Steel Legions came to my attention partly because of a press release and partly because of the announcement of another game from Splitscreen Games shortly afterward. So I decided to check in with them (interview) when I was in Hamburg and check out the game.
Now, Steel Legions is in open beta and I can tell you all a bit more about it. The basis of the game is that you climb in a tank and start taking missions to help your faction dominate the world. Those missions include a variety of things from simply hunting marauders (PvE) to attacking or defending an installation (PvP). There are some more intricate ones where you provide escort duty for a very-slow-moving transport or must pick something up and move it from one place to another, like dynamite to destroy a building or some valuable back to the base.
All of the matchmaking is done in game by the server. You signup for a mission and wait near the base until the mission is assigned and then you’re off to it. For PvE, when there are no other player opponents, you will be assigned the task of killing marauders, which you would do anyway as that’s the basic grind mechanic in the game only when you do it as a mission, you gain XP towards leveling up.
The server will team you up with other members of your faction and pit you against a relatively equal level of enemies from another faction for PvP missions. Then it is up to you to utilize the terrain and your strategy to the best of your abilities. Teamwork is imperative and the environment really is important. Atop a hill you shoot further but are easier to hit. In a crater you have a shorter range, but are harder to hit. In the forest you’ll have some cover which will also help reduce damage. Plus, if, during the course of a PvP mission you or an opponent hits a Marauder, they may begin attacking as well. A great strategy when you might be outgunned is to get them involved and attacking your enemy.
New in the open beta are crew members, tactical weapons and a more advanced system of tank upgrades and supplies.
Steel Legions Crew Members:
You have unlockable seats in your tank that you can then populate with crew members who offer you some added benefits. Some of the crew don’t really seem like major benefits to me and I suspect they would be the last of the ones I would invest in. Some of the others are far more important like those that help repair faster. Oddly, there is no gunner that would help increase range or damage for your weapons or firing speed.
There is still a lot of game balancing in progress and during the early phase of the open beta, these seemed more like a drain on resources than they did a benefit for the most part. During battle they got injured, a lot and quickly. That meant then if you wanted to keep the benefits they provided and keep them leveling up you had to waste resources healing them. Checking in today showed that they seem to get hurt either less often or at a slower rate which is probably due to game balancing being ongoing. They now seem to offer a bit more benefit than they did last week even.
- Merchant: Reduces costs of upgrades and enhancements
- Chemist: Gives a percentage chance to reclaim Nitro ammo when hit by it.
- Commandant: Gives chance of double XP when completing a mission.
- Cleaner: Reduces duration of tar from enemy tactical weapon
- Firefighter: Reduces duration of fire from enemy tactical weapon
- Navigator: Reduces duration of nebula from enemy tactical weapon
Steel Legions Tactical Weapons
Tactical Weapons are a new type of ammo in the game for the open beta. They do something different depending on the type and are fired through your main weapon. That sort of sucks as it takes firing time away from the main weapon which you use to damage enemies. The current options are nebula (smoke screen to reduce enemy range), Flamethrower (for sustained damage) and tar which slows your enemies down. Graphically the guns are separate but in reality only one really fires at a time. So you can’t fire regularly and use the tactical weapon at the same time. Not a major deal, just some extra strategy to consider.
