You may know my now that in 8.6 the US Artillery Line will receive two new arty pieces, the M44 and the M53/M55. So the M40/M43 goes to tier 8 and the T92 goes to tier 10. This creates a very messed up chronological development which makes absolutely no historical sense at all. Both the M44 and M53/M55 both lead to tanks that were out of production(M40)/cancelled(T92) before the M44 and M53/M55 were even reached the wooden mock-up stage. Even The_Chieftain is confused by Minsk's decision, he has implied they have pretty much ignored his suggestions on US arty.
It wouldn't be hard to fix this mess at all. The US designed plenty of artillery during WW2. The T16/T64 can be added at a tier 5 bumping the M41, M12, and M40/M43 up an extra tier. This leaves only one spot at tier 9 left for the T84. There shouldn't be much rebalancing needed.
The T16/T64 were two SPGs based on components on the M5 Stuart in 1943. A 115 mm and a 155 mm guns would be available for the T16/T64. The T64 eventually lead directly to the M41 SPG.
T16
T64
This isn't the first time WG has messed up the progression of American arty either. The M37 before the M7 Priest makes no sense, the M37 was designed to be the replacement for the M7. It would be really easy in my opinion to just swap these two since they share practically the same weapon and the M37 has more speed.
There is even more artillery that can be added to fatten the US arty line, such as the T1 Cunningham 75 mm SPG and the Christie SPGs. However they are not needed at the moment and I am feeling rather lazy.
Now what would happen to the M44 and the M53/M55? Well why not create a second line of similar vehicles such as the M52, T147, TS-13, M108/M109? I will save that for a later post though.
Sources:
Stuart: History of the American Light Tank vol 1
Sheridan: History of the American Light Tank vol 2
Patton: History of the American Main Battle Tank vol 1
Pershing: History of the Medium Tank T20 Series
Good, I was wondering if I was the only one bothered by the random usage of the M44 and the M55 over the two logical tanks to precede the T92. As for the tier 2, I would argue for the Holt 75mm/105mm HMC over the T1 75mm HMC.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to make a new arty tech tree dont forget the T18 and the T82. The_Chieftain said they were arties not like the T57 which was a td.
ReplyDeleteZee
Not the first time WG screwed around with designations(SU-152, StuH 42, KV-2, T30, etc).
DeleteI actually don't really mind the T18 and T82 were they are at though.
The T18 was more of an infantry support vehicle intended more for a role like that the later M8 Scott filled rather than that of a true SPG like the Priest. The purpose of the T82 was similar, but more midway between the Priest and the M8. It was supposed to be a platform for crews to use to transport the 105mm M3 howitzer up hilly terrain to support infantry, rather than gun crews needing to pull it up by hand. So you are kind of correct in saying that the T82 wasn't a TD, by it wasn't a dedicated long range artillery platform either.
DeleteHere is a tech tree wich is much better than the one we will get in the 8.6 patch:
DeleteT18>T82>M7>T16/T64>M41>M12>M40/M43>T84>T92
>M44>M52>M53/M55>M109
M37 and the M108 could be tier 4 and tier 8 prems
(the T56 and the T57 could be the new low tier tds)
Zee
I forgot:
Deletethe M44 could be researchable from the M41
Zee
man i love your posts. i should platoon up with you sometime again.
ReplyDeleteWhy not just have 2 American SPG lines?
ReplyDeleteOkinoshima
See the last 2 sentences. I plan to write another article for that.
DeleteWoops! Can't wait to read it!
Deletepls write about Soviet's artys, will the obj 261 be tier 10 arty?
ReplyDelete"Even The_Chieftain is confused by Minsk's decision, he has implied they have pretty much ignored his suggestions on US arty."
ReplyDeleteLMAo, he should get along with the fact that WG is not interested in other opinions; they simply give a shit.
He is working for them so it is kinda disappointing to see that he has no clue about the general direction his employer usually has when it comes to criticism.