Profile of Tri86

except for the elefant, there's really no point in using this on non-turreted tanks. maybe they should get ambush/camo + first strike bonus as an added effect? kinda like the ambush camo upgrade for infantry.

i use this all the time. if you're impatient, you can go for a commander that has the t34/85. the armored assault commander is perfect for something like this.

obviously I played with it. 6 games after the patch, every single one I got 2 or 3 of them, combined with and without building Tier 3. Won all of them, StuG always had a ton of kills. I even built it when my opponent went for T34s after I got a P4 or normal StuG.

So, I don't know if you played with it or if you are able to use it correctly. For me, this unit is a pretty damn perfect unit for quite a lot of siuations. I am obviously talking about 1v1s, no idea if it is any viable in team games, especially not 3v3s or 4v4s.

do you have any replays on hand?

Ah, sorry man. Did not know they came out later...

But the T-70 only has a small window to operate, just like the FlHT. I think if the Stug E came out earlier it would be devastating for soviet early game. I think the Stug E is a hard unit to balance and integrate into the game. Guess they should have tested it some more!

would it really be devastating though? if they were to lower deployment time to 2cp, the soviets could already have at guns, guards and/or at nades on the field - all of which counter this thing easily.

after looking at the stats again i think i know what the developers were going for with this little dude. it looks like its a unit that is designed to work heavily off of RNG. it has the potential to be really effective but it has to deal with random numbers ALONG with battlefield variables to reach that maximum effectiveness. sure 1 stug e is going to have alot going against it, but if you have alot of them they'll have more chances to be real destructive, in theory.

the thing is all this creates is an unreliable unit. why should i ever make something that has a chance to be effective when i can bust out an ostwind that always does its job (RNG wise of course). from it's small size (i think its like 40% chance to be hit at long range) to it's long reload and relativley subpar accuracy, it's a unit that plays heavily on chance.

when massed the rng becomes less of an issue, however these things become way too vulnerable - arty, more micro stress from controlling lots of fragile little tanks, long ranged at units (su85) lurking in the fog of war, more positioning management etc.
all of this can be avoided by building an easier to use, more reliable unit, the ostwind. the stug e just isn't a good alternative.