The PzH M44A1 was introduced into the newly founded West-German army in 1958 as one of the first self-propelled guns used by West Germany, to replace the obsolete M7 Priest SPG’s which were used before. The M44 was based on a reversed M41 hull, and was armed with a 155mm howitzer, as well as a 12,7mm M2 Browning machine-gun to deter air-attacks or serve in a secondary anti-personnel role, though in that case something would have to have gone seriously wrong.
The specific A1 variant of the M44 was introduced in the later 1950’s, the perfect time for Germany to skip on the M44 base model and instead receive the M44A1. This improved variant had a different, more fuel efficient engine, the “Continental AOS-895-6”, which increased the range of the SPG to around 130km.
Conclusion:
I personally would love to see the M44 ingame, as it is a nice piece of German military history after the second world war. It would be a useful direct-fire assault gun, and the roof-mounted .50cal is always useful no matter what vehicle has it.
I know it’s being added to multiple nations regardless of community feedback but why would you encourage it?
The same thing happened with the M109s and as a direct result Italy, and Israel STILL have yet to receive their domestically built artillery systems in researchable form while Germany’s is just now arriving.
Besides, why promote a meta where every nation uses the exact same vehicles? How does that reinforce the idea of separate trees?
I think it’s unfair to justify certain prototypes and other non-service vehicles while simultaneously insisting that others should be denied in favor of copy paste.
Sure there may not be direct counterparts to something like the M44 created by every nation, but there are absolutely plenty of options to fill the same BR bracket.
War Thunder players cannot decide as to whether or not they want their nations to showcase all vehicles ever built or all ever put into service, and I think that attempting to do both will inevitably result in bloating of the trees as both foreign vehicles and homemade ones end up occupying the same spots.
Unfortunately I just cannot see the reasoning, if I wanted to play a generic unmodified M109, I would do so in the nation that created it, same goes for the M44 which will now be present in 5 additional nations.
I’m just saying it will eventually lead to clutter, adding the same stuff to every nation means that the original creator nation will never be able to lay claim over its successes in battle. Even insignifigant modifications adds a new identity to the vehicle that allows the modifier to be credited with the new benefits.
Why bother trying to maintain identical faction balance (at least in lower tiers) in such an asymetrical game such as War Thunder?
