KwK 40 L/48 vs StuK 40 L/48?

[Crossroads]

vE, you hit the nail in the head: it is not the gun but the man behind it!

Mike, very interesting, thanks!

Range The different optics explain it don't they! I guess what you're saying is that StuK was equipped with mx2.4 optics, while KwK had mx5.0 optics attached to it. The 'range issue' can be considered solved.

The field of degrees should not be an issue for range nor effectiveness, as especially with long range shots the limited barrel movement becomes less of an issue, as the gun barrel barely moves when adjusting to fire upon a remote target. I always thought the field of degrees -issue (no revolving turret) is handled with the fire cost of 50AP, which always felt right. You fired twice or you fire once and then move out.

Effectiveness vs Hard targets I am still not completely happy about the reduced effectiveness of the same gun, but on a different chassis. I agree that there are other capabilities modeled into these values, so be it, perhaps. The field-of-degrees thingie included, I suppose.

Unfortunately, that is a big handicap for StuGs. I would somehow need to boost their effectiveness up, as the StuG battalion performed extremely well during the Vyborg Offensive, killing 10 enemy AFVs for every one friendly loss.

How should I go about it then?

I am already working on replacing the standard motorised leader with a SP1 StuG with leader capabilites. A leader, stacked together with firing units improves the calculations, right?

Now, back to Earl's observation: the men behind the guns. For the relatively few modern AFVs available the men were hand picked and had a long training as well. I hate uber-morale units, I am happy to have all units at 7. However, in this case it could be OK to boost their morale up to 8, or possibly even to 9 to make the units more effective.

The other route would be to improve the range 1-3 (or 1-4, possibly) values by two points, given that the StuGs often let the enemy AFVs advance into a range of 150 yards before firing at them. The several veteran interviews I've read always mentions how they only fired their first shot when they were sure to hit the joint between the turret and the chassis.


So, to summarise:

- Add a leader as a StuG SP1 unit. This adds a bit of firepower to the units as well.
- Consider upping the morale by one notch.
- Consider upping the short range hard values with two points. At the moment StuG values are four points lower at short range compared to a Pz IV with a similar main gun (but with different optics as we found out).

Again, the StuGs were the only modern vehicles in the Isthmus at the time, there were never many of them, but still they managed to perform extremely well. I would somehow need to model that on my LWM scenarios. Not to make them uber units, but just to pack a bit more punch. Now they often stand no chance to advancing hordes of T-34s.

Of course, the main weapon in the Isthmus vs AFVs was often a determined soldier who individually sneaked into a covered position and then used his faust effectively.

That is modeled very well in the engine, as late war infantry is deadly againts tanks.

Your thoughts?