Fortifications are coming to Steel Division 2 By Joe Robinson

Do you know what one of my favourite things is? Forts. Forts and Fortifications… I don’t know what It is, but anything involving the construction and tactical placement of defensive infrastructure is… well. Probably not for polite company. But MATE.

Steel Division 2’s predecessor is one of our favourite WW2 games, but there are many more worth checking out!

Of all the improvements I was expecting to come in Steel Division 2, place-able fortifications honestly wasn’t one of them. So the news within today’s dev diary came as something of a pleasant surprise.

It’s only for the equally revamped ‘Breakthrough’ mode in skirmish (and any dug-in army in Army General mode), but during initial set-up defenders will be able to deploy a modest range of defensive works to help them resist the coming tide. From the dev diary:

Barbed wire: Pretty self-explanatory. A nice stretch of barbed wire will slow down any enemy troops - tanks and vehicles included. Great to funnel units into kill zones. Barbed wire is “painted” on the map and measured in meters, and on average, a unit card will give you 3 kilometers of barbed wire (sounds a lot, but trust us, you will have to be careful where you deploy).

Pretty self-explanatory. A nice stretch of barbed wire will slow down any enemy troops - tanks and vehicles included. Great to funnel units into kill zones. Barbed wire is “painted” on the map and measured in meters, and on average, a unit card will give you 3 kilometers of barbed wire (sounds a lot, but trust us, you will have to be careful where you deploy). Trenches: Works the same as barbed wire when it comes to constructing it. Trenches will shelter infantry, and to give an indication to our Normandy 44 veterans, will offer a similar amount of protection as being garrisoned in a house. You will have roughly 1.5 kilometers of trench available.

Works the same as barbed wire when it comes to constructing it. Trenches will shelter infantry, and to give an indication to our Normandy 44 veterans, will offer a similar amount of protection as being garrisoned in a house. You will have roughly 1.5 kilometers of trench available. Gun pits: Gun pits are like trenches, but instead of infantry, they are singular points which will protect large pieces of equipment such as anti-tank guns, AA guns or artillery. Gun pits come empty but offer good all-around protection, and you can remove your guns during a battle if needed.

Gun pits are like trenches, but instead of infantry, they are singular points which will protect large pieces of equipment such as anti-tank guns, AA guns or artillery. Gun pits come empty but offer good all-around protection, and you can remove your guns during a battle if needed. Bunkers: Hardened structures which are essentially stationary weapons with armor. They are fixed positions, very well-protected, but with only a limited field of fire. They come in different shapes and sizes, from a machine-gun bunker to a light anti-tank rifle bunker, or even an AT bunker with a 76.2 mm gun, for instance.

I used to really like the fact the British in the original Company of Heroes game could build trenches, and easy-to-place earthworks etc… is something I felt was missing from games like Men of War. You could quick build a line of sandbags, and place some barbed wire and mines, but that was about it.

So, there you go. It’s as the old saying go – the best way to a man’s heart is through is carefully sighted and designed trench system.

Steel Division 2 is due out on April 4th, 2019.