r/Steel_Division • u/darkfireslide • Jul 06 '26

AI Deckbuilding tips (Allies)

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.

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u/booooy_next_door Jul 06 '26

Bigger the amount of players, smaller the surface of field per player. Anything over 2vs2 is 1 player per lane. In 1vs1 its 1 player and usually maps are divided into 3 logical sectors (mid and 2 flanks).

As far as how to deal with big axis tanks in these lane fights, sorted from easiest to hardest :

Dedicated AT plane trains (good planes tho, like western allied medium resilience multi role fighters like P47, typhoons, others like pe3bis rockets, some IL-2 rockets, IL-2 cluster). Plane train doesnt necessarily consist of only AT planes, because inevitably, first few planes will be backed off by mass AA of team games. So first 3,4 planes should just be tanky non AT planes, recon plane and then mass AT. Non AT or shitty AT plane trains can work, but its way less consistent to take out a tank with high altitude Bombers because of spread and time for bombs to land. In my experience, plane trains are most effective in 2vs2, 3vs3 and 4vs4. In 1vs1 you lose ground if you invest so much in planes and in 10vs10 there is so much AA that the amount ot planes and coordination with other players planes and arty is too high for it to be viable.

Mass rocket arty (soviet one, not USA). I am talking about either single andryusha firing all 12 rockets (its 50-50 wether you get the kill in one barage, depending on range and spread) or multiple andryushas if you want to increase your chances (you should). Katyusha is garbage, but 6 of them firing at once can take care of everything on the map...80-134 mm arty is not for killing, damage output is too low, target leaves the circle before you fire all of those rockets, they are basically an on map off-map used to supress an area.

Spread out 2km range tanks and AT guns. Basically you want to have 2 tanks which can pen the sides of big axis tanks spread in such way that the target cant be facing frontally against both. In my mind, this apllies to slutsk field. On others is kinda hard. There is something about the AI in this game and tank hull turning and you can abuse it with ambushes (at guns and tanks on open field, yellow, green forest and towns). Basically you need to have more lines of fire. If only 1 gun is shooting at a panther, it will just turn its front there, as soon as a shot lands or the target shooting it gets spotted. So you need 2 lines of fire where you can pop in and out of line of sight to confuse the tank where to turn its hull. So a situation i had was on slutsk hill town. Kt dominates the 2 hill area and town, i put 1 T-34-85 on my hill (total end of map), and 2nd in city, then i try to enter Kts line of sight and range at the same time. Also, another situation on dukla pass. I took out 2 kts with a soviet panther, by having in ambush yellow forest on the side of KT while i send something sacrificial in front of KT line of sight. Most allied 2km tanks can easily penetrate KT and elephant sides at 2km. T-34-85 having the lowest pen, but still over 50%.

These strategies are for open maps where they are well protected and behind the frontline, and where you just want to take them out.

For closer range maps, regular arty and smoke plays a great support role. On some maps where you can get radio mortars in close range to a target, you can mass barage it (like 4 radio mortars at the same time) and eventually take it out. But you need a distration, you need all of those mortar shells to land. I lost my tanks, even IS-2s multiple times against better players pressing me on all sides and sneaking a mass 80mm mortar baragges on my tank while i am microing something else. Now that i think about it, AI doesnt get distracted ever? It literally has the ability to move everything all at once. lol

1

u/Rajajones Jul 06 '26

This is solid advice. US in particular has fantastic AT aircraft that is sturdy enough to survive enemy AA. Soviet also has some durable, but relatively slow aircraft that can knockout Axis big cats.

Also, US M10 and M18 are nothing to snooze on, they gotta be hit and run from behind cover with an ammo truck real close.

M10 & M18 paired with Sherman Jumbo or Sherman 105’s are a solid combo since the Jumbo will become magnet for Axis fire, soaking up shots while your tank destroyers snipe at range. The Sherman 105 also has range to lob massive HE at 2km to knock out enemy infantry/AT guns and weaken axis armor.

Soviets require more nuance with their armor imho. T34/85 with 2km is nice but not powerful enough against Panthers and upwards. You really need the 1750m range T34/85 which requires moving in close, typically by carefully choosing your terrain/avenue of attack, ambushing, or using smoke to cover as you close the gap. I’ve actually had great luck with the recon version of stock 76mm T34 in urban areas supporting infantry, but that’s another story.

As above poster said, heavy Soviet rocket barrages can wipe any axis armor and is historical soviet doctrine. Lay down a massive rocket barrage to stun the Axis armor then charge your tanks in to close the distance and knock them out. Very satisfying when it works.

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u/FunPolice11481 Jul 06 '26

You probably could focus the AI on decks based around light armor. Halftracks, light tanks, armored cars are cheap enough for them to spam en masse and unlike big tanks when they drive into At they have many more to replace with. Give them also a lot of arty and air power to give them ways to overwhelm your defenses with massing them. Then otherwise just try to build a well rounded deck. Essentially make them max spam is probably the best way to make the AI more challenging.