Cliffs of Dover MANUAL

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by fearlessfrog

So you're going to sign in to Steam to start the game (as detailed in the manual 'Launching the Game') and then not use the in-game browser so you don't use Steam?

Bit weird that out of all the stuff i described, you focused on that one single snippet.

To answer your question, unless steam is required for activation i have no reason to use it. The linked manual is contradicting previous information on the issue so i can't really know how it will play out.

As long as we're talking about a boxed edition, up till now we knew that Steam is not needed for activation but is used for matchmaking optionally. The manual states that it's needed to be installed before the game installation starts (while making no mention as to why, it doesn't state anything about activation or DRM for example, maybe it's just a rudimentary check) but again, it's optional for multiplayer.

Chapter "Playing the Game - Multiplayer", top of page 101:

Originally Posted by CoD Manual

Cliffs of Dover uses Steam for its matchmaking. You can also play non-Steam
games via LAN or by manually entering server IP. Fans have created external
match-making programs for older Il-2 games. It’s possible that some of them
will support Cliffs of Dover as well, or new ones will be created for it. In short,
there are many ways to find an online server. Available servers should offer a
variety of Realism options, ranging from fully arcade to fully realistic.

To me that reads "to join a server you can use a) the already built-in direct IP input b) Steam c) any other suitable 3rd party program". It's hardly a one way street apparently.

EDIT:
For all we know, the manual could be applicable to the digital download edition. If you look at the bottom of each page, you'll see a small piece of text: "IL2CoD_PC_MANUAL_UK.indd" followed by the page number. If that's the case then there is no controversy at all, since DD editions were supposed to activate via Steam, it's the boxed ones that were not.

I don't know how or why this manual would find its way on the disc of a Russian boxed copy if at all in the first place (assuming it comes from one). Maybe they just bundled the multilingual manuals in the Russian release without too much fuss, since the only difference in the entire manual would be that little "how to install" paragraph and people in Russia wouldn't bother to read it anyway because they have one in their own language.

In any case, i'll just have to wait and see until my collector's edition arrives or someone else gets it first and reports back. Since it's clear multiplayer will work with alternative methods i don't mind much even if it needs steam to install, because i can just set it to offline mode and leave it like that.