Stuart Stuff Poll

And it counters lights quite well. I'm not really sure if it is meant to fight mediums as a primary role, and its current abilities and sight range with veterancy allow it to support allied medium tanks or tank destroyers quite well without any penetration buffs or smoke dispensers.

I will freely admit that I have never really seen this unit as a Puma/AEC analogue.

The Stuart used to be a generalist like the T-70, and a wildly overpowered one at that.

The first community balance patch smashed it hard with the nerf hammer. They removed the movement stun from Shell Shock, raised its price, slapped a hefty damage malus against infantry on its main gun, reduced the accuracy on its MGs, and gave it +10 penetration in return.

And thus Captain became a dead tier for a year.

The USF tech revamp brought the Stuart back by putting it in the same tier as the Utility Car. It's decent against lights, fast enough to keep up the Utility Car and more importantly it's your only decent AT option in that tier.

But after that tier, it's next to useless. The AEC and Puma can support a Cromwell or Panzer IV against armour. The Stuart cannot do the same for a Sherman because its penetration caps out at 75.

If it's going to just be a platform for Engine Shot and Shell Shock, it should at least be able to survive the attempt.

The smoke simply isn't needed. Most other LVs get away without it, so I don't see why the Stuart would need it, either.

As for the Skillshot engine critical, I really like the idea.

Anti-infantry lights don't need it, as they're for fighting infantry.

All other anti-armour lights have smoke dischargers or 60 range so they can survive post-light vehicle phase despite their brittle chassis.

i think if anything the stuart needs right now is a pen buff...

I don't think the Stuart needs smoke at all. It already has a panic escape ability in a sense. If you want a survivability buff I think it would be fair to reduce its target size to 18, the same as Panzer II, Valentine or T-70.

It's a light vehicle based around debuffing larger tanks. It's not going to survive in mid-late outside 1v1 on its 400 HP and 80 armour.

It needs sight blockers, but it doesn't necessarily need a smoke discharger on the Stuart itself. You could use the Sherman's launcher to support it.

The smoke simply isn't needed. Most other LVs get away without it, so I don't see why the Stuart would need it, either.

As for the Skillshot engine critical, I really like the idea.

Puma has longer range, longer sight range, is at least as fast or faster (don’t know the numbers tbh), also has a disabling ability, and it still has smoke. I think Stuart smoke after major comes out would be fine.

Anti-infantry lights don't need it, as they're for fighting infantry.

All other anti-armour lights have smoke dischargers or 60 range so they can survive post-light vehicle phase despite their brittle chassis.

Puma has longer range, longer sight range, is at least as fast or faster (don’t know the numbers tbh), also has a disabling ability, and it still has smoke. I think Stuart smoke after major comes out would be fine.

The puma is also useless against infantry, whereas the Stuart is at least decent. That's the trouble with the Stuart, and to some degree the AEC: they're not quite AI-focused like the Luchs, T70 or 222, but they're also not quite AT focused like the Puma.

Compared to other AT-LVs, the Stuart also has a vehicle crew, which is a considerable bonus that (imo) offsets the lack of smoke.

Stuart could use some other utility but at vet 3, not after Major. If I could pick I’d take away both the blinding shot and the engine critical, I’d give the LT elite bazookas and I’d give the Stuart a mark target that increases pen vs target by 1.3x.

That way you have to rely on the LT for escaping enemy vehicle dives, which would be much easier with elite zooks, and would give the player a huge incentive to get it to vet 3 to get the mark target.

The puma is also useless against infantry, whereas the Stuart is at least decent. That's the trouble with the Stuart, and to some degree the AEC: they're not quite AI-focused like the Luchs, T70 or 222, but they're also not quite AT focused like the Puma.

Compared to other AT-LVs, the Stuart also has a vehicle crew, which is a considerable bonus that (imo) offsets the lack of smoke.

Would you ever build the Stuart if building the AEC or Puma instead was an option?

The current Stuart sacrifices the Puma and AEC's scaling for mediocre AI USF doesn't need and excessive armour that's only good for messing up the Ostheer matchup.

It needs neither.