Puma – not particularly useful

Puma is a very interesting vehicle, becouse it combines roles of recon and light combat vehicle. It was a distinctive and innovative design and it’s great that it is represanted in wikinger mod.

However…

In current game configuration Puma is the only one recon vehice available to Wehrmacht.  Moreover in some docs like Mechanized when u have no snipers available, it;s the only unit with increased sight that u can use. However its very expansive for the abilities it provides. While Puma combines recon and combat abilities, so it’s high price can be somehow justified,  in reality Puma cannot perform none of this role effectively. It is a combination of some factors that makes this vehicle not a particulary effective tool.

First of all Puma is a vehicle with combat capabilities similar to light tanks like Stuart or T 70.  However it is available at T2 and u need Light Mechanized Company building to recruit it.   This obligates a player to follow such tech path:

T1 upgrade – 110 mp 25f

T2 upgrade 130 mp 45f

Ligh Mechanized Company  130mp 40 f

it gives 370 manpower and 110 fuel

Now u can produce a vehicle that costs 330 mp and 55 fuel

So, to gain a combat capabilities similar to M5 stuart’s, and binoculars ability u have to invest 700mp and 165 fuel

Let’s look at the Amercians now. However the first upgrade is more costly, u can go straight to Company Command Post for 225mp and 60 fuel.

Now u can produce for example

M20 utility car for 220mp  30f

and/or

M5 Stuart for 275mp  40f

So, for example to get Stuart u need to pay only 500mp and 100 fuel

For 720mp and 130fuel u got both M20 and Stuart tank.

The real problem is, that while on paper Puma can be quite effective opponent to Stuart tank, it shows up way later, and cannot be tretead as an effective light vehicle counter which Puma was intended  to be.  It is only a matter of seconds when first Sherman , and T34 tanks will arrive, and early Stuart spam must be stopped with different tool.

Secondly, some Puma’s combat capabilites are way to low not only in comparison to her price but to historical data, and game practice as well. For example highly sloped 30mm frontal armor of Puma can be penetrated by M2hb even without armor piercing ammo. It should not be possible even with ap rounds according to historcial data. It is both unbalanced and unrealistic.  So basically in early midgame u get combat vehicle that costs more than light tank and similar to the a basic medium(costs more than pz 4 F in fact)  and can be killed by standard mg available in the begging of the game.

Moreover Puma has aweful accuracy. I performed some tests and it can miss about 60-70% of shots to stationary halftrack. Shooting to infantry may be also a combination of comedy and horror, becouse of low damage dealed by its mg42 (but it can still effectively pin infantry). While main gun’s alpha strike is sufficient and quite high, low accuracy cuts down cannon’s performance badly making it completely rng reliant.

Another aspect – cannon penetration.  It’s true that in late war 50mm Kwk 39 was not an effective anti tank gun (not withouth apcr ammunition) however it should be capable of occasional penetrations of t34 or m4A3

Thirdly – spoting ability. Time based spoting ability is way inferior to similar OKW abilities.

It’s not a big deal, however as I said before some doctrines do not have snipers available, and it makes them unable to spot without using ammo based abilities.  Another important factor is that using binoculars ability makes your vehicle immobile, which in case of particulary high cost of Puma is an important downgrade.

Possible solutions(some of them at least 😛 ):

Decreasing tech level required to T1(the simplest solution, not necessirly appliquable with all others) – making Puma more effective light vehicle counter.

Increasing cannon’s accuracy(it’s a necessity imho) – current performance looks like a joke. Puma spills projectiles like an old mortar.

Making armor a little bit protective – in fact it is only a m2hb/dshk issue. Puma’s front should be immune to machine gun fire.

Making Puma a little more useful spoter – maybe by giving her ability to have a tank commander, or by reworking current binocular ability to more efficient form.

Slightly increasing AT capabilities- by making standard shot able to do some occasional (even 33,3% -25% penetration chance would be enough) penatrations to t34 or m4 sherman’s armor, or by giving access to apcr ammo ( could have very high cooldown) – there is even some apcr note in units description.

• This topic was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Morgoth.
• This topic was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Morgoth.