Poll regarding Steam users

[lwlooz]

Hello,

First off , thanks for making IL2 . Had much fun with it in the past.
As for this new game:

From what I can gather you are not selling Il2 over the Steam Distribution Platform just yet.
So you are using Steamworks(which apparently needs a the same Steam account as for the Distribution anyways. I question the fair competition prospect of that. See EU/Microsoft browser case)
I have three questions regarding this.

1. As an IL2-Player, what are exactly the benefits for me from this?
Steamworks
Steamworks API

I have never had the desire for any of this in IL2 nor can I see needing any of this in the future.

2. As this appears to be largely optional as the DRM is handled by a seperate system , will I in the future be able to buy this game without Steamworks off a different digital distribution company like GamersGate ?
(My personal choice for buying digital if I would , I hope you can accept that as I can accept you loving Steam , not sure if Steamworks is on there)

3. If you include Steamworks , what role does UBI play exactly?
Unless they ship physical copies without this , I can't see why you can't drop them as middleman completly. Which makes me question why they would even do this.

Thanks for any information and I apologize if I got something about Steamworks wrong , even tho I tried to read into it somewhat before.