Advice on Stug usage needed...

[Rob Murray]

I've recently developed an interest ( obsession ) with StuG's ( blame MikeyD - damn mods are too good not to use :mad: ) & I need some advice on their proper usage. Let's say I order the vehicle to move to some scattered trees & hide. Should I then order it to shoot when a nice juicy ( hopefully unsuspecting too ) target ( ie. M4a1 appears ). Then scoot back to the trees ( if no better cover is readily reachable ) & hide?

Thanks.

[Panzer76]

Im sure you can find many useful hints in the Tips and Tricks forum.

[Jaws]

Scattered trees slow vehicles down and the scoot may be to slow to survive a counter attack. Better seek for some cover behind hills or woods with your Stug on the road or on normal ground.

Indeed those STUG MOD look very good. Now I'm waiting for his PZ IV H or J mod

[Rob Murray]

Thanks.

[Macphail]

i would use it like an ordinary tank, but be even more careful about facing. smoke cover is good. i would really think twice about ordering a tank to move around trees. the terrain is not condusive to quick movement. what i actually do, is make a series of forward and reverse movements to keep the gun pointed in the general direction of the enemy. this creates lateral movement, to get around houses, and other obstacles to direct fire.

note: i seem to run out of ammo with the stug's very quickly! they have less than most other AFV's.

[ November 22, 2004, 12:16 AM: Message edited by: Macphail ]

[Rob Murray]

Thanks for the tip. I'll try it out.

[Spears]

Never hide a tank, god dam it man. It seems to me the tank commander pulls wool over his eyes and becomes very still. Pity that never fooled that Easy eight as she popped up over that ridge. As she aims your tank commander pulls wool down from one eye. Then reacts when she fires. Normaly to late. Thats what i seem to recall anyways.

[CombinedArms]

The Stug has an excellent gun (equal to the Sherm76) and pretty good frontal protection--creating many bounced shots from the standard Sherman75 or T-34/76. And it's comparatively cheap. Its one real drawback is the lack of a turret (which is what makes it cheap). Also, its ammo load is relatively low.

It's really best in a hulldown position firing at longish range at armored targets, with terrain or buildings offering flank protection. You can create a lot of flaming Sherman hulks in a short time with this sort of scenario. It's not so good if you have to use it to attack the enemy--then it's weak flanks, lack of turret, and short ammo supply can get it into trouble. So, if you're attacking, try to keep it hulldown on a hilltop providing overwatch for the attack. On defense, use the hulldown hilltop again. If thing get too hot, reverse down the backslope and find a fresh angle of fire. When you're choosing your initial firing position, make sure you have some kind of flank security and a secure line of retreat. I agree on avoiding the scattered trees--without the turret, you can't deal quickly enough with a threat to your flank.

On defense, the Stug III can also be murder at the base of a reverse slope position, supporting dug in infantry more forward.

[Macphail]

ok, now this brings up a question for me. the hull down position. my understanding of this, is that a tank will put itself in a position where it can fire its gun, but the actual hull is behind terrain. i see this is a command in the game...seek hull down. how in the hell does your unit know when in it's in that position, relative to the enemy? does it base this on what enemy vehicles it can see? any kind of explanation would be helpful, as it relates to the game.

[Michael Emrys]

Hulldown is relative to a point on the map. I, like many others, never use it as it is sometimes undependable, and just prefer to eyeball my positions personally. BTW, that method isn't foolproof either as the graphic depiction on the monitor screen of the terrain is not exactly the same as what is in the computer. But at least doing it that way won't entail your vehicle driving on and on until the end of the turn because it couldn't find a hulldown position.

Michael

[Macphail]

thats kind of what i thought/have experienced. not a real useful command. I too prefer to just "eyeball" the terrain, because i have to also take into account, enemy AFV's or guns i cannot yet see.

[Rob Murray]

I try to find a hull down position myself by looking at the map however as Michael said, what you see ( on the monitor ) isn't quite the same as what your units see. It can be frustrating at times ( thinking that you've placed that StuG, etc. in a great ambush position when it's really quite vulnerable :mad: ).

Thank you all for the tips.