M8 Scott HMC

How do people feel about this unit?

Playing USF, it's one of my favorite indirect fire units. It comes late, so it needs to be much better than say, a mortar halftrack, but really this unit is kinda wierd. When it arcs highly, it's pretty average. But when it has a 'direct fire' angle, it just obliterates things. Not just infantry, but light vehicles. I've soloed Luchs with an M8, it's that effective when you're microing it properly. The smoke ability to get away is a lifesaver too.

In longer games, it's probably my most efficient unit. It's also the only really "good" indirect fire the USF get, and it DOES come late. But I'd take 1 Scott over 2-3 pack howitzers any day.

It's absolutely horrible as an indirect fire unit, to the point where the functionality is actually hampering the use of the unit because it makes it unreliable. It's fantastic as a direct fire anti-infantry and light vehicle unit.

I've played a couple of games with it. Haven't been disappointed, it won't make up for the absence of stuff like Rocket artillery from the US forces, but it helps a bit.

You can get one of these out almost gamebreakingly early if you really go for it.

I get one out in 10-11 minutes in this replay.

My opinion mirrors Cruzz's opinion to a degree. It's an incredible piece of light armor that offers good fire support when used just out of range of the enemy and using its direct fire.

It's probably a little too strong as a direct unit.

For indirect fire it's pretty iffy. Long barrage cooldown. Bad splash for the travel time of indirect fire. Utterly garbage range! What use is an indirect fire unit that cannot counter Pak40s? The Pak40 has the same range as the M8A1 and two-shots it.

Heaven forbid they get a Pak43 or Jagdtiger which outrange the M8A1. This unit's range is so terrible that it cannot even function as a counter to the Pak43. An artillery unit can't defeat a static emplacement without flanking! The M8A1's normal range is 60. Barrage range is 80. That's the same as the Pak43 and 5 shorter than a Jagdtiger. A pitiful state of affairs.

Its fragility is a huge issue as well. 240 health means that Jagdtigers, Elefants, King Tigers and Pak43s will one-shot the M8A1. No mistakes allowed. It's very brutal.

Its fragility is a huge issue as well. 240 health means that Jagdtigers, Elefants, King Tigers and Pak43s will one-shot the M8A1. No mistakes allowed. It's very brutal.

The SU-76M suffers from the same problem...

Yeah. SU-76 has slightly better barrage range (Sleuthing says 90 but...) but it has no smoke and far less mobility than the M8A1.

Poor SU-76...

For indirect fire it's pretty iffy. Long barrage cooldown. Bad splash for the travel time of indirect fire. Utterly garbage range! What use is an indirect fire unit that cannot counter Pak40s? The Pak40 has the same range as the M8A1 and two-shots it.

But the Scott can fire on the Pak from behind shot blockers, even flush up against a building.

its like a pocket isu when direct firing

I think it's a great unit in it's own right, it's just that it doesn't really fill the hole of a bombardment weapon that it's taking the place of. Not that it really should, but still it sucks to play americans against a well turtled opponent.

Yeah, the shot blockers are how I deal with Paks when using them. Although I agree that they're not amazing for decrewing AT guns. What they are great at is helping to deal with late game blobs, and quickly rushing to nuke obersoldaten or other tough infantry units. You can get in, blast them, get out before they can really respond. You need to be careful with positioning of course, I've lost quite a few to a sudden armor push I didn't expect.

Would it be better if we improved it as an indirect fire unit, but weakened its direct fire somehow? I'm not sure how we could do this, btw.

Its regular attack is good, its barrage ability is useless.

Doesn't the barrage ability fire directly if you have clear firing lanes to the target? I've done this with the US Pack Howie(surprisingly good at nuking infantry like the M8A1, but too expensive) where it fires its standard shot, then barrage allows a near instant follow-up on direct-fire because it has clear lanes to the target.

I think reducing the barrage cooldown on the M8A1 and Pack Howies would help fix the indirect problems by allowing more shells to be dropped over the course of the game since both abilities allow them to fire further away, out of range from ATGs/support weapons unless it's a Pak43.