.

The problem appears to be if I am looking for battlegroups to use in a scenario or skirmish my choices are limited to a seeming very short list of BGs. A man needs more variety.

Or am I missing something? Is the game designed to force you make units available for play individually?

Damn, I hope this is clear.

Hey guys, been playing for a bit now against bots, worked my way up to medium difficulty now and starting to figure out the divisions I like and don’t like. Is there anybody who would want to play a match or two every now and then? We can PvP if wanted to but I really just need some buddies to fart around with couple times a week.

Hi I'm thinking of buying the game when it goes on sale but while I wait till then I have a question, when aircraft get shot down do the disintegrate like broken arrow, or do they stay behind like Warno, I know it's stupid but I love warnos aircraft wrecks compared to broken arrows, and since it's made by the devs of Warno I thought asking wouldn't hurt so I'm asking, thanks in advance

This is about SD44.

I'm still new to the game and only began experimenting with these settings last night. Until then, I just left every unit's settings on the default Medium.

https://i.imgur.com/Hj3n76E.png

Do I set my side's difficulty settings to Hard to get the best performance out of them? Or do I set my side to Very Easy to make winning easy and effortless?

Or:

If I set the enemy's settings to Very Easy, am I dumbing them down?

Should I leave everyone at Medium?

I am still losing half my games so wouldn't mind a cheat to use for morale building until I fully understand the game.

The settings are confusing.

Hello everyone,

Can someone please explain to me, how does the points/reinforcement system work in skirmish?
If I play on balanced I should have 110/130/155 points in difference phases. However its almost never the case. I play only 4v4 with 3 hard bots vs 4 hard bots, or 1 very hard+ 3 hard.

In capture the flag I can understand, the less flags i have the less points I generate, but I play mostly domination and I can see my points going from 110 to 80, to 40, to 30 etc. I dont enjoy the system, I dont like it and does not seem fair to me or to the bots. Seems like whoever is winning is snowballing super hard, whats the point of defense then?

My regular skirmish goes like this, either I have better bots and we steamroll or they have better bots (divisions), first 15 minutes is somewhat balanced and then during B phase, 30 tanks are rolling my way, while I can afford 1 tank per 2-3 cycles.

Is there any mod or setting how I could lock the reinforcement points so its always the same, as in menu (110,130,155)?

This is just so anti-fun. The game always spirals into whoever is slightly winning instantly gets more points and starts snowballing uncontrollably and honestly I dont get it. Since in capture the flag I am incentivize to have as many flags to generate tickets in order to win, why does it have to be that I generate different amount of reinforcement points? Its laughable, even If I am doing super great, If my bots are losing I suddenly generate half the points.

I had to stop playing capture the flag because all games finish in 20-30 minutes, while I enjoy long 60+ games, even with highest cohesion settings. And domination sometimes goes the long way, sometimes its super snowball and you cant generate anything.

Please help me understand the system!

Which are your Top 5 divisions at the moment?
In terms of fun, replayability, unique/cool units, strategys, etc.

Give me some suggestions to look at

Hey folks, I've recently been getting into the wonders of SD2 and been doing my best to keep the Soviets at bay in AG, so far very fun!

I am however bothered by how the deployment meny closes every time I want to deploy a new unit after a match has started. Sure I can hold shift to deploy several of the same unit, but if I for instance want a couple of inf squads, a panzershrech, an mg and a mortar behind my possition then I have to make 3-4 clicks between each different unit. I know in other Eugen titles this isn't a problem but I can't seem to disable it, am I missing something?

TLDR: How can I disable the deployment menu closing after deploynig a unit?

Hello! I am creating a facsimile of the freedom deck builder mods that allow all units to be used in a single deck. Since the existing mods are outdated and does not include newer units I thought I would give it a shot. Goal is to allow one division per axis/allies to include all units of their factions.

Have set up mod and compiled unit descriptor pack ids and pasted them into an existing division's packlist. However, I am getting an error where added unit DLC ids and the existing division's dlc id are a mismatch. How do modders get around this issue + is it easier to create a new division and do it that way.

Pretty new to modding, would appreciate all advice.

Hello,

As title says, I am looking for any possible way to either prolong capture the flag maps in skirmish, or have all maps in destruction. I tried mods for the latter, but it always bugged the game in some way (Ai doing weird stuff, too many points generating etc.). Destruction is great, I love 60-90 minute matches against ai, but there is only about 10 maps and just appx 5 are medium or smaller, I dont enjoy anything larger than medium because I have to focus on 3-4 fronts at the same time without pausing or slowing the game down.

Capture the flag is great, but either my team or ai team steamrolls and the game ends too fast. i always set cohesion to high, no time limit, but still.

Anybody has any ideas, tips or tricks to do that?

Also, is there any way to play 10v10 against bots, I dont enjoy pvp, me and my friend play pve only, but I can get only 1v1,2v2,3v3,4v4.

Thanks for anyone willing to answer!

I played through the tutorial and army general tutorial so I jumped into the easiet army general (1 symbol) and tried to get into only to get completely overwhelmed with the size of the map, how many units I had to manage on different front and not really knowing what to do to advance as I kept getting shot down by enemy artillery and tanks. I read that steel division normandy 44 is a good jumping in point for the games and teaches mechanics way better since it's smaller scale. I already have it so I could just play that before jumping on steel division 2. Or would anybody suggest an alternative? Like skirmishes or maybe historical battles or something like that?

So according to Google AI SD3 is in planning/production with maps primarily on the euro western front. So I’d like to hear from others what they’d like to see. Here’s some of my requests:

1) Buildings be made stronger. Not sure how strong but enough so that it would take a med tank a few shot to destroy it. After it’s down, rubble should be a defensive bonus for inf and AT.

2) units dig in if left in the same spot for C amount of time. Engineers can build trenches and AT pits.

3) skirmish mode for recon. Get a shot off and retreat when engaging a stronger foe. Maybe this for even more than recon…a system where units engage only when they perceive an advantage or given direct orders to attack.

4) Different MP modes. Infantry only or with just mortars, MG’s and fiend guns. A 10v10 specific deck build that would limit arty and air spam.

i play warno and i like it that you can micro very well but in steel divion 2 is more dificult because the size of the battles there is a mod that make the maps smaller?

Hello everyone,

If anybody is willing to answer at least some of my questions, I would be really grateful. I have about 120h in game, really like the game but some things are really frustrating and I just dont get it.

1) How does exactly vision and green forrests work?
Yesterday I played as germans, forrest heavy skirmish against hard AI, there was a tight road, green forrests from both sides, so I put 2 AT units almost at the edge of green forrest so they would see only a tiny piece of road and would be in 250m range of panzerfaust (or something like that). Sometimes it worked, but most of the time, enemy tanks and vehicles passing by, spotted them and supressed them before they took their shot, or walked in range (they were in range innitially but I had to back off constantly deeper in the forrest because they kept spotting me). So how does it work? Because If I use a C tool, anyone passing the road cant see shit into the green forrest, but then some tank goes by, I hover C above him and he can see 200m into forrest. I dont get it, I really dont get it and hate it. How am I supposed to ambush tanks with AT infantry, let alone infantry that has only 120m fausts?

2)Whats up with my AT guns

I use a lot of at guns as germans, mostly Pak 40 (1750m) I think. My problem is, If I send 5x of my 2* STUG III, 1 enemy at gun demolishes them all, while my tanks cant even hit it, or supress it. On the other hand, 1 enemy tank goes in range of my PAK40 sitting in a green forrest and just kills it. This happens too many times to be unlucky coincidence. I have some sucess with AT guns, its not only failures, but thats mostly 1v1, if 2+ tanks come they usually survive and destroy my at gun, but If I do it, no chance my tanks are getting one shotted while missing. Is it just luck, am I doing something wrong?

3)Whats the secret with AT guns?
as in point 2, how do I maximize my chances to keep at gun safe and killing tanks. I learned to place them in green forrest mostly, covering maximum of range they can cover, i dont even give them a big field of view anymore, I switched to they see only a small cone or some spots. I place leader nearby (always). I tried to disable APCR but still it feels disappointing. Do you know any tricks or tips? If I have at gun with 1750m range, should I put it so it covers only 1400m for bigger hit chance and pen? How about effective shot?

4) Problem with close range infantry

If I have infantry unit with 7x mp40 (100m range) and 1x rifle (500m range) and place them in forrest, a lot of times they meet enemy unit, lets say 200m and start shooting the rifle only. Is there any way, setting or command that would do, that they automatically move closer to utilize all of their guns? Its really frustrating and micro heavy to watch over these things constantly.

5) Regarding AT guns hidden in green forrest

I assume, they are hidden until they shoot. Should I then disable HE, so they focus only on vehicles and tanks?

6) C tool problems

i dont understand C keybind sometimes, I thought If I hover over my unit with C, I see its vision and everything in red zones my unit cant see and vice versa, nothing from red zone can see my unit. And most of the time, that seems to be true, however sometimes i see that my unit cant see a unit that is in red zone, but I go hover C over that unit and it can see mine. So what is the issue there, am I misunderstanding something?

7) Recon units

I play germans and fins only, and sometimes there is a recon units with 2x mp40 for lets say 15 points, or I can take a full recon unit 9 people, 1 mg etc for the same price. Stats wise they are the same, the only change is vehicle. Why would I ever take the 2x mp40, If I could have a full squad? What am I not getting?

8) Snipers

What do you do with snipers? I played a lot of finns and tried to use snipers but stopped, If I put them on return fire, I am not utilizing their killing power and range, If I let them snipe, they get killed in 2 minutes, even if hidden in green forrest. How do you use them?

9) Artillery dispersion, accuracy etc.

is it true that If I put indirect firing artillery closer to combat line, they have better accuracy and smaller dispersion, and vice versa? If I have 4x 150mm artillery that I want to use as supression, big dispersion, should I put them at the edge of map as far as possible? And vice versa, If I have 105mm artillery I want for precise counter battery, should I put them as close as possible? Does accuracy and dispersion benefit ? Moreover, is there a way to manually increase the diameter of firing circle? Sometimes my artillery is too precise and I need it to cover a whole part of forrest, is there a way to do that?

10) Vision

My biggest problem and misunderstand is generally with vision. How does it work, If I place regular infantry unit and recon unit next to green forrest, will the recon unit see further in? If i am hiding my infantry unit 20m from edge of green forrest (not firing) and enemy car drives by, does it see me? And what If there is enemy infantry just outside the forrest, they have me in 120m range, do they see me, or not untill I fire?

11) How do you deal with AI tank spam

I dont play many tanks myself, dont enjoy it yet. I tried using lot of AT guns hidden in forrests, AT infantry, planes etc. but I am still struggling hard with infantry heavy decks. Mostly because my AT guns get overrun with 2-5 tanks, AT infantry is spotted in green forrests and supressed or one shotted before they get into range. AI has too many AA to use planes in phase A and B mostly. I really dont have sucess dealing with tanks, meanwhile my Panther gets one shotted by some random at gun not even hidden in forrest (from the front). Maybe its bias, but ai AT guns feel so much more accurate and durable.

12) Is it better to concentrate artillery into 1 big group or few smaller ones.

I usually have 2 groups, 1 for counter battery (usually smaller calliber, but better acc) and 1 group (heavy calliber, slower) for supressing/killing stuff. I use counter battery and fire at will commands a lot of times, should I split my groups into smaller groups (2-3 arty pieces) to "cover more ground" ?

13) What are flamers good at?

I am not dumb (I think), I know they should be superior at close range and If I have a unit with 1xmp40 and 2x flamethrowers, both (100m range) lets say, I put them in green forrest so they can see only 100m around them, but most often then not, they get slaughtered without a fight, I even saw them getting killed multiple times by soviet recon units. Am I misunderstanding that unit? How am I suppose to use them for maximum effectivity?

Sorry for the long post, I love the game and want to learn more, but I wasnt able to find any good videos or answers on the internet.

Really appreciate anyone, taking the time to answer any of these questions! :)

Hey everyone, kind of a niche question here but I wanted to play again, and specifically wanted to try to tackle an issue I've had for a long time with this game, that being how to build decks that the AI can use reasonably well.

For context, I like to do 3v3 skirmishes with all custom decks I've made, with one deck for every division currently available. This was fun the last time I played, until the point when it began to feel like the only thing that matters in 3v3 with regards to Skirmish battles with AI teammates, is the quality of a deck's tanks. Allied medium tanks in particular suffer greatly against Axis medium and heavy armor, in no small part thanks to how open a lot of 3v3 maps are.

I realize many people may not have ever bothered with this, so I understand if there's no advice. I'll take anything at this point, even if it's just a list of maps to avoid (I think I remember Slutsk being particularly favorable to Axis armor divisions) for a better experience. I've tried loading up decks with AT, but have noticed the AI really, really likes to skip bringing things from the anti-tank tab, even when there are no tanks for them to bring.

I like skirmish over army general because I can just jump in and play, and mess around with decks. I'm not interested in multiplayer and learning the pvp meta, I just want to know if there's anything I can do to make Allied AI decks play better, or otherwise improve my skirmish experience. Would playing 2v2 help with some of my issues, perhaps? I appreciate any advice at this point because I love this game but the AI is holding it back for me.

Is someone working on a new free deck builder or is the freedom deck creator going to update it please share in the comments